The Missionary Review of the World — June 1888

THE RELATIVE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY

MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.

VOL. XI. No. 6.-0Id Series.–]UNE.–VOL. I. No. 6.-New Seriea I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.

THE RELATIVE PROGRESS OF OHRISTIANITY. * BY J. T. GP..ACEY, D.D., BUFFALO, N. Y.

THE Ohristian public has been somewhat startled by statements recently made to the effect that in estimating the relative extension of Ohristianity through its aggressive agencies, there has been a singular oversight of a most important factor in the sum-that of the annual increase by birth of the non-Ohristian populations of the world. Mr. Johnston puts the case thus: " The heathen and Mohammedan population of the world is more by 200 millions than it was a hundred years ago; while the converts and their families do not amount to 3 millions. The numbers now generally accepted as accurate and quoted by the church missionary and other societies, are 173 millions of Mohammedans and 874 millions of heathen, 1047 in all. When Carey wrote his famous Enquiry in 1786 he estiqtated the Mohammedans at 130 and the Pagans at 420 millions, equal to 550 millions. This would give an increase of 493 millions. But as we have come to the knowledge of vast populations in Africa and the East, which could not be even guessed at in Carey's time, we must largely increase his estimate, but I am not prepared at present to say to what extent. Of this, however, I am sure, that the ACT- UAL INCREASE during the hundred years is much more than the 200 millions at which I have put it down. • . . We mourn over the sad fact that the increase of the heathen is numerically more than seventy times greater than that of the converts."

Mr. Johnston is recognized as a candid, careful and capable author and an earnest friend of missions, and he makes these statements the basis of an appeal to the Ohristian church to address itself more vigorously to the task of evangelizing the nations, which he says it is abundantly able to do. He informs us that he could easily give the details of his estimates, and will do so on another occasion, and also says that the members of almost all the missionary societies of Great * A Century of Protestant Missions and the Increase of the Heathen during the Hundred Years. Rev. James Johnston, F.B.S. 1886. James Nisbet & Co. 2d. Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race. By Edward W. Blyden, LL.D. 1887.

Whittingham & Co. lOs. 6d. . Mohammed and Mohammedanism By R. Bosworth Smith, M.A. New York: Harpers. 1875. Canon Taylor's Wolverhampton Address. London Times. Britain have had ample means of testing his accuracy, and their secretaries have given him many kind marks of confidence. He does not of course say that they concur in this specific statement.

It seems that it would have been more desirable that the author should have furnished the details of the evidence before he announced his conclusions and made them the bases of an appeal, or at least set them forth as an incentive to Christian effort.

Instead of following the course he proposes, the reader will most probably hold the statement in suspense or decide from such data as may be at his command as to its credibility, while many will question if even such tolerable accuracy can ever be obtained in the estimate, as to bring it within the range of practical missionary thought. It is difficult to say what is the population of China even in our own day, and there is little hope of establishing any but questionable inferential proof of what it was a hundred years ago. Whoever has made a close study of the H Table of the Different Censuses of the Eighteen Prov-, inces," and other carefully made estimates as quoted by Dr. Williams, and his elaborate discussion of the entire subject of the past and present population of the Chinese Empire (" Middle Kingdom," vol. i. pp. 206-240), will readily understand that there is no credible statistical data on which to formulate anything approaching exact statements, such as we have become accustomed to for a comparatively few years past, in the Western world; and inferences, deductions and "guesses" have been always easily matched by counterinferences, deductions and" guesses."* One becomes curious to know what fresh sources for reliable statement or argument are to be brought to light, to prove what the popUlation of China was a century ago.

Dr. Williams estimated the population in 1876 to be less than it was in 1812, because the Taiping rebellion probably destroyed twenty millions of human beings during eighteen years of carnage in the fifteen provinces to which it reached. For twenty years prior to that the increase of the population was estimated at less than one per cent. per annum, and this renders Dr. Williams's statement probable. We put emphasis on China, because it popularly is supposed to contain about one-third of the population of the globe, and if no basis of calculation approaching accuracy can be had here, it would cause serious defect in the total result.

It may not be quite fair to allude to Africa, as that may be included in the two or three hundred millions which Mr. Johnston so generously deducts as peoples which have come to our knowledge within the century. But suppose these three hundred millions of newly discovered people have been numerically reduced within the century, what then? Whether the populations of these nations newly added to the world's census are more or less than they were a century ago, cannot be now * See International Department for discussion of the latest Returns. shown. The internecine strife of the tribes of A.frica, the devastationB of the slave-hunt and other causes may·have lessened the aggregate in the last hundred years, and that would affect the total sum. India comes more nearly within the range of statistical comparisons, specially within a few decades, but it lacks anything like exact figures for a century ago. Even within the latest decade covered by the British census, territory has been brought for the first time into the census tables, and the prejudice against the census-taking was so great even twenty years ago, as to limit accuracy. It is impossible to prove what part of the increase in the tables is due to greater accuracy in the returns. But as the people under the British raj are saved from much internecine strife, and measurably from infanticide, and subjected to hygienic and other regulations calculated to afford peace and to increase longevity,-notwithstanding two, and even four millions have been swept off within sixty days by famine in a single province,- it is probable there has been an actual increase in the popUlation, though it is variously estimated in the aggregate, all the way from three to ten per cent.

We have thus hastily sketched the probabilities as they will appear to the ordinary reader of establishing either increase or decrease by birth-rate among perhaps four-fifths of the total non-Ohristian population of the globe.

Of course we write all this merely as indicating the problem which Mr. Johnston promises to deal with and the difficulties surrounding its solution, and as justification of suspense of judgment in the premises till the promised evidence is furnished. But we must think it scarcely fair for Mr. Johnston to make bold assertions in the "text, while in the preface to the second edition he starts off at a tangent to say, "Even if the increase of the heathen were not so great as asserted, it would only prove that the death-rate from war, infanticide, pestilence and famine was greater than my estimate for these ~ad calamities, and would only furnish fresh arguments for sending the gospel," etc., which is very much like saying, If I cannot prove what I promise, I can prove something else. It is not with something else that he asks us to deal, but with this; and whatever allowance must be made because of the brevity of the treatise, it is long enough for us to understand the unvarnished statement which is offered to our faith, and which we are asked to take merely as the announcement of a fact. But as many will decline so to do, the influence of the alleged fact will be paralyzed till the evideuce is furnished.

The author would have broadened his discussion if not made it more fair, if instead of comparing the increase by birth-rate with increase by conversion, he had compared birth-rate with birth-rate among Ohristian and non-Ohristian peoples, in order to show what the probabilities are, of the total Ohristian population of the world gaining on that which is not Ohristian. But he gives promise of dealing with that too, in a separate treatise. In other words, he has given us only a fragment of the total argument, while the whole is essential io the reaching a conclusion about the reasonable probability that the world is to become Christian. Besides, if even the fact of comparatively greater increase by birth-rate were established in favor of heathen nations, that is certainly no more than the early church must have experienced, if not within the Roman Empire alone, then over the world at large. Mr. Johnston singularly enough, thinks there was no increase throughout the Roman Empire by birth-rate through the three hundred years in which the early church rose to supremacy therein. That in this his view will be challenged, is a matter of course.

While we doubt if any argument or compilation of facts can at all remove the question of the comparatIve world population of 1786 with that of 1886, out of the realm of pure speculation, and hence doubt if any practical value is to be got from its discussion, we beg that the Christian public will not overlook the masterly array of other statistics, facts and stirring appeals of this extraordinarily thoughtful pamphlet. And we caution them against ill-considered statements and influences which Mr. Johnston's pamphlet would not warrant, but may incite.

A. STUDY OF RATIOS.

The Bombay Gnardian some time since furnished an illustration of this heedless use of figures. It quoted the Independent as follows: "In round numbers the non-Christian population of the world is generally estimated as a thousand millions, leaving a Christian population of four hundred millions. Now the naturalincrease of a thousand millions, though it may not, because of the conditions of population in crowded countries like China and India and among uncivilized hordes like those of Africa, be quite as large in proportion as that of the four hundred millions of Christians living under the highest forms of civilization, it must be vastly larger in bulk. The rate of natural increase in India, in the last decade, jwas seven per cent. If that rate were applied to the whole of the thousand millions of pagans we should have a gain of 70,OOU,OOO every ten years. In Europe (exclusive of Turkey) and the United States, the increase in the decade was something undel' ten per cent. Apply that to the 400,000,000 Christian population and we have a gain of 40,000,000. In other words, the natural increase of the heathen world is thirty millions greater evel'y decade than that of the Christian world. Thirty millions in a decade is three millions a year, and this three millions a year must be overcome by propagandism among non- Ohristian peoples before it can be said that Christianity, by which we mean the whole Christian population, is increasing as I"apidly as Paganism. This is a fact which we need to look at steadily, in order to understand the vastness of the work before us."

Just why the Independent should assume that the increase by birthrate in India, which it puts at seven per cent., is the rate of natural increaseof the world for the last decade, is not very apparent. It singularly overlooks the emigration from Christian Europe to other places than the United States, though its colonies have overrun British America, Mexico, South America, and Australia. It places the heathen rate ridiculously high and that of Christian Europe fallaciously low. It would seem that such calculations might be relegated to the curious, but when a sober Christian paper like the Bombay Guardian is misled by it to make mischievous comment like the following, the time has come to call a halt on such indiscriminate ciphering. That paper complemented the above quotation thus: " A decennial augment of 7 per cent. on the population of India (250,000,- 000) would be 17,500,000, or 1,750,000 annually. But it would be thought a marvelous thing if our converts reached 100,000 in one year. If the addition of one to our converts implies the addition of 17 to the number of the unevangelized in this land, it certainly does not look as though we were subduing the world to Christ."

Both these quotations illustrate afresh the habit which has become common among too many well-intentioned writers on missionary progress, of singularly ignoring true ratios. Archdeacon Farrar is reported as stating that a century ago, in a procession of the inhabitants of the globe, only one in five would have been Christians; to-day, in a similar procession, the Christians would be nearly one in two, while the Christian population of the globe is increasing at the rate of 86 per cent. each decade. We do not know his basis of calculation, though the last remark comes within touch of modern statistics, and is susceptible of proof or refutation. But we do know that a preeminently important factor in all these comparisons is, that among Christian populations and notably among Christian converts from non-Christian populations, there is a remarkable increase of the ratio of increase. Christlieb says that in 1800 there were 170 Protestant missionaries in the whole heathen world, with 50,000 converts. George Smith, Esq., says there are now roundly three millions, of whom 802,028 are communicants, an increase of sixfold within the century. India furnishes a more definite illustration of our point. A writer (" R. H.") in the British and Foreign Evangelical Review, Oct. 1870, said the progress of Christianity in India was as great as that of early Christianity in the Roman Empire, it being popularly estimated that there were eight millions of Christians in that empire after 300 years; but if the rate of increase of the India native Ohristian community between 1852 and 1862 were maintained for 300 years, it would give 200,000,000 of converts. Making his calculations on that ratio, he anticipated that there would be in India in 1882, 273,000 Ohristians, but four years earlier than the date of his estimate (1878) Ohristlieb gave the numbers as 460,000! And Ohristlieb further says that the ratio of increase between 1852 and 1862 would give in A. D. 2002 a Christian popUlation to India alone of 138,000,000; or two hundred years after Oarey's first baptism, a victory seventeen times greater than that of the early church in the Roman Empire. If it be urged that such estimates are speculaative and untrustworthy, it is to be borne in mind that the above calulations are made on the rate of increase between 1852 and 1862, and that e::ch decade since has not only sustained that, but has shown an incI'B{!se of the rate of increase. The Christian population of India is now doubling itself e,very ten years, and every change of ratio is an increase of that ratio. And what is true of India may be reasonably anticipated for the future through- . out the missionary world as a whole, if we give due weight to the munificent equipment of agencies and preparatory occupancy of posts so ably summarized by Mr. Johnston.

COMPARATIVE INCREASE OF RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS.

We have glided into another phase of the question stated by Mr. Johnston in the caption of one of his chapters, thus: "The great heathen and Mohammedan systems of religion are not only increasing their adherents by the ordinary birth-rate, but are yearly making far more converts than our Christian missions." As Mr. Johnston does not promise further information on this specific topic, we are left to deal with the general statements of the chapter. A statement like this needs examination in detail, and from the title of the book it is fair to confine our examination to the century past. As to China, Buddhism, Oonfucianism, and Taoism have divided the population among them, and as no man is wholly of either in Ohina, it seems difficult to see what room there has been for converts. ~'hey had the whole, and except the Christian community represented by 31,000 Protestant communicants, the increase of Roman Oatholic Christians, and probably some accessions by Islam on their western borders, they have the whole yet. If the increase by birth-rate be not established, it seems difficult to establish .an increase at all within the bounds of the empire. Japan may be placed in the same category. Buddhism has been disestablished of late, and unless a birth-rate increase is proven, the case probably falls to the ground. Such is the influence of Western Christian civilization that it is possible that Ohristianity may any day be established as the national religion. In India proper there is no Buddhism except in name, and Oeylon's population is too inconsiderable to enter into these broad estimates.

Brahmanism-or rather Hinduism, a much broader term-has made encroachments on some of the aboriginal tribes by social absorption or by a sort of religious accretion. It is not a missionary religion, and its accessions are by marriage, or by the exchange of a popular fetish for some popular deity of thQ Hindu Pantheon. The total evangelistic task of the church is not increased by such social amalgamation, as these hold too loosely to Brahmanism to make it more difficult to convert them from Hindu idolatry than it was from Dravidian demonolatry. Then the aggregate accessions to Hinduism cannot be known, for if the total increase of the population be even 10 per cent. within the decade, it would be difficult to show what deduction must be made for increased longevity and other itcms, such as new territory now first included in the census, or the incompleteness of statistics ten years ago. There seems little room to construct an argument either way.

Not as a matter of logic, but as a curiously interesting item, we quote a Hindu. opinion on the relative progress of Ohristianity and Hinduism in India, published as Tract No.2, issued by the Hindu Tract Society of Madras, and sent to the Ohurch Gleaner by Rev. H. Schaffter of Tinnevelly Oollege: "How many hundreds of thousands have these padres turned to Christianity, and keep on turning! How many hundreds of thousands of dear children have they swallowed up! On how many more have they Gast their nets! How much evil is yet to come upon us by their means I If we sleep as heretofore, in a short time they will turn all to Christianity without exception, and our temples will be changed into churches. Do you suppose these padres to be mild and gentle? Do you think they are excellent teachers? Are you ignorant of the fact that Hinduism is daily decreasing and Christianity increasing? How long can a lake last that has an outlet and no inlet? So if, as we see, no converts are coming in to Hinduism, and every year multitudes on multitudes are going over to Christianity, there will not be a single Hindu left. Then what will become of caste, what of the Sivite and Vishnuvite faith I What of our temples and sacred tanks? We shall see no monastery or even footprint of a Hindu. When Christianity has laid waste the land, will a blade of Hinduism grow there?

" Now who cares or speaks about these things? When the flood rushes over our heads it will be too late. It is because of our carelessness that these strangers insult our gods in the open streets during our festivals, Is there no learned pundit to be secured for money who will crush the Christians?"

INCREASE OF ISLAM IN THE EAST INDIES.

Weare left to glance at the increase of Islam, and as it is convenient we begin with India. Oanon 'l'aylor's paper or address, read at the Ohurch Oongress at Wolverhampton last year, has been supplemented by so many fragmentary utterances of his in the London Times and el,sewhere that it is not easy to know for just what he is to be held responsible. His Ohurch Oongress 'Paper has been abundantly reviewed, quite beyond its deserts. Mr. Bosworth Smith in the Nineteenth Oentury charges him with lack of originality and wholesale plagiarism from his lectures on "Mohammed and Mohammedanism," published a dozen years ago, and alleges that even the opinions are" as nearly as possible identical" with those which thirteen years before he had promulgated, though " they were couched in an exaggerated form and without any modification or explanations," and were reproduced" without any adequate preparation or study of the subject at first hand," and that he "rushed at the task with headlong heedleslmess."

But the archbishop may be credited with originality in his statement in the Times when he says that the Moslem population of India increased in the decade 1871-1881 between nine and ten millions, of whom he estimates six millions to be converts, while the Ohristian missionaries had not made one-tenth as many converts in the same period. The recklessness of such a statement was equaled by the ludicrousness of the method of ciphering, when it became known that the canon had added to the later Moslem population the entire number in the Moslem feudatory states, which were not included in the census of 1871. If this is not" heedlessness" it is difficult to furnish a specimen of it. The London Spectator too, was so far misled in this general controversyas to place the annual conversions to Islam in India at 100,000. Sir William W. Hunter, the distinguished author of the Imperial Gazetteer of India, in a paper read recently before the Society of Arts, said, "The recent discussion in the Times was vitiated by a forgetfulness of the fact that the great Muhammadan pmvinces layoutside the influence of the famine of 1877, which fell with full force on Hinduism."

The Indian Evangelical.Review (Jan. 1888) said these statements were " so recklessly absurd that to many the very idea of formally contradicting them is itself absurd. And yet," it adds, "such dense ignorance abounds both here and at home that to many a formal contradiction becomes necessary. And that contradiction we unhesitatingly give as full and as formal as we can. After inquiries and investigations in various parts of the country, we emphatically assert that there is not a word of truth in Canon Taylor's sensational statement as regards India. He would be within the mark if he had said six hundred as the utmost figure for all India. Archdeacon Matthews has answered for the Punjab, and the Rev. J. J. Lucas for the Northwest Provinces and Oudh; Mr. De St. Dalmas and the Bombay G-uardian for Western India, and of Bengal we say that the Englishman regards the matter as simply fit to be made a joke of; the Statesman treats the statement as regards India as beneath notice, but grapples with it so far as it concerns Central Africa; and we ourselves, having inquired of not a few most qualified to inform as rega.rds Bengal, give the statement an emphatic denial. We do not believe six hundred Hindus, Christians and aborigines have become Mussulmans within the last ten years. The only cases thateame within our knowledge were all cases of seduction-Hindu wives or widows seduced by Muhammadans-and one or two Christian girls tempted into so-called Muhammadan marriages. We have also heard of Muhammadan men and women becoming Roman Catholics in the same way, so that possibly as many are lost to Muhammadanism in this way as are gained."

But the figures were shown to Maj.-Gen. Haig, an acknowledged authority in such matters for India, and he is reported as saying that "in Bengal, with a popUlation of 42 per cent. of the whole Muhammadan population of India, the Mussulmans are at a standstill, while in the Punjab and Northwest Provinces, with 36 per cent. of the total Mu- 'hammadan population, Islam is slightly advancing."

The Indian Witness was quoted in the April Review as follows: "Gen. Haig furnishes interesting facts and statistics concerning Muhammadan progress in India. Of the 50,000,000 of that faith in India, 21,000,000 are in Bengal. From the most careful census reports ever taken in India it appears that the followers of Islam increased during the nine years 1872- 1882, 2,145,472, or at the rate of 10.96 per cent., the whole population increasing at the rate of 10.89 per cent. The actual gains of Muhammadans were 15,000. This figure shows how much faster they increased than the whole population. A careful thinker would not concede all of this number to proselytism. A small increase in the health and longevity of the Muhammadans, which is not unlikely, would wipe out all the gains at one stroke. But we would think that a church of twenty millions of members, that only gathered 1,666 members a year more than another body, that made no converts and could make none, was not a model of progress. The case grows darker fo~ Muhammadan success when we remember that few have left Islam in Bengal, although several are far from being as orthodox as of yore."

The Bishop (designate) for Lahore is quoted as saying: "The movement in certain parts ;of India of low-caste or outcast Hindus toward Islam may be compared with the yet larger movement of the non- Aryan tribes toward Brahmanical Hinduism. In both cases the movement is far more social than religious. Impartial writers like Sir A. Lyall are forward to recognize the unfairness of comparing this wholesale melting into another religious system, which is the outcome not of individual persuasion, but of great social changes, with the results of Christian missionary enterprise, which represent personal conviction, and entail, not social advantage, but social loss."

Rev. W. J. Smith, also of Lahore, says: "My surprise is not that so many Hindus have turned Mohammedans, but that so few have done so. Had Mohammedanism in India possessed its old vitality we shouldindeed have been startled by the result."

The Methodist Recorder of London discriminates when it says: "The result of the discussion, therefore, as regards India, is to show that there is no cause for anything like panic at the advance of Islam as a missionary religion in India, while there is every reason for increasing our own efforts thoroughly to Christianize a population which amidst the decay of ancient religious. beliefs is naturally somewhat prone to adopt a form of religion which is close beside them in full force, which makes little demand upon them of a spiritual kind, and interferes so little either with their superstitions or their domestic habits."

The accomplished author of the Gazetteer oj India, already quoted, says the converts to Islam in India are attracted less by religious fervor and conviction than by considerations of social convenience. Islam offers to the" teeming low castes of Eastern Bengal, who had sat for ages abject on the outermost pale of the Hindu community, a free entrance into a new social organization." But he goes on to say that " Christianity holds out advantages of social organization not offered by Hinduism or Islam. It provides for the ~ducation and moral supervision of its people with a pastoral care, which Islam, destitute of a regular priesthood, does not pretend to. It receives the new members into its body with a cordiality and completeness to which H:induism is a stranger. . . . Christianity also raises the position of woman toa degree unknown to Hinduism or Islam."

He says "the new religious force of missionary Christianity is Protestant." He then shows the growth as represented by the statistical results of three periods, into which he divides the work from its initiationat Serampore down to 1881. He says that " a cordial recognition of the wide field for evangelical labors does not exempt Christianity in India from being judged by its present l'esults. Nor need the friends of missionary enterprise shrink from the test; for while the number of native Protestant Christians has increased by fivefold during the thirty years preceding the last census, the number of their communicants has multiplied by nearly tenfold. The progress has been a progress of conversion, concurrent with a progress of internal growth and of internal discipline. It .is the result, not alone of the zeal which compasseth the earth to make a proselyte, but also of the pastoral devotion which visits the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and labors to keep its Hock unspotted from the world."

Again we say, we are willing to hold all that we know of difficulty in the way of Mr. Johnston's establishing his statements, in suspense, until he presents the evidence which years of patient toil and assiduous study, with special adaptation and rich experience in dealing with statistical problems, might perhaps have justified us in taking on his mere announcement, if the immense interests involved warranted such acquiescence on the mere assertion of any authority whomsoever.

But we caution the Christian churches against construing anything we have said into ground for relaxation of effort, or miscalculation of the forces to be mastered. Whatever has been the absorption of the uncasted natives of India by any of the lettered religions in the past, Sir William Hunter utters a prophecy of startling import when he says that he believes that the dense and dark mass of jifty millions outside thepale of orthodox Hinduism and Islam will within jifty years be absorbed into these or into Ohristianity.

'fhat Islam is extending in the East India islands seems well established, for the German and Dutch missionaries laboring there seem to fear great difficulties from them. Journal des Missions Evangeliques says: "Nor have the missions alone reason for alarm. Some months since hundreds of Dutch merchants and others having direct relations with this part of the world sent a petition to the King of Holland urging him to take active measures for the protection of his subjects and their property in those regions. The Atchin war seems never ending and increases the peril of the situation. The Atchinese and the Malays are the tribes mostly moved by Islam to fanaticism, and the Battas, among whom the Rhenish missionaries are working so successfully, live between the two tribes."

At the Mildmay Conference some ten years ago Rev. Dr. Schreiber, secretary of the Rheim (Barmen) Missionary Society, speaking of the Netherlands mission in the East Indian Archipelago, said: "At present in Java almost all the whole population (twenty-one millions) is. Mohammedan, at least in name, a great deal of heathenism still being concealed under the surface. On Sumatra the fourth part is still heathen. On Borneo and in the Celebes, perhaps one – half; but wherever in Dutch Indies a heathen population is in contact with Mohammedism the latter is ad,vancing steadily." He says that " By far the greater part of the ground Mohammedanism holds at present in the Indian Archipelago, it has gained after the time the Dutch took possession of those regions. In the island of Sumatra it is true Atchin and Menangkabao had become Mohammedan before that time, and thence Islam had found its way to Java; but on both these islands the great majority of the people were still heathen whe!! the Dutch took possession of them, and to the island of Borneo and Celebes Mohammedanism has crept in the time of the Dutch Government."

He holds the Dutch Government to be responsible for this advance

AFRICA: A WONDERFUL OHAPTER IN MODERN HISTORY

of Islam,. The Bataks had been for centuries in contact with Islam • through Mohammedan Malays, but had kept their heathen creed firmly up to forty years ago, since when, under the patronage of the Dutch Government, it has extended all over the colony, "while almost no Mohammedan is to be found beyond the borders of the colony."

He says there are few proper Mohammedan missionaries there, but that there is personal Moslem zeal in propagandism, especially among the Hadjis, "whose number increases year by year on account of the· passage to Mecca by steamer being now so cheap and easy. In 1875 there were no less than 5,600 Hadjis (pilgrims) from Dutch India." (Mildmay Report, 1878, pp. 137-155.) [Ooncluded in our nex:.] AFRICA: A WONDERFUL CHAPTER IN MODERN HISTORY.

[EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] THE organization of the International Association of the Congo and the Congo Free State are among the modern marvels in African history. T~e steps in this movement are marked by a peculiar touch of the divine finger.

Fifteen years ago, May 1, 1873, Livingstone, one of the great pio~ neers of African discovery, died upon his knees in his grass hut at Ilala, in the very heart of the Dark Continent. He was alone and utterly worn out by forty experiences in the furnace of African fever, and by every form of exposure and exhaustion. The awful death shade overhung the vast regions of Central Africa. Such depravity and degradation can be imagined only by those who have come into contact with it. Such cruel customs, such a cyclone of crime, such scenes of horror, such a carnival of lust prevailed, that Livingstone, moderate and temperate as he was in his habits of speech, could only write of them, "They give me the impression of being in hell! Oh, Lord, let thy kingdom come I"

The civilized world no sooner learned of the departure of this marvelous hero of African exploration and evangelization than there was a spontaneous and simultaneous movement in two directions: first, in the direction of scientific and geographical investigation, and secondly, in the direction of missionary effort. The latter we put second, not in the order of time but in the order of importance, for the Christian church was for once on the alert to follow Livingstone's labors in a true apostolic succession.

The next prominent step or stage in this remarkable history was the transcontinental tour of Henry M. Stanley. Strange indeed that such a man as James Gordon Bennett, and such a man as Stanley, the reporter of the New York Herald, should be chosen by God to open up the vast Congo basin! But so it was. In 1874 Stanley started at Zanzibar, and after a thousand days emerged at the mouth of the Congo in • 1877; the mysteries of the unknown interior were penetrated, and King Mtesa's appeal for Ohristian teachers echoed round the world and revealed Ethiopia stretching out her hands unto God. Of course Africa was during all these years more and more becoming the one point of attraction; like a constellation in the firmament which for some cause glows with supreme splendor, it became the cyn- osure of all eyes. The worldly man looked that way, for vast riches, vegetable and mineral, lay disclosed between the seas; the scientific man looked that way, for geology and geography, the fauna and flora invited and would reward a thorough research; the Ohristian man looked that way, for a hundred millions of people waited for the gospel, and a highway had been opened for the chariot of missions. A zone of light had taken the place of the deep darkness that so long lay like an impenetrable pall upon equatorial Africa. Robert Arthington of Leeds resolves to make new investments for Ohrist in planting the gospel along the shores of these lakes and rivers, and missionary societies appeal for fresh recruits to follow up the path of the explorer by the labors of the evangelist and teacher and conse- crated physician. Meanwhile from the little kingdom of Belgium there comes a new and very remarkable sign of the coming future for Africa. King Leo- pold II. has been watching the developments of African discovery and studying the signs ofthe times. God had taken his only son, and when he laid his dust in the sepulchre he turned away from the grave say- ing, "I have nothing to live for." But a voice from above seemed to say, "Live for Africa." He heard and heeded the celestial voice, and determined henceforth to adopt the sable sons of the Dark Oontinent as his own, and spend his life and his imperial treasure for the devel- opment and direction of this new empire lying along the Oongo. This Belgian king, while Stanley was yet in the heart of equatorial Africa, summons a conference at Brussels, Sept. 12 to 14, 1876, and the A.frican InternationaZ A.ssociation is the result. His Majesty the King of the Belgians invited to this conference a num- ber of the leading geographers of the chief nations of Europe. Represen- tatives gathered from Germany, Austro-Hungary, France, Great Brit- ain, Italy and Russia, as well as from Belgium, and the result of their deliberations was an agreement that an international commission, hav- ing its seat at the Belgian capital, should be founded for the purpose of exploring and ci vilizing Oentral Africa; each nation co-operating should establish a national committee to collect subscriptions to further the common end and send delegates to the commission. The first to form such national committee was Belgium, the mem- bers meeting under the presidency of Leopold II. himself, November 6, 1876. We cannot follow the history of this International Oommis- sion in detail. Those who are not already familiar With the minutire may find them fully preserved in Stanley's book on the Oongo. vol. i. chap. iv. But this was the foundation of the African International • Association. out of which have grown all the stupendous movements now fulfilling Victor Hugo's prediction that in the twentieth century the eyes of the world would be on Africa.

Into the treasury of this International Association in ten years this one man, Leopold II., sends gifts amounting in the aggregate to $2,500,000. The Oongo river is thus arouEled from its long sleep and is soon alive with steamers, and the surrounding forests resou:l.d with axes, and trees are felled and buildings are erected, and all the machinery of modern enterprise and civilization is put in motion. Mission bands advance westward from Zanzibar and occupy the shores of the great lakes, and other pioneers move eastward from the Oongo's estuary until the equator is reached and the cross is set up at Equatorville.

As to Stanley's connection with King Leopold it behooves us to add a few words. '

When Stanley, in January, 1878, reached Europe, slowly recuperating from the effects of famine, fever and fatigue endured in his great journey of three years, he was met at Marseilles by two commissioners of the King of Belgium, who communicated to him King Leopold's desire that he should undertake to assist him in accomplishing something practical and permanent for Africa, and asking Stanley to pay him a personal visit. Too exhausted to attempt any new enterprise, or even venture a visit, the explorer rested for a season and then went to Brussels and saw the king. Then a few weeks of pedestrian touring in Switzerland, a few months' lecture touring, and in November, 1878, Stanley was again summoned to the royal palace at Brussels, and found various persons of note in council as to what might be done to utilize previous discovery and make the Oongo river and basin of service to humanity. A new expedition was organized, with Leopold II. at its head, and on Nov. 25001. Strauch of the Belgian army was made president of the society, called" Oomite d'Etudes du Haut Congo;" and the expedition was put in charge of Stanley. The coincidences of history are often startling. He had emerged from the Oongo at Banana Point Aug. 12, 1877. On the 14th of August, just two years 'later almost to a day, Stanley arrived before the mouth of this river to ascend it, to sow along its banks the seeds of new settlements, to suppress the slave trade, and to prepare the way for a new and Ohristian civilization.

Another great step remained to be taken. Ten years pass away from the time when Stanley first began the transit of the continent, and a conference is held in Berlin which for its character and the possible magnitude of results probably has had no equal during the Ohristian era. The Berlin Oonference sprang from the African International Association. It met in the closing months of 1884, under the presidency of Prince Bismarck. There were representatives of fourteen European powers-Great Britain, Germany, Aus- tria- Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Norway and Turkey-with the United States of America. After full conference with leading explorers, philan- thropists and missionaries, they have created by solemn compact a Free State, embracing nearly all of equatorial Africa. They have covered by the protection of their covenant a territory equal to two and a half Europes, as large as all the United States except Alaska, peopled by nearly fifty millions of souls; and this is the covenant into which they )lave entered with reference to the land for which Livingstone prayed. It is to be read in the sixth article of their Convention: " All the powers exercising sovereign rights or influence in the aforesaid territories bind themselves to watch over the preservation of the native tribes, and to care fOl> the improvement of the conditions of their moral and mental well-being, and to help in suppressing slavery and especially the slave trade. They shall, without distinction of creed or nation, protect and favor all religious, scientific or charitable institutions and undertakings created and organized for the above ends, or which aim at instructing the natives and bringing horne to them the blessings of civilization. Christian missionaries, scientists and explorers, with their followers, property and collections, shall also be the objects of especial protection. Freedom of conscience and religious toleration are expressly guaranteed to the natives, no less than to the subjects (of the sovereign states) and to foreigners. The free and public exercise of all forms of divine worship, and the right to build churches, temples and chapels, and to organize religious missions belonging to all creeds, shall not be limited or fettered in any way whatsoever."

Every wQrd of this international covenant deserves to be written in gold. A more wonderful highway has not been cast up for Christian missions even in this wonderful century. A page more remarkable, both for the prophecies which it fulfills and the promise which it gives, has not been penned during the Christian era.

It is an appropriate recognition of his generous gifts and unselfish labors that the Kingof Belgium is appointed the sovereign of the Congo Free State. His sovereignty implies little else than the dedication of his energies and resources to the elevation of Africa, with the good-will and the powerful support of the whole civilized world.

The Berlin Conference, springing from the African International Association and under the presiding hand of Prince Bismarck, apparently conferred blessings upon Africa, during the few days of its session, surpassing all that had been secured for her during the present century. At this conference kings became "nursing fathers" for the church, and the basis was laid for the Congo Free State.

Fifteen great powers, thus embracing adherents of Protestant, no-· man Catholic and Greek churches, and even the Mohammedan faith, met in conference at the invitation of the German Imperial Government. One of our British exchanges says: "This conference of powers which sat at Berlin during the past few closing weeks of the year 1884 has dop,e more for AFRICA than all the political action of individual states, including our own government,· during a century. On the 2d of Decemb~r these high contractors adopted a declaration of free trade and oj free intercourse in the basin oj the Oongo, embracing religious, philanthropic and scientific enterprise and the protection in all respects of the native races. Geographically the basin of the Oongo includes 1,300,000 square miles, although a commercial area is reached of more than 3,000,000 square miles. It is understood that the boundaries covered by the Oonference embrace the whole country eastward to the Oentral Lakes, and the Pree Ohurch Monthly of Scotland considers the Lake Nyassa mission field as embraced in the scope of this convention. "

We have watched these signs of the times for twenty years with intent and interested eye. Here is one land alone, of all that at the opening of this missionary century lay in the impenetrable death-shade. Robert Moffatt went to the southern Oape and began his course upward; he was joined by Livingstone, who became his son-in-law. In 1873 Livingstone dies. In 1874 Stanley takes up the unfinished work of exploration. In 1876 Leopold II. calls a conference in Belgium, and the African International Association is born. Stanley emerges from the Oongo's mouth in 1877, and barely reaches Europe in 1878 when he is called to Brussels to meet the king. Before the year 1879 opens a new expedition is organized with Stanley to conduct it, and in August he begins to ascend the mighty river of Africa. Five years pass away and fifteen powers meet in Berlin and lay the foundation of the Oongo Free State. And yet there are some who see no God in history I or who, faintly recognizing a general Providence in human affairs, take but little interest in such mighty and momentous changes as these! For ourselves, we see the luminous pillar of cloud moving, and moving over Africa. If God ever called his people to "arise and possess the land" it is now. Here is a vast territory suddenly thrown open under the united protection of fifteen of the dominant powers of earth and waiting to be taken for God. This is but the latest of a series of developments, the like of which history may safely be challenged to produce, showing that the God of nations is constructing a highway for his people to encompass the world. To the mountain obstacle he says, "Be thou a plain!" and straightway it disappears and there is a level road for his mission band. The danger actually is that the doors have been opened too fast and too soon for the church to enter and take possession! Worldly enterprise, commerce, science, are moving so much more rapidly; even infidelity is outdoing us in propagandism! Rum is flowing into the Oongo basin and threatening to flood it, while one hundred millions of nominal Protestants lethargically delay vigorous efforts to follow God's moving pillar, and risk the loss of the greatest opportunity ever yet placed before the church of God! Have we not wronged Africa enough in the enslaving of her children to make some tardy recompense by giving to her myriads the redeeming gospel?

REV. GEORGE BOWEN

REV. GEORGE BOWEN.

By ROBERT AIKMAN, D.D., MADISON, N. J.

I DO not propose even to sketch the life of this saintly man and eminent missionary; but having been his classmate and familiar friend during his theological course in Union Seminary, I would like to speak of some of those early experiences which gave tone and color to his unique spiritual life and career.

Of the class which entered the seminary in 1844 Bowen was almost the oldest man, having been born April 13, 1816. There was nothing striking in his countenance or personal appearance-of slight frame, quiet demeanor, unimpassioned utterance, and no magnetism of manner -a man who could hardly ever be an orator, and indeed who never came to be one-a most unpretentious man, and courteous as was to be expected of one who had been much in the world of men.

Within the few months during which classmates learn to place each other, we all came to know that Bowen was different from most men, and better than most of us. He had never been to college, yet his Greek and Hebrew recitations were among the finest, and his thoughts at our missionary and prayer meetings, expressed with choice simplicity, were original and quickening beyond the common run. He looked at Bible truth in a novel way, which yet was evidently his natural way. He was not communicative of himself, but we learned that he was newly born into the ChristiaJ.!. life, and almost up to his entrance upon_ ministe:cial studies had been a skeptic, utterly unacquainted with religious truth, and as ignorant of the Bible as a man of his general intelligence and cultivation could well be. The remarkable and pathetic manner in which his mind was turned to the Bible and his striking conversion have been well told and will never lose their interest. Up to that period he was an infidel of the French school, and although never a mocker, he told me that he had always regarded the Bible very much as he had regarded Esop's Fables.

Out of this darkness Bowen came into sudden light, and the light was strange and wonderful and sweet. He probably never had a doubt of Bible truth, of the way of life through Christ, and of his own acceptance with God, from the beginning to the end of his Christian life; and it was at first matter of surprise to him that any believer should have doubts as to his spiritual estate. His expressions were the least hackneyed of any man I ever knew, which, no doubt, was because he had read almost nothing upon religious subjects and was so unacquainted with the views of other Christians. He drew water directly from the wells of salvation, and it is both interesting and profitable to know that he became an evangelical believer; without bigotry,caring little for denominational peculiarities, but evangelical through and through. About the middle of our junior year, Bowen passed into a spiritual experience which I find it difficult to describe, although I was somewhat familiar with the process and the results. He had been giving hlmself more and more to protracted and intense study of the Bible, and particularly of the Gospel of St. John, and more especially still, to those deep portions of it which comprise the Saviour's last discourses with his disciples in the passover room. He discovered that there was an experience to which he had not yet attained, and in which it was possible permanently to abide-a state of absolute certainty as to spiritual truths, of entire devotement to the glory of God, and of rest in God. This, of course,-was nothing else than the" abiding" of which our Lord speaks, and it was not different in its nature from that of Bowen's first experience; but it came to him as almost new, and so it came to his classmates. I shall never forget an evening prayer meeting in the seminary and the impression which his testimony made upon his classmates, although nothing could be less ostentatious than his words and manner. One of our most intelligent men arose and said, "Is this something new in the Ohristian life, or is it a deepening ot the cur- rents which flow in all our hearts?" No doubt it was the latter, but it made the impression almost of newness.

At that time Bowen began to come under the power of a mental habit, not peculiar to him indeed except as to its completeness and permanence. He made a distinct effort to realize the actual and personal presence of the Saviour with him, to become intimately and at all times conscious of the nearness of Jesus as one to be spoken to and walked with. This grew by cultivation to be a great life power with him. One day, Bowen, J. Edwards Ford (afterward of the Syrian Mission) and myself were together in the room of Thomas A. Weed. The last named was a genial and even jovial man, and a great favorite of us all. H.e led the conversation into the line of the nearness of Ohrist to his own, in order, I suppose, to draw remarks from Bowen, who, after a while, said in his quiet way, "I have at this moment a more vivid sense that Jesus is in the room here than I have that either of you three are."

Quite a singular illustration of the power of this mental habit occurred with him in Bombay. In the fall of 1848, when he had been less than a year on missionary ground, he was seized with what seemed to be a fatal attack of ulceration of the larynx. This was long before the days of telegraphs, and on the day when the India packet sailed Bowen was supposed to be dying. Obituaries appeared in the papers, and in one of our religious journals a tribute to his memory and a chastened lament over his" early sickness and death." 'rhe very night the ship sailed the ulceration was arrested and his recovery began. During this illness he began to be troubled with the not uncommon hallucination of groups of persons apparently visible in his room. He said to himself, "I will arrest this delusion by the realized presence of Jesus; of that l am sure>,' and as these forms be~an to appear he su~~ cooded in banishing them simply by the power of this fixed habit of his mind. I have always believed that this habit was almost the greatest force in his life, and it is certain that he endeavored to make it such.

In the ~omplete surrender of himself to Christ, George' Bowen has had many equals, but few I think who became at once and so utterly dead to all former things. Just as absolutely as Paul, did he say, "What things were gain to me those I counted loss for Christ; yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." All his literary ambitions and pursuits, all his linguistic attainments, all his social reputation, he not only laid upon the altar, but he seemed to forget that he had ever had such attainments or objects. I was often with him in his room and in the family circle, yet I never heard him speak of Italian or French art, although he was master of both languages and had looked with appreciative eye on most of the galleries of Europe, in this resembling the great apostle, who saw the temples, statuary, and altars of Athens, yet spake of one altar only, and made that the text for a sermon. I am not characterizing this, but simply making the statement. He had entered upon a literary career. From others I knew that the Putnams had published a graceful volume from his pen; he never alluded to it in my hearing, One of the family told me that he had nearly completed a much larger work, of which all I ever saw was some manuscript pages which he was putting to some common use; it never saw the light, except perhaps as kindling material. I think he underestimated the influence of his early literary habits and his study of the modern languages; they were of greater service to him all through his life than he seemed to recognize. His facility in acquiring languages was such that he commenced preachi,ng in the difficult Mahratta tongue before he had been nine months in Bombay. The ease with which he accomplished his varied literary and editorial work was due to the practice of those earlier years, when he was building better than he knew and preparing for future work divinely planned for him.

When he gave himself to foreign missions he made two resolvesnever to marry and never to return to his native land. So he lived alone, and died where he had labored. It may be questioned whether his choice to live so near the low plane of Hindu life in food and expenditure was a wise choice; it would not have been possible had he been a married man, as most missionaries will be and ought to be, but his course was prayerfully and deliberately taken, and he had the right to be his own judge. That most devoted Scotsman, William C. Burns, adopted the Chinese mode of living, and went so far as to adopt the Chinese dress. In later life he expressed doubts as to the wisdom of this course, and said that he would probably not do the same if his missionary life were to begin over again. When Bowen withdrew from the American Board and adopted his new mode of life, Dr. Rufus Anderson said it was well to have one man make such an experiment and to

MORMONISM MORmUND

mark the results. Christian Frederick Schwartz and George Bowen were men of great ability, entir'3 consecration, and of wide Christian influence; each was unselfish and generous to the l~st degree, and the work of each abides and will ever abide. That Schwartz hindered his influence because he lived in European modes, or Bowen helped his by living in the Hindu mode, who shall say?

A remarkable feature of Bowen's work has awakened thought among his friends. It is not known that many conversions can be traced to his personal efforts. That he himself ever mourned this or even regarded it as strange does not appear. The Head of the church gives to every man his own work, and Bowen's work seems to have been as nearly perfect as is often given to man to do. When Bishop Randolph Foster returned from India he said to me, "Bowen is called the Saint of India." To be thought .of as such by the many missionaries of the great peninsula is proof of an influence for good greater than is often given to men to exert. He said once to his classmates, "Our aim must be to bear the greatest possible amount of the best possible fruit." It is enough to say of him that for more than forty years he endeavored to fulfill the purpose thus tersely expressed.

The last time I saw him we were standing at the parting of Broadway and one of the avenues. He said, quietly, "It is as if you took this road and I took that, to meet soon where the streets join again."

The class that entered Union Theological Seminary in 1844 had this distinction, that eleven of those who were its members became foreign mISSIOnaries. Bowen was the last who remained in the foreign field, and was the latest of them all to be taken home.

MORMONISM MORIBUND.

By REV. AND PROF. DELAVAN L. LEONARD, OBERLIN, O.

NOT exactly in articulo mortis. Alas, no. The glad time for the setting forth of funeral baked meats is not yet, and most likely is still somewhat remote. But that the obnoxious and abominable system has seen its best. (that is, worst) days, is well advanced on the road that leads to death, and is even in the earlier throes of dissolution. No doubt abundance yet remains for Oongress and the courts, the churches and the whole people to do; but in the thick of the fight there can be no harm, there is much comfort and profit, in surveying the situation, steadily if slowly improving, and in reconnting some of the cheering facts in the case.

A review of thirty years, of twenty, or even of ten, will supply a multitude of indications that the theocracy, long so haughty and defiant, is playing a losing game. Think of it: time was when for an entirdecade Brigham was the despotic head, not only of ecclesiastical but also of civil affairs, and for as much longer governor de facto if not dll jure, since no other than church authority was in the least regarded. How changed from the day when such a one as he could proclaim martiallaw, forbid the Federal army to enter the territory, and send out the Nauvoo Legion to burn the trains and capture the stock! Even so late as 1862, so evil was his disposition and so great was his power for mischief, that even wise and cool Mr. Lincoln shrunk from provoking a conflict by executing the law against polygamy then just passed, removed a governor at the demand of the hierarchy, and promised, "I'll let Brigham Young alone if he will let me alone! " Never again can that so-called" Reformation" return, outbreak of fanaticithn, lust and every devilish passion, a veritable two-years' reign of terror, and whose legitimate culmination was reached in the massacre of Mountain Meadows, engineered altogether by Mormon elders.

Yes, the good work of bringing" the saints" to reason and to decency has made fine progress since Cannon the polygamist, and selected because he was a man possessed of divers wives, took his seat in Congress in 1874, and was able to hold it for eight years. And since about the same date a grand jury, composed of John Taylor and other apostles and high priests, was called to investigate the charge that Brigham had added to the already ample number of his "celestials" by marrying Amelia Folsom, and though the fact was as patent to their knowledge as the shining of the sun, after a two-days' inquisition had the truly sublime impudence to allege that they could find no evidence of his polygamy, and with faces solemn as owls!

Verily the world has moved; and not backward, since Norman Mc- Leod, the first Christian missionary, crossed the rim of the Great Basin in 1865 and opened the batteries of the gospel hard by the Tabernacle. Within two years his Sunday-school superintendent was murdered and he himself compelled to return lest the assassins take his life also. But now teachers and schools, ministers and churches, are found in every considerable settlement in the Territory, and have gained a solid foot. hold, have even conquered a place in the respect and affection of the people.

Through all the earlier years one great difficulty was found in the fact that Utah was so remote across the Great Plains, and the seat of disturbance was hidden behind the mountains. Interference of any kind was an effort at arm's length or a stroke in the dark. But isolation came suddenly and forever to an end when the railroad reached Salt Lake in 1869. Another perplexing feature was this, that the population was so homogeneous, or was Mormon almost to a man. The saints held all the land available for agriculture, and only from the soil could sustenance be gained. But 10 ! in 1863 it was found that the mountains round about the Latter-day Zion were full of the precious metals, and Gentile miners by the thousand began to pour in, and ever since have wrought mighty disturbance to the souls of the hierarchy. These rough delvers for gold, silver and lead regard the peculi/tr institutions of the region with intensest hatred, and never fail to speak their minds on all occasions with the utmost of freedom and force. And through the .impulse borrowed from the mines and from railroads now existing and soon to be built, it looks much as though ere long further additions to the anti-Mormon population by the ten thousand might be made.

And even the execution of Federal laws has been fairly successful of late, at least by comparison with former years. Wholesale disfranchisement of polygamists has been achieved, and in Idaho, wr.ere the elders had long carried things with a high hand, everyone is politically bound hand and foot and fiat upon his back. Whoever in that Territory belongs to the Mormon church is not only debarred from holding any office whatever, he may not even approach the polls! And the edifying spectacle, too long postponed, is continuous now of a procession of those high up in priesthoods, both Aaronic and Melchisedec, marching tramp, tramp, tramp to jail with none to deliver, and with no signs of relaxation in the severe stress of prosecutions. How the nation is minded was seen not long since in Washington, when Senator Ingalls .presented to the Senate a petition against statehood of the size of a nail keg, and signed 105,000 by persons, all from the thirteen original States! And numerous signs, of which these are specimens, unite to show that the theocrats themselves begin to catch glimpses of the handwriting upon the wall. They are willing, now at least, to pretend that polygamy is defunct, and to promise to prohibit it in the future State. Four years ago the Legislature (wholly Mormon) would rather lose a $40,000 appropriation for Deseret University by a gubernatorial veto than elect any but saints to the Board of Regents, but at the last session (with five Gentile members) three were appointed who refuse to bow the knee to Joseph Smith, one of them a Jew, and another a Congregational minister!! And it is even given out by one high in church station that some months since Wilford Woodruff, the present head, issued orders forbidding any more polygamous marriages. This statement, however, is not to be believed until well corroborated. A bold front is still maintained, but the strong probability is that the Mor- mon Church is in the same critical condition which marked the Con- federacy when Grant had reached Petersburg and Sherman had cap- tured Atlanta-just ready to collapse.

Certainly, however, it will not be at all wise to count the victory won. It is altogether too soon to trust any talk that wears the sound of contrition,' or of purpose to mend marital ways. The whole career of this most odious concern has been such as to breed grave suspicion that to date it is only the old case over again: " The devil was sick, the devil a monk would be : The devil was well, the devil a monk was he."

Only a protracted and most searching probation, with large and long bringing forth of fruits ,meet for repentance, will be wise and safe.

MIRACLES OF MISSIONS.'

[JUNE, For not the ancient Jews in their worst estate w~ a whit more stil!- necked and nncircumcised in heart and ears than these same Utah po- litico-religious leaders. Fifty years of successful resistance to law and defiance of public sentiment has made them exceeding bold and se1£- confident, and theirs is a pride to which yielding is an evil only less ter- rible than death itself. .

And so, though it be with trembling and with loius girded for further fight,. let us thank God that giveth the victory to righteousness, and rejoice to see the curse removed.

THE MIRAOLES OF MISSIONS.-No. IV. [EDITORIAL.~A.. T. p.] SIERRA LEONE.

SIERRA LEONE is a well-known British colony of Equatorial Africa, situated in the southern part of Senegambia. It has an area of 319 square miles, aud had twenty years ago a population of 60,000 to 80,000, nearly all blacks. This territory was in 1787, one hundred years ago, bought by a number of private indviduals for the purpose of establishing there a place of refuge for the negroes rescued from slavery and especially from the holds of slaveships, and it was hoped it might prove a convenient and open door to introduce into Wes~ern Africa the blessings of a Ohristian civilization. It early acquired the name of the White Man's Grave from its extreme unhealthiness. Freetown, the capital, contained in 1864 about 16,000 inhabitants, among whom were but a few whites besides the authorities, garrison and missionary agents. In the colony there were said to be, even as late as within a quarter 'of a century, members of seventeen chief and two hundred minor tribes, and from one hundred to one hundred and fifty different languages aud dialects were spoken in the streets of the capital.

If such are the conditions within'the last twenty years some conception may be formed of the state of things early in the present century, when this colony came under the governorship of a ruler appointed by the crown. Seventy years ago if you had gone to what was afterward known as Regent's Town you would have found about one thousand, people, taken at different times from the holds of slaveships, in the extreme of poverty and misery, destitution and degradation. They were as naked and as wild as beasts. They represented twenty-two hostile nations or tribes, strangers to each other's language and having no medium of communication save a little broken English. They had no conception of a pure home; they were crowded together in the rudest and filthiest huts, and in place of marriage lived in a promiscuous intercourse that was worse than concubinage. Lazy, bestial, strangers to God, they had not only defaced his image but well-nigh effaced even the image of humanity and combined all the worst conditions of the most brutal savage life, plundering and destroying one another. Here it pleased God to make a test of his grace in its uplifting and redeeming power. If out of materials so unpromising and in circumstances so unpropitious he could raise up a native church of true disciples and create a Ohristian community, surely men must be compelled to say this is God's husbandry; here is the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

'rhe oldest mission on the western coast of the Dark Oontinent is at Sierra Leone, and is that of the Church Missionary Society. It was about 1816 that William A. B. Johnson applied to this society asking to be sent as a schoolmaster to this colony. He was a plain German laborer, having but a very limited common-school education and no marked intellectual qualifications, but he was trained in the school of Christ and was a good man, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. It became obvious that he was called of God to preach the gospel, and he was ordained in Africa. His period of service was brief, but marvelousin interest and power, and he raised up a native church of great value. Into the midst of these indolent, vicious, violent savages he went. He found them devil worshipers, and was at first very much disheartened. But though William Johnson distrusted himself, he had faith in Christ and his gospel. Like Paul, he resolved to preach the simple gospel, holding up the cross, show them plainly what the Bible says of the guilt of sin, the need of holiness, and the awful account of the judgment day. He simply preached the gospel and left results with God, confident that his word would not return unto him void. For nearly a year he pursued this course. And he observed that over that apparently hopeless community a rapid and radical change was coming. Old and young began to show deep anxiety for their spiritual state and yearning for newness of life. If he went for a walk in the woods he stumbled on little groups of awakened men and women and children who had sought there a place to pour out their hearts to God in prayer; if he went abroad on moonlight evenings he found the hills round about the settlement echoing with the praises of those who had found salvation in Ohrist and were singing hymns of deliverance. His record of the simple experiences of these converts has preserved their own crude, broken, but pathetically expressive story of the Lord's dealings with them, and the very words in which they told {)f the work of grace within them. No reader could but be impressed with their deep sense of sin, their appreciation of grace, their distrust of themselves and their faith in God, their humble resolves, their tenderness of conscience, their love for the unsaved about them, and their insight into the vital truths of redemption. It was very plain that the Holy Spirit was once more working the miracle of Pentecost.

'1'he outward cha,nges were even more striking and marvelous. Those who had before been idlers or vicious busybodies in evil, now learned trades, became farmers and mechanics. About their dwellings gardens were to be found, with evidences of industrious tillage. Marriage took the place of that awful indifference to the family relation that had made the wreck of households imposRible only because there were none to be wrecked. Their night revels and orgies ceased; they stopped swearing, stealing, drinking and quarreling; they built a stone church with galleries, where about two thousand persons regularly gathered for worship, and a more decorous, decently attired, reverent body of worshipers the Church of England herself could not produce. They gathered a thousand of their children into schools; they built parsonage, storehouses, schoolhouses, bridges, all of stone, and in a word exhibited all the signs of a well-regulated, orderly, thriving community of Christians.

William A. B. Johnson died in 1823, having been engaged in his work only seven years. And yet all that we have here recorded he saw before his death-God's word had not indeed returned void. It had been as heavenly seed in earthly soil. Instead of the thorn had come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier the myrtle tree. There could be no doubt who was the Husbandman.

The work was not due to, nor dependent upon, Mr. Johnson. It was God's work and not man's, and therefore it survived the loss of its consecrated leader, although the effect of his sudden removal could not be otherwise than for the time disastrous. Twenty-five years after the mission had been begun one-fifth of the entire population of Sierra Leone was already gathered in Christian schools, and twelve thousand people were regular attendants at the places of worship! Twenty years later not only were native pastorates established, but ten parishes were supporting their own native pastors; and to evangelize the tribes yet beyond the colony's limits not less than six different missions were established and maintained by a people, less than forty-five years before so hopelessly lost in grossest sin and abandoned to the vilest and most shameless wickedness that few thought them worth the ~tJort to save them. In 1868, after a little more than a half century had elapsed since the inception of the mission, the number of nominal Christians in the colony was estimated by some as high as 80,000, and of communicants 20,000, and Sierra Leone was regarded as no longer a field for Christian missions. The rallying point had now become a radiating center. God's husbandry was already so complete that the harvest field was yielding not only bread for the eater but seed for the sower. To any who would fill out the outline of the wonderful work of God furnished in this sketch we commend the memoir of Mr. Johnson, published in London in 1852, also the r~ondon Missionary Register for 1819 and 1829, and the twentieth report of the Church Missionary Society.

Here is a chapter in the modern book of the Acts of the Apostles. The days of the supernatural have not passed, nor will they ever pass while the spirit of God continues to produce in the hearts of men results so amazing, superhuman, stupendous.

THE INSUFFICIENCY OF

THE INSUFFICIENCY OF BUDDHISM.

[We reproduce the following article from the Presbyterian College Journal, from the pen of its editor-in-chief, Prof. E. H. MacVicar, D.D., with his approval It is able and timely.-EDS.) To attempt to show the insufficiency of· Buddhism in an article necessarIly short as this must be, is an ambitious and difficult task. It may seelll even audacious in view of the fact that a choice community of Americans in Boston-ay, at the very "Hub of the Universe"- have openly avowed themselves as Buddhists. But fairness demands that we should recognize truth wherever it is found; and in every system of human thought, it seems to me, we may discover elements of truth as well as of error, so that it is really not surprising that those who persist in eliminating the divine from Christianity should become devotees of the next best system-that is, the next hest regarded from a purely ethical standpoint-that exists. For not only does Buddhism rank next to Christianity: it contains much that is directly parallel. The parallelism is indeed so striking that to some minds it affords not a little perplexity. The Church of Rome especially has found so many of its own doctrines and practices revealed in the" Light of Asia" that it boldly ascribes the whole system to the malignant agency of the prince of darkness transformed into an angel of light. And no wonder. The correspondence between the two is more than shadowy. Both have" a supreme and infallible head; the celibacy of the priesthood; monasteries and nunneries; prayers in an unknown tongue; prayers to saints and intercessors, and especially and principally to a virgin with a child; also prayers for the dead, with the use of a rosary; works of merit and supererogation; self-imposed austerities and bodily inflictions; a formal daily service, consisting of chants, burning of candles, sprinkling of holy water, bowings, prostrations, marchings and countermarchings. Both have also fast days, religious processions, images and pictures and fabulous legends, and revere and worship relics, real and pretended."

An equally striking correspondence is detected in the account of Shak-ya-Muni-Buddha's life, which is made to resemble in a remarkable degree that of Christ himself. Buddha is described as "coming from heaven, being born of a virgin, welcomed by angels, received by an old saint, presented in a temple, baptized with water and afterward with fire, astonishing the doctors with his understanding and answers; as led into the wilderness, and after being tempted of the devil, going about doing wonders and preaching. He was th) friend of the poor and wretched, was transfigured on a mount, descended into hell and ascended into heaven." These remarkable coincidences, skeptics of course have not been slow to seize upon. They at once pointed out that Guatama must have lived at least six centuries before the birth of Christ, and sought to explain the phenomena by alleging that during the eighteen years intervening between Ohrist's twelfth and thirtieth years-a period concerning which, it will be remembered, the inspired record'is quite silent-Jesus went to India, and after possessing himself of the particulars of Buddha's life, returned to Palestine to become the barefaced imitator of the Indian prince. The Ohurch of Rome surmounts the difficulty, as already stated, by declaring that Satan, six centuries in anticipation of Ohrist's coming, counterfeited his history and religion in order that men, being seduced by the false, might refuse to accept, when presented to them, the true.

Fortunately, we are not compened to resort to either of these theories. For reasons clearly stated by another writer in a former number of this magazine, we cannot, on the one hand, consider Ohrist a deceiver; and while, on the other hand, it may be admitted that Satan is the instigator of every system of error, it is unnecessary to attribute these particular resemblances to and perversions of the truth to occult influences, since it has been discovered that none of them are mentioned in the Buddhist writings earlier than the 5th or 6th century after Ohrist. So that in order to assert the paganism of Rome we are 1mrdly justified in pointing to this religion in the Middle Kingdom as if it had borrowed most of its errors from that source. There is rather more reason for believing that Buddhism borrowed from Romanism (since resemblances have been detected chiefly in the modem developments of each) and that "the so-called Light of Asia shines in a borrowed radiance from the Son of David," who is the true Light of Asia and of the world.

But quite independent of this, there is much in Bnddhism which, from the very nature of things, could not have been borrowed and which yet calls for our approval. This may be said more especially with reference to its code of morals. Shak-ya-Muni laid down four principles which he regarded as fundamental. In spite of the luxurious life he had led in an Indian palace-and possibly in consequence of it-he became convinced that the normal state of existence is a state of misery, of sorrow, of unhappiness, and in casting about for the ca~se of all this wretchedness he fixed upon desire as the real disturbing element. Desire, satiRfied and unsatisfied, brought misery into the world and kept it there. Desire was fraught with sorrow. Desire made life unhappy. Therefore, he concluded, if desire could but be quenched, life's misery would cease, for then man would attain to nirvana-a state of perpetual quiescence. But how to quench desire-that was the question. Ultimately he propounded a fourfold method of doing this. To quench it a man's life must be characterized, 1st, by proper wisdom or faith; 2d, by proper judgment or thoughts; 3d, by proper language; 4th, by proper actions. "Under these, the principles he laid down were five, in a negative form-not to kill, extending even to animal life; not to steal" (a good maxim for Boston Buddhists, by the way); "not to commit adultery; not to lie-this extending to the use of improper language; and not to use strong drink" (a good maxim for Christian lands as well); "and positively, he enjoined six virtues-charity, purity; patience, courage, contemplation, science. " Now, to none of the latter principles can we take exception. They are all sound and embraced in Christianity. They all go to show that the law is written on the heart of man; that the" invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." But, while there is much that is good in the system, there is more that is bad. Let us briefly consider the points that are most assailable.

And we must attack it- I. First of all, on its ETHICAL SIDE. From this standpoint the most serious defect presented is 1. That it ignores Oonscience. The ethical system of Buddhism, so far as I am able to understand it, is not unlike the egoistic or selfish system which made Thomas Hobbes both famous and notorious, driving him to Paris in terror of his life. 'rhe Sage of Malmesbury started out on premises similar to those which Siddhartha adopted. He contended that in every performance, even the simplest, we are actuated by a specious motive of desire-desire to escape pain and enjoy pleasure; in short, the great mainspring of all activity, individual and collective, is selfishness, or as some people prefer to distinguish it, self-interest. And just as Buddha declared that misery, sorrow, sui!ering, is the normal condition of existence, the inevitable result of sentient being, so Hobbes declared that the state of nature (as distinguished from the artificial state brought about in society) is a state of warfare-warfare inevitable, continual and bitter-each man pitting his own interests against those of his fellows, and waiving them only when mutual concession to abstain from the exercise of certain common rights claimed by both at the same moment is established and observed. Far be it from us to deny the pa:T,',tial truth involved in both instances; life is far from being unalloyed enjoyment or unbroken peace; but the error lies, in the one case, in making this imperfect condition to depend entirely upon the presence of desire, and, in the other case, in making the performance of every act, the simplest, depend entirely upon the wish to escape pain and secure pleasure. The fact is that much, if not all, our misery arises through an entire or partial failure to obey the dictates of conscience. It is the peculiar function of conscience to make distinctions between right and wrong, and that all men make such distinctions is evidenced by the occurrence in all languages (including those spoken where Buddhism prevails) of ideas of moral excellence and moral evil, as well as by the prevalence in all civilized lands of systems of reward and punishment, indicating that there are some actions which ought to be done, and others which ought not to be done. This is the work of conscience. But Buddhism simply proceeds upon the supposition that all desire is undesirable. It takes no cognizance of the fact that desires are neither all alike right nor all alike wrong. It ignores the question of right and wrong altogether; and upon the broad assumption that all the misery in the world is caused by desire, often in itself perfectly innocent, seeks the ultimate extinction of desire of any and every kind. As a code of morals, therefore, it signally fails in that it ignores conscience and its function of declaring right and wrong.

2. This failure really arises from another. It has no true standard of right and wrong. This, simply because it ignores the existence of God. Buddhism originally came from India, but is now said to be more widespread in Ohina than in· the land of its birth. Originally, it was pure Atheism. Gautama used to say that he could not conceive of a Being who could create a world so full of misery as this is, and therefore he denied the existence of a Oreator altogether. In India the system developed into Pantheism, nirvana corresponding to ab- sorption in the Deity; while in Ohina it has come to assume the form of Polytheism. It will thus be seen that no immutable standard of right and wrong can be adduced. The true standarCi. is God's own nature; but in Atheism the existence of God is absolutely denied; in Pantheism God is regarded as devoid of personality, so that there can be no room for responsibility; in Polytheism a multiplication of standards IS obtained, so that the Buddhist is debarred from saying, "Right is right, since God is God,"

because with him" God" would stand for gods many, and one of these might be offended by obedience rendered tc q,nother; no two of his standards might agree. Buddhism, if it have a standard at all, must place it either in a series of antagonistic deities, or in human nature, and to do this is to make it mutable and gooJ for nothing. Such a law must be ever shifting with the moods, the dispositions, the envi- ronments of those from whom it emanates, and on that account can never have reliance placed upon it.

3. The insufficiency of Buddhism is further manifest in the practical outcome of it. In its favor it must be said that it has never deified vice nor sanctified prostitution (as has too often been the case in East- ern lands), nevertheless it is confirmed at the mouth of more than one or two witnesses that the statement of the fourteenth psalm de- scribes with vivid accuracy the system in its practical working out: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works." Under it the grossest immorality has been developed. But this I would not press too confidently as evidence of weakness in the system of ethics as such, since the failure may, and indeed must have arisen, not so much through imperfec- tion in the system itself (for this we know to be directly opposed to immorality), as through its inadequacy to change human nature defiled by sin. It is a matter of fact that abominable scandals have occurred, more especially in connection with its monasteries and nunneries, which have more than once been condemned and suppressed by the imperial authorities as hotbeds of immorality. It is true that at the time when Buddha appeared in India, his system was a revulsion from lower forms of heathenism, and elevation of thought and life was in a measure secured by it; but nowadays Buddhism is a mass of degrading formalities and inconsistent superstitions. Even the priests are densely ignorant, and the majority of its votaries are said to know really less of it than many Europeans who have made it a study.

So much then for Buddhism on its ethical side. II. Let us consider it now on ITS RELIGIOUS SIDE. For it is well to remember that Buddhism is received bS one-third of the human race, not as a philosophy, but as a religion. Buddha described himself as "the father and mother of his helpless children; their guide and leader along the precipitoHs path of life; shedding the light of his truth like the sun and moon in the vault of heaven; providing a ferry-boat for passengers over this vain sea of shadows; as a propitious rain-cloud, restoring all things to life; providing salvation and refuge, by directing men into the final path that leads to the' Eternal City.'" Let us then inquire, Did the path he pointed to, in very truth lead to the It Eternal City" or away from it? Most assuredly the latter, since it only led away from Him who is the Light of it. 1. For in the first place we may instance its materialism. It gives no proper recognition to the soul. Indeed it does not recognize spiritual existence at all. It denies that the.re is a soul in man, a permanent self separable from the body. And as a consequence of this it regards life as material, involving decay. Buddha's last words were, "Beloved, that which causes life causes also decay and death. Never forget this; let your minds be filled with this truth. I called you to make it known to you." But it may be asked, Does not the doctrine of transmigration, which in these days has come to occupy the most prominent place in Buddhism, involve the idea of a soul? One would think so; but such is not the case. Life is looked upon as something material, and therefore may change and dissolve like anything material. And this was the whole essence of the salvation Buddha had to proclaim. "Life involves death. Wherever there is life, decay must follow. In eVt;lry form of existence there are already the germs of dissolution. To get rid of decay and its accompanying misery we must get quit of life; of life not merely in this present world, but of life in every form. For in the Buddhist philosophy there is no such conception as a purely spiritual existence. He is a heretic who holds that a man has a soul or permanent self separable from the body. Whatever is material is subject to change and dissolution, and there is no life which is not material. These are postulates, the ultimate facts on which Buddhism proceeds. As long therefore as man is, he must be miserable. His only salvation is not to be. There is no cure. The only escape from evil is escape from existence. The great problem comes to be, how to commit suicide-suicide not of that pitiful and de- lusive kind which rids a man of life in one particular form, but which rids him of existence in every form. The ultimate good to which the individual looks forward is annihilation; the consummation of all things which is to be prayed for and striven after is absolute universal nothing." Now with materialism like this we must as Ohristians take issue. And apart altogether from revelation we know that though physicists have often given us analyses of matter, they have never dis- covered in matter the phenomena of thought. They have never, for instance, found in it hope, fear, joy, sorrow, volition, a sense of per- sonal identity or anything akin; and these being yet unaccounted for in their analyses we properly relegate them to spirit. And if with our modern medical science we can persuade the Buddhist that these frail bodies of ours Imdergo a complete change every seven years, while the sense of personal identity remains unaltered, he must (so be it that he is an intelligent Buddhist) admit that life has not been changing, though the physical frame, the material body has, and that conse- quently this life or spiritual entity must be quite a distinct factor from the body.

2. And then in the next place Buddhism as a religion fails to teach the trzte nature of sin. This was to be expected since it admits of no personal God against whom sin can be committed. While it profes- sedly seeks to purge the outward life, it does nothing to remove the pollution within, denying indee4 that there is any heart, any soul, Ifrom which evil can proceed within. As a consequence, missionaries assure us that their great difficulty lies in convincing the heathen of their guilt; a difficulty which we shall all have to encounter whether we stay at home or go abroad.

3. A third defect in Buddhism as a religion-and it is the most serious of all, being the very root of all-is that it presents false views oj God. Space forbids anything more than a mere comprehensive statement of this defect.

In a general way it may be said that Buddhism, and for that mat- ter all heathen systems, both of philosophy and religion, fail utterly to reveal a Saviour and sanctifying Spirit; and it is especially unsatis- fying in the dim, shadowy allusions which it makes to the future state. .

The task I have now tried to accomplish of showing the insuf- ficiency of Buddhism has been far from a self-imposed one. I was requested to undertake it by the Montreal Foreign Missionary Volun- teers, and hardly realized its magnitude till I began to consult the voluminous authorities upon the subject. It is told how a learned divine across the waters once waxed so eloquent over the excellences of Buddhism that some one passing out of the door was forced to exclaim, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a heathen!" This is matched by the story of the Unitarians sending a missionary to Ohina who actually was persuaded to be a Buddhist heathen. But until the defects just pointed out-namely, the denial of spirit, the belittling of sin, the dishonoring of God, silence as to the true way of salvation-have been remedied, we must still regard the "Light of Asia" as wofully insufficient.

I have then tried to suggest how we may refute the system theoretically; but after all, as our own Professor of Apologetics recently remarked in the class-room, there are not many infidels converted through Apologetics; often the most powerful argument with them is that of a consistent example, so that if anyone would prepare to meet Buddhism effectively the surest course of preparation will be by seeking spiritual life" more abundantly," in order that by Ohristlike lives we may convince the followers of Buddha that we follow a Greater than he.

Only the power of the Holy Spirit can really be depended upon for meeting Buddhism, and that power, in terms of the great commission is at our disposal. The Saviour still says, "Ask and ye shall receive." If we have been finding it our greatest difficulty in preaching, especially to the heathen at home in cushioned pews, to make them fuel their sinfulness, we may depend upon finding this difficulty as great and greater under the Buddhist system. Our true work whereever we go shall be to promulgate the great cardinal doctrines of Ohristianity–to preach the gospel to every creature-but in doing so we shall have to tear down as well as build up. To us, as to Jeremiah, the Master says, "See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull uown, and to destroy, and to throw down "-all eventually in order "to build and to plant." And the only question that arises is as to the manner of doing it. Shall we be destructive before we are constructive? Or shall we first and always sow the seed of positive truth, in the expectation that, like the single parasite that took root in the walls of a massive building and in the course of time brought the whole structure crashing to the ground, even so the word of God "shall not return unto him void . but shall prosper in the thing whereto he sent it," both to the down-pulling of every refuge of lies and to the upbuilding of the truth in Jesus. Whatever we may conclude regarding methods of warfare, the conviction must surely force itself upon our minds and hearts that we are called not so much to attack and refute every heathen system that prevails the wide world over as to preach in a positive and persevering manner Ohrist and him crucified, relying on the power of the Holy Ghost, whose it is "to reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment."

THE SPEECHLESS TESTIFYING FOR CHRIST

THE SPEEOHLESS TESTIFYING FOR CHRIST.

By REv. W. H. BELDEN~ BRIDGETON~ N. J.

IN a city sixty miles from Oanton, Ohina, Miss Whilldin of the South- ern Baptist Mission noticed once in meeting a few years ago a man evi- dently dumb, who was indicating by extraordinary attempts his delight at the Ohristian hymns. His incoherent mumblings as he attempted to sing from the printed page before him led to some inquiry. The man had the unusual faculty, to one dumb, of hearing; he could read and hear, but he could not speak. His home was in a village at some distance from the city, and his neighbors testified of him that since he had begun to learn our Saviour's gospel his devotion to it had known no bounds. He had somehow obtained a copy of the Scripture in Ohi- nese, and when he would encounter some of his neighbors quarreling, he would open his Testament to some pertinent word of admonition and hold it ont for the wicked ones to read and profit by. He had never been known to utter more than a single word, or rather sound like a word, such was the nature of his malady. But the villagers said that his zeal seemed to lead him even into supernatural utterance, for he would rush upon his neighbors, bringing their paper devotions to idols, and, tearing the papers to pieces, would manage to speak these three words with significant gestures: "Pai go wai !" "Worship that one! "

In the course of time this poor man was proposed for baptism. The pastor and brethren hesitated, feeling that it was impossible to gain from . his speechless mouth any adequate proof that he had the knowledge re- quisite for church membership, or that he was not acting with duplicity. He was brought before the church, however, and the minister asked him this question: "What is the ground of your belief that there is sal- vation for you in Jesus Ohrist? " The others looked at one another in dismay; this question seemed impossible of answer from a dumb man. But he, on hearing it, instantly arose and proceeded to answer by signifi- cant signs. First, he put his hands upon his breast with an expression of loathing, to indicate his own sense of sin; then he stepped forward and looked down as if beholding a deep and awful pit, from which again he shrank back with a look of terror ;' but presently drawing near again, he looked and seemed to see something just beyond; then he made the sign of the cross! Jesus was there! And now agfin he looked into the pit and smiled, as that he saw his own sins cast in there! At last he looked up and pointed to heaven with a smile of ecstasy. Jesus had died for his sins and was risen forever to make intercession for him !

Was not this speech? It brought vividly to the missionary's mind the words of Scripture (Isaiah xxxv. 6), "Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb s-ing, for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert." " Behold! (Isa. xlix. 12) these shall come from far, and lo! these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim I ,.

TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES

TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES.

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

M. VERNIER, in a letter to Paris from Tahiti, says: "Weare profoundly rejoiced to learn how greatly the interest in missions has increased within a year among the Protestants of France. They assuredly will not halt in so happy a path, but will show more and more that the Saviour's injunction to make the gospel known to every creature is not for them a dead letter. Our Tahitian churches also begin to have a better understanding of their duty in this direction. The proceeds of the system of collections recently organized among them by our little Missionary Committee, in view of a work on the Marquesas, already amount to a very respectable sum, which now allows us to form plans of action. The Lord, we trust, will soon let us know which one of our Tahitians he would have set apart to open this work."

THE Journal des Missions Evangeliques for December, 1887, in comment- • ing on Canon Taylor's and Dr. Blyden's commendations of Islam, remarks that a religion which has taken twelve centuries to occupy Northern Africa, and which has left still surviving there tribe after tribe of pagans, while of those nominally Mussulman some do not even practice circumcision, must not be rated too high as a missionary force. The editors remark that when the followers of the Crescent are once setin motion by one of their periodical outbursts of fanaticism, idolatry has certainly a way of disappearing very rapidly, inasmuch as entire populations professing it disappear in one grand massacre. That, however, is not our usual conception of missionary effort, though it may suit the purposes of Canon Taylor and Dr. Blyden to give it this holy name. And it must be confessed that when a tribe chooses rather to be Moslemized than extinguished, it is allowed its election. In this case, however, the conquerors, according to the great traveller Barth, do not give themselves the trouble to communicate the slightest tincture of religious knowledge to their new subjects.

There is, however, the editors remark, one important exception to this easy willingness to take the name of Islam for the fact. The disciples of the Tripolitan saint Snoussi are innumerable, and bent on spreading far and wide the somber and taciturn type of their Puritan Mohammedanism. "They are making ready for one of those gigantic and sudden explosions of fanaticism of which it is impossible to calculate the effects." But, say the editors, it would be a strange hallucination to imagine that they would receive with any other feeling than that of furious scorn the knowledge of the fact that a Nazarene mollah complacently claims their system as "an incomplete Christianity," or to impute to them any other attitude toward civilization than that of uncompromising hostility. "What they are dreaming of is a return to the Islam of the early ages-a violent and definitive triumph by an irresistible conquest."

Among the benefits of Islam, according to Canon Taylor, is the spread of chastity. Upon this the Journal remarks: Islam and slavery are one. The news that slavery is the parent of chastity is news indeed. Well may Islam advance toward the heart of Africa, for the spread of Islam is one prolonged slave-hunt. "Almost always," says the Journal, here quoting from an eyewitness, the celebrated traveller Schweinfurth, "almost always the agents of this traffic in human beings are educated Mussulmans. This commerce is for them an ordinary accessory of their religious character; they traverse the country, the Koran in one hand, the knife destined to furnish guardians for the harem n the other; they associate with their religious practices infamies the most revolting, cruelties the most atrocious. . • • Brokers of human flesh, lustful and pitiless, they watch for their booty as vultures watch over a camel fallen in the desert; the shrill sound of their blasphemous prayers mingles with the imprecations with which they overwhelm their merchandise; nothing is to be seen but uncleansed wounds; cadaverous stenches spread themselves far and wide. The sum-total of these scenes forms a spectacle the most revolting, impossible to efface from the mind; it leaves behind an insurmountable disgust, an unutterable horror."

If the hordes of Brigham Young were turned loose in the middle of Africa, they surely could not do a completer devil's work than this. No wonder the Journal concludes with, "Behold, Canon Taylor, your missionaries, your apostles of humanity!"

LAST year, at the Moravian station of Gnadenthal, near the Cape of Good Hope, was held the 150th anniversary of the commencement of missionary work among the Hottentots by the Moravian Schmidt. He had previously served a term of three years at hard labor in Spielberg for having endeavored to carry a purer gospel to some remnants of the Brethren's Church still found in the Austrian territories. After gathering a community of forty-two converted Hottentots and revisiting Europe, he was refused permission to return by the Dutch East India Company, and died at home. At the anniversary services, the Lutheran minister who preached, instead of being furnished by the Moravian pastor with a well-bound Bible, was requested to take his text from a shabby New Testament, the sight of which, it is remarked, profoundly moved all who were present. It was the book which Schmidt had left to one of the first Hottentot women converted; "it was in this little book that she was to read during fifty years, waiting always for the return of her spiritual father, or of some other messenger of God; it is in this New Testament that she taught her children and grandchildren to read; it was, in fine, this New Testament which had been, at the end of the last century, rediscovered by the first missionaries who bad again come to the Cape; and it was in this volume, so full of remembrances, that Missionary Schmidt of Amalienstein was invited to take his text at the celebration. The seed may indeed be no' larger than a mustard seed, but sooner or later it has its harvest, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together." '

IN the Dans7c Missionsblad (Danish Missionary Magazine) for January, 1888, Missionary Lazarus of Madras says, in substance: "Our activity in street-preaching has lately aroused a new spirit among the Hindus. They are no longer listless as they were. They now show unmistakable signs of life and energy. They may be now regarded as coming forward in an effectively organized opposition, both to our preaching and to our faith. A new society has been organized in defense of Hinduism, with regular collections-' missionaries' and 'catechists,' who are sent out to preach Hinduism and attack ChristIanity and the Christian missionaries. They make it a point to preoccupy our preaching places, going to them an hour or two before the time. If they fail of this, they make it a point to annoy us by asking questions in the middle of the discourse. If we answel'~ which we never do till we have finished preaching-they badger us and hunt us from point to point, with the one thought of hunting us off the field. Of course we can claim no rights in the matter, as our Christian government observes a contemptuous neutrality. Often a Hindu preacher, taking his station close by us, begins his discourse at the same time with OUnl, which naturally carries over to him most of the hearers. If a.ny remain with us, a messenger comes over from him and asks upbraidingly hew children of lawful marriage between Hindu fathers and Hindu mothers can stand there encouraging a Christian to preach. This appeal commonly strips us of our few remaining hearers.

"They have also a Hindu tract society in operation, which issues all manner of pamphlets, including many which are so vile as to expose both author and printer to the law. But who is to bear the cost of prosecution?

"Meanwhile Madras resounds with preaching, especially every afternoon -Christian preaching, Hindu preaching, Mohammedan preaching, Brahmo preaching. The Tamil journals are full of announcements of sermons and debates: The Tamils have also a 'Punch,' which loses no opportunity to make merry at the expense of the' padres.' To meet such attacks a joint committee of various missions has determined to issue a popular journal in English and Tamil, of which I have been put in charge.

" However much the Hindus may have combined against us, I am glad to say that there are none the less a good many schisms in their camp. 'A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand,' and Hinduism is divided against itself. One preaches against the other's doctrines and moral!!. One will defend idolatry, and another will unsparingly condemn it. One will attack the Bible, especially the Old Testament, and another will take up arms in its defense. One party will issue tracts discussing Hindu questions, and another will rejoin with pamphlets, taking the opposite view of everything, and laying bare the vulnerable points of Hinduism. And so Hinduism divides itself and goes to buffets. Hinduism is so tolerant and elastic that every religious system, even to the worst atheism, can find a corner within its spacious domain. But under the disintegrating influences to which it is now exposed, these incongruous elements cannot long maintain an armistice. Some reformers, clearly conscious that Hinduism is in great danger of losing its hold upon the rising race, are trying if they can revive the old Veda religion, and so we have around us sooieties entitled Veda-Somaj, or Arya-Somaj, or Societies for the Propagation of the True Religion, and what not. All this stir and commotion may end in something good, may issue in the recognition of the crucifled Jesus as the Saviour of the world."

A DISCUSSION had lately been held in Madras before an audience of 2,500 persons, between the Hindus and Mohammedans on the one side, and the Christians on the other, concerning the Godhead of Christ. The principal spokesman of the former was a learned Moslem. He concluded his argument by saying: " Although we cannot acknowledge that the Bible represents Christ as the Supreme Being, we must all concede that he is the best and holiest man that has ever li ved, so good and holy that he can secure to all who put their trust in him the inheritance of eternal life." The force of this testimony, from such a man at such a time, must have been very great.

DR. W ARNECK remarks, in the Allgemeine Missionszeitschrijt, that a few years back at a synodical meeting in Berlin indifference to foreign missions was excused under the plea that" the shirt is nearer than the coat." He says, however, that even in Berlin they have since learned to be ashamed of this flimsy pretense, and to discern (1) that seemliness does not allow a man to go in nothing but a shirt; (2) that for the prosperity of the church the export of missionaries is as advantageous as for the mercantile world the export of goods. Dr. Warneck goes on to rem&rk that there has been a marvelous reversal of opinion in Germany generally as to the value of missions. Now that the German ambition is opening out toward colonization, the auxiliary value of missiona,ries as a~ents of culture cannot well be overlooked. The assistance rendered to science by missions is also coming to be more and more appreciated. Thus multitudes who care very little for the kingdom of God are nevertheless learnipg to set a higher estimate upon its ambassadors.

THE Zeitschrift recalls the time, some fifty years ago, when a missionary secretary in Scotland wrote to the young Duff, afte/'ward so famous, that things were going well; $6,000 had been raised for foreign missions. "No more?" wrote Duff in reply. "It ought to be ten times that." " Is the man mad?" wrote the secretary on the margin of the letter. " Has he had a sunstroke in India?" Perhaps Duff himself would have been staggered had some one told him that in fifty years Scotland would raise for foreign missions not ten times but a hundred times as much as the sum which had so encouraged the worthy secretary. ," Had anyone then," says Dr. Warneck, "ventured to prophesy that before 1890 Protestant Christendom would annually contribute $8,400,000 for foreign missions, and put in the field, ordained and unordained, much more than 3,000 missionaries, and have translated the Bible into some 400 languag'es, the question as to his wits would not have been raised. It would have been taken for granted that they had forsaken him. Yet for all that the impossibility has become reality.

THE Tidning, after remarking that two hundred years ago the heathen world was almost wholly shut out from the knowledge and activity of Protestantism, and in large measure of the whole Christian world, happily says: " At present the heathen world lies like a poor Lazarus at wealthy Christendom's door, so that this, as it were, can neither go out nor in without stumbling over its unhappy brother, whose case may well awaken to compassion all who have a heart to feel for the wretchedness and for the religious degradlJ,tion of their fellow-men."

THE Missionsblatt of the Leipsic Lutheran Mission, referring to the present disposition in Germany to yoke missions to the car of national ambition, says, in its January number: "Whence shall we draw new strength, in order, with the new year. to receive a fresh impulse toward making ready the way for the returning Lord? Shall we seek it in new plans, new missionary gatherings, and allmanner of means of stimulating interest? Or shall we, as some would have us do, enlarge our missionary programme, and write also civilization and colonization upon it? Far be it from us. Our work is, and is to be, to' bring the present Saviour. in the offer of the means of grace to the heathen, and so to prepare the way for the coming Lord. Therefore we know only one means to get new strength, namely, above all things, in simplicity and faithfulness, to do and pursue this one thing, first to win Christ for ourselves, and then to seek also to find an entrance for him into the hearts of others."

WE used to be taught at school that there were four castes in India. But the Leipsic Mis8ionsblatt says that among the Tamils of South India there are computed to be 8,000 castes and subcastes, and in all India perhaps more than twice as many. A subcaste appears to be for most purposes the same as a caste. We must not expect these 16,000 walls to fall at 13 blasts of the trumpet, though fall they will.

THE Bulletin Missionnaire of French Switzerland, the churches of which support a mission in the Transvaal Republic, remarks, in view of a possible war between the Boers and some savage tribes: "If war does break out, there is a prospect of scenes of sickening brutality. During the summer the people of Mpafouri have devoured their prisoners of war, and M. Beuster has been himself witness to all the prepa-

CONTAGIOUS SUPERSTITION

rations for a cannibal feast. Our neighbor Ndjabune of Tsofirn has also eaten one of his brothers who gave him some matter of offense fifteen years ago, and there is every reason to believe that he would have a very good appetite'for another such repast if a fair opportunity offered itself. Yet it would be wrong to put all this to the account of a depraved taste for the flesh of the hostile warriors. A good many only take part in such horrors when urged by the chiefs or the kindred of those who are called to face the enemy. The fact is that there exists among our Bavenda, and a good many other Africans, an inveterate opinion that whoever has tasted of' human flesh is invulnerable in battle. Of all medicines this, it is held, is the most efficacious for turning aside the stroke of an enemy and giving victory. This horrible practice among these wretched people, therefore, roots not so much in depraved appetite or cruelty as in superstition. The need of protection is a sentiment so natural to us poor human creatures that it seems as if nothing ought to be spared to assure us of it. Let us then pity these eaters of men; their wretchedness is extreme. 'Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm.' The prophet, in writing these words, so profound and so simple, did not perhaps know that there could ever be occasion to attach to them a material and literal sense as true as the other. Ah! how many surprises for one who lives in a pagan worldl"

"CONTAGIOUS SUPERSTITION."

By Lucy E. GUINNESS OF LONDON. IT was 1700 years ago and more, in the early days of the church. Pliny, the Roman governor and historian, was writing to his master, the Emperor Trajan, of the progress of the province of Bithynia, and the questions that arose in the administration of justice there. Among other elements that he found most difficult to deal with was a certain small religious sect of simple and harmless tenets, but who absolutely refused to pay homage to the gods. As citizens these people were exemplary in'life and conduct, but they actually held their opinions as regards the worship of one God and the great evil of idolatry in defiance of all the laws of pagan Rome. The whole heaven of mythological deities was as nothing to them, and they refused, even under torture, to burn incense on the altar of Jove or before the statue of Trajan. Such conduct was incomprehensible to the Roman governor. But it was not the worst of their crimes. Not content with themselves forsaking the state religion, they were far from keeping silence on the subject of their guilt, but so published abroad the delusion under which they labored that Pliny exclaims in distress, "This contagious superstition is not confined to the cities only, but has spread its infection among the neighboring villages and country. Nevertheless," he adds, with a gleam of hope, "it still seems possible to restrain its progress." And so he went to work, and torture (that the old Romans knew well enough how to inflict!) measured its strength with the faith of Jesus Christ. Then it was that Pliny discovered what a marvelous unseen power lay in this" contagious superstition." Some few professors, he relates, gave way, but even flame and sword utterly failed in compelling the early Christians to offer incense to the statue of Trajan or to the gods. All his efforts were vain. They would die, but they would not deny Jesus! And the Roman governoc makes the striking statement that" There is no forcing those who are really Ohristians into any of these compliances! " The" contagious superstition" was more than a match for him! Seventeen centuries have rolled by, and could Pliny look around Ol,lr world to-day he might ask what had become of the "contagious superstition" that baffled his skill long ago. Had it been trampled out of existence by the iron heel of Rome? Or had it run a brief course, like so many other superstitions, and died a natural death, according to the law of such fungus growths? And he would be astonished in no little measure at the answer of Christendom. For the" contagious superstition" has spread overthe world, and still it is reaching forth its arms to the heathen, nor will it ever cease to spread till it has affected all nations.

Yes. The faith of Jesus Christ is verily contagious. This is one law of its being. It must be aggressive or it cannot live. "The Christian or church that does conquer will be conquered." The vital principle in Christianity requires that it should extend or die.. There is no middle course. We know this individually in our own experience. If we have" been with" Jesus we cannot help witnessing for him, "we cannot but speak." Freely we have received, freely we must give to others of the water of life. And thus watering we are watered ourselves. But very surely is the converse of this blessed fact also true. If we water not we shall be withered. "We do not find warrant in the Word of God for spirit-level experience. Count the dead and dying churches, all because they did not fight and conquer I"

From its earliest dawn to this nineteenth century of its existence the Christian faith has been essentially "contagious." To-day we see this contagion spreading to the heatben by means of missionary effort. The hundreds of missionary societies all over the Christian world; the thousands of workers at home and abroad; the millions who help by their gifts to forward missionary work; the stream:of missionary literature in the shape of reports, periodicals, accounts, letters, appeals, and countless other productions, that issues month by month, and even hour by hour, from the press; the earnest missionary addresses delivered from all sorts of platforms, from that of Exeter Hall down to that of the simple Sunday-school in the bush at the antipodes, and in all sorts of places, from the crowded metropolis to the quiet country lane, where the student confides to his fellow his purpose to enter the great harvest-field; the countless hearts that turn with love and longing to the regions beyond; the countless prayers that ascend to our Father for the dark places of the earth i-all these are so many agencies for that spread of the truth which so long ago attracted the marveling attention of Pliny.

And the soul that is out of touch with this missionary zeal and energy, this contagious spirit of tlie church, is out of touch with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who was the First Great Missionary; who so loved us-the dwellers in darkness-that he gave, not money, nor time, not thought or interest or help, but himself, for us !

A NOTABLE CONVERT TO MISSIONS.

BEFORE the late M. Paul Bert was appointed as Resideht in Tonquin, he was most violent in his opposition to religion and in any crusade against clericalism. His hostility to missionaries was equally pronounced. In the report of his administration of Tonquin, just published, he dropped his hostility to missionaries altogether. and availed himself of their immense knowledge of the people, by which, if not by their advice also, he guided his actions. Without their assistance it was almost impossible for him to succeed, and he had to acknowledge the great value of their services. It would be difficult to find a more surprising example of a complete turning upside down of a public man as publicly avowed; and the fact is an important testimony to the value of missionary work.

SENT BEFORE THE MAJiTER

SENT BEFORE THE MASTER.-LuKE x. 1. By MRS. MERRILL E. GATES, NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J.

Air, .. From Greenland's Iell Mountains…

Isaiah 6. 8 "WHOM shall I send? He sayeth ; " What servant shall it be?" " " " " 'Tis Faith's strong voice that prayeth, " " "My Master, 0 send me !"

Gal. 1. 16 Send me to tell Thy story, Abroad, or here at home. Acts 22.21 Send me, 0 Lord, before Thee, Luke 10. 1 Where Thou Thyself wilt come.

Acts 10.89 Send me, for I have known Thee, I would Thy witness be ; Acts 22.15 To speak thy message only, Acts 5.20 My Master, 0 send me.

Romans 10. 15 Send me to speak of Jesus, Of what my Lord hath done- John 1. S His finished work most precious, Luke 8.89 Of this and this alone.

John 17. 4 Ps. 71. 16 Ez. 34. 4 To bring the lost and sinning, To Thee, the Sinless One, Reb. ~ 26 To speak sweet words and winning, Eph. 3. S Of Christ, the Father's Son.

John 17. 1 Send me to darkest places, To many a shadowed home, Isaiah 9. 2 Where with Thy shining gl'aces, 2 Peter 1. 19 Lord Jesus, Thou wilt come.

2 Cor. 4. 4 2 Cor. 4. 6 Heb. 3. 2 Send me to work appointed, But, Master, let me be Micah 3. S By Thine own power anointed, Acts 2.4,17 Then, Master, 0 send me !

Acts 1. S Not unto us the glory, When lost ones find their home; Ps. 115. 1 We only go before Thee, Luke 15.24 Where Thou Thyself wilt come!

Luke 10. t " "

BRIEF NOTES ON NEW BOOKS OF A MISSIONARY CHARACTER

BRIEF NOTES ON NEW BOOKS OF A MISSIONARY CHARACTER.

])ictionary and Grammar of the Kongo Language. By Rev. W. Holman Bentley. Bapt. Miss. Society, Holborn, London; also Trilbner & Co.

This book is one of the landmarks of the age. Here is a volume of over 700 pages, both English-Kongo and Kongo-English, and all printed in Roman characters! The Congo Free State became such only in 1884–85, and here in 1887-88 we have a complete grammar and lexicon of the language, pre- pared by a scholarly missionary, and printed in beautiful typography by English publishers. This will put all students of the language in the way of easy conquest of the Kongo tongue. Not only are words given with their equivalents, but sentences and phrases and idioms are placed at the disposal of the student. The wide and warm interest felt on iJoth sides of the water in Africa's unveiling and revealing will insure in many hearts a deep interest in this new and largely pioneer work toward mastery of the Kongo dialect. -A. T. P.

Brazilian Missions. A Monthly Bulletin of Missionary Intelligence. Edited In Sao Paulo, Brazil, aud published in Brooklyn, N. Y., at 25 cents per annum. Subscriptions may be sent to Donald McLaren, D.D., 372 Lewis avenue, Brooklyn. Outside of the United States and Canada, 12 cents for postage.

We are glad to see this monthly of eight pages. It aims to keep before the church the details of the work in Brazil more fully than hitherto has been possible. Thebulk of Christians know very little of the work of God in papal lands, and especially in South America, where the Romish system may be seen in its most corrupt, idolatrous and immoral form. Those who, in their desire to be charitable, talk of the Romish Church as simply a branch of the church catholic but in error in some particulars, should become familial' with papal customs, manners and morals in Brazil. Dr. Howard Crosby in- cisively says of those W!:l0 call the Papal Church a church of Christ, "Yes, an apple may be an apple, even if it be rotten to the core!" This little peri- odical will be found both interesting and instructive if the numbers we have seen may give indication. We shall present extracts from it from time to time, particularly in months when papal lands are under review.-A. T. P.

Our ])ay. A Record and Review of Cnrrent Reform. Joseph Cook, editor. Boston: Onr Day Publishing Co., 28 Beacon st. $11.00 a year.

This new magazine of eighty pages starts with flying colors. With Mr. Cook as the editor-in-chief, it unites six prominent specialists-Miss Willard, Anthony Comstock, Profs. James and Townsend and Revs. Eby and Pente- cost. Its contents are what its name and prospectus would indicate, and we predict for it a foremost place in the periodical literature of the world. It is epigrammatic, comprehensive and glowing. It deals with living questions in a living style.-A. T. P.

Autobiography of William G. SchauJfter. Edited by his sons. Randolph & Co., New York. 12~o, pp. 258.

The introduction by Prof. E. A. Park is admirable and sets forth the liter- ary and moral characteristics of Dr. S. clearly and effectively. He was an . extraordinary man-scholar, Christian and preacher, as well as missionary. He is said to have understood twenty-six languages and was able to preach extempore in six of them. His gifts were varied as well as eminent. But they were all singularly consecrated to Christ in the mission work, spending forty-nine years as a missionary in the Orient. His own account of his life, from the time he left Odessa (he was born at Stuttgart in 1798), whither the family had removed, embracing the period of his conversion while in Russia, and. his visit to America, his life at Andover, his consecration to mission work among the Jews, and his long and eminently useful service in connection with the American Board, is modestly and succinctly told in these pages. And no reader can follow him without being impressed with the sincerity and single-headedness of the man and thanking God for raising him up to do the work he did.-J. M. S.

Life ofRev. Justin Perki1!8, D.D. Oloth, 30 cents.

This is the fourth in the "Missionary Annals" series, published by the Woman's Presbyterian Board of Missions, Chicago. The son, Rev. Henry Martyn, gives in this brief space a clear and interesting account of his father, a pioneer missionary to Persia, where thirty-seven years of an earnest life were consecrated to the Master's service.

P1'Otestant Missions in Pagan Lands. By Rev. Edward Storrow. London: Snow & 00.

12mo, pp. 191. Price 3s. 6d. .

The author has written other missionary books, particularly" India and Its Missions," and the" History of Protestant Missions in India." The present volume purports to be "A Manual of Missionary Facts and Principles relating to Foreign Missions throughout the World." It gives a bird's-eye view of the religious condition of the world, the missionary effort in the three pre- vious centuries, the rise and development of modern missions, and the work and the results of missions on various fields. It is an instructive manual, giving definite information on a multitude of points. Its tables of missionary societies are taken from our own MISSIONARY REVIEW.-J. M. S.

The M"usionary Problem. By James Oroil. Toronto, Canada: Wm. Briggs. 12mo. pp. 224.

This work is similar to the one noticed above, although not covering so broad a field nor quite so recent in its survey. Still it gives a condensed his- tory of Protestant missions in several of the principal fields of missionary enterprise. Brown's" History of Missions" is the author's chief authority for the earlier times.-J. 1:1. S.

The Inspired. Word. A Series of Papers and Addresses delivered at the Bible Inapiration Conference in Philadelphia. Edited by Arthur T. Pierson. Randolph & 00. 12mo, pp. 359. Price $1.50.

This is a work of solid merit. There are no less than eighteen distinct papers on the various phases of the subject by as many writers of acknowl- edged ability, each fitted for his special theme. Most of .them are" special- ists" in their departments and represent all forms of evangelical faith. They came together and gave their united testimony, and the reader of these pages has the result. And it is not too much to say, there is scarce a chord shuck in which there is not the fullest harmony. The editor well says: "It is not strange that upon the Word of God all the forces of the foes of Chris- tianity should be massed. If confidence in that word can be undermined; if, by subtlety and sophistry, its infallible inspiration may be made to appear like an old wives' fable or groundless tradition; if in any way men may feel at liberty, like Jehudi, to use a penknife on the sacred scrolls and cut out of it whatever is offensive to the proud reason or the wayward will of the natural man, the devil will have achieved his greatest triumph." The work is as timely as it is able, and deserves extensive circulation, both for the sub- ject's sake and the character and ability of the treatment.-J. M. S.

NfYr'ard of the Dor;ger; or, Deep Sea Trials and Gospel Trinmphs. Being the Story of the Initiation, Struggles and Successes of the Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen. By E. J. Mather, fonnder and director. with illustrations. London: Nisbet & 00. New York: James Pott & Co. 12mo, pp. 376. Price $1.50. Fourth thonsand.

Few among us, I fear, are well informed respecting the "Deep Sea Mis- sion." And yet it is doing a much-needed and highly useful work, as Mr.

Mather's enthusiastic and charming narrative makes clear. Fishermen in deep waters-fishermen on board of thousands of "smacks," fishermen in the North Sea-are the special objects of this mission'fI care. The miBsion on their behalf began in 1880. By means of mission ships, which are really hospitals, churches, schools, etc., going to sea with the fleets of fishing vessels, and staying with them, and by every other possible agency and influence of a social, moral and sanitary kind, this mission strives for the temporal and spiritual welfare of this class, so exposed to perils and hardships and enjoying so few privileges of any kind. It is a blessed work, and the mission has been greatly blessed. The reading of this book cannot fail to awaken an interest in it in the United States and Canada, especially in the maritime provinces, where so many fishermen follow the sea fOl' a living.-J. M. S.

Pale8tiM in the Time Qf Ghrist. By Edmond Staprer, D.D. Translated by Annie Harwood Holmden. !'p. 527. New York: A. C. Armstrong &; Son.

This volume has reaahed its third edition, and now appears in a beautiful form, accompanied by very valuable maps and plans. It is open to every believer's observation that the Land is at this present' time greatly aiding the Book. While the two international societies for exploration, the Egypt and the Palestine, are doing admirable work in bringing forth corroboration and elucidation of the Scriptures from the ruins discovered in the countries around the Mediterranean and up the Nile, any book treating of the Holy Land is sure to be welcomed by Christian students. The author of this one is a professor in the theological faculty of Paris. He writes fiuently and well, and his general orthodoxy as well as his devout spirit is evidenced by his own declaration: "Jesus Christ was not the natural product of his eBvironment ; his appearance was a miracle; he came from God." Science has at last become a foreign missionary and is preaching with a spade. It would be an interesting theme for study, if one at his leisure would search out and com- pare for use how much missionaries have done for scientists within the last few years, and how much now scientists are doing in an attempt to return the favors.-J. lL S.

The Dawn of the Modern Mission. By Rev. Wm. Fleming Stevenson. D.D. Edinburgh: McNiven & Wallace. 1887.

This charming book of 188 pp. contains the foul' lectures delivered in con- nection with the Duff Missionary Lectureship, in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen during the years 1884-86. They possess peculiar and pathetic interest as a posthumous pUblication of the last utterances of that gifted , and consecrated author of "Praying and Worh.'ing."

It may be doubted whether any man of his generation has, from a pulpit and parish in a Christian land, done as much as Dr. Stevenson to kindle the fiame of holy enthusiasm and intelligent consecration in the direction of the' ch)lrch's mission to the unsaved millions. He was a missionary pastor. His tongue and pen were both aflame. Though he was a Dublin clergyman, his field was the world and his church only his working force,. nay, he was him- self the centre and spring of all his church force. He sought to spread the knowledge of missionary trials and triumphs, to bring those who heard and read his words into sympathetic contact with the degradation and destitution of a dying world at its remotest corners and deepest needs. " Hans Egede's Story," illustrated by his pen, stirred many a home pastor to yearnings over those who were far off; his beautiful picture of "Pastor Harms and Her- mannsburg" quickened many a listless minister and church to organize the home force into a base of supplies for the foreign field. He made a world tour of missions, his pulpit being meanwhile supplied by the members of his Presbytery, without cost; and being elected the second lecturer under this Duff Lectureship he delivered these four grand lectures, which come to us scarcely complete, w1).en his pen dropped from. his dying hand, and his de- voted wife took it up to prepare the manuscript for the press.-A. T. P.

ORGANIZED MISSIONARY

n.-ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK.

National Bible Sooiety of Scotland. number 335, and represent more than 700 parishes. Annual report for 1887, being the seventyeighth report of the Edinburgh, twenty-eighth The purely missionary side of the work is of the National, seventy·fifth of the Glasgow, growing year by year. The grants at reduced sixty-sixth of the Glasgow Auxiliary to the ·rates to charitable and evangelistic agencies British and Foreign Bible Society, and twenty- at home amounted isst year to 38,921 copies, beseventh since the Union was formed. ing more than one-third of the whole issues in 1861; and of the 384,703 copies issued in foreign FOR the first time since 1877 the in- lands, only 71,130 went to nominally Protestant come of the year has sufficed to meet countries, while 71,652 were circulated in Roman expenditure, the receIpts having been Catholic countries and 241,921 among heathen £33,432, and the outlay £30,988. nations. Thus, in a period of great commercial depression and without any spe- The China issues for the year reached the cial effort, the income has almost large number of 183,559 copies, and the publicareached that of the semi-jubilee year; tion of its new Wen-Ii version places the &0and 1887, which came in under the ciety in the front rank of agencies at work for cloud of a. deficit, passes away in the the evangelization of China. Iu Japan the year sunshine of a surplus. is notable for the issue of the complete Scrip- tures in the tongue of the people-a work in The issues, though they do not which the society has taken its full share. quite reach the exceptional figures of Since 1861 it has issued in Spain 531,561, in the two preceding years, are far France 750,346, in Germany 1,247,542 copies. above the record of any former year. It touches .. the dark coutinent" at more than They are in all 632,073 copies, of one point-last year in Calabar, Kaffraria and which 411,319 have been circulated Natal. In South America it aids Protestant abroad and 220,754 at home; and aggressive work in Brazil, where a congregation they include 164,729 Bibles, 180,662 in Pernambuco, itself the fmits of colportage, Testaments, and 286,682 portions. supplies several successful distributors or the The total issues since the union of Word. In Asia it has begun work among the the Bible societies in 1861 are now wandering Bedouins of the Syrian Desert; it 10,110,975 copies. has distributed the Scriptures in thousands among the Tartar tribes of Mon~olia ; it is sow- The auxiliary societies – whose ing the good seed of the Word in four great co-operation not only supplies well- provinces of India; it was among the first to nigh half the free income, but establish regular colportage in Corea, Into whose keeps the board in touch with the tongue it was also the first to translate the goscountry and gives the society its pe1.story; in the great Chinese Empire, where it right to the name it bears – now has since 1864 circulated 1,024,280 Scriptures, it employs four European agents and forty native colporteurs, and has the aid of missionaries be- longing to eleven different societies; aud in the island·empire of Japan, under two European agents, forty·one colporteurs sold last year 46,687 Scriptures, making a total of 321,458 since 1875.

TREASURER'S REPORT FOR 1887.

Receipts for Scriptures during year, viz.: INOOHE.

Home, including grants, etc ……………………………….. £9,392 15 9 Colonies, do. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. .. .. 2,028 12 4 British and Foreign Bible Society for Scriptures supplied to them in China, 1886 ………………………………………… .. 417 17 5 do., 1887………………………………………… .. 544 2 3 Foreign agencies, per contra…………………………….. .. 4,055 13 1 £16,489 010 t~Nf~r;~~~~~~f!!~.~~·.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: : 1,174 10 0 Donations, viz. ~ . 8,123 9 9 Ordinary………………………………………………… £2,956 14 5 For semi-jubilee fund…………………………………….. 213 19 10 £2,95614 II Total received …..•………. £3,187 14 3 2,780 1 9 582 II 8 Legacies available in 1887………………………………………………… . 2lIII111 9 Net rents……………………………………………………………. .. Iuterest on investments and bank accounts ………………………………… . Semi-jubilee fund, viz.: Amount received in 1885 and 1886 ………………………….. £4,875 13 4 Whereof available for curreut year-twenty·five per cent….. £1,218 18 "' .£1,276 13 3 And twenty-five per cent. on £230 19s. "1Od., amount received 14 Ii 8 in 1881, as above .•…………………. :………………. 57 14 11 £33,576 3 Chinese Blind Mission amouut paid in excess on 31st Dec. last, repaid………•…• .£10,582 8 4 EXPENDITURE. 1,252 14 1 385 1911 Scriptnres for home and colonies…………………………………………. . Home circulation, viz.: 15,920 1 6 2,135 13 7 Scotlaud… . . . . . . . .•• • .. .. .. . . .. . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . .£974 8 4 Ireland . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. .. . . . . .. .. . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 5 9 538 910 21514 9 Colonial circulation. ………. ………….•……….. . …………………… . Foreign circulation- 990 Applied to circulation Remitted to 2,58712 1 as recelved. Agents. Total. £33,576 3 Africa . .. . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . •. . . . . . . .£7 0 0 .£12 13 3 .£19 13 3 Austria.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . .. . . . . 268 1 2 96412 5 1,23213 7 Belgium. …. . .. .. . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . 46 10 0 221 15 0 268 5 0 125 0 0 Brazil……………………… 0 0 0 125 0 0 3,009 13 I) Ohina……………………… 176 8 2 2,833 1) 3 France… . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . .. .. . . 147 9 2 1,192 18 1 1,340 7 3 Germany…. .. .. .. . . . . . .. . .. . . . . 2,196 8 4 2,825 18 3 5,~~ ~ ~ Holland. .. . . . … ………….. 142 1 0 104 0 0 95 9 8 123 9 8 Iudia………. ………….. …. 28 0 0 737 1 3 Italy……………….. ……. 10817 0 628 4 3 Japan….. …. .. .. …. .. .. … … . 805 8 1 2,060 10 2 2,865 18 3 Norway……………… …… 0 0 0 66 12 5 66 12 I) Spain……………………… 90 0 0 424 9 8 514 9 8 Swedeu……………………. 0 0 0 178 17 7 178 17 7 t30 2 5 169 12 7 Tnrkey and Syl"ia.. .. . . . . . . . .. . . 39 10 2 £4 055 13 1 '£11,864 8 5 Salaries and wages, viz.: General managemeut (including visitation of auxiliaries) …•…… '£1,277 I) 7 Bible department……………. : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . •. . . . . . . . . . . 858 8 0 Office expenses (including freights, traveliug, etc.) ………………………….. .

~:?l.~;;~~~:t~~i:~,: ~~~: : : :: :: ::: :: : :: :: ::: :: :: ::: :: : :: :: : ; :: : :: : ::: : :: :: :: :: :: :: Ameri,can Mission, Egypt. from the natives for congregational and school purposes, the expense THIS mission was begun in 1854, in 1887 was £7,600. New places are and carries on its work in three de- calling, some for schools, others for partments-the evangelistic, book preachers. The mission gratefully and educational. The work of the acknowledges the generous aid of mission extends from Alexandria to .the A. B. Society and the B. and F. Assouan, and entails a large expendi- B. Society in Bible distribution. ture. After deducting all receipts STATISTICS OJ!' THE EGYPTIAN MISSIO!{-GROWTH 1!'ROM 1865 TO 1887.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – -186-5. -1-870.- -1-875.- -18-80. – -188-7. Ordained missionaries……………………… . 7 7 8 8 11 Unmarried female missionaries……………… . 3 Native pastors…………………………….. . 3 7 8 10 1 3 Native licentiates………………………….. . 6 10 3 8 I) 7 Organized con~regations…………………… .. 1 3 6 12 24 Stations occupIed………………………….. . 5 Communicants……………………………. . 79 10 21 48 85 Average Sabbath attendance……. . ………… . 125 237 676 1,036 2,307 513 1,133 1,837 4,747 Pupils in Sabbath schools……………………. . 1,494 4,~ Number of schools…………………………. . '5 236 658 49 Pupils in schools…………………………… . 315 8 23 520 1,040 2,219 . Tuition fees ……………………………….. . 5,601 ; $655 i4,863 $13,083 Books distributed (vols.) …………………… . 5,506 $797 24,534 33609 11,890 Proceeds from sales of books………………… . r $1,037 $2,975 $5,541 $1;815 Total paid by natives for preaching, schools and books………………………………….. . $2,788 $4,840 $14,986 $27,173 Tuition" fees for 1870 and 1875 do not include amount paid in congregational schools. That sum was not large, as the demand had not arisen for such schools. It wili be noticed that in the most important items the work has nearly doubled, in some cases trebled itself each five years.

ASYOOT. March 7. 1888. JOlIN GI1!'lI'EN. The Syrian Mission. 1850. The Sultan, Abdul Mejid, issued an imperial firman, called [The following historical sketch was prepared the Imperial Protestant Charter of by Dr. Jessup of Beirut, Syria, at the request of Rights, guaranteeing to the Protest- the edltorR, as this Syrian Mission is one of the ants all the rights and privileges of pivotal enterprises of the East.-EDs.] other Christian sects in the empire.

THIS outline history may be divided 1846. The first boys' boarding into three periods: school was opened in Abieh, Mt• Lebanon. Also the first girls' board- FIRST PERIOD, 1820-1840. ing school in Beirut under Dr. and Mrs. De Forest (see" Women of the .A Period of Exploration and Prep- Arabs," by Jessup). aration.-Its features: intolerance, persecution, banishment, wars, and 1848. First Syrian evangelical pestilenc.e. church organized, with eighteen members. 1822. The American Arabic press was founded in Ma1ta. 1848. New translation of the Bible into the Arabic language begun by 1833. The press was removed to Rev. Eli Smith, D.D. Beirut. The first girls' school ever opened in the Turkish Empire was 1853-1855. Crimean war. British commenced by American ladies in influence predominant. Beirut and Mt. Lebanon. The first Protestant martyr, Asaadesh Shi- 1857. Death of Dr. Eli Smith. diak, was starved to death in the Translation continued by Rev. Cor- Maronite monastery of Kannobin by nelius Van Dyck, M.D., D.D. order of the Maronite patriarch. When the missionaries returned from October, 1858. Female Seminary Malta to Beirut, in 1833, one small opened in Suk el Ghurb, Mt. Lebanon. rowboat came out to meet them, containing the entire Protestant com- 1860. Translation and printing of munityof the Turkish Empire-viz., Arabic New Testament completed by five persons! The number of Prot- Dr. Van Dyck. estant adherents in 1887 is not far from 50,000 in the empire. The THIRD PERIOD, 1860-1888. Greek war, the plague, the invasion Light Out of Darkness.-New imof Ibrahim Pasha, son of Mohammed pulse to Christian education and Ali of Egypt, and the disturbed state great advance in civilization. of the country rendered continuous 1860. Ci viI war between Druzes missionary labor impossible. and Maronites in Lebanon, followed by bloody massacres in Lebanon, SECOND PERIOD, 1840-1860. Hasheiya, and, Damascus. Occupa tion of Syria for nine months by From the Expulsion of lbrahim 6,000 French troops on behalf of the Pasha by the European Powers to European powers and with the conthe Oivil War and Massacres of sent of the Sultan. New govern- 1860.-Protestantism was recognized ment instituted in Lebanon under a by the Turkish Sultan as one of the Latin Christian Pasha appointed religions of the empire. with the approval of the European powers. Increase of European and March, 184.4. The Sultan issued a Christian interest in Syria. New firman that Christians of all sects are educational and benevolent institunot to be insulted, nor be persecuted tions founded. for their religion. 1862. American Female Seminary reopened in Beirut with native Syri- 1840. Boys' boarding school estab- an teachers. lished in Beirut under Mr. Hebard. October, 1862. Suk Female Semi- nary transferrE'd to Sidon. 1847. The Protestant Charter of 1860. British Syrian schools, found- Rights was issued by the Grand Vizier ed by Mrs. Bowen Thompson, now in Constantinople (see "Goodell's Forty Years in the TU1'kish Empire" -appendix). have 3,000 children in their schools Majesty the Sultan the Caliph of Mo- hammed, place the seal of authorizain Syria. – tion upon 33 different editions of the Arabic Scriptures and parts of Scrip- 1860. Prussian deaconesses' orphan- tures. The local board in Damas- cus also approve 330 different Arabic age founded. in Beirut, with 130 or- publications of the American press in Beirut. phans. Up to this time they have [See statistics of the World's Missions near the trained about 800 orphan girls. close of this nnmber for tabnlar statement ofthe Presbyterian Mission in Syria.-EDs.] 1863. Syrian Protestant College in- corporated by Legislature of New York.

1865. The college formally opened in Beirut (see catalogue, which can be obtained of Rev. D. Stuart Dodge, 11 Cliff street, New York. See also General Ohristian Missionary Society.

"Missions and Science," "The Ely THIRTY-EIGHTH anniversary held at Indianapolis, Ind., Oct. 20, 21, Volume," for account of the college 1587. The work of the society is chiefly evangelistic in its character and other work in Syria, especially and is spread over most of the States and Territories of the Union. the press). Number of students Jan- RECEIPTS DURING TH1I YEAR. uary 1, 1888, 175. Girls school of the Missionary Fund ……… $20,019 37 Society for Promoting Female Edu- Regnlar Extension Fund. . 937 00 Special Extension Fund cation in the East, at Shemlan, Mt. (Boston House)…….. . 2,23621 Lebanon; Free Church of Scotland Ministerial Relief Fund.. . 17205 Tract Fund…………. .. 27093 schools at Shweir, Mt. Lebanon, Kirk Interest on Extension of Scotland; Jewish Mission schools Fund loans…………. 54 00 Repaid loans…………. 300 00 in Beirut; Miss Taylor'sSt. George's Borrowed.. .. .. . .. .. .. .. . 800 00-$24,789 54 Moslem girls' school in Beirut. I 1873. American Female Seminary opened in Tripoli, Syria.

I append the last statistical sum- mary of the missionary and educa- tional work in Syria up to January, Total from all sources …..•…….. $25,772 31 1887. This will give you a compara- DISBURSElIENTS.

tive view of the progress in the ten To missionaries, cash.. . .. $8,228 12 To missionaries, collecyears 1876-86. tions on field…. …… 9,68722–$17,915 M 1877. Mohammedans open schools For all incidental expenses 81848 To cor. sec'y, salary….. . 1,800 00- 2,61348 for girls in Beirut, Damascus, and For Boston house deht .. . 2,09685 For ministerial relief…. . 24500 Tripoli; Greeks, Maronites, Jews, For tract distribution…. . 340 00 To other miss. boards …• 9110 and other sects open schools for boys Loans from Extension Fd. 1,100 00- 8,87fl 45 Leaving bal. in Miss. Fund 21622 and girls. The whole number of chil- " Extension Fund….. 980 57 dren in Protestant schools in Syria " Ministerial ReliefF'd 158 80 .. Tract Fund ……… 20 45- 1,37077 and Palestine is probably about Total…………………………. $25,772 81 15,000, of whom at least 7,000 are girls. The number of nominal Prot- estants is not less (in Syria and Palestine) than 6,000. There has been a steady growth in the work of The Foreign Christian Missionary Society held its twelfth annual sesthe press in Syria. There are 11 Ara- sion October 19 and 20 at the same place as the General Society. bic journals in Beirut, 1 Turkish offi- cia.l, 3 Protestant, 2 Papal, 2 Greek, 2 Moslem, llitera.ry. Three hospitals SUMlIlAllT.

have been founded !!ince 1860-St. Number of missions.. .. …. . . .. .. .. • 6 John'!!, Protestant; St. Joseph's, Pa- stations.. .. .. …. .. .. .. .. 2S pal, and the RUl!Isian Greek HOl!lpital. missionaries (male). . . •. • 22 lM7. The Mejlis el Maarif, or Board (female)…. II natin assistants……… 13 « of Public In!!truction of his Impel'ial Whole number of workers ………. Whole number of converts under were $317.36, making the total ineome $11,102.02. Total receipts, including the $487.50 for the pereare of Society. . •. •. . . . ••. ••••. • l,85G mauent tund, $11,588.52. Expenditures direct1;y out of our treasury were $10,536.31. Addition31. (This does not include 348 at expenditures reported from China, out of tunds received on that fteld, $317.36, making the total Chester aud 120 at Southport.) expenditures $10,853.67, viz. : Home missions………………….. $5,330 83 Number added during the year…… 592 China .. .. .. .. ….. .. .. .. .. …. 2,559 36 Holland" .. . .. .. .. .. … .. •.. .. .. 490 00 Net gain…. …….. ………… …• Ii02 Salary and expenses of the corre- Whole number added from the 1Irst.. 3,518 sponding secretary, printing min- utes, interest on loans, and inci- Receipts for year ……………….. $40,559 35 dental expenses……………….. 972 98 Pa;yments for money loaned . ••••. •. •• 1,500 00 Total receipts [rom first…………. 259,201 60 The receipts canceled the debt, met It has a mission among the Scandinavians of all expenses, and left a balance of the United States, the Turkish Mission, India, $247.35. China and Japan missions, and the Perslau Mis- sion.

T,tal receipts of the year..•……..•. $48,489 27 .. disbursemeuts.. .. .. .. .. .. ….. 47,597 75 TABLlI JlXUmITING TUB LABOR OP llISSIONARIlIS POR THB YEAR ENDING OOTOBER 1,1887.

Baptisms… .. ….. ….. .. . . . .. . .. . •.. 762 Other accessions.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. • 792 Churches visited and assisted… . . . . •• 143 New places visited………………. 96 The Baptist Oonvention of the Karitime Nnmber churches organized… . . . . . •• 25 Pronnces. – Amount collected on field for remu- ORGANIZED in 1846. Forty-second annual meeting held in Charlotteneration… . . . .. .. .. .. . . . .. . .. .. .. .. $9,687 21 town August 20, 1887.

Amount received from treasury G. C. Strength of the denomination, 375 churches, 1,768 baptisms during the M. C… .. .. .. .. .. .. .. …. ……… 8,228 12 year; total membership, 43,553.

Amount received in cash and pledges for local work ………………… 26,200 00 TABLlI EXHmITING THE MISSIONARY WORK OJ'

TUB STATE ORGANIZATIONS. 200 Receipts of the' Foreign Missionary Board 8,970 (comprising Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Number of missionaries. . . . •. . . . . . . . • 5,134 Prince Edward Island) amounted to $9,325.65, Baptisms.. . . •. •. . . •. . . •. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,878 the expenditures to $10,269.06, leaving a balance Other accessions………………… of $442.58 due the treasurer. Churches visited and assisted. . . •. . .. 326 Unorganized places visited………..

Churches organized…………….. 123 Places assisted in building……….. 63 Raised by State Board…………….$83,422 58 The Baptist Foreign Missionary Oon- Raised by County and District Boards 29,327 49 vention of the U. S. Raised by evangelists for church build. ORGANIZED in 1880. Eighth annual ing and other local worlt ……….. 89,571 44 meeting held at Little Rock, Ark., Kembers in State.. .. …. .. • . .. .. .. .. • 625,000 Sept. 21-25,1887. Receipts reported, $4,069.22, and expenditures, $4,018, Adding work of G. C. M. C., we have, mis· leaving a balance to the new year of sionaries, 231; baptisms, 9,932; other acces- $51.22. We are not able to give an Sions, 5,926; new organizations, 140; collec- account of the results of the year. tions, $137,539.63. Ten States were represented. It resolved to devote the fourth Sunday Seventh.day Baptist General Oonference. in July of each year to the work in THE seventy-third annual session Africa. was held at Shiloh, N. J., September 21, 1887. The forty-fifth annual ses- Baptist Foreign Mission Society of Onsion of the Seventh-day Baptist Missionary Society was held during the tario and Quebec. sessions of the conference. The annual report gives the following FROM the twenty-first annual refacts: port, made in October, 1887, the Tbe amount oCthe permanent tund is $7,486.91, being an increase during the year of $487.50, board expressed its "fervent t;ra.tiwhich is for missionary purposes. The receipts tude for another ye&r of hard work or the treasurer from all sources from Septem- and marked prosperity in the Socieber 9, 1888, to I!!eptember 12, 1887, for the «eneral fund were $10,71!3.66; the receipts on the ty's operations. Four ap- China deld b;y our missionaries from contrlbutiOllS, etc., for the year ending June 30, 1887, pointments, the largest ever madein one year to our missionary staff, viz.,

CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE

the Rev. J. E. Davis, B.A., Rev. H. The Southem Baptist Oonvention. F. Laflamme, Rev. H. Garside, B.A., THIS society was organized in 1845. and Miss Bella Alexander. Numer- The forty-second anniversary was held in Louisville, Ky., May 6-10, ous converts have been baptized dur- 1887. The Board of Foreign Missions reported 116 laborers in the field, dising the year, making the member- tributed in Africa, Italy, China, Bra- zil and Mexico. ship of our Telugu churches on June 30 last something over 2,000. New churches have been organized. Ad- ditional native helpers have been put SUllI)[ARY. into the field, and important buildings Missionaries ………………….. .. 116 in course of erection last year have Baptisms for the year …………. .. 228 been completed." Total members…………………. 1,551 RECEIPTS. Churches and stations………….. . 65 Total from churches ………………. 88,424 98 Schools ………………………. . 25 Sunday-schools. . . .. .. . . . . . . … 1,260 11 Pnpils ……………………….. . 587 Woman's For. Mis. Soc. (West) 3,100 00 Contributions from the native . (East) 1,095 00 churches… .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. . .. . .. . $3,012.61 Fyfe Missionary Soc., Toronto.. 50 00 Receipts from all sources. . . . . . . . . . . 154,559.04 J udsou Missionary Society. . . . • 13 00 Expended on mission fields. . . . . . . . .. 62,584.81 Association collections …….• 88 41 In agency work………………… 8,264.44 legacies.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. . 250 00 The debt of the board had been canceled dur- individuals…… …………… 684 70 ing the year and a balance left in the treasury.

Miscellaneous.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . 253 02 The Home Mission Board sum- marized the labors of the year as fol- Total received during the year…… $15,219 22 lows: Balance on hand,at last audit… ….• 364 78 Balance due treasurer…………… 142 32 Missionaries …………………. .. 251 Churches and out-stations……… . 822 TotaL …………………………$15,726 32 Baptisms …………………….. 3,923 EXPENDITURliiS. Total additions. . . .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . 6,242 Sunday-schools reported. . . . . .. . . . . . 318 Paid to missionary ……………….. $14,642 87 Teachers and pupils……………. 13,031 " for printing .. .. .. .. . .. . .. .. .. .. .. 254 68 Churches constituted…………… 119 " for interest…………….. …… 136 95 " other disbursements……. , .. . .. • 549 50 Houses of worship built. . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Balance due treasurer.. ……… …… 142 32 Total receipts from all sources …… $122,097.20 The year began with an indebted- ness of…………………….. .. 8,500 815,726 32 This has been reduced to ………. . 2,500 III.-CORRESPONDENCE and GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

Netherlands India: An Appeal With- heathen. In Borneo and in the Celebes per- out a Response. haps about one-half; but wherever in Dutch India a heathen population is in contact with [THE following letter from our cor- Mohammedanism the latter is advancing steadrespondent in Singapore we are sure lIy." In fact, wherever the Dutch Government will be read with deep interest.- extends, Mohammedanism is spreading. Dr. S. does not charge this government with" know- EDS.] ingly and willfully propagating Mohammedan- ism," but, as he says, "here Mohammedanism About ten years ago the Rev. Dr. Schreiber, steps in to do that which Christianity ought but secretary of the Rhenish (Barmen) Missionary neglects to do." Society, gave an account of his society's efforts in Neth. India, at Mildmay.* He said that Mo- Dr. S. speaks of the workers already on the hammedanism was spreading with astonishing field and of their ntter insufficiency to occupy rapidity, especially in Java. "At present in Java the whole field. This field in some parts has almost the whole population (21,000,000) is Mo- been wonderfuily productive. In Ninnahassa, hammedan, at least in name; a great deal of or Celebes, in 1886, out of a population of 138,- heathenism still being concealed under the sur- 026 there was a nominal Christian population face. In Sumatra about the fourth part is still of 115,361. But" there is only one Ninnahass8 !nthe whole archipelago." In many parts • MIldmay Conference of )l'oreijpl Missions where there is a large nominal Christian popula- Report, 1878. tion " the poor Christians are quite neglected and forsaken," and are now fast falling before Mo- 19, in Lias 5, Borneo 7,' Celebes 11, Sumba 1, "hammedan influences. Ten years ago Dr. S. said Timor 1, Rotti 1, Wetter 1, Buru 1, Ceram 2, N. his society could not increase its staff of work, Guinea 5, Jilolo 2, Saugi 3, Talau 2, Saparina. 2, Amboina 4, Ternate 1, Letti 1, Harnku 1. ers, and it has not increased them. He made a strong appeal for other workers, assuring all According to censns (1885-1886) there were na- that the government would allow other nation- tive Christians, Malayan races, 235,070 ; Chinese, 939 (but not one missionary able to speak Chi- . alities to work freely, as the Germans do in nese), and natives of India, 121. In Dutch Timor there are 33,015 nominal Christians, with only Neth. India. one gove~nment helper. Truly the harvest is The part of his ,address I wish to emphasize plenteons, but the laborers few.

is this: " Will no otMr missionary society step (REV.) J. A. B. COOK, in, in order to at'ert suck a reproack to tke Presbyterian Missionary in Singapore. Okristian name? I want to make an earnest Oxford University and Missions, appeal to all the missionary societies in Englaud, America and Australia." Tkis appeal as yet kas LETTER from our correspondent in kad no response. Surely before long there will Oxford, J. F. Reyes, F.e.S" F.R.G.S. be a willingness to consider the claims of Malay- sia, especially the claims of the 27,000,000 of A MODERN ROBERT BRUCE. Neth. India. All that the Christians of England are doing for the 35,000,000 of Malaysia is being In Oxford the other day we had a remarkable done by the Sarawak (S. P. G.) Mission in illustration of the way in which the world will Borneo, and by a few scattered workers in continue to miss its greatest heroes. A great Singapore and Penang, with occasional visits to crowd had assembled to hear a notorious states- the peninsnla. There is only one solitary man speak on the Irish question. A few gradu- American missionary to represent the Chris- ates in a small room met without advertisement tianity of America in this wide region. two days later to hear from Dr. Robert Bruce an account of his work in Persia. He strongly re- Let me give a few facts as to the present state minds ns of Livingstone in his appearance and of missions in Netherlands India, with a few directness, and there is the further analogy that other facts, to be well pondered by thoughtful he has heen working alone in Jl1ifa,near Ispahan, Christians. these twenty years. Any ordinary person be- coming a Christian would be sure to disappear The Dutch possessions extend from Atcheeu", in a few days, probably by poison, but it would in Sumatra to New Guinea, and contain 612,520 be impossible to trace it. On the other hand, he square miles, with a population of 27,000,000 instanced a woman who became Moslem, and , under the Dutch flag. Among all this vast mul- speedily acquired property from Christian or titude of souls there are only 69 Dutch and Jewish relations in the law courts. German missionaries and 24 government mis- sion "helpers." These" helpers" are in govern- Dr. Bruce in fact gave incidentally many illus· ment pay. Their sphere and all their move-' trations of some of the misleading criticisms of ments are regulated by the officials, and thongh the now famous paper read by Canon Isaac Tay· they speak Malay are only allowed to work lor at the Wolverhampton Church Congress. In among the nominal Christians, The mission- Persia there was a "complete divorce of morals aries alone are free to go to the heathen and from religion," and his observation was that Mohammedans with the gospel. Mohammedanism " made every country a Wilderness." It is only fair to state that Canon Of the 93 missionaries on the field (always in- Taylor referred more especially to the civiliza- cluding the 24 government "helpers") fully 70 tion of the negro. He has since excluded the have arrived since 1870, the result no doubt of stations of the nniversity's missions to Central the reaction in university and college life in Africa from his criticisms. favor of evangelical doctrine and many forms of aggressive Christian efforts in the Nether- Before passing from this subject let me call lands and Germany. The 69 missionaries are attention to the remarkable phenomenon of the as follows: Times admitting correspondence on this question in extenso, writing leaders on it, and finally 6 from Neth. Miss. Society (Rotterdam). printing Sir W. W. Hunter's lecture on the re- 6 from Neth. Miss. Association (Rotterdam). ligions of India in full, with a leading article. 8 from Utrecht Miss. Association (Utrecht). Missions both in Africa and China have similarly 1 from Neth. Ref. Miss. Ass. (Amsterdam). been dealt with in the jubilee year. No facts 3 from Ermelo Miss. Association (Ermelo). could testify more emphatically that the time is 4 from Mennonite Miss. Ass. (Amsterdam). now ripe for the existence of a really great and 4 from Hague Home and For. Miss. Soc. impartial Review devoted j 0 missions and abso- (Hague). lutely independent of all missionary societies. On the whole I am inclined to think that the 3 from Christian Reformed Church (Leyden). best place for such a Review is America. Its 1 self-supporting Dutch missionary. language is available for one bundred millions of There are besides these Dntchmen 34 Ger· that party, the human race, which seems called man missionaries, of whom 28 are from the by God to an extraordinary future and an ex.- Barmen Mission, supported by the sub·society at Amsterdam; the rest are of the Berlin Mission These missionaries do not live together in large centers, but scatter themselves in families among the natives. In Java there are 24, in Snmatra ceedingly great present responsibility with re- MUKTSAB, PuNJAB, Jan. 31, 1888. spect to the actual condition of and openings in To the Princeton College .Men: the non-Christian world. The name of this town means" The Fountain Dr. Bruce's remarks on Mohammed and the of Salvation." The town Is not yet this, but I Koran were often at variance with the apologies trust the name is prophetic. It is one oCthe holy we sometimes hear. Even in the matter of places of the Sikhs, who are a reformed sect of temperance it was clear that the Shiite was the Hindus. There is said to be already a spirit always glad to get the drink which the base of earnest Inquiry among some few, and we hope Christian trader supplied him with. If they there will be II church established before long. are kind to their slaves, they are grossly cruel to their animals. The state of the women needs I have come here with Mr. FrankNewton, my no notes here. But the Doctor confessed his ad- uncIe. He and his few native helpers have II miration for Mohammed np to his 50th year and parish of about one million people, Ferozepore the death of his wife Khadisha. being the center. It is one of the finest districts of the Punjab, and the men are an exceptionably Here I must stop. The Oxford Graduates' strong, independent, manly lot. Missionary Association was privileged to hear a great and good man. There are others like him Last week we spent a couple of days at Jaito, in the misSion field. My thoughts for the mo- a village of somewhat over three thousand peoment turn to Burmah and the American Judson. ple. It had Once before been visited by a native In their single-handed translation work the par- catechist, but never by a missionary; so far as allel is very close. But Dr. Bruce has a parish we know. In doing village work, missionaries of half a million of square miles, covering three often carry tents with them, but this Involves great ancient empires. much trouble and expense. We are depending on getting quarters in each place. At J aito we The type of Christian hero changes in each had a very comfortable little house of two rooms ceutury. We cannot stop the progress of the lent us by a railway official. Here we are putage, nor get nineteenth-century people to like ting up in a sarae or native hotel. There are what was admired in a different epoch. Let us three native preachers with us, and we five ocnot make any insidious comparisons, but thauk cupy one long room. The hotel charges for all God for all, and not least for that great gift of five are nine cents a day. adaptability to environment which is evinced iu the work of our best missionaries from either While here we expect to visit a number of the side of the water, a gift which seems akin to that surrounding villag~s, sometimes all four of the which made the great apostle" all things to all preachers going together, and sometimes two by men," and yet ever loyal to the great Head of all, two. Mr. Newton has a small organ, and this who, however imperfectly. show the apostolic with singing attracts a great many. Last evenspirit and the divine power. J. F. HEYES. Ing the audience of a1}out one hundred and fifty listened closely for nearly two hoors. OXFORD, :March 5, 1888. It seems to bc the general opinion that the Mr. Porman Heard Prom. most hopeful feature of the work in India is the villages. Many missionaries give II large part of :MR. JNO. N. FORMAN, after arrJving in England toward the close of September, spent two their time to school work in -the large Cities. months in working and speaking throughout the universities and larger cities of Great Britain, This work is important, but many of those who much of the time in company with :Mr. Taylor have been engaged in it now think that what Is of the China Inland Mission. In the universities needed most is men who will gi"l°e their whole he frequently found it difficult to gather an audi- time to evangelistic work, chiefly touring among ence of the students. At Cambridge the largest the villages. Mr. Newton is considered very number of stUdents he succeeded in assembling good in this line, so I was advised to go with was but thirty. At Edinburgh some thirty-five him for a while before starting for my own field. men pledged themselves to the foreign mission- The truth of the matter is that we need men in ary work. Meetings were held at Oxford and every department of work. In our mission in Wales, and in London an inter-hospital meet- school at Lahore we have over a thousand boys. ing of medical stndents. In Belfast thirty-three And the college which was started less than two men signed fo~ miSSionaries, and Mr. Taylor years ago has already some seventy students, coming after found that these were but the first and is growing fast. One feels often inclined to fruits. At Wakefield, Leeds, Duudee, Aberdeen. be discouraged at the size of the work and the Glasgow and other cities, meetings of the citizens and especially of the Young Men's Christian fewness of workers. But I believe firmly 2 Cor. Associations were held. ix. 8, and this Is a "staying power." I am now Mr. Forman left England early in December engaged in a study of the Holy Spirit, searching and landed in Bombay January 2. He has been through the Bible to find just how mnch is promstationed by the mission at Allahabad for the ised to us, to me. May God grant, each of us first year, during which he will devote most of may claim alt. his time to the study of the language. He writes to the stUdents at Princeton: I am praying daily for a great blessing upon you in Princeton, and expect to hear of a good work. Eph. iii. 14-19. And may God add the .. exceeding abundantly" of verse 20. When yoo pray for me, please pray by name.

Yours in Christ's service and in Christ, JOHN N. FOBJu.N. A Boat Journey in Ohina. [OUR editorial correspondent, Prof.

[EXTRACT from a private letter from W. C. Wilkinson, D.D., is making the Mrs. Edward P. Thwing of Brooklyn.] tour of Palestine. The following in- Just now I am living on a boat. To-night we teresting note from him shows that are auchored near Chung Wan. We leftCautou Dec. 27, and have had lovely weather since. We he is on the lookout for missionary are about 115 miles from that city. There are twelve of us-Rev. Charles R. Hager, missionary information. The observation and of the American Board from Hong Kong, my son, myself and a Chinese woman Bible reader, testimony of so close an observer and six boatmen, a captain and a cook. We have already stopped at several towns and villages On critical a mind are worth noting.- the river. At Hong Moon we found A. S. [a Christian pupil taught a year before in Brook- EDS.] lyn], and I rode about ten miles in a sedan chair PORT SAID, EGYPT, March 24, 1888. . to his home. He and Edward walked behind the bearers. I never before realized the expres- I have just been visiting the Egyptian missiou sion, .. The whole city came out to meet him. ,,- stations of the United Presbyterians of America, There was a general turn-out to see us, strange both at .Alexandria and at Cairo. At the latter beings from a foreign land. When we went into place I saw also something of the work in progthe house it was at once crowded full, probably ress. In both places I was favorably impressed much as when Jesus found" no room, no, Dot so with what I saw. Excellent men and women much as about the door." The open space in the the missionaries seemed to me to be, and sinroof reminded me of the opening through which it is said the sick of the palsy was let down. cerely devoted to their work, which is prosecuted The women and children felt of my clothes and nnder the disadvantage of resources in money hat and hair and shoes. They were grently amused. We took supper and remained over seriously inadequate to the demand. Cairo is a night. When we left town crowds preceded and followed us. Suuday we were at anchor at San Bwarming Oriental capital of perhaps 450,000 Ui, where there is a mission chapel. Mr. White of Macao admiuistered commuuion and Mr. H. people, with a reputed supply of 400 Mohammepreached. The room opened into a little sunny inner court. Thirty-one gathered, and fifteen in dan mosques, to feed these hnngry human souls all partook of the sacrament. After dinner on the boat I took my Bible woman and went to a with the dnst of death instead of the bread of village close by. As we entered a crowd of women and children swarmed out of every open life. I was irreSistibly incited both in .Alexaudoor. They were more interested in me than in anything she said, examining my clothes and dria and in Cairo to pray for poor groveling person. God only knows whether any good was accomplished. Work was going on just as on Egypt. Can these dry bones live' Let our any day all about us. United Presbyterian brethren redouble their We observed the week of prayer. and have had good meetings on our boat. Mr. H. is a spiritual prayers and their toils and their gifts for this man and it is a blessing to have his society. He has evening prayers in Chinese, and calls the perishing people. W. C. WILKINSON. boatmen into the cabin. Some come in and he talks very earnestly to them, and one asks mauy From a Student Volunteer. questions, apparently much interested. May God bless this" bread cast upon the waters." Pass- NEW BRUNSWICK THEO. SElIl., April, 1888. ing from place to place by water we have time DEAR EDITORS: One of the most iuteresting for the study of the language and reading. My features in THE MISSIONARY REVIEW to me is Bible woman has small feet and cannot walk far the letters from the Student Volunteers. lhave at a time. Many of the villagers never saw a read with pleasure the circnlar addressed to foreigner and very few ever saw a foreign woman them, and am heartily in favor of the plan that till they saw me. When they saw me from afar, each college or seminary send out a letter sketch- the news spread rapidly from lip to lip, and ing the history of its own foreign missionary countless swarms poured out through every alley movements and plans. Some of our colleges to meet us. We visited many places. as the and seminaries, however, are perhaps too weak whole district is intersected by many streams to print and send out circular letters, but all of and canals. I cannot tell how -many hundred them can tell their brethren what the Lord has mUes our sixteen days' trip will aggregate, bnt done for them and what they are trying to do for it is a most instructive aud profitable journey to him, through the columus of THE REVIEW. us. and. we trust, to the thousands we·have seen. The volunteers in the three educational insti- tutions at New Brunswick have not been idle this year. The District Miss. Alliance held here in February, of all the seminaries in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania,was the outgrowth of missionary interest at oor mission circle, and the alliance has been a great blessing to us all. The students of the seminary, college and gram- mar school, with their respective faculties, have pledged more than $800 yearly for the support of a missionary in the field, and at a meeting held March 21, the following resolution was unanimously carried: .. Resolved, that in view of the especial qualifications of L. R. Scudder, M.D., who has offered himself to our mission board, and in view of the special needs of the mission field in India and our Board of Foreign Missions, the entire subscription of the Stu- painted and oiled snch parts of our steamer and dents' Missionary Association for the first year sawmill stnff as were liable to rust. lirother be given to the board for the equipment and Rasmussen has given us a plan for a cheap passage out of L. R. Scudder, if the board shall bnoyant raft for the discharge of our traction appoint him and start him out before Octoher 1, engine when she shall be bronght up by the 1888." • steamer. The materials for said raft are being Oor mission circle meets weekly, and we dis- prepared, so that we hope we shall within a fe,!!, cuss every part of the world-field during the weeks see our road engineers, Brothers Clamn, course of a year. Our prayer is that every vol- Rasmussen, White and Briggs, moving inward unteer may read aud ponder the article in the with our steam wagon and traction engine.

April number of THE REVIEW, entitled" What Brother Wm. H. Arringdale, our architect and Oue Did." What one did all can do, "(hrough man of all mechanical work, has been busy and Christ which strengtheneth us." I heartily join effective in house-building and repairs.

in the cry, " 0)) that the volunteers would pull "Our dear sisters have done the cooking for together" ; but let each of us be sure that his all our working force-a heavy task that is never hand is on the rope. Let us link Matt. xxviii. 20 finished. Meantime, though I have wrought in to 1 Cor. xv. 58. ONE OF THE VOLUNTEERS. our varied work at Vivi three months out of the five of our sojourn here, I have explored the line What Bishop Taylor is Deing in Africa. to Isangala, and report the opening of five sta- tions-1. Vivi, the site of" the former capital of THE second annual meeting of the District the state. For a little over seven acres ofground Conference of the Upper Congo District assem- here and the buildings remaining we paid £160. sembled at Vivi mission station Dec. 3, 1887, at 2. At Vumtomba Vivi, four miles distant, in 2 o'clock p. M., with Bishop Taylor in the chair. sight of the mountain, we have built an abode honse and opened a station. 3. Sadl Kabanza, Fifteen members were present, including the about twenty miles from Vivi. 4. l:Iatamba, bishop, and sixteen were unavoidably absent. about twenty-nine miles from here, all on the The bishop reported briefly as follows: caravan trail. 5. Isangala, where our freights have to be taken by boats up the river to Manyan- " Our disappointment in not being able to get ga.. We have not bnilt, but our missionarY,E. A. direct and prompt tral)sport of our steamer and Shoreland, occupies rent free the station-honse other stuff to Stanley Pool, and detention in Vivi, of the government. 6. Natumba, near Banana, tllough trying to our faith and patience here, we have just received permission from the govand hard on the bopes of our patrons at home, ernor-general to select a Site, and I hope to be is working fOl' our good and for the enlargement able to send in duly a sketch of the land selected, of our field of operations on the Congo: and to settle on the premises in a tent till we can get a small iron house ordered from Liverpool." "1. In the nnexpected depletion of our transit funds. lIad the government of the State of Reports from varions stations were then pre- Congo been able to transport onr freight to Stan- senled. John A. Newth stated what had been ley Pool at a pound ($,;) per man-load, according done at Sadi Cabanzi. He said that the natives, to agreement, we could not have paid their trans- though willing to be taught English, declined port bills. Here, in Vivi, onr expenses are but having anything to do with the worship of God, light and our transport by steam will he much believing that all joining in it will die. Yet Mr. cheaper than by carriers alone. Newth helieves there is ground for hope. The witch-doctor, having been warned ,!gainst his ,. 2. It has been the means of a government barbarous practice, now brings all sick patients authorization to open a line of mission stations to the mission to receive medical treatment. from Vivi to Isangala, 55 miles, and thence to This is certainly a step in the right direction, for Manyanga, 88 miles, thence on the south side of it will give tbe natives confidence in the misthe Congo 100 miles to Stanley Pool. sionary. Mr. Newth thinks that when he is able ,to speak the langnage of thl' natives he will be "3. We are finding out as our acqnaintance able to {eason away tbeir prejudices. extends that north of said base line of stations there is a densely populated belt of conntry belonging to the Congo Btate, extending back to the Loango River, and that parallel east a belt of about 100 miles or more.

"Since our arrival here, about the first of The report from Vumtomba, back of Vivi, de- July of this year of grace-five months-we have, tailed the building operations, and stated that under the mechanical generalship of Brother the natives are very friendly, and there is a daily Critchlow, extemporized the construction of a class of from eight to eleven to learn English.

new steam wagon of 'Va.t pulling power, for the Miss Mary Kildare reported the result of her transport of our heavy freights np the steep hills, teaching in two villages near Vivi. She first got by means of this wonderful wagon and a little good classes of children, taught them to sing man force. All our cargoes have been bronghtup Christian songs; and to repeat the Command- the crooked, steep, rocky hills, from the beach ments and the Lord's Prayer. The interest and to Vivi top, a distance of about a mile and a attendance increased, and the parents began to half, since which our preacher and storekeeper, come, and one man has given up idol worship.

J. C. Teter, has taken stock of all our stores and The report from Matamba, by Charles Lamn, pat them under roof, lock and key. pur chief stated that that station was opened in September.

engineer, Silas W. Field, has rubbed up and The natives are eager to be taught. Letter from Our Oorrespondent at long as he could. My dear little son (12 years Tangier, Morocco. old) was so impressed by the sight that he also I JIAVE just returned .from Fez (the great nortbern capital of Morocco). I Was absent desired baptism, to my great joy. Muley four montbs; nearly" fortnigbt was consumed in getting tberp. We "dwelt in onr own hired Hasham'S conversion oC~llrred onlyabont tour house, and received all that came unto us, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching weeks after my arrival in Fez. Therefore I those things which cOncern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding bad bis help in the work all the rest of my us." A beloved young Scotch brother, wbo volunteered to accompany me and look after sojourn. He boldly and publicly confessed material matters, and my little son Frank, were my only companions. We were in great dis- Christ, abandouing the false faith of Moham- comfort for a time after our arrival, but after- ward secured a little bouse in a garden through med. He daily instructed tbose who came to which the river of Fez flowed. Here we spent some happy months, though with scarcely any the house. He has gifts that make it desirable of the ordinary appliances and comforts of civil· ized life. The people came freely about us. that he should give himself wholly to the work Many heard the word of life. The great op– portunities and large promise of work in this of the ministry, which is his great desire. I have land were more than ever impressed upon us. Not a few were at least intellectually convinced brought him with me to Tangier, where he has of the truth of Christianity. Some professed conversion. I will speak confidently of but one, eudeared bimself to us all, and hope to retain whose experience was most remarkable, and – who abides faitbfnl. His name is Hasham, and bim for help in the gospel. He supplies my im- he has the title of Muley, being a lineal de- ·scendant of Mohammed, and is looked upon perfect knowledge of Arabic. He is withont with peculiar veneration by his fellow-country- meu. His father's grandfather was the Sultan means, and I should be glad if some rich friend of Morocco. He is of middle age, of great iu- telligence, and well educated for a Moor. He should covet the exceeding honor of supplying had been greatly devoted to the faith of Moham- med and held an hereditary position in connection his temporal needs; $250 a year would amply with one of the many mosques (some fifty) of Fez, which he relinquished ou his conversion. meet this dear man's humble needs, and enable The details of bis being brought to believe in aud confess Cbrist arc of thrilling interest, and me to keep bim wholly occupied in gospel ef- some of them I would fear to tell lest they migbt be doubted. His awakeniug illustrates fort. Who will do it? My stay in Fez was of how feeble a word may be blessed. He had a child at the point of death, and I simply told great help to me in increasing my knowledge of him it was useless to pray to God for the child save in the name of Jesus. This word ent.ered Arabic. At our out-station (Arzeela) ten or eleven at once into his soul, and he spent that night praying for his child in the name, the thriee- souls have evidently received Christ, of whom blessed name, of Jesus. The next day but one he professed himself a believer in Christ, tell- two have fallen asleep. In tbis work God has ing me of a vision of the Lord Jesus he had had, that sounded like a leaf from the Acts of the honored the faith and toil of two devoted sisters, Apostles. It filled me with amazement and joy, aud I could do little but stand still and see tbe who fearlessly took np their abode in tbat little salvation of God. I bad but to point out what God said about a thing, and he received it Witll city where were no otbers than natives save rejOicing, and daily waxed strong, and he has already become a stalwart believer whose faith themselves. I cannot express how deeply I feel and patience would put many at home to shame Two or three days after his conversion I pointed that there are hundreds of Christian young out what the Lord Jesus said as to baptism, and he was eager to at once obey. I baptized him women in America who could give themselves that noon in the river in onr own garden. He did not wish me to raise him up at once, saying to such like work here. What an unfading as Christ remained in the grave three days be should like to lie upon the bottom of the river as crown would be theirs! I will gladly be the belper of sucb, or of young brethren, either.

Who will come? Who bas faith and courage for it? Snch as can trust the Lord for support shall lack no good thing, though among the good things they will find as part of them plenty of trials, as do we. But noue of these things move us. We count not our life dear to us. if we may; but finish our course with joy. I am about starting on another trip, or series of trips, into the interior to occupy these spriug months.

My wife and daugbter Carrie and Muley Hasham will be with me. We hope to a~ain go to Fez and perbaps other towns of southern Morocco after the summer heat has passed. Traveling is expensive, and we must have at least five mules.

To hire them consumes too much, so they must be purchased. Brother Eugene Levering, No.2 Commerce street, Baltimore, continues to re- ceive and -forward the bounty of tbe friends of our work. E. F. BALDWIN.

The McAll Mission.

[THE following letter, lately re- ceived from Mr~ MeAll, will be of in- terest to our readers.-EDs.} PARIS, January 14, 1888. At the close of the year 1887 and the opening of the new one our work in Paris and through- out France 'presents very many features which I am sure will not fail to rejoice the hearts of our dear friends of the American auxiliaries, who, with us, are so earnestly desirous for the Bayroux, the French pastor of St. Germain, will spread of thE> gospel in this land. I will attempt take the direction of the station, we supplying no more than a faint sketch of what we have him weekly with speakers from Paris. On the been enabled to accomplish within the last two opening evening we were cheered to ~ee the little or three months in the way of extending the hall filled, and though all was new and strange work, planting new stations in hitherto neg- to the majority of those present, there was re- lected districts of Paris and throughout France. spectful and serions attention thronghout. The Yon are aware that deficiency of funds had pro- speakers remarked that, while during long cen- hibited, during some years, our responding to turies the town had witnessed all manner of the many and urgent calls to break new ground. events and revolutions, never had a place been It is only quite recently that, having somewhat opened in its streets for the preaching of the recovered, through the efforts of our French pure gospel (the Protestant church is on the out- friends, in connection with the sale they held for skirts) until that night. We all felt that it was us last May in Paris, and from other sources, we our privllege to make thus a direct assault on have had the great joy of once again" lengthen- the strongholds of ignorance and incredulity, Ing our cords." This we have been enabled to and returned home with the glad conviction that do at a comparatively small additional outlay, as .. the Lord was there."

the entire work of many of the new stations is Time and space fail me to detail the openings undertaken gratuitously by the French pastors which increased our stations from 99 at the and others in the respective localities, so that close of 1EE7 to 114 as it now stands. In all we we have only to provide the little mission halls have increased our number of sittings by about and their incidental expenses, which, In many 1,600, raising the number with which we start cases, the very small means of these frieuds on the year tu about 17,000.

the spot would not enable them to meet. Will you not, dear American friends, join I will begin with last evening, January 12. with us in fervent prayer that, through the Holy We had the privilege of opening at 8 o'clock P.lI[. Spirit's influence, each of these sittings may, our 114th station. It is situated in a quarter during the year, witness the drawing of at least of Paris peopled by very poor and religiously ig- one heart to the Saviour? R. W. McALL.

norant people, In a district called Monceau.

Several of our valued helpers live near the spot, and have long much desired to attempt some- GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

thing for their less favored neighbors. During Results of Missions. At the end the visit of M. Guillamne van der Beken, Secre- of 1884 there were at least 2,400,000 tary of the Paris Young Men's Christian Associ- adherents and 650,000 full church ation, some friends at Cincinnati felt so much interested in his statements respecting our members; 2,283,000 evangelized hea- work that they resolved to aid its extension. then-that is a significant number. They assured an extra fund to M. van der Beken for this pm·pose. He and his wife and It may not be that each of these is a her cousin and two ladies, all living close by, mature believer. Certainly;the ma- sought out this new mission hall, and last night jority have much weakness, and we set it apart for an effort to reach the poorest their Christianity is still in its juveand most neglected around. It is in the Rue de nile stage. Yet how many striking Tocqueville, close by a benevolent institution in instances of wonderful divine guidwhich houseless men get a meal and a night's ance, of the power of the gospel, of lodging. From this proximity we doubt not that many will turn into the room and hear the real conversion, of childlike faith, of gospel for the first time in their lives. The devout prayer, of love for the Word, opening meeting was very encouraging. With of willing self-sacrifice, of heroic enthe exception of a few friends, it consisted en- durance for the confession of Christ, tirely of the neighbors, working people, etc. The place looked exceedingly neat and attractive and are included in these 2,283,000 I How was well filled. It was delightful to hear the widely spread in different lands are people try to sing the hymns, and their attention these 2,283,000 I If we may take a. was reverent while we commended them to our journey around the globe, almost Father's blessing. These Christian ladies (men- tioned above) of the neighborhood propose to everywhere do we meet more or less organize in the hall, in addition to the public of them. In Labrador and Greenland, meeting, children'S religious services, mothers' among the Indians and negroes of meetings, etc. British America and the United On Wednesday of last week we opened our llath station, at St. Germain-en·Saye, an ancient States, in the West Indies, off the town of 18,000 inhabitants, a few miles from coasts of Central and Southem Ame- Paris. Mr. Elliott J. Shepherd of New York rica, and even in the wilds of Terra. has generously supplied the fands for this new del Fuego, 688,000 of heathen have movemeut, in memory of the birth of a little daughter during his sojourn in the town. M. Zealand and Australia, missionary been gathered into Christian commu- supply of two factories only. Mr. nities. If we leave San Francisco to go across the Pacific Ocean, we find in the Bently says" he has heard of 50,000 Sandwich Islands, in Micronesia and Melanesia and Polynesia, in New or 60,000 cases of gin as the annual converts numbering 240,000 souls. If we turn to the Indian Archipelago sale of certain factories of the Dutch and from there go to the Japanese islands, and then to the Asiatic con- House." / tinent, India, China, Persia, and Asia Minor, we find 754,000 heathen who Says Dr. Cuyler, in the New York have become Christians. Coming at last to Africa, we meet the converts Evangelist: in Madagascar, among the Caffres, Bechuanas and Hottentots, South .. I went to Washington to present a memorial Africa, the negroes of the interior, from the National Temperance Society to the and the west coast from Congo to Senegambia, amounting to 577,000. Committee on Foreign Affairs of the United -The Prospect in Asia. Dr. Abel States Senate, in behalf of rum-cursed Africa. Stevens, writing to the Central Chris- Wheu the Berlin Conference shaped the future tian Advocate from Yokohama, Japan, says: of the vast Free State of the Congo, three "I have been inspecting the great Asiatic years ago, they prohibited the slave trade. But battle-fields, and I report the general conviction of both foreigners and intelligent natives here, they left a worse scourge uncheCked. The Hon. that the epoch of a grand social and religious revolutiou has Bet in in India, Burmah, China. Mr. Kasson, who represented the United States, and Japan; that this old 'Asiatic heathendom is generally gIving way before the continually in- Sir Edward Malet, who l·epresented Great creasing power of Western thought and Chris_ tian civilization. The present is the most pro- Britain, with Count de Launey of Italy and pitious hour that ever dawned on Asia since the advent of Christ. Let us hail it, and march into Count; vau der Straten of Belgium, strove hard these great open battle-fields with all our fiags uplifted. I am not carried away by the enthu_ to have a clause prohibiting the sale of intoxisiasm of the heroic meu I have met in these tlelds: I know well the diftlculties that still cants to the native tribes. The German and remain, and can criticise as well as anybody grave defects iu the campaign. But I feel sure Dutch commissioners fought it out, and Gerthat the hoary paganism of this Asiatic world is tottering to its fall; that the tlnal Christian battle many has sent over BeVen millions of gallons of is at hand." • fire water' into that doomed region in a single Wendell Phillips says: year I Holland has sent over one million lAud .. The answer to the Shaster is India; the answer to Confncianism is China; the answer to out of the port of Boston, between J une,1885, and the Koran is Tnrkey; the answer to the Bible is the Christian civilization of Protestant Europe June, 1886, there was shipped 733,000 gallons and America." of death-dealing New Englaud rum into the -Africa and Rum. The exports of spirits to Africa from Great Britain, Congo country I The negroes are becoming Germany, Portugal and the United crazed not only with the drink, but for it. Many States in a single year amounted to nearly 9,000,000 gallons! And these of them refuse to take in exchange for palm-oil, gallons are multiplied many times before they are dealt out to the na- Ivory and other prodncts, any manufactured tives. One of the National African Company's steamers recently carried fabrics, and clamor for strong drink I Two re- 25,000 cases of gin and mm for the sults follow: the natives are being bestialized with alcohol, and all hope of opening a valuable market for our goods is being destroyed. The chief ' Christian' powers of the world are be- coming the colossal grogsellers to poor imbrut- ed Africa, and are destroying one hnndred times as many as Christiau missions are saving. A powerful influence is being brought to bear on the English Government to prohibit the liquor trallic iu Africa by British SUbjects. The memo- rial I took to Washingtou besought our gov- ernment to adopt effective measures to suppress this destructive trallic by American citizens. A vigorous push should be made by every constit- uency upon its representative, by petition and by correspondence. No time is to be lost. One year now iu the history of Africa is worth a century in its degraded past. If Christendom is going to supplant Paganismwith whiskey-barrels, then Africa had better been left in heathenish se- clnsion. At any rate, let our republic wash its hands of any further participation in this whole- sale crime against a whole race of immortal beings."

" What is being done out there in the name of conscience," says the New York Tribune, edito- rially, "is a world of crime of a character so colossal, of an immorality so shameless and pro· found, that if it could be regarded as a type and !1lustration of nineteenth century civilization, it would be necessary to denounce that civilization as a horrible sham and a conspicuous failure." Says Canon Farrar in the Contem- They are said to be a very musical . porary Review: people. Music enters largely into all "The old rapacity of the slave-trade has been matters of social importance, and followed by the greedier and more ruinous ra- the love of it finds expression in the pacity of the drink-seller. Our fathers tore from manufacture and employment of a the neck of Africa a yoke of whips; we have variety of instruments. The Bursubjected the native races to a yoke of scorpi- mese gong, when deeply struck by· ons. We have opened the rivers of Africa to the accustomed hand and thereafter commerce, only to ponr down them the' 1'aging gently waved in air, is by no means Phlegethon of alcohol,' than which no river of unpleasant to hear. And when, as the Inferno is more blood-red or more accursed. is often the case, it is employed to ls the conscience of the nation dead? If not. will no voice be raised of snfficient power to awaken it from a heavy sleep?" summon a passing neighbor on his Bosnia.-Pastor Kolatschek, who way with an offering to some distant spent the years 1884-1886 in gospel temple, in order that he may become work among the Bosnians, gives the agent in transmitting a similar some interesting reports concerning gift from a worshiper whom cir- the evangelization in that county.r cumstances detain at home, it con- The political authorities do not op- veys a lesson which we do well to pose this work in any way, which is lay to heart.

conducted under the auspices and China.-Ex-Secr«!tary Holcomb of with the financial aid of the Gusta- the American Legation at Peking vus Adolphus Society of Germany. says that out of the 400,000,000 in- habitants of the Chinese Empire fully Burmah.-All of Burmah belongs 300,000,000 spend less than $1.50 a to Great Britain and forms a part of month for food. the East India Empire. Lower Burmah consists of the· provinces of Ar- France.-Rev. Dr. Muchmore of rakan, Pegu, Irrawaddy and Tenas- the Presbyterian, Philadelphia, who serim, with an area of 87,220 square recently returned from a two-years' miles, and a population in 1881 of travel abroad, and whose admirable 2,736,771. Upper Burmah, known etters during that time have received previously to 1886 as Independent wide attention, gives in one of his Burmah, is estimated to have 190,- latest his views touching the MeAll 500 square miles and a population :Mission, which will be read with inof 3,500,000. It is probable that in terest by many of our readers who all Burmah there is now a popUlation are interested in this great religious of near 8,000,000. In Lower Burmah movement of our day. He says: the census of 1881 divided the people religiously into 88,171 Hindus, 168,- ., The McAJI work has never been independent 881 Mohammedans, 3,251,584 Buddh- of the churches and pastors of Paris. The selfists, 84,219 Christians. The people negation of this wonderfnl Christian man. who of Upper Burmah are almost en- is the founder and head, is monumental. It tirely Buddhists. wonld have been the easiest thing in the world to have started a church bearing his name or The Burmese make jokes freely, any other name. But instead. he has wrought but are not so ready to take them, in the greatest harmony with the French pasand have a. bitter dislike to being tors. Re has advised with them, has had their teased. Their manners are courteous, constant help. Some of the most eminent preaching in these stations- two, three and some- but quite free. They are not an in- times four times a week, is by men of worlddustrious race, yet we ought not to wide repntation, such as Dr., nOw Senator de call them lazy. A moderate amount Pressense, Pasteurs Bersier, Monod, Recolin, of work for two days supplies them Dhombres, Rollard and others. There is but with ample provision for both, and one opinion about this work in Paris, nay in all for a third, which they spend in medi- France, which is enthnsiastic and profOlmdly tation, boat-racing, football, or other trustful. It is the auxiliary ofthe French Protestrecreations according to taste. ant churches, and at this moment we are told that there are a hundred applications for these helpers for the churches throughout France by the pastors and consistories.. The work, by its of the people by a common religious own momentum. of grace, widens and deepens, bond. Hinduism is a social organizaand the cry, not only in France but far beyond tion an!i religious confederacy. As it, is to them, ' Come over and help us.' One of a social organization it rests on caste. its most blessed fruits is in imparting a knowl- As a religious confederacy it repreedge to the pastors of France of better methods sents the coalition of the cultured of work. In the long inactivity of the church, faith of the Brahmans with the ruder when it was practically fettered, the tendency rights and materialistic beliefs of the was to take the life and aggressive activity out more backward races. In both asof it and its pastors. Many had fallen into a pects Hinduism is a deliberate system humdrum conservatism, little less lively than of compromise. It accepts the posithe dead march. Then courage, which now tion that the spiritual needs of races works throngh their marvelous aggressiveuess, differ in each stage of their developwas all repressed by the terror which through ment, and that man most naturally ages becomes the law of being. The pastors worships what, for the time being, he come up from all over France. aud catch the . most reverences or most fears. On spirtt and learn its methods, and carry them this foundation Hinduism has built home, not in vain, as the wonderful revivals up the enduring but ever-changing' throughout France during the last two years st.ructure of Indian ritual and belief. have shown. To the ministry of France it has No conversions to Islam on a considbeen betterin its teaching how to work than a half erable scale have taken place since dozen ordinary seminaries. The French clergy 1872. Even a solitary case might be appreciate it, pray for it, French Protestants sought for in vain of such a change contributed to it over five thousand francs, a of religiOUS belief from conscientious great snm consideri~ their condition and the conviction. But a small amount of demands upon their poverty. They commend converRions is going steadily on. It it, as they well might, and God forbid that they proceeds from social and economical shonld ever become so blind as not to feel that reasons, and is confined to the lower it is the pnlsation of their own church heart. orders, and occurs oftener among For they mnst never be separated. It would females than males. Hindus who imperil, to our judgment, the hopes of the sal- have lost caste, women who have vation of France. But it may be asked, What fallen into an immoral life, men who are the results, not general, but organized? The have abandoned their family faith French Protestant churches are receiving con- for the sake of a woman of the other verted sonls that they could never have reached. creed-these, and such as these, re- All the pastors, who have wrought in this work, lease themselves from the restraints have had accessions from it, pastors Bersier, of caste rules by adopting Islam. In Monod, de Pressense, etc., and so has it been such conversions religious feeling has with the Methodist, Congregational and Baptist no place. churches" Into this ancient and powerfulor- -India's Religions. "The first idea ganization a new religious force has of our missio.aaries was to make con- thrust itself, a force animated by a verts from the established religions profoundly different spirit. Christianof India. During the last fifty years ityis not a new rpligion in India. Its this idea has been modified. In such a history dates from a period 700 years country a religion must stand or fall before the rise of media'lVal Hinduism by what it does for the well-being of and 1,000 years before any wideits own people. This principle ap- spread Indian settlement of Islam. plies to the three great religions of The new religious force now at work modern India – Mohammedanism, amid Hinduism is neither the Nesto- Hinduism and Christianitv. There rianism of the patriarchs nor the Cais a dense and dark mass;f $50,000,- tholicism of the popes. The Catholic 000 of human beings in India lying and Syrian churches still go on calmon the outskirts or beyond the pale ly with their great task and claim of orthodox Hinduism and Islam. Within fifty years these 50,000,000 will be absorbed into one or other of the higher faiths. Islam represents in British India a compact and coherent mass of 45,000,000, who in spite of internal divisions are more closely united than any equally large section over 1;600,000 of the 2,148,227 Chris- dition of one faith."'-Sir William tians in India. The new disruptive NelsvnHunter, in the London Times. force is Protestant and Anglican Christianity. English mlssIOnary Hindu Astrology in Trouble. The work began in the last year of the Bombay Guardian gives a singular last century. 'fhe results achieved story of the trials which some emiby three missionary periods in India nent Hindu pundits are undergoing -the period of private effort, the on account of the interference of period of great organized societies, Western science with their system of and the period of societies side by astrology, which is closely connected side with ascetic brotherhoods-may with their religion. A meeting of be thus summarized. In 1851 the learned Brahmans from Benares and Protestant missions in India and Bur- other places had been held to conmah had 222 stations; in 1881 their sider this conflict between science stations had increased nearly three- and their religion. It seems that the fold, to 601. The number of churches date of a certain holy festival, the or congregations had during the thir- Durga Puja, which ought to be fixed ty years multiplied from 267 to 4,180, by the study of the stellar influences, or over fifteen-fold. There is not has of late years been fixed by an only a vast increase in the number of examination of the Englishman's stations, but a still greater increase Sheet Almanac. The Guardian says: in the work done by each station, while the number of native Protes- .. This impious conduct, subversive of the tant Christians increased from 91,092 very principles on which Hindu festivals were in 1851 to 492,882 in 1881, and the instituted, has been reported by an enemy to the communicants increased from 14,661 orthodox Brahmans, and great has been the agito 138,254. During the same thirty tation produced by the disclosure. Not only years the pupils in mission schools according to this discovery:have past feasts been multiplied from 64,043 to 196,360. observed in violation of planetary conjunctions These enormous increments have and stellar influences, rendering acts of merit been obtained by making a larger nugatory, neceSSitating the repetition of vows, use of native agency. A native Prot- upsetting marriages, confusing births, and in· estant church has, in truth, grown ducing blight, pestilence, and disaster of every up in India capable of supplying in a kind; but the holidays this month, for which large measure its own staff. In 1851 many of us have made all arrangements, will be there were twenty-one ordained min- useless and need not be observed. Such were isters, and in 1881 they had increased the asseverations of the Brahmans, and as the to 575. The number of native lay great question when to hold the forthcoming preachers had risen from 493 to the pujahs must be settled immediately, the meetvast total of 2,586. The wonderful ings we have mentioned were convened." growth of the native clergy in recent years has brought Christianity closer There was a heated discussion at to native institutions. The appoint- this meeting. Many were not prement of native bishops, for which the pared to admit that all their rites time is at hand, will do more. Indi- and ceremonies were wholly without an Christianity, organized on the merit on account of the failure to hit Indian communal basis and in part upon the right day. But there was directed by native spiritual leaders, agreement upon the doctrine that would reproduce, as far as the diver- the stars must fix the day, while it gent creeds of modern times permit, was gravely disputed whether their Tertullian's picture of the early positions should be determined by churches united by 'the communion the use of modern astronomical inof peace, the title of brotherhood, struments or by the study of the the token of hospitality, and the tra- shastras.

Japan.-Joseph Cook, in Our Day, says as to the prospects of Unitarian missions in Japan: ":Mr. Knapp, who was lately sent to Japan on a Unitarian' embassy,' said in his farewell ad- dress in Boston, November 6, 'My errand 1ft not a mission to heathen. • • • It is conference, not conversion, at which I aim.' A son of Fu- i[ your committee think fit to elect knzawa, the eminent Japanese educator, readan me an honorary member of your soaddress following :Mr. Knapp, and closing with ciety. I have often said that the this extraordinary benediction: 'May God, progress of Japan was the greatest Buddha, and the eight million deities of Japau wonder in the world, but I declare bless him.' (Okristian Register, Nov. 17, 1887.) that the progress of Fuegiais almost The gross irreverence of tbis reference in its equally wonderful.' After commendconjunction of the divine name with pagan dei- ing the success of the London Misties shocked many hearers, but met with no re- sionary Society in the South Seas, buke, although Dr. Hale and President Eliot the late Professor Rolleston, at the were on the platform. Eveu tbe Unitarian Re- meeting of the British Association in view <Dec. 1887, p. 592) says only tbat no mis- 1875, quoted Dr. Gerland: 'The desionary was ever before sent abroad with' so crease of the Polynesian popUlation oomprebensive a benediction' as that pro- is not now going on as fast as it was nounced ou lIIr. Kuapp by young FUkuzawa. It in the first half of this century. is painfully evident that Unitariau missions COn- Whilst in this matter the English ducted in the spirit of this keynote wonld be ex- Government deserves great praise, ceedingly injurious to Japan, and that their suc- and whilst Sir George Grey has done cess wonld give to her population ouly a plenti- more for the Polynesians than almost ful feast of east wind. A Unitarian journal of any other man, the missionaries, nevleading authority lately said that the most noto- ertheless, stand in the very front rious inlidellecturer in the United States might rank among the benefactors of these be admitted to membership in a liberal Unitarian races, with their unwearied, selfchurch. Japan should remember the bright sacrificing activity.' Russell, in his saying of Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of work upon 'Polynesia, 1840,' said: Charles Darwin: 'Unitarianism is a feather-bed 'The progress which the Polynesians to catch a falling Christian' (Life of Darwin, Am. have made was really set on foot by ed., vol. i. p. 513). The Land of the Rising Sun the missionaries. They have had the should keep in mind Coleridge's remark (Table greatest influence ~upon the civiliza- Talk), •A Unitarian may be a Christian, but tion of the natives; they have taken Unitarianism is not Christianity.' .. their part and protected them when they could; they have further given Polynesia. – Much has been said them the fast foothold, the new fresh against the introducion of Christian- object, motive, and meaning for their ity and civilization among the peo- whole existence, of which they stood ple of the South Sea Islands, as tend- so much in need.' Whatever ridicule ing to the destruction of the native 'The Earl and the Doctor' and simiraces. It has been affirmed that to lar books may have cast upon miscarry the gospel to them was the sure sions in the Pacific, this has been way to exterminate them. An arti- conclusively refuted by the unbiased cle in The LondonMissionary Ohron- testimony of Admiral Wilkes and icle brings some testimony on this Captain Erskine, to the effect that matter and shows what missions have the moral reformation of the islanddone for the" elevation and preserva- ers is pre-eminently due to the exertion of the islanders in the Pacific. It tions of the agents of the London SlJ,ys: "For the sake of the preserva- Missionary Society. So again, in retion and raising of the aboriginal na- sisting the coolie traffic of Polynesia, tives, whatc1ass of men have equaled the natives have not had more steadthemissionariesin promoting asancti- fast champions than the missionaries. fied manhood and womanhood among How much has also been accomsavages and heathen? It will not be plished for the redemption of the out of place to give Darwin's opinion slave in the West Indies, and in the upon the civilization of degraded alleviation of the brutish and servile tribes through the agency of mis- condition of the natives of India I If, sions. Writing to the secretary of the South American Missionary Society in 1870, he says: 'The success of the Terra del Fuego Mission is most wonderful, and charms me, as I always prophesied utter failure. It is a grand success. I shall feel proud

INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT. '

further, we c6nsider the superhuman Arabic-speaking peoples, Pl'. Geo. E. self-abnegation of Livingstone for Post, in the New York Evangelist, the suppression of African slavery, or the labors and endurance of worthily says: Vanderkemp, Phillip, Ebner, KitcheneI', and Moffatt for the welfare " It would take a long'list to exhaust the ~ of the Bushman, KaffiI', Bechuana, !igious, literary aud scientific contributions to and Hottentot, there can be no the Arabic language from the missionaries in stronger exposure of the calumnies Syria. They include the translation of the which Sir Samuel Baker has raised SCriptures and the stereotyping of the same in against the missionary and his mes- numerous styles; the preparation of a Scripture sage." goide, commentaries, a concordance, and a complete hymn and tune book; textbooks in Syria.-Contributions of Mission- history, algebra, geometry, trignometry, logaaries to Science and Education. In rithms, astronomy, meteorology, botany, zoiilonoticing the completion of another gy, physics, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, hygreat work by Dr. Dennis of Beirut, giene, materia medica, practice of physic, snrone of a series prepared by him, in- gery, and a periodical literature which has cluding the Canon and Interpretation proved the stimulus to a very extensive native of Scripture and Evidences of Re- journalism. The Protestant converts of the ligion, which have become the stand- mission, educated by the missionaries, have ards of theological instruction for the written elaborate works On history, poetry, grammar, arithmetic, uatural science, and the standard dictionary of the lauguage, and a cy- clopoodia which will make a library by itself, consisting of about twenty volumes of from six hundred to eight hundred pages each."

IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.

CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D., OF THE" INTERNATIONAL MIS- SIONARY UNION."

The English Language on Indian Res- the red races must, be taught the English language in order to their ervations. nationalization, and pressure, stead- THE relation of languagfls to the ily augmented, has been brought to civilization and nationalization of pagan peoples is no new topic. The bear on all having to do with these governments of Europe have given tribes, to secure compliance with large attention to the subject. Mis- this policy. The cousensus .of pubsionary organizations during the last lic opinion supports this aim of century have studied it more pro- the government, though there is di- foundly and with wider experience versity of view as to its relative im- than anyone government, if not portance among the several means more than all governments. contributing to the same result. The The United States Government moral and religious training of these has experience limited to its own ter- races is fundamentally essential to ritory and to the one aboriginal race their civilization and nationalization, found therein. It has, within a com- and the philological influences and paratively few years past, given a lit- facilities, stoutly helpful and impor- tle consideration to the relations of tant, are yet imperatively subordi- the languages of these people to the nate. All parties, therefore, outside question of their preparation for citi- of the Indians themselves, may be zenship, and their ultimate absorp- said to have favored the acquisition tion into the national commonwealth; of the Englis"h language by these a view of their possible future which tribes, and all have sought, at least in is itself of recent date. During these some degree, to attain this object. few years, those charged with the It appears that the Indian Bureau conduct of Indian affairs have had a or the Indian Commissioner, or a steadily deepening conviction, that subordinate of the Commissioner whose instrument he became, thought 2. Rev. Dr. Strieby has partially this object was to be secured more summarized the objections to the new rapidly by means of fOi'ce, and an regulation as, first of all, judged of edict was issued which forbade in- from only a secular and government struction, by anybody, to any Indians, standpoint. It is said that this in any of the Indian vernaculars. sacrifices the present generation of This was afterward modified in a adults, and is impracticable; it is imhomeopathic degree to read: possible at once to educate the chil- dren of school age among the Indians, .. No other person than a native teacher will as there are only 13,000 pupils now in be ~ermitted to teach in any Indian vernacular, the schools of a total population of and these native teachers will only be allowed 46,000 .of school age; that it would iu schools not supported in whole or in part by cost the government a half million the government, at remote points where there dollars to furnish school-houses for is no government or contract school where the these, and another half million for English language is taught." books and teachers, and thus require a million dollars for the first year; President Cleveland says, in his re- that it is simply impossible to secure ply to criticisms against this order, the teachers if the government werewhich were formulated in resolution otherwise ready-it would require one by the Philadelphia Methodist Epis- thousand teachers; that there must be copal Annual Conference, that it ap- increasing expenditure for the schools plies to text-books also. He says of the character desired, as the ap- propriations of the government show .. That uo text-books in the vernacular will be the expense of these schools to haye allowed iu any school where children are placed increased forty-fold in ten years, under contract, or where the government con- while the average attendance has tributes, in any manner Whatever, to the sup- scarcely trebled. At the ratio of inport of the schools; no oral instruction in the crease of attendance of these children, vernacular will be allowed in such schools. The in school during the past ten years, entire curriculum must be in the English lau- it will require sixty years to get these guage. The vernacular may be used in mission- children in schools. It will therefore ary schools ouly for oral instruction in morals probably, even following out the govand religion, where it is deemed to be an auxiliary ernment policy, require half a cento the English langnage in conveying such in- tury before the English language can struction, and only native Indian teachers will be be made the language of communicapermitted to otherwise teach in any Indian tion with the Indians; and thus while vernacular; and these native teachers will only the permanent use of these Indian be allowed so to teach in schools not supported languages is not necessarily to be dein whole or iu part by the government and at sired, their temporary use is of great remote points, where there are no government consequence. But it is essential that or contract schools where the English language the Indian be Christianized in order to is taught, and such instruction must give way to his nationalization. When the Indian the English-teaching schools as soon as they are becomes a Christian, his eyes are established where the Indians can have access opened for the first time to the idea to them." of a right qivilization, and he begins then to know the value of the Eng- It appears that even interlinear lish industries and of the Englishlantext-books are prohibited. guage.

Several objections have been raised 3. Rev. Charles W. Shelton, .at the to these regulations of the govern- same Mohonk Conference at which Dr. Strieby spoke as we have shown, ment. illustrated the process of Christiani- t. While the Board of Indian Com- zation as the short cut both to civil- missioners are on record over and again as favoring and strengthening the influences which would bring the Indians to a knowledge of English, they yet say in their last annual report that .. The school 'facilities being now snfficient for only abont one-third of the Indian children of school age, every effort for their education should be encouraged. A little teaching even in the vernacular is better than no instruction." ization and to the use of the English right to say whether they may have language, by reference to the 75,000 a theological seminary? How can it Indians of the Indian Territory, for be "satisfactol'lY" to missionaries to whom Congress has no need to legis- accept as a concession from the govlate, no bills coming before Congress ernment the right to have a " theoon their account. He says it is be- logical class," the number of which is cause three-quarters of a century to be "limited" at the discretion of ago the missionaries commenced to the Indian Bureau? This is a funda- Christianize them. He affirms that mental interference with fundagovernment cannot Americanize the mental and recognized rights which Indian from their standpoint, and if it were the sweetest charity to it were possible it is not the goal, as excuse as merely an impertinence. education in English is not a pre- And when again the President exventive of crime. plains that "these rules are not in- tended to prevent the possession: or 4. Serious exception is taken to this use by any Indian of the Bible, pubgovernment order, as invading nat- lished in the vernacular, but such ural and moral rights. Rev. Dr. possession or use shall not interfere Gilman asks if the government has with the teaching of the English any right to prohibit the Indian to language to the extent and manner teach his child in the only language hereinbefore directed," can he expect he knows. And if one may, may it will be "satisfactory," inasmuch "Ilot a half dozen employ the same as it involves the moral right of every means to teach them? Is it not man on American soil to own his proper to inquire what rights parents Bible and read it in Greek or Chochave over their children? taw without asking or receiving the concession as a privilege from the 5. Still graver objection is made to government? The very explanation the invasion of the rights of Ameri- is unfortunate. The government is can citizens in their personal and simply dealing with that which, out- private capacity. It is contrary to the side of its own schools, is none of its genius of the nation itself that the business, even if the matter at issue moral right to conduct benevolent, were vastly more essential to the charitable or Christianizing agencies nationalization of the Indians than it by such means as are esteemed nec- is or possibly can be. essary thereto by the parties in the case, shall be interfered with by an The brief expression of opinions of officer of the government. President eminent gentlemen, who have stud- Cleveland, in the letter already re- ied this subject for years, which will ferred to, says : be found below, was solicited by us with the privilege of their publica- "A limited theological class of Indian young tion in the REVIEW, and they will be men may be trained in the vernacular at any read with great interest. purely missionary school, snpported exclusively by misSionary societies, the object being to pre- OPINIONS OF EMINENT MEN ON LATE pare them for the ministry whose snbsequent ACTION OF THE INDIAN BUREAU. work shall be confined to preaching, nnless they are employed as teachers in remote settle- GENERAL CLI"TON B. FISK, CHAIRMAN BOARD 011' ments, where Ellglish schools are inaccessible." INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. And then, singularly enough, adds: • NEW YORK, March 26,1888. "The mIes referred to have been modified and changed in their phraseology to meet the I am in favor of using the English language views of good men who seek to aid the govern- ment In its benevolent intention, nntil it was only, in the schools conducted for the edncation snpposed their meaning was quite plain and their purpose satisfactory." of the Indians, as speedily as that can be done, How can the President suppose it I believe the Indian Bnrean erred in attempting to be "satisfactory" to American citizens or American Indians either, to prohibit the use of the Indian language in that the government shall claim the schools snpported by missionary societies. It was a wrong I Wish might be corrected withont delay. CLINTON B. FISK. THE BIGHT REV. BISHOP HAllE OF TIm lIIIS- gnu among the DakotaS' more than half a cen; SIONARY DISTRICT OF SOUTHERN DAKOTA. tury ago, and the result has been the conversion SIOUX FALLS, DAKOTA, March 31,1888. of hundreds from savage and heathen practices to Before answering your question and giving the white man's faith and civilization and the knowledge of the Saviour of men. Must this my opinion of the order of the Indian Burean good work cease at the nnchristian demand of prohibiting the teaching of the vernacular lan- an officer ofthe government of the United States , guage On the Indian reservations by missionary Why should the Bible in their own tongue be or other agents not supported by the govern- taken away from the Dakota people f And why ment, I must say by way of introduction, lest I should official edict prevent a poor Indian from reading and being taught of things divine in his should be misnnderstood, that I think some ac- Own vernacular? "Whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe In me, It Is better tion in the'premises on the part of the govern- for him that a millstone were hanged about hill ment was called for. There is a tendency in neck and he were cast into the sea" (Mark many:of those who live on Indian reservations, ix. 42). The Washington order and not the Dahoth the Indian and the white missionaries, to kota Bible should be put under the ban. shut themselves in from the commOn life of onr people. This seems to me a capital mistake. E. L. FANCHER. Safety for 250,000 Indians, divided np unto several hundred trihes, speaking as many different HERBERT WELSH, ESQ., SECRETARY OJ!' THE languages, scattered on about seventy different reservations among 50,000,000 of English-speak- INDIAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION. ing people, can he found ouly if the smaller people fiow in with the current of life and ways of PHILADELPHIA, March 31, 1888. the larger. The Indians are not an insulated people, like some of the islanders of the South I believe that while it is of great importance Sea. Our work is not that of building np a national Indian chnrch with a national liturgy in or Indians to have a practical knowledge of the the Indian tongue. It is rather that of resolving the Indian structnre and preparing its parts for English language, so that they may know what being taken up into the great whole in church and state. things to take and what to reject in our civil- I think that decisive measures were needed in ization, a knowledge of Christian principles Is order to give emphasiS to these principles and to stir teachers and missionaries np to more intel- still more necessary to their welfare, as it is esligent and strenuous efforts to teach the Indians the EngliHh language. sential to the development of high strong per- I think, however, that the government has sonal character. Hence to oppose instruction shown, in the shape in which they have pnt the order referred to in your letter, great want of for Indians in the essentials of Christian trnth consideration for Christian teachers and missionaries who have been its best helpers in the throngh the medium of their own tongue, where work it wishes to do, and has trampled upon sa· cred rights which I had supposed would never circnmstances forbid the nse of English, I bebe made light of in this free land. lieve is nnsound policy. Yours respectfully, W. H. HARE, Bishop. "Forthe government to forbid or to restrict the HON. E. L. FANCHER, PRESIDENT AMERICAN use of the native tongue on the part of those who BIBLE SOCIETY. NEW YORK, March 30,1888. are laboring for the civilization of the Indians, I have no hesitation in saying that the edict independently of government financial aid, is, ofthe Commissioner of Indian Affairs is a blot on the page of Christian civilization. To command in my jndgment, for it to transcend the moral as it does that "no person other than a native Indian teacher will be permitted to teach in any limits of its authority. Such an act is oppressive Indian vernacnlar" is to close the door oCmission schools among the Indians and deny Christian in its nature, out of harmony with American missionaries the right of teaching the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and anyessen- ideas, and will only succeed in irritating and tial doctrine of the Bible. For there are thonsands of Indians who do not understand the alienating Protestant missionaries and In ham- English langnage, and before they can learn it their earthly existence, as to many, will ter- pering their valuable work for the welfare of the minate. Indians. HERBERT WELSH. The Dakota Bible is read in Indian schools by BEY. DR. GILlIlAN. SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAN many who cannot understand English, and what right has an officer of this free government to BIBLE SOCIETY. forbid its further nse f Mission work was be- BIBLE HOUSE, NEW YORK, April 4, 1888.

The rulings of the Commissionerof IndlanAl- fairS seem to have been determined, first by his personal opinion, repeatedlyannonnced, that any instrnction of the Ind4lns in their native tongne is nseless and detrimental to them; and sec- ondly, by his conviction that fidelity to his oath of 01lice requires him to prohibit instruction altogether. 1 In hoth these respects I think he Is wrong.

The missionaries are not dOing a nseleHs and harmful thing in teaching Indian boys and girl"

to read the Scriptnres in their own tongue, and even if they were it Is a high-minded measure for a government officer in Washington to set up his personal jndgment'on such a matter as a rule with which they must comply or be debarred from carrying on their philanthropic edncatlonal work. He goes out of his province when he dictates the methods of instruction for them to pursue, aud attempts to suppress a language by lows: In Philadelphia Yearly Mee~ ing, 1882; Iowa, Hl83; Indiana, 1883; an official edict. By his own confession "the New England, 1884; Ohio, 1884; Can- ada, 1885; North Carolina, 1885; Kaneffect of this policy upon any missionary body sas, 1885; New York, 1887. College societies are also formed at Earlham, was not considered," and that, when self-deny- Ind., and Wilmington, O. The mem- bership of these societies in 1886 was ing missionaries for all these years have been 3,892, and they had at that time raised $27,840. They have done much interested in giving the Indians a literature in valuable service in stimnlating the raising of money, and have rendered their OWn tongue. This is the gravamen of my much aid in establishing and sup- porting missions in Syria, China, Jacomplaint. EDWARD W. G,LMAN. pan, lVlexico, Jamaica, and among the American Indians. This work REV. LYMAN ABBOTT, D.D., EDITOR THE CIlRJB- has led to the establishment of a mis- sionary paper, the Friends' Mission- TIANU~ION. ary Advocate, edited and published at Chicago by Esther Tuttle Pritch- NEW YORK, March 31, 1888. ard. I can only say in answer to yours of March 28, in the briefest possible words: These several societies, ten in all, 1. That I think it very desirable to cease all were entirely separate, each from all nse of the vernacular in the Indian schools at the others, and have had no bond of earliest possible moment. union except that of their being 2. That I think the government has an entire of the same denomination, but they right to prohibit the use of the vernacular in any judged the time had a1'l'ived to seschools dependent in whole or in part upon gov- cure, if not some general organizaernment aid. tion, at least some unity of plan in 3. But it clearly has no right morally, what- the conduct both of their work at ever its technical legal right may be, to prohibit home and abroad. religious or philanthropic organizations from carrying on their work in any way and by any Representatives of these societies instrumentality they think best. were appointed to meet for this pur- pose, and some seventy of them met LYMAN ABBOTT. in Indianapolis, March 31, 1888, and organized" The First National Mis- Fifth Annual Meeting of the Interna- sionary Conference of the Woman's tional Missionary Union. Foreign Missionary Societies of Friends." 'fhe opening session it- THE fifth annual meeting of the In- self was marked by what is a "new ternational Missionary Union will be departure" among Quakers: it was held at Bridgeton, New Jersey, July inaugurated with singing. 5-1.2, 1888, inclusive. Ministers and others interested in foreign mission- This was an interesting moment, ary work are invited to be present. for in the veins of some of these All foreign missionaries, ladies or women flowed the blood of a Quaker gentlemen, temporarily or perma- ancestry of many generations, the nently in this country, are eligible to temporary president herself being in membership in the Union and will re- a line of Quaker preachers as far ceive free entertainment during the back as it can be traced; and to her meeting. For information address these associations were almost as the president of the Union, Rev. J. family ties; yet in this meeting, T. Gracey, D.D., 202 Eagle street, which was to set the precedent for Buffalo, N. Y.; the secretary, Rev. C. the future, the keynote was st.ruck W. Park, Birmingham, Conn.; the by singing treasurer, Rev. William H. Belden, Bridgeton, New Jersey; J. L. Phillips, M.D., Howard, R. I.; or Rev. E. R. Young, Brampton, Canada.

First National Conferenoe of the Wom- an's Foreign Missionary Sooieties of Friends. THE work of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Societies of Friends began in Western Yearly Meeting, the first s?ciety being formed at Plainfield in 1881. Since that, similar so- cieties have been organized, as fol- "All hail the power of Jesus' naDie." relative to future punishment, or other doctrine, in conflict with. the The season of devotion which fol- standards of other orthodox churches. lowed was oneof deep, quiet spiritual There are women of ability in this power. The address of welcome was church of whom this could not be made by Eliza C. Armstrong, who said, but the.y are not among these was among the first to suggest the delegates. This is attributed to the organization for women's societies revival of experimental holiness among the Friends. The Indianapo- which has swept largely over the lis Friends had spared no pains to denomination. give the delegates a fitting reception. An easel supported the pictures of The special aim of the conference their missionaries, with a life-size was to adopt, if possible, some basis engraving of Elizabeth Fry for a cen- of co-operation among the ten indetral figure, and an excellent portrait pendent missionary organizations of of Sybil Jones, one of the founders Quaker women. This was accomof Friends' Syrian Mission. On the plished in the establishment of a sort wall back of the pulpit were groups of confederation, by resolving that of pictures of pupils in the schools the independent boards of the several of Syria, and two idols that had yearly meetings have, each, three dejust been given to their Tokyo Mis- partments of work, as follows: (1) sion by a family that had embraced Junior and juvenile work; (2) gen- Christianity. as the result of the eralliterature; (3) systematic Chrishealing of a son who had been deaf tian giving; with a general superinand .dumb from his birth, but who, tendent over each department, to be it is said, received hearing and com- elected annually. These board sumenced to articulate sounds in an- perintendents, representing their sevswer to prayer in a meeting of the eral departments, shall elect their mission. A pleasant incident of the general secretary of that work anopening session was a telegram of nually, a two-thirds vote being necesgreeting from Mr. H. W. Fry, son of sary to elect. These general secrethe youngest son of Elizabeth Fry, a taries shall be a medium of communispiritually-minded business man, sec- cation through which the propositions retary of the London Bureau of of one board shall be conveyed to the Registration of Self-Supporting Mis- others. It is proposed that the name sions. It was, Col. i. 9, 10. under which these general secretaries shan act, shall be "Woman's For- The company of women was in eign Missionary Union of Friends." strong contrast with what a company These recommendations are to be reof Quaker women composing a simi- ferred for the consideration of the lar gathering would have been thirty various independent boards, to adopt years ago. There was but one "plain or defer, according to their several bonnet" among them, and that was needs, until the next General Conferworn by the veteran delegate of the Conference, a woman of striking ence. presence, sister to the late Dr. J. T. Another topic of interest was the Updegraff, M.C., and of the Quaker evangelist, David B. Updegraff. One relation they should sustain to the who has intimate personal acquaint- established missionary boards of the ance with the entire personnel of the Yearly Meetings: Should they be- company says they were a company come auxiliary to them, and turn of women fully consecrated to God their collections over to them, or up to their measure of comprehen- maintain their organic individuality sion of what that means, and, though and, self-government as women's so- the remark was not solicited, she cieties? The following action was adds, "not one of them holds views had: "Re8Ol'/J6d, That as a confereuce of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of Friends in and pleaded that the Friends do all America, we deslr~ to record our conviction they can to save these lost souls. that tlie separate form of organization represented by the societies is the providential chan- The committee suggested that all nel of women's work in mission fields; and Christian colleges should encourage further, that we cherish the organic individ- missionary societies among their stuuality of our boards and regard their self-govern- dents, to promote general intelligence, ment as essential to the best results; at the to secure a symmetrical development same time we earnestly hope the most cordial of mind, and a proper appreciation of relations of sisterly sympathy may ever be main_ personal responsibility in the dissemtained by our boards toward the other foreign ination of gospel truth among the msssionary agencies of our church." heathen. It also recommended that the different boards encourage the The Conference was addressed by promotion of junior and juvenile so- Dr. George E. Post of Beirut, Syria; cieties whose object shall be, the edu- Rev. V. C. Hart of China, and Rev. cation of their members concerning J. M. Thoburn, D.D., and his sister the needs of the heathe.n world and of India. Several papers were read their responsibility thereto. It was on methods of raising money, mis- further urged that the principles of sionary literature, and other practi- peace and arbitration be taught in cal topics, and the enthusiasm of the these organizations. ladies rose to a high point. The Committee on Resolutions re- Emeline Tuttle spoke of her Indian ported that it was the imperative experiences. She spent many years duty and exalted privilege of every as a missionary among the Indians, human being who believes himself mostly with the Modocs. Her work the purchase of the Redeemer's blood, . was firlilt among the Ottawas, in a to use all his natural and acquired log-schoolhouse; soon they had two ability to proclaim, either in person other schoolhouses. Then the Mo- or by proxy, the glorious possibility doc war came. She prayed much of salvation through Christ, "to the and longed for the deliverance of the uttermost parts of the earth," It also women and children. Soon word submitted a resolution "expressing came that the government would earnest sympathy with all efforts for bring the Modocs to the Indian Terri- the enlightenment of the North Amertory. She was full of joy at this. ican Indians, and for the securing of She visited them in their homes, their just rights under the governprayed for them, and soon got posses- ment, and recommending that the sion of twenty-five of their children boards do as much'as practicable for in the school, and within a year the promotion of the interests of the they all could speak English. The aborigines of the country." mistakes of Friends at first were that they did not bring the Indians to A resolution indorsing the policy Christ, so that little ones and igno- of the Friends' Missionm'y Advocate, rant ones might know about Jesus and and expressing appreciation of the be sweetly saved. In three years she labors of its editor, pledging the sohad twenty happy Christians among cieties to earnest and persistent them. She told of the conversion of efforts for its support and ex- .. Steamboat Frank," his union with tended circulation, was also adopted. the church, his ministry, his godly Anotherresolution commits the socie- Hfe,the death of his wife and five chil- ties to efforts in promoting systematic dren one after another, and his own giving, and to preventing the introtriumphant death. She then told of duction of any methods of raising the Ponca tribe, who had been driven money for the work upon which the from theil' home and were very de- Friends as Christians could not conjected. She spoke of the terdble sistently invoke the divine blessing. evils to this tribe, and to the Sioux, as perpetrated upon it by white people, The reports of the societies connected with the several Yearly Meet- the well-known De Guignes, give the ings gave the following results: population at that time, the one at 143,125,225, and the other at 203,916,- Indiana has as anxiliaries 59 and members 477-a slight difference of over sixty 911. Of the anxiliaries, 38 nS" nniform lessons millions. We also know that the and 21 do not; libraries, 14; women in Indiana "census" of 1711 gave the popula- Yearly Meeting, estimated, 5,857. We"tern : tion as 28,695,716, and that of 1753 at Auxiliaries, 41 ; members, 41 ; use uniform les- 103,050,060, and that an increase of sons, 32; do not, 9; libraries, 16; meetings three and one-half times in forty years without auxiliaries, 19. New England: Auxilia- cannot be accounted for as natural or ries, 28; monthly meetings, 29; Advocates birth-rate increase. As the object of takeu, 187; membership, 646. Ohio: Anxilia- taking the census was for enrollment ries, 19 ; members, 306; life members, 21 ; nse iJl, the army and to levy a capitation uniform lessons, 10; do not, 9; meetings with- tax on males between the ages of sixout, 13; Advocates taken, 233. Iowa: Anx- teen and sixty, it may have been very iliaries, 20; members, 650; meeting's without, unreliable. When we comparethe re- 24; using nniform lessons, 12. Canada: Aux- turns of the census of 1753 and 1812, ilianes, 15; members, 203; withont auxiliaries, we find that the increase is more 8; use uniform lessons, 4 or 5. North Caroliua : than 300 per cent. for the fifty-nine Auxiliaries, 5; members, 65 reported, proba- years, which also must be accounted bly 200; nse nniform lessons, 2. Kansas: Aux- for in some other way than by birthiliaries, 13' members, 246. New York: Aux- rate. If"authorities" are to be aciliaries.5; members, 86. cepted, then between 1790 and 1792- two years-the popUlation doubled, It is probable that a similar Na- and that could not be accounted for tional Conference will be held in 1890. by birth-rate. Dr. Williams says if We congratulate not only these so- the methods of taking the census in cieties, but the Society of Friends at the early dates are to be accredited large, who have been disturbed for as equally trustworthy, then there two years past almost to the point of was a period of 150 years in which schism, over the toleration of the there was no increase, while from ordinances of baptism and the Lord's 1711 to 1753 the population doubled it- Supper, that these ladies represent- self, as wehave shown, in each twenty ing both sides of ,that controversy years. A comparison of the figures of were able to meet in Christian con- the Anglo-Chinese College report for vention and that they realized a deep 1792 and the Chinese census of 1812, spiritual unity among themselves on would give over two millions, or an the platform of practical missionary annual increase of not quite one per work. cent. per annum for twenty years; but Dr. Williams says no one sup- Population of Ohina. poses there has been any such rate THE North Ohina Herald reports of· increase down to the present.• "Nor," he adds, "are there any data the last year's official tables of the from which to make even the least Chinese Government as giving a total guess of the present population of population of392,000,000,which is per- the whole empire." (Edition-of haps about what the general con- "Middle Kingdom," 1876.) J. Hudsensus of the most modern opinion son Taylor, after large itineraries would place itat. But so far as "cen- over the country, says some people sus" goes,it means the numeration for think the population not to exceed poll-tax of the Board of Revenue, and 250,000,000, and that in some provthe estimate of five persons for one inces the population is not one-fifth thereof. But the Herald goes on to of what it formerly was. compare the calculation made on the revenue returns of 1760 with those of It was as late as September, 1887, 1848, and concludes that the popUlation has increased at the rate of two and a half millions a year. We do not know wh<J,t the revenue returns-were in 1760, but two "authorities," astatistical work of Yih Tung Chi and

THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS

that Mr. Rockhill of the American Mr. Rockhill was confident this was Legation at Peking; writing to the considerably above the true figure; American Oriental Society, enclosed which goes to confirm the doubt a clipping from the North China about the possibility of reaching. Daily News of Shanghai, giving the very definite results. It is a matter results of a recent census, translated of reasoning, not of statistical accufrom a document emanating from racy. Yet the statistics are not the Board of Revenue, which gave without their value. They help us, the total of population in fifteen though sometimes it seems as if it provinces in 1885, as 319,383,500, with were after the order of the clock, the five provinces to hear from, whose owner of which said, when the ~ig population could not be much short hand was at ten and the little hahd of 60,000,000, which would make an at three and it struck twelve, ~e aggregate of about 380,000,000, and knew it was about sundown.

V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.

THE DARK CONTINENT. literature in their own" tongue, and WITH strange rapidity God has to preach the gospel, gather converts, opened the doors oC Africa. When, organize churches and educate a nathirty or forty years ago, boys were tive ministry. studying geography the vast district in the interior was marked on It was indeed a stupendous work to the maps "unexplored." Little was undertake. Prof. Drummond, W;ho known of the Dark Continent ex- had confessed his doubts as to the cept its six thousand miles of sea- results of such a scheme amid such a coast, its great desert, and those nar- people, himself sat down at Dr.. row strips of country which border Law's station with the seven men the ocean or the Nile. When the and two women who were first fruits heroic Livingstone, who had entered of that mission, with them partook from the south, seeking to know of the Lord's Supper, and in them besomething of the unknown and open held the promIse and prophecy of a path for the missionary, died on Africa's regeneration. his knees amid the swamps near Lake Bangweolo in 1873, his death Among the many wheels which sounded the new signal for the evan- Livingstone's death set in motion for gelization of Africa. The churches the evangelization of the Dark Conof Scotland, united, founded the sta- tinent, no one agency is more contion Livingstonia as the first fruits spicuous than Henry M. Stanley.. of that dying prayer. In May, 1875, Let us read Stanley's own testimony the party of missionaries left Scot- as to the influence exerted on him: land and, reaching the mouth of the Zambesi, put together their mission "Livingstone tanght me, during those {pur vessel, the steam-launch which had months that I was with him. In 1871 I went to been transported in parts, and in him as prejudiced as the biggest atheist in Lon- October the flala steamed into Lake don. To a reporter and correspondent, snch as Nyassa. With headquarters at Ban- I, who had only to deal with wars, mass-meetdawe, the missionary band began to ings and political gatherings, sentimental matsurvey the lake, erect buildings, ters were entirely out of my province. But make roads a.nd till the soil; to es- there came for me a long time for reflection. I tablish medical dispensaries with was ont there away from a worldly world. I competent physicians; to gather saw this solitary old man there, and asked mychildren into schools; to give the self, 'How on earth does he stop here? Is he people the Scriptures and a Christian cracked, or what? What l! it that inspires him 1 ' For months after we met I simply found myself listening to him, wondering at the old man carrying ont all that was said in the Bihle : 'Leave all things and follow me.' Bnt little by little his sympathy for others' became contagions; my sympathy wae aroused; see- Ing his piety, his gentlene~s, his zeal, his ear- lation of fifty million people; with nestness, and how he went quietly about his marvelous variety of scenery,climate, busines.,I was converted by him, although he product, fauna and flora. When in had not tried to do it. How sad that the good old 1877 Stanley completed his tour of man should have died so soon. How joyful he Central Africa, it was nine hundred would have been if he could have seen what has and ninety-nine days since he left since happened there… Zanzibar. He could now, " in forty- three days after leaving Glasgow, be Events move fast in these days. housed in his own station at Stanley Livingstone's death being known, Falls, and instead of running a this intrepid explorer determined to gauntlet for his life from the day he become his successor in opening up reached Vivi, his ascent of the river Africa, and when he reached the would be one continued ovation." mouth of the Congo the greatest step in-the exploration of Equatorial Afri- Well may all eyes turn to Africa. ca had been taken. England at once God is disclosing by his providence sent her missionaries to plant stu.- the great animal, mineral and vegetions from the Congo's mouth to the table resources of the interior; os- Equator, as well as about the great trich breeding is more profitable than lakes of the East, and now all Chris- that of South Down mutton; the tian denominations seem about to elephant tusks will supply the deconcentrate upon the Congo basin, to mand for ivory; and so through the carryon vigorously the work of evan- very avarice of men and the higher gelization and fulfill the prophecy love of science, the great unknown of Krapf, that a chain of missions contiuent is to be crossed with a netwould yet be stretched between the work of railways, penetrated in every eastern and the western shores. direction by travelers and explorers, settled by adventurers and far- The explorations of a quarter of a sighted traders, and planted with century have now unveiled Africa; Christian missions. Already steamso rapidly is the work of discovery boats sail the rivers and great lakes; going on that the maps of yesterday roads are being built and railways are imperfect to-day and will be ob- constructed, and a submarine cable solete to-morrow; nothing but the laid. Before this number of THE outline of the continent is as it was REVIEW can be issued changes will a quarter of a century ago. Victoria have taken place which will make Nyanza, Albert Nyanza, Tanganyika, this record out of date. Nyassa and Bangweolo, the five great lakes, have been surveyed, We have in another article traced which remind us Of our five great the remarkable history of modern American lakes; and as many great African civilization and evangelizarivers are discovered running to the tion. If God thus opens such a wide four points of the compass-the door of opportunity, what shaH be Zambesi, Nile, Congo, Niger and said of our obligation! Orange-furnishing with their great tributaries ten thousand miles of Early in the year 1565 a strange river roadway. ship was descried on the southp,rnho- rizon, slowly making her way toward The Congo Free State, thus sud- the continent of the New World. denly constituted a new empire The name of that ship was The Jesus, o~ freedom, is a rich area of one her"commander was Sir John Hawkaid a half million square miles, one ins; in her hold was a cargo of four of the richest countries of the globe, hundred wretched negro captives, with the noble Congo and its many who had been seized on the coast of -navigable affiuents for its water high- Africa and were now, for a round way, connecting with great lakes sum of Spanish dollars, to be sold whose, shore lines would measure into hopeless, servitude. Notwiththree thousand miles; with a popustanding perilous storms and dis- 1852, the Yoruba country was unheartening calms, the officers of this touched till 1842, and the Niger disship were able to recount a prosper- trict ri3ceived its first missionaries ous voyage, and piously to record in only in 1857, when no one dreamed their journal that their safety and that the youth helping Mr. Kissling success were due to the preserving in Fourah Bay College would be care of Almighty God, "who never known all over the Christian world suffers his elect to perish." Was in 1887 as one who, for a quarter of a there ever such a desecration of sa- century, has well filled tile position cred names and subjects – a slave- of the first native African bishop since ship inscribed with that holiest name, the days of the early church. and a company of men-stealers calling themselves by that intimate title In studying Africa as a mission of the chosen of God? fi~ld we ought to remember Dr. Bush- nell, in some sense the father and in The first missionary to Southern every sense the hero of Presbyterian Africa was George Schmidt, who missions in Africa, and who died in planted the gospel among the Hot- the service of the Gaboon Mission. tentots fifty years ago. We remember him bringing wants of that mission before the churches It is impossible in a few lines even and seminaries; supervising printing to mention the many changes in the by the American Bible Society of a aspect of missions in Africa, since part of the Scriptures in Thfpongwe David Livingstone gave his parting dialect, and smaller books in the charge to the students of Cambridge, same; providing for a grammar of in 1857, "I go back to make an open this language, and a vocabulary of path for Christianity and commerce. the Benga soon to be printed. He Do you carry out the work I have should ever be thought of side by begun." The Universities Mission side with Dr. Lindley, the hero of the sprang into existence at this call. Zulu mission, on the southeastern Two years or more ago, as a proof of coast. God's blessing upon its labors, it could show the old slave market at There are many who have fol- Zanzibar, where annually 30,000 lowed the fOl'tunes of Bishop Taylor's slaves were sold, transformed into a missionary enterprises, have watched Christian church, in the center of a as his advance guard reached the native Christian colony. Thirty-five goal in the depths of Africa toward missionary societies are now zealous- which he has so long been strugly at work in Africa, and in sixty gling. Before nis pioneer band of years 600,000 native Afl'icans have missionaries left this country, the been added to Christendom. The bishop declared his ambition to plant whole interior of the country is now his stations among the remarkable open to Christian effort. tribes that WiSSIl1ann had described. Toward this region, along the Upper Missionary work in West Africa Kassai and its tributaries, his chain has been wonderfully successful. of stations from the sea has been Speaking only of that part of it steadily lengthening. His new steel which is connected with the Church steamer was sent from England for Missionary Society, there are seven the Congo to take the newly-discov- European missionaries and forty na- ered water route to the populous tive clergy (one of them a bishop and street villages of which Wissmann two archdeacons), with 9,000 com- and Kund have informed us., Mean- municants, and 7,000 scholars in while Dr. Harrison, one of the party ninety schools and seminaries; there that Bishop Taylor led up the Congo, were 1,228 baptisms in the last re- reached Luluaberg, the new station ported year. Yet the Bishopric of of the Congo State. He. is one of the Sierra Leone was not founded till two physicians who followed the was the wren which aided Prometheus bishop to Africa, and he is now es- in stealing the sacred fire of knowl- tablished among natives who fully edge from beneath Jove's throne in justify Wissmann's enthusiastic de- heaven. Accordingly, he who kills a scription. wren will have his home destroyed.

If you have money in your pocket THE FREEDMEN. when you hear the cuckoo for the THE negroes of the South are mak- first time it is a good omen, and you ing material gains. Late statistics of will have your pockets well lined the States of Georgia, South Carolina during the year; if, on the contrary, and Louisiana indicate that since the you have no money, cultivate your war they pay taxes on $48,000,000. friends, for you will be in need of their Since the colored people have become assistance before long. The black- citizens, a decided force in the poli- bird which crosses your road brings tics of the country, it is of the utmost you good luck. No physician should importance tha,t they have a property fail to procure a bed of partridge interest in, the communities where feathers. A patient laid upon such a they are; and to good citizenship, bed, no matter what his disease, will thrift and economy and saving are never die of it, although he will not needful; as they acquire land and necessarily get well.

houses, they will be able to support schools and churches. Intelligence SUGGESTIVE PARAGRAPHS.

and religion with homes and real es- Saving others by sacrifice of self.

tate will elevate and fit them for ad- John Maynard was well known on vancing duties and responsibilities. our northern lakes as a God-fear- Ignorance is inseparable from su- mg, honest, intelligent pilot. On a perstition, and while ignorance re- steamer from Detroit to Buffalo, mains this will be one great hindrance 8moke was seen from below. The to the Christian manhood of the captain ordered a hand below to see negro. Among the negroes of the whence it came. He returned with Southern States the moaning dove the word, "The ship on fire!" and moans to save a man's soul; to kill there was no lifeboat, and large one of these doves is a sign of death, quantities of rosin and tar were but more frequently the death of a on board. It was seven miles to Buf- child. A buzzard or a crow upon the falo; they had perhaps three-quar- housetop is believed by these same tet·s of an hour to reach it. May- people to be an invariable sign of nard sent all passengers forward and death or disaster; a visit at the door stood firm at the wheel, enveloped from a rooster, the approaching visit in flame. The captain spoke through of a friend; the notes of the screech- his trumpet, "John Maynard!"

ing owl or "shivering" owl are a "Ay, ay, sir!" "Head boat south- bad omen of many interpretations, east and run her ashore. Can you while if the common owl hoots on hold five minutes more?" "By your right good luck will follow, but God's help I will." He lifted one bad luck should he take np his posi- hand, burned to a crisp, from the tion on your left side and hoot there- wheel, and put the other there to be from. The reputation of all night burned. All the passengers were birds, great or small, is no better; saved, but John Maynard's soul had but Southern imagination has discov- fled.

ered a remedy for all their spells. It -IT is said that the mirrors in the consists of throwing a pinch of salt temples of Smyrna represented the into the fire as soon as the sound is fairest and most symmetrical objects heard. If a chaffinch perches on your with distorted and deformed ima- window-sill, beware of treachery. It ges. Is it not so of t,he unregenerate

PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN

'72 or even unsanctified heart? How gospel to every creature. Always aboandin& in much of the distortion of truth has to the work of the Lord. Gen. i. 28; Josh i. 6, 3; do with the imperfection of the re- Gen. xxvi. 13, 12; Neh. iv. t>-21; vi. 15; Mark flecting surface I He who reflects as xvi. 15; 1 Cor. xv. 58. in a mirror the glory of the Lord must be in close spiritual fellowship THURSDAY, JUNE 28. with the Lord in order to be true to When ye blow an alarm, then the camps shalt go the glory he reflects. Francis Bacon said there are three rays-the 7'adiu8 forward. directu8, radiu8 rejlectu8, and radiu8 HINDlUNCES TO PROGREss.-I. In Walk. He refractu8. How many rays are bent lingered. His wife looked back. He saw that out of their true direction by the me- rest was good. At ease from his youth-settled dium through which they are trans- on his lees. A little sleep. A little slumber. A mitted! lion in the way. His heart was not perfect. He pitched his tent before the city. Is there any TEXTS AND THEMES. secret thing with thee? Thou restrainest prayer. Gen. xix. It>-26; xlix. 15; Jer. xlviii. THE following is the programme 11; Prov. xxiv. 33; xxvi. 13; 1 Kings xi. 4; Gen. xxxiii. 18 ; Job x''. 11. 4. for the Grand Mildmay Conference, n. In Work. Strength decayed. Much rub- June 27-29. We print it as a model bish. Hands hang down. Feeble knees. The programme for a missionary meet- wind was contrary unto them. We sailed slowly, the wind not suffering us. Being armed, they ing: turned back. He went not with th~m to the work. Slack to possess the laud. Cannot see WEDNESDAY, JUNE '%I. afar off. Neh. iv. 10; Heb. xii. 12; Mark vi. 48; Acts xxvii. 7; Ps. lxxviii. 9; Acts xv. 38 ; Speak unto the children Qf I8rael that they go Josh. xviii. 3; 2 Pet. i. 9. forward. FRIDAY, JUNE 29. PROGRESS THE LAW OF THE KINGDOM.-I. In They went every o-ne straightforward. HELPS TO PROGRESS.-I. In Sanctification. Life. Grow in grace. Be no more children. Laying aside every weight. They lightened the Grow up into him in all things. They shall ship. Be filled with the Spirit. Looking unto Jesus. Beholding. as in a glass, the glory of the mount up. Still upward-still upward-still up- Lord. The sincere milk of the Word. Holding the head. By joints and bands having nourishward. From strength to strength. From glory ment ministered. Let us go on. Let us cleanse ourselves. Heb. xii. 1; Acts xxvii. 18; Eph. v. to glory. More and more unto the perfect day. 18; Heb. xii. 2; 2 Cor. iii. 18; 1 Pet. ii. 2; Col. ii. 19; Heb. vi. 1 ; 2 Cor. vii. 1. Like him. Conformed to the image of his son. n. In Service. Zeal as a cloke. Loins girt 2 Pet. iii. 18; Eph. i v. 14, 15; Is. xl. 81 ; Ez. about with truth. Feet shod with the preparaxll. 7; Ps. lxxxiv. 7 ; 2 Cor. iii. 18; Provo iv. 18; tion of the gospel of peace. The love of,Christ constraineth U9. Moved with compassion. The 1 John iii. 2; Rom. viii. 29. voice of his word. Exceeding great and pre- cious promises. That blessed hope. Is. lix. 17 ; n. In Labor. Replenish the earth, and sub- Eph. vi. 14, 15; 2 Cor. V. 14; Matt. ix. 36'; Pa. clii. 20; 2 Pet. i. 4; Tit. ii. 13. due it. Divide for au inheritance the land. Ev- ery place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you. And the man waxed great, and went forward. And received in the same year an hundred-fold. And the Lord blessed him. So built we the wall. So we labored. So the wall wa~ finished. Preach the VI.-PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS- MONTHLY BULLETIN.

Africa.-Trouble with the Arabs at the northwest Ride of Lake Nyassa at the North End of Lake Nyassa. The daily papers have informed us of has been besieged for five days, and this, notably the Manchester Guard- with difficulty held by a small band ian of Feb. 25, which had several of Scotchmen, Englishmen, and nacolumns of detailed narrative and a tives, the Arabs erecting platforms leader on it. Finding themselves menaced with the competition of upon neighboring trees, and attack- European commerce, and seeing the ing with great persistence and dedanger of a collapse of their nefarious termination. The arrival of a strong body of friendly natives, who came to traffic in human flesh, the Arabs in the rescue of the beleaguered party, East Central Africa are growing insolent and aggressive. For the past caused the Arabs to beat a hasty re- treat, but probably only to gather retwo or three years symptoms of com- enforcements and return to the ing difficulties have been noted. Now charge. Our alternative route to Tanganyika, via Quillimane, the , the storm-cloud has burst. A station Shire River and Lake Nyassa, is thus threatened. Dr. Tomory, who was declaim against idolatry. One reaon his way home in broken health, son is that in some of the temples was detained by this attack of the the Confucianists lecture, on the Arabs, and was one of the party be-, sieged. He has since left, ltnd .will 'Sacred Edict.' Another, that the soon, it is hoped, be in England. cupidity of the priests has led them to rent the temple precincts for petty Alaska.-Methodism has neglected merchandise, so that the ground is Alaska. It is comforting to find that no longer considered sacred. There the Presbyterians have a prosperous is no land so free for the gospel preacher as China." mission there. Here are the figures: -The progress of Christianity in SUMMARY. China is increasing rapidly. In 1t:>53 1886. 1887. there were 350 native converts; in Ministers………… , ….. 30 31 1863, 2,000; 1873,8,000; 1883, 22,000; 17–48 1888, 30,000 The Rev. J. L. Nevi- Native,; …………. : …. 8-38 us, D.D., in closing a series of article Churches… …………… 48 59 2,306 on Methods of Mission Work, says: Church members…. ….. 2,001 Teachers.. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. . 63 95 " I believe a great de"l has been accomplished Schools …. '" 00 .. .. .. .. .. • 20 26 in every department of missionary work in Chi- Scholars………………. 1,134 1,607 n". The literary outcome of the paRt forty years is alone and by itself a rich legacy to the mis- Is it necessary to remind our bish- sionaries and native Christians of the present, and gives them a vantage ground in undertakops that Alaska is a part of the ing future labor which it is difficult to overesti- 'mate. The ratio of increase in the number of United States '(-Gospel in All Lands. converts and the evidence of growth and de- velopment in native churches are also full of en- Brazil.-Ten more adults have couragement. While we must record many made profession in Conceigao, and cases or coldness and defection, we remember nine children have been baptized. that such cases have characterized the history aud progress of the church to a greater or less -A letter from one of our mission- extent in every age. On the other hand, we rearies in Brazil says: "Weare look- jOice in being able to point to many who give ing forward WIth deep interest to the undouhted evidence of being God'8 chosen ones, formation in August, when the Pres- while there are others whose names are already byterians meet, of a united synod enrolled among the noble army of martyrs. It and Brazilian church." It will be has been my privilege to know many Christian remembered that the last General men and Christian women in China whose godly Assembly of our church gave "its lives and peaceful deaths have been an inspiraapproval of the formation of a Bra- tion to me, and made me, I trust, a better man zilIan synod, formed of presbyteries and a more earnest worker. I count among my which shall be separated from both nearest and most honored Christian friends not the assemblies in this country, and a few who are now bearing faithful testimony constituting in Brazil a distinct and to the truth in the midst of opposition and mauiindependent church, free from for- fold trials, such as Christians in Western lands eign control."-The Missionary. can only imperfectly appreciate."

Burmah. – Christian Karens of England.-Canon Maclear's annual Burmah. In an address to the Edin- "Combined Report of Missionary burgh University Missionary Asso- Studentship Al'!sociations" for 1887 ciation, Sir Charles Bernard, late shows that £2,186 has been raised in Chief Commissioner in Burmah, who 23 English dioceses toward the suphas two sisters working as mission- port of 91 studentships. Oxford leads aries of the Church of Scotland in the dioceses with a contribution far India, gave some interesting details in excess of any other, giving £496, regarding Christian Karens. They number about 200,000, being a third while the second on the list, Worcesof the Karen people, and there are ter, gives £200. Since the foundation from 500 to 600 congregations, prac- of the college upward of 400 students tically if not entirely self-support- have been sent forth from it for the ing. It is their practice to set apart work abroad. The report gives in- formation about the mission houses so much of the produce of their land at Warminster, Burgh-Ie-Marsh and as will suffice for the support of their Wallingford. Burgh shows a roll of native pastors, and this they do be- 110 students admitted, of whom 56 have proceeded in due course to St. fore they appropriate any of their Augustine's, 14 have gone direct to harvest to themselves. Nor are they missionary work, and 18 are now in residence.-The Mission Field. content with self-support. They send missionaries into Siam and regions India.-N0 less than 5,067 of India's, beyond, where hardships and priva- sons and daughters were baptized by tions of no ordinary character have the agents of the Church Missionary to be endured. Society in 1886. To this number must China.-Rev. H. C. DuBose writes be added the baptisms by all the diffrom Suchow, China: "It is a sur- ferent branches of the Church of prising fact that we may almost daily Christ., Taking into consideration have large congregations in the tem- ple arenas, and without molestation these hundreds of thousands of con- was finished Feb. 3. It is largely verts t<;> Christianity in India it is ob- the result of the Rev. John C. Hepvious that a spiritual development of burn, M.D., LL.D., assisted by six an uncommon type has so advanced other scholars. It has received high itself as to arrest attention.-Madras commendation from the Japanese Weekly as well as from missionaries Oh,'istian Oollege Magazine. -The Indian Witness, noting the capable of appreciating its excelretirement of a noted infidel educa- lence. It is dedicated to God's honor and service "in the name of the tionist from India, says: "The ancient god Nemesis seldom worked a whole body of Protestant missionmore striking revenge than he has done on Prin- aries in Japan." cipal Wordsworth, who has jnst left the shores of India, after abont a quarter of a century spent -Not long since Tokio and the there. Instead of a crowd of native friends on rest of Japan were thoroughly pagan. the pier to bid him farewell, such as gathered to Now we hear of a great Christian revival in that city, with five hunsee Sir Richard Temple away, two of the gentle- dred conversions in a single month. The whole city seems stirred, and men for whom he spent his life came to show their good will. The learned professor might well exclaim, •If I had served my God with half the zeal I have served my friend, he would not.' etc. Opposition to the gospel of Jesus missionaries, native pastors and Christ has been the most conspicuous feature of Mr. Wordsworth's efforts among the natives theological students are busy gather- _ing in the harvest. Everybody is in- throughout his Indian career." terested in Christianity, and nobody Principal Wordsworth is a disciple speaks against it. This is a revolu- of Herbert Spencer, and he com- tion of itself.-.New York Indepen- mended to the Hindus the gospel of dent.

Agnosticism. -The last report of the various Prot- -Bishop Sargent of Madras, who estant missions in Japan is a signifi- last year celebrated the jubilee of his cant index of the growth of Chris- missionary career in India, has out- tianity in that land. The total mem- lived all the original missionaries of bership of the 221 organized churches his society in that diocese. When he is 19,827, the 5,000 added during the went to Tinnevelly in 1835 the Church year representing a gain of thirty- Missionary Society had only three or three per cent. in the Congregational four missionaries, one native preacher and Presbyterian forces. Twenty- and 114 communicants. There are four societies have 253 missionaries now 81 missionaries, of whom 64 are on the ground, and the large part connected with his own society. In that America is deRtined to play in 1,618 villages there are now 98,184 the evangelization of Japan is Christians and catechumens, of whom shown by the fact that five-sixths of 18,460 are communicants. There are the workers are connected with so- 22,170 pupils in schools, and the con- cieties in the United States. There tributions last reported were 47,761 is a great demand for the new trans- rupees, or about $22,000. lation of the Bible, orders pouring in -Dr. Chamberlain's scheme for a by mail and telegraph for a consider- united Presbvterian Church in India, able time after its pUblication. It is the thirteen Presbyterian and Re- cause for deep gratitude that the formed bodies represented in the em- 37,000,000 inhabitants of the country pire uniting in one general assembly, can now read the entire Scriptures has been favorably received in Scot- in their own language. A sentence land.-ScottishFree Ohurch Monthly. in a recent communication to our -There is a great movement in the office from a correspondent in Yoko- Punjab mission of the Church of hama deserves pondering. He says: Scotland. New villages are receiving "It is felt here by all Christian work- the gospel and new churches being ers that the length of time required formed. The strength of the mis- to make this a Christian nation de- sionaries is taxed to the utmost by pends simply upon the number of the demands of the work. competent men which the churches -Christianity in British India has at home are ready and willing to fur"

advanced 30 per cent. during the last nish. Would that many would fol- decade. Mohammedanism during the low the example of Dr. Scudder, and same period only advanced 10 per others, who have come here with no cent. From these figures the general expense to the missionary boards."

increase of the population, which is Madagascar.-Two or three years now 201,000,000, must be deducted; ago 900 barrels of whiskey were this amounts to 7~ per cent.-Punjab landed on the shores of Madagascar Mission News. with a brand which indicated that Japan.-Japan has now an ex- they had come from a proffssedly cellent translation of the entire Christian nation. The authorities of Bible. After sixteen years the work that once heathen nation actually purchased this cargo of whiskey and India was a huge Anglo-Indian deknocked the barrels in the head, that moralization society, and that it was their vile contents might be swal- their duty to send out no uncertain lowed up by the sand rather than by sound regarding facts which had the people. come to their knowledge, and which had not been .contradicted, because -The London Missionary Society they could not be. continues to push its work in Madagascar with increasing success, notwith- Siam.-When Admiral Foote in the standing the political changes and harbor of Bangkok received the Kingthe aggressive attitude of the church of Siam on board his flagship,' the of Rome. With its 30 English mis- ChristIan commander asked a blesssionaries, it reports the astounding ing at dinner. "Why," said the number of 838 native ordained min- king, "you do just like the missionisters and 4,395 native preachers, aries." "1 too anl a nlissionary," 61,000 church members and 230,000 was the reply. adherents. But, as yet, scarcely onehalf of the population have been SwitzerIand.-The Basle Missionreached by the gospel. ary Society reports its variolls mis- sions communicants as follows: -Friends' Mission. Besides a large China, 1,808; India, 4,694; Africa, amount of work in connection with 2,995-total, 9,497. The income was schools, training of teachers, hospi- $198,847.60. tal, printing, etc., in the capital (Antananarivo), the district of Madagas- Turkey. – Euphrates College at car under the care of the Friends' Harpoot (formerly Armenia College), Foreign Mission Association covers is doing a noble work under its presiabout 2,000 square miles, and contains dent, that veteran missionary of the 133 congregations, with nearly as American Board, Rev. C. H. Wheeler, D.D., who is now in this country, many schools. Mr. H. E. Clark writes but means to be at his post on the that there is a pressing need that Euphrates by September 1. The more workers should be sent out this college has an attendance in all desummer. In Antananarivo there are partments of 500 students, about 100 only five Friends' missionaries (not being in the college proper. The Jiield including ladies), two of whom will over which its influence is especially shortly be leaving to take up work felt is about 100×200 miles. Here are in the country districts of Arivoni- twenty-four churches, ten of which are independent of the .American mamo and Manddurano, while the Board. The college has twenty in. health of one of the ladies is so shat- structors, of whom nine are ladies. tered that she will be compelled to Up to the junior year the students come home on furlough at once. study the Bible every day. Ten years ago a strong effort was made -I also tell you that I place my to raise funds for the college, and kingdom under the protection of $71,000 was secured. Now Dr. Wheeler is anxious to raise $30,000 God, for I know that it is the kingdom that is governed by dependence more for endowment, $5,000 for a upon God, that it is true and has new building (wfiich is about comstrength and progress. Go forward in wisdom that the glory of this king- pleted), and $2,500 for scholarships dom may increase. Remember that for need v students. it is righteousness that exalteth a nation, and that the fear of God is the United States.-Amf'rican Bible beginning of wisdom. – Queen of Society. At its recent meeting a Madagascar at her coronation. specimen copy was presented of the complete Bible in Japanese, just ScotIand.-The Anglo-Indian Evan- pl'inted at Yokohama, with a letter gelical Society. A most encouraging report of this society was presented from Mr. Loomis saying that there at the annual meeting in Edinburgh is a large demand, especially for the last week. Rev. J. Fordyce, secre- Old Testament, 1,600 copies of which tary, stated that larger contributions were called for within one month had been made in India than in any after its publication. Grants of books former year, and that they balanced were made for benevolent dish·ibu. tion, at home and in foreign lands, a slight decrease in the contributions from this country. Rev. G. G. Gil- of the aggregate value of about $10,- lan of Bengal appealed for increased 000. Appropriations of funds were. funds, and Mr. Duncan McLaren also made for publishing and dismoved a resolution embodying the tributing the Scriptures in foreign claims of our countrymen in India, countries, to the amount of $17.450, provision being thns made for Bible who were destitute of Christian or- work during the ensuing year in dinances. Rev. John McNeill said India, Italy and Siberia, and in the he believed that the English army in society's agencies in Persia and family. She also pursued the full Brazil. Numerous letters from three years' course in the Woman's foreign lands were laid before the Medical College of New York, and board, containing in some cases the was then invited to the position of summary reports of the distribution intern in the Presbyterian Hospital of the Scriptures during 1887. Dr. of Chicago, where she served two Gulick reported the distribution of years. She has also enjoyed valu- 252,915 copies in China and Siam. able advantages in the medical The Levant agency reported a circu- schools and hospitals of Zurich and lation of 51,000, the Japan agency Vienna. 72,926, and the La Plata agency 17,- 314, while the distribution in Russia -Student Volunteers. There has and Siberia was 39,771 copies. Cash been a great increase of missionary receipts in March were $69,131.66. spint among the students of Union The total cash receipts in the year Seminary, Va., largely ascribed to ending March 31 were $61B,373.B3. the recent visit of Dr. Houston. Sev- The whole number of volumes issued en of the young men have decided to during the year, not'including those go as missionaries, and others are inforeign lands, was 1,.032,672. considering the subject. An effort is being made to raise enough money to -Home Missions. The Presbyterian support a minister in the foreign field. Board, for the year just closed, re- The faculty have given $100, the stuport $783,527.30, and $130,000 more dents of Hampden Sidney College than any previous year. $100, and the young men of the sem-. inary are to give the rest. -The American Home Missionary Society is in an equally prosperous -The United Presbyterian Seminary condition. The close of the society's at Allegheny has resolved to send sixty-second year brought special out a missionary to India in October occasion for thanksgiving to God. The 31st of March found every note next; the choice has fallen on the at the banks paid, and not a dollar Rev. J. H. Martin, just graduated. His salary ($1,200) has been pledged due to any missionary who had reported labor. The debt at one time for ten years by the seminary and contiguous colleges of the denominawithin the year was over $75,000. tion. Besides paying this the society was -Xenia Theological Seminary has able to replace $30,000 of the $50,000 also started a similar movement, and borrowed from the Swett Exigency the students and faculty have pledged Fund. $330 annually for ten years toward the support of a missionary. They -The. Woman's Board of Foreign hope to get the balance needed from Missions of New York report for the certain colleges in the connection. year just closed, $62,244.35, an advance of more than $11,000 over the Wales. – The Nonconforming previous year. The receipts have churches are multiplying rapidly in largely gone into the treasury of the Wales. TheynumberedllOinl716; in Board of Foreign Missions. 1775 they had increased to 471; forty- one years later to 993, and in the next – The receipts of the Woman's 45 years to 2,927. In 1887 they had Board of the Southwest, which are grown to nearly 4,500. All these divided between Home and Foreign churches depend for their support Missions, amounted in the year just upon the voluntary contributions of closed to $15,226.11, an advance of the people. This shows not only a $2,700 over last year. marvelous development, but a hold upon the heart and conscience that -The first National Conference of no State religion can evoke. the various woman's missionary organizations of the Society of Friends Zulus.-Dr. Elmslie, an American in the United States was held at missionary, who has been stationed Indianapolis during the first part of for some time among the Zulus west of Lake Nyassa, has sent home the April. This is an important movement among the Friends, designed to first book printed in Nbungoni lanstimulate every department of mis- guage. The book was issued from sionary work among the young and the press of a neighboring mission the old. station called Blantyre. It contains the Decalogue. passages from the -Miss Alice Mitchell, daughter of Psalms, Proverbs and the Gospels, Secretary Mitchell of the Presbyterian with fourteen hymns. Much is ex- Board of Foreign Missions, is under pected from the book, as the Nbun. appointment to the Woman's Pavil- goni language is intelligible to a ion of the board's hospital in Peking, China. She began her medical large number of the tribes, studies with her grandfather, Dr.

Post of New York, living in his

STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS

Vn.-STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS.

General View of the Condition of Prot. MissiQns in East Africa-Approximate.

[From the Neukirchen Kis8i0r!8- und HeidenOote.] ;. Europeans. Africans. ,,; 1:l ~ tbw -',,00 2,; ~ a> 0 I'<~ I'<~ "" '"."" " ,; "a> Expend!- ,",.S< p. tures in one oi .! .e s .>l a> ",a> ",,01 year. a> §~ " ~" i "'" " ,., ~u2~ ,,~ 0 :'""a0>' .; I'l "8 'tl 00 . ,,"a2> 'OJ p. S " a> ~ ~o S 'tl … " d – – – -"" — -,..- – – – – ~~ ~ ~S -is::- ~a> S"0 0 ..c: 00. 0 Eo< 0 0 00.

I. Church Miss. Soc.- (a) Mombasa. Tiata and – Chagga ……………

' (b) Usagard and Uganda. II. Universities' Mission- 6 5 I) 1 2 21 34 565 231 1126 3 378 } $64,800 6 9 – 16 250 50' 150 5 150 7- (a) Zanzibar Island ….. 3 6 24 – 1 8 40 2 174 26.400 (b) Rovnmd district ….. -1 9 1 45 8,640 (e) Usambara ………… 36 2 14 18 421 4 43 17,280 46 3 1 -2 6 26 } 993 – – 529 13,200 m.(d) Lake Nyassa …….. 14 5 Free Meth. Miss.- – – 15 6,000 (a) Mombasa district …. — 23.040 (c) Jana River ………. 4 -1 — – .8 – 1491 1491 50 4 181 } 17.200 IV. London M. S ………. 1 5 V. Free Ch. Scotland ….. 34 8 1 – – 6 311 – 3l! 17 1 31 ~ – 9 – -2 58 2- 20 9 2 2 6 600 VI. Bavarian East African 8 — — — 1 f 4.800 – – – – Mission …………….. 2 3 10 1 f 7,200 – VII. Berlin E. A. M .• ….. 2 2 6 — VIII. Neukirchen Mission – – – – — – — – – — – (Pastor Doll)…………. – 1 3 -1 Total. …………….. 41 52 65 78 – – 3 – ca. 1,140 4,-71- — 200 1757 812 1766 30 1552 ca. $192.000 +1801 +1801 +f Approximate Estimate .of Oertain Missions in Heathen and Mohammedan Oountries for Five Years Past.

——————- . I .. . ~.~ Years.:::I .~ .'=6 2i Expenditures in …. ",,~ 0 00 a> "

'" '" " .~~",' "".~ . !;,'" '" ~ ,s"" .;~ll§" — —- – – —- —– —— 00. <D~11 .'2" S ~ heathen and .~ ~:a Mohammedan ,",,~ ~Q)tJ "0 countries. "", – – 0 ..:! iZi 'll 00.

1883…………………… 540 818 966 6,224 205,056 261,812 $2,947,000.00 1884 …………………… 574 882 1,003 6.026 216,829 271,852 3,145,000.00 1885 ……… ………….. 636 867 1,005 6.888 225,919 303,074 3,412,000.00 1886…………………… 648 927 1,044 8,646 230,819 307,739 3,160,000.00 1887…………………… 677 911 1.086 7,876 286.322 311,485 3,130,000.00 SOCIeties Included: American Board; Presbyterian Board; Baptist Union; MoraVIan Chureh' Church Missionary SOCiety; London Missionary Society; Protestant Episcopal Board; Methodist -Episcopal Board. The estim..te excludes the missions of these societies iu the West Indies, but inclndes Polynesia and the nomadic tribes of British America.

The Lntheran Synod of Missouri, which which $32.589.62 was for Home Missions.-The Christian Cynosure. thoroughly excludes members of secret lodges United States.-The new census gives the and represents Lutheranism of the strictest type, number of Protestant churches In the United States at 92.653; Protestaut ministers at 71,662, has 931 ministers and 620 parochial school teach- and members at 9,003.030. Taking the Catholic ers. who respectively have the care of 459,376 and Mormon population from the total population baptized membe!'!! and teach 71 •.504 children. it leaves 43,864,381. This gives one church for There is a total of 1,424 churches and 544 preach- every 473 persons, including infants and chiling places, with 266,000 communicant members. dren. one minister for every 612 of the people, Only 678 of these churches are officially con- and nearly one professing Christian for every nected with the synod. though served by pastors five of the popnlation outside of the two classes of the synod. Last year there were m,391 bap- named. We distrust these figures. Abont threetisms. and 13.724 were confirmed. The twelve fifths of all the population are children nnder 16. districts of the synod contributed offerings for education, orphans and widows. synodical treas- This would make everv other adult a professing ury and mi!!eions amounting to ,$107,346 71, of Christian ! !

of the American Presbyterian Mission in Syria. ~

00 I. EVANGELISTIC AND GENERAL MISSIONARY WORK.

1876. 1881. 1882. 1883. 1884. 1885. 1886.

– – – — – – – — – – — – – — – – – — – – – — – 2123 }35 2103 }33 2113 }34 ~}37 2144 }38 ~}a7 i American Men ……………………………….. 1~}191 1~}203 1~}179 3~}189 — Mis810naries Women…………………•…••…..•… 1153 }28 Native {Ordained pastors ………..•…………….. S LYb.lGn Llcensed preachers……….•……………. 136310} 204 School teachers•…..•…•…….•••.•…•…. 1969}12O 1a48g}l94 142 rJl 12 >i a orer8 Other helpers……………•……..•…….. 8 10 14 10 9 ~ 5 Stations ……………………………….•……….. 5 5 5 5 5 5 86 .>…i Out-stations ………………….•………………….. 60 99 98 99 89 90 19 Churches …………………………………………. 10 12 19 19 19 19 31 rJl Church buildings …………………•………..•……. 24 21 28 30 30 30 Added on profession during the year.. . . . . . . . . . . .. . …… 75 131 109 120 130 153 .>…i Male church members ……………………………. 653}68 320694 } 573 579 } 1008 549798 } 1,00"7 652332 } 1,155 750938 } 1,301 677655 } 1,440 Q Female church members ……………… ·.·.··········· 429 ' 554 1,207 rJl Regular preaching places …. , ……..••……………… 61 74 89 84 87 92 Average congregations ……………………………. , 2,642 3,693 3,755 3,900 84 3,891 4,293 ~ Sabbath schools …………………………………… 84 3,961 40 3,094 80 79 73 68 >i Sabbath scholars ……………… ··· .. ·········· ……. 1,540 2,915 3,348 76 3,804 3,746 3,584 =l;;I Syrian Protestant Community (within the field of the 3,594 3,816 3,652 3,847' 3,977 4,165 ~ American Pres. Mission)………………………….. 2,982 $1,653 $2,022 $6,381 $6,302 $6,451 $6,980 ~ Contributions of native churches…………………….. 1 $1,252 t< t1~ II. EDUCATIONAL WORK. rJl College (Syrian Prot.) ………………. , ……………. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I..i.:. 1 1 1 1 1 106 152 170 175 185 1 1 rJl 1 1 1 1 1 165 rJl Medical School. …………………………….•……. 7 7 7 9 4 ~ PupilS in college (including Med. Dep't) ., ..•..•…..••… 1 1 2 2 2 1 165 Theological Seminary …………………….•…..•…. 42 37 67 75 68 4 1 3 3 3 3 3 7 !'" PupilS in do ………………•………..•…. 89 92 97 118 97 2 3 .2 9 14 20 18 72 Boys' boarding schools.., …………………………… 209 235 414 447 347 3 151 Pupils in do. . ……………………………. 71 113 119 123 118 110 8 20 Female seminaries ………………………………… 2,031 }2 840 2,925}4187 81,,;4)3992 } 4,831 31;648824 } 5,166 3,775 } 5 1801 443 119 819 ' 1,262 ' 1,405 ' 108 15 Pupils in do. . ..•…..•……………………….. 80 141 151 379 ~~~~:~~odo~~ :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::: :::: 128 5,590 5,990 144 ~;~}4,871 Common schools ………………..•……………….. 3,509 4,710 5,881 97 ………… ………… 99 62 136 Boys in do……………………………..•..•… 111 5,665 3,178}4505 ~ 1,327 ' Girls in do. 134 121 Total schools …. : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 5,344 j Total pupils. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . ……………….. 230 – – – Women in Bible Classes …………………… ········ ..

PRESS WORK, PRmTmG AND DIBTRmU'l'ION OF BmLE8, T1U.CTB, &0

1876. 1881. 1882. 1883. 1884. 1885. ~ ~ 1886.

Bible House and Press Establishment:- …………….. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 W::d'J~~~~~s::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::: 4 3 3 3 8 3 8 Lithographic press ….. . ……………………… 2 5 5 5 6 6 6 ~ iilpe foundry………………………………….. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ~ ectrotype apparatus…………………………… 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Press employees ……………………………….. 44 45 42 35 41 44 PUblications On Press Catalogne. . . . . . .. .. . . .. … . … 2{)7 240 244 253 258 268 50 ~ Volumes printed during the year ……………………. 57,500 55,400 50,490 47,500 87,900 836 38,450 72,050 W ?of Page9 " H H ,. • ……………………. 13,786,900 18,041,600 20,190,600 19,579,480 19,235,547 27,981,600 83,284,675 <Jl 4,277,500 8,923,000 8,245,600 8,651,000 9,465,000 17,378,600 19,331,750 w~!ch pales Scriptures……………………….. 1,045,500 1,702,500 ~ 232,000 8S9,000 946,320 851,500 451,600 311,742,044 845,026,719 *ToStcarlipptaugreess from thterabcetsg:m..n.m..g……………………………………………….. 159,810,300 224,754,817 244,945,417 264,524,897 283,760,444 ~ distributed duriug tbe year………………. 23,576 15,571 t Other books and tracts sold and distributed. . . . .. . ….. 5,641 15,718 11,600 15,€67 15,953 68,311 Copies Of publications of all kinds issned during year ….. …….3.6.,7.5.2. 372,710 …….2.5.,7.2.1. …….2.9.,8.5..4 …….8.0.,0.0.0. …….2.8.,0.0.0. …….2.8.,2.3.2.

IV. MEDICAL WORK AT ST. JOHN'S HOSPITAL. <JlI ~ The pbysicians of the Medical Department of the Syrian Protestant College have been appointed by the Order of St. J obn in Berlin as the medical attendants of the "Johanniter-Hospital" in Beirut. This most interesting charity, supported by the above mentioned Order, and served also by the Deaconesses of Kaiserswerth, has received ~ during the past years :' 'l'

"I Indoor patients ………………………………….. 537 539 642 577 571 595 465 Patients treated in the Polycliniqne………………….. I 9,162 9,874 9,213 11,172 7,489 6,009 7,126 Total of days of treatment …………………………. 17,879 19,015 18,248 16,489 16,348 18,146 17,500 * These figures represent the copies of Scriptures sold and send out from our Mission Press to private purchasers, and to our own and other missions, and to Bible Society agencies, for further distribution.

t The distribUtion bas been by the various missions among Arabic-speaking peoples, and the American and British Bible and Tract Societies. ~- ~

EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS

VIII.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.

THE INDIAN SCHOOL QUESTION. young Dakota Indians, who are attending school, on the question' Which has done the more good THE Fifth Annual Report of the for us, the Catholic or the Protestant church Y' Executive Committee of the Indian Rights Association, from the pen of The Protestants, it is said, beat their opponents. Mr. James B. Harrison, is a vigorous One of them was asked bow thlly won. He and outspoken contribution to the said, •I showed them the Bible in Dakota and literature of the subject and should read to them in their own tongue. I sh<;lwed be widely circulated and duly con- them a letter from an absent young man written sidered. It justly characterizes the in Dakota, which all could understand wtien I recent orders of the Indian Bureau as read it, and I said, hOur reljgion -gave ;us a written language and the Bible. 'Vhat has 'your " uuiutelligeut, arbitrary, despotic and unstates.' religion given to onr people?'" Is not this manlike, merely a blow at missionary work. pretty fair reasoning for a mau who, according There is no reason to suppose that a single to Commissioner Atkius, has no lauguage; only Indian anywhere will ever learn ten words a barbarous dialect? 'rhe promised concesmore of English by reason of these orders. There is, indeed, no provision made by tho sions of the Iuterior Department have' just government for any increase of facilities in the reached the missionaries among the Dakotas, study of English. The damage to the missionary two months after they were i.,sued. Under date work produced by these orders is their sole re- of Feb. 11 Commissioner Atkins added another sult. The orders should be distinctly and concession to those of Jan. 18, allowing Indians wholly revoked and withdrawn. It is not neces- to possess and use the Bible in the vernacular, sary that the missionaries and churches should and allowing a •limited theological clas" , of submit. If they will publish the facts fully, these Indian young men to be trained in the vernacuorders will be revoked. The facts must come lar iu any purely missionary school supported to light. Then the people of the country will exclusively by miSSionary societies, provided have something to say." they are to devote themselves exclusively to preaching. These conceosions, be it remem· No one can read this report with- bered, are from the InteriM Department of the out having his heart stirred with in- Republic Of the United Slates, wt from the Indignation at the condition of Indian teriM Department of the (lrnerument of tM affairs, through the unfitness of the Czar, and they apply to our Indians, and wt Indian Bureau. The Nation says: to the Poles Of Buss,a."

" The Indian Bureau appears to have made a The President's long reply to the serious blunder. Government has no moral right to order peremptorily that miSSionary Philadelphia Conference, while kind societies which maintain schools in many places without assistance from the Federal treasury in spirit, gives evidence that he has shall cease using the Indian language." not studied the matter with his The religious and missionary press, with almost entire unanimity, has wonted care and clearness and does condemned the policy and arbitrary edict of government, and the Phila- not comprehend the problem iI,l all delphia Annual Conference of the its aspects. . M. E. Church adopted very strong resolutions on the subject. All our We commend to our readers the ecclesiastical and missionary societies should follow suit and cease not to letters from distinguished civilians, protest till their demand shall be heeded. The President has not re- lawyers and divines, given in our Invoked the obnoxious orders; the slight modification conceded does not touch ternational Department (pp. 462–3), the essential iniquity. And his recommendation of a Commission, one-half in relation to this subject.-J. M. S. to be army officers, to manage the Indians, gives no promise of relief, A WORD to our subscribers. We but the contrary. The Interior well puts the case: are glad to be able to say that in the "There are two objectious to thi!l–One of future there will be no occasion for principle, and one of policy. The principle involved is that it is a violation of a fundamental delay in receiving THE REVIEW when right of civil and religious liberty. The policy involved is that the scrambling politiCians who ordered. The demand for it so climb into such positions are not, as a rule, tbe kind of meu to be intrusted with educational greatly exceeded the faith of our and moral interests. We never would have believed that this piece of utterly indefensible publishers at the start, and even tyranny would have been permitted to remain so long in force. Some one who has the ear of the down to a recent date, that they President ought to suggest to him that his fia/l:- ship is about to go into action, and that it is failed to make due provision for the high time for him to clear his decks." supply. Already four editions of the The Independent says: January number, three of the Febru- ary and two of the March have been "There was a discussion recently IJ.llOD~ sQ!IIe printed, and the demand does not abate. But this experience sufficed to show them the necessity of a much larger edition of succeeding numbers, so that in the future they will be able promptly to supply the work to all who apply. Every num- ber is stereotyped, so that THE RE- VIEW can be had from January. Our thanks are due to the press and to our many friends in all parts of the field fo~ their heal'ty commendation . and words of cheer.-J. M. S.

The Missionary Review of the World — January 1888

PROSPECTUS OF THE REVIEW FOR 1888

JOINT EDITORS: J. M. SHERWOOD, A. T. PIERSON, NEW YORK. PHILADELPHIA.

VOL. XI. No. 1.—Old Series.—JANUARY, 1888.—VOL. I. No. 1.—New Series.

TEN years ago the Rev. Royal G. Wilder, who had spent 30 years in missionary work in India, unable longer to continue in that field, established this REVIEW at Princeton, N. J., on an independent basis, and has conducted it until now with remarkable energy and ability and won for it a very high character in all missionary circles. Failing health constrained him a few months since (he has since been called to his rest) to relinquish, with great reluctance but entire acquiescence in God's will, the further conduct of it; and at his earnest request Rev. A. T. Pierson and Rev. J. M. Sherwood consented to assume the editorship and regular issue of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW, beginning with January, 1888. In accepting the sacred trust, we realize the responsibility connected with it, and are anxious not only to carry on the work, so happily begun, but to enlarge the scope of the magazine, and broaden the field of its influence. Hence we propose at the start greatly to enlarge it, making it a monthly of 80 pages, give it a fine mechanical appearance, enlarge its scope, increase its literary and intellectual attractions, and bring it into harmonious relations with all the great missionary agents and movements of the age-in a word, to make it THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD in fact 'as well as in name-a Review truly Representative of the Spirit, Policy and Work of Modern Missions in their Unity, Entirety, and Universality.

THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD will embrace the following departments and features : I. LITERATURE OF MISSIONS. We shall studiously aim to give to the REVIEW a high literary and intellectual character, putting it in this respect on a par with our best Quarterlies and Literary Monthlies. The Missionary literature of the world is already rich in materials, and is rapidly increasing in breadth and in the power of inspiration and instruction. The annals of the past, and all new materials in this department, will be laid under generous contribution to impart value and interest to the pages of the magazine. The ablest pens available, and from all parts of the wide field, will be enlisted in this service. Essays, addresses, biographies, missionary sermons, travels, discoveries, missionary life, and discussions of the vital themes and questions relating to the policies and methods,

which will arise from time to time in the broad field of the world's missions, will combine to inform, interest and inspire the friends of the cause.

A sharp eye will also be kept on the current issues of the press, at home and abroad, and whatever appears in books and periodicals of special interest to missionary readers will be brought to the attention of our patrons. Each month will present a resume of current discussion and press contributions to the Literature of the missionary work.

II. MISSIONARY ORGANIZATIONS. As far as space will permit, a detailed account will be given in each number of some specific part of the general field and of the particular societies operating on it, so arranged and apportioned as that the entire missionary field of the world shall be embraced in our report of each year, and due attention given to all important missionary organizations and agencies known to exist. Thus a bird's eye view of the universal life and operations of the grand missionary cause will be given in each volume. It will be a yearly Epitome of the History of Modern Missions.

III. CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. The editors will put themselves en rapport with all the chief Missionary Societies, Missions, and workers in all lands; they will establish Editorial Correspondents in every part of the field, so as to insure the latest and most reliable intelligence from every available quarter, and co-operate with the friends of missions everywhere in pushing the Missionary Cause to the front, and in imparting increased power and efficiency to the vast machinery of missions. They will strive to make THE MISSIONARY REVIEW a focal light and guide to "the whole sacramental host of God's elect." moving in concert for the subjugation of the world to Christ.

IV. PROGRESS AND FRUITS OF MISSIONARY WORK. This department will contain a comprehensive account of the leading missionary events of the month, embracing the receipts, disbursements and operations of the various societies; items of special interest from the various fields; facts, statements, experiences and appeals bearing direct on the missionary cause, and whatever else will be of special interest to all engaged in the work. This will furnish a practical Summary of what has been attempted and accomplished during each month throughout the entire field of operations.

v. STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS This department will be emphasized and made of the utmost interest and value to the friends of missions everywhere, and especially to pastors and those who conduct the Monthly Concert. It will be a unique and leading feature of the REVIEW. No pains or reasonable expense will be spared to obtain the fullest, and latest, and most reliable figures and statistics of the world's entire missionary operations, both in the Home and Foreign fields, and so to classify, arrange and tabulate them as to make them of the highest practical value. The labor in this department will be immense, but the result will be worth more than the price of a year's subscription to every pastor, every public library, every missionary society, and every intelligent friend of the cause of Missions. We mean to make the REVIEW an authority on this subject.

VI. THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS will be under the special charge of Dr. Pierson, who, in addition to being the pastor of a large and efficient church, possesses special qualifications for this service. His best endeavors will be put forth to make this important service increasingly attractive and profitable, and to suggest topics and methods in aid of pastors and others in the conduct of it that will make the REVIEW an indispensable aid to them, and to every church which observes the «Monthly Concert of Prayer for Missions."

VII. INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT. This will be under the editorial charge of Rev. J. T. Gracey, D.D., of the « International Missionary Union," who will be able to make it highly conducive to the general purpose and scope of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.

VIII. EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS of special interest to missionary circles. These will be brief, condensed, and on a great variety of topics, which we have not space to discuss at length and yet shall wish to express an opinion upon.

If this ideal of the editors can be realized-and we believe it can be -THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, with God's blessing- for whose glory this work is undertaken by them-may become a great power for good. World-wide in its field and scope; independent of local and ecclesiastical boundaries and prejudices; fearless and independent in its expression of opinion and in its advocacy of methods and policies; consulting the highest interest of the Cause in its widest relations; having an eye on the entire field, and lending a helping hand wherever needed; and presenting a current history of that work, which is «the glory of the age," in all its departments and agencies and results, it must possess an interest and a value far above that of any other missionary magazine of the world.

We congratulate the friends of missions that we have been able to secure as Publishers of this Review, Messrs. Funk & Wagnalls, 18 and 20 Astor Place, New York, by whom it will hereafter be published.

This enterprising House is too well known in the book world, and in religious circles, to need any introduction or indorsement from us.

We expect to issue the January number at an early date, and succeeding numbers on or before the middle of each month in advance, to be in ample time for the Missionary Ooncert.

NEW YORK, OCTOBER, 1887.
J. M. SHERWOOD.
A. T. PIERSON.

SALUTATORY

I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.

SALUTATORY.

[EDITORIAL.] CICERO says that the orator, in the exordium of his address, should establish between himself and his hearers a mutual understanding, and get with them upon a common ground.

The same law applies to the editor and author. It is highly important, that, at the very outset, the writer and reader should understand each other; and therefore we give these opening pages of this Review to a word of salutation and explanation addressed to all our readers.

Led, as we believe, by the Providence of God, we undertake to carry on a good work which originated ten years ago in the mind and heart of a beloved returned missionary from India, *and which has, by his hand, amid much physical suffering, been carried to its present stage of growth and success. God's workmen are constantly changing but His work goes on. We have yielded to what seemed a providential pressure thrusting us unexpectedly into the gap left by the necessary retirement of the previous editor from the control of the Review, and we shall seek to perpetuate and perfect what was originally designed and has been so far, and so well, developed under his care.

It does not always follow that even a good work needs to be carried on : sometimes it reaches completion, and addition is superfluous. In this case we conceive that to discontinue this Review would be disaster. So far is it from a finished structure, that thus far only the cornerstone has been laid and the foundation built; the scaffolding is not yet ready to be removed, and we are beginning a new story with such modifications as the building demands as it advances.

There is now room for more of the literary, the æsthetic, the intellectual; a demand, as circulation increases and a firm financial basis is secured, for the best labor properly compensated. We have no less aim than to make this Review the commanding Missionary Magazine of the World, sparing neither labor nor money to make it one of the foremost agencies for the evangelization of the world and the information, organization and co-operation of disciples in the direction of world-wide missions.

That such a Review is needed, we should be ashamed to argue. There are two great, potent factors which must enter into the solution of the problem of missions-the tongue and pen. The printing-press multiplies them both a thousandfold. It gives volume and compass to the voice, like the trumpet of a Titan, and it scatters the products of the pen, as though it had at command the hundred-handed giants that helped the Titans. Great is the power of type and of printers' ink! Surely we should leave out a whole division in mustering our forces, if, in going forth to a world's conquest for Christ, we should neglect the printed page.

Facts are the fingers of God. There is no logic like the logic of events; no demonstration like the demonstration of the Spirit. Apathy, and even antipathy, toward the work of missions, are turned into positive and powerful sympathy, when a true disciple learns how mightily God has wrought and is working with the little missionary band. Men, like James Hannington, who once were indifferent to foreign missions because they were ignorant of them, have, like the martyr bishop of Africa, found that a simple knowledge of the wonderful work of God's Providence and Spirit, even among the most depraved and degraded tribes, has lit a flame in their souls that could neither be quenched nor confined; a flame that has grown into a fire, a conflagration-consum- ing selfishness and worldliness; displacing the carnal lusts-appetite, avarice and ambition, by a divine ardor and fervor, passion for souls, and zeal for the glory of God.

To put such facts before the reader, in the most truthful and telling form, comprehensively and attractively, is one of the foremost objects of this Review. We shall aim to exhibit the miracles of missions, which are at once signs of Christ's messiahship, manifestations of the Power of God, wonders of the Spirit, and works possible only to Deity.

To secure a proper and perpetual stream of such information, we shall seek to secure a large number of tributaries. First, we shall, as fast as we are able, select a large and competent corps of editorial correspondents, who shall sustain a close relation to the Review, and by whose contributions these columns will be enriched. Next, we purpose to find at least one commanding personality in every great missionary territory, and especially at great strategic centers, who shall be as a living link between the Review and the various fields of Christian effort. Furthermore, we hope to secure able contributions from men and women of learning, piety and consecrated spirit, whose opinions compel respect, whose statements are accurate and authoritative, and whose suggestions are sagacious and practical.

The need of such a Review of missions is pressing. The demand is immediate and imperative. With all the existing channels for conveyance of information and the exchange of views, there is yet a wide gap to be filled. The work of missions is world-wide, and we need a missionary Review of the World; the need of man is universal, and so must be our survey; the whole church is called to this grand crusade, and the Review must be unsectarian and undenominational, gathering the whole army, with all its tribal standards, closely about the Tabernacle and Ark of God; the Christian nations are all united in the work, and hence the Review will be international; and as even the best methods are liable to be defective, and custom is often, as Cyprian says, only the" Antiquity of Error," a true Review will be critical though not controversial, and will aim, not only at a wide view, but at a close, careful, candid review.

The time is now especially ripe for such an undenominational, international, independent missionary organ, as a means of expression and impression, communication and co-operation, education and evangelization. Missions are comparatively modern. The Church slept for more than a thousand years; then slowly awoke to the sense of a world's destitution and her own obligation. Let us remember that it yet lacks five years of a full century since in Widow Wallis' humble cottage at Kettering, that first Missionary Society was organized in England, that was the pioneer of the whole host now numbering over one hundred organizations. And already, and within the lifetime of some veterans still living, the network of missions has overspread the globe. Surely it is time that in this special department there should be abundant and adequate agencies to put and keep before the reading public the entire progress and prospects of the grand campaign which is now conducted by all Christendom against the strongholds of the Pagan, Moslem and Papal world!

Such is our word of Salutation. The primary object of this Review is not money-making, but the informing of disciples, and the quickening of our whole church-life, the promotion of an intelligent interest in the work of missions everywhere and the inspiring of an unreserved personal consecration to the work. We desire the fullest support of a large constituency of readers, in what we undertake as an unselfish labor of love for the sake of Christ and His Church. As the circulation of the Review increases and its income allows, more and more will be expended upon the periodical itself, that we may give back to the reader and subscriber the largest returns for his investment; and it is our fond hope that by the abundant blessing of God upon our labor, direct and indirect results may follow, on the largest scale, in furthering and hastening a world's evangelization.

Gladstone says that eloquence in the orator is "receiving from the audience in a vapor what he pours back upon them in a flood. " We shall depend largely upon our readers for the inspiration in our work; and we hope that whatever is received from the subscribers to this Review by way of its support, they may find comes back to them in abundance; that, like the water poured on the roots of the cocoanut tree, which returns in the sweet milk of the cocoanut itself that falls from the top, there may be not only an equivalent rendered but something sweeter and richer by way of recompense.

IN MEMORIAM: REV. ROYAL GOULD WILDER

IN MEMORIAM: REV. ROYAL GOULD WILDER.

Born Oct. 27, 1816, Bridport, Vt. Died Oct. 10, 1887, New York City.

THIS heroic man, the originator and for ten years the editor of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW, closed a life of service and suffering by a blessed entrance into glory, on the very day on which, to his successors in the editorial work, the REVIEW was formally transferred. He only tarried long enough to see the transfer completed and to bestow his blessing on the new administration, and then took his departure for the better country.

It is no mere tribute to a predecessor, however, that impels us to erect to him, in this first number of the new series, a memorial tablet. Though his kingdom came not with observation, and no trumpet was sounded before him, the veteran who, having passed his allotted three score and ten, has been honorably retired from earthly service and gloriously promoted to a heavenly sphere, was no common man. His name belongs high up on the roll of missionary heroes, among the "King's mighty men" and valiant ones, and we gladly open our series of missionary biographies with a pen profile of Royal Gould Wilder.

Few there be that find their way to their sphere of service through such a strait and narrow path. His was no "royal road to learning." He was one of twelve children, and the family knew what it was to struggle against poverty. The father's name was Abel, and he was born in Maine, near Portland, and by trade a ship-carpenter, but was also a shoemaker and farmer, ready to turn his hand to any employment to get bread for his wife and children, but unable to provide luxuries-even those of an education. His mother, Hannah Payne, descended from Robert Treat Paine, was of a high family and of rare ability. Her father was a school teacher until he was sixty, and she grew up amid education and refinement. Shortly after marriage she with her husband removed to Vermont, and during the year in which Royal was born there was a great revival, and his father and mother joined the church that same year. Afterward they moved again to Franklin County, New York, then regarded as somewhat "far west." It is certain that the family endured great hardships and were very poor for a long period of years-during the entire boyhood of Royal. In course of time the natural increase in the value of property, hundreds of acres of which were cleared by his father and brothers, bettered their circumstances, and to-day the three brothers and three sisters who survive him are living in comfortable homes, showing those elements of character which insure worldly success.

Royal went to district school in winter, and was the first to enter an "academy," as he was the only one to enter a college. With a keen relish for reading, before he was ten years old he devoured every religious book that came in his way, and even the papers of whatever date. His father's library was very small, but what it contained was not trash, and the young lad grew strong on such books as the "Pilgrim's Progress" and the "Saint's Rest."

When he determined to seek an education, his father could give him no help. His time and a cow composed the curious capital which was Royal's only dependence; and in the academy at Malone it was the beef from that cow that kept him at school the first term. Many a time he cut in one day two cords of wood, to relieve his father's financial distress or his own.

His first money he earned by selling melons at Malone, and the half dollar he got he kept his hand on, even in his pocket as he ran home, till a stumble compelled him suddenly to withdraw his hand, and away went the precious coin down a hole. Royal was not a boy to give up easily, and down he went on hands and knees, and dug away till he recovered his lost half-dollar. The incident was typical and prophetical of his future; only what he digged for was not silver or gold.

At thirteen years, began his religious life as an intelligent, conscious experience. He had been brought up to pray, and on one occasion, at least, had found the value of prayer. Going through the woods to find his brothers, and carry them dinner, he got lost and wandered about dazed and bewildered, coming back continually upon his old track. Then he knelt down and prayed for guidance; rose and determined to trust in God and go straightforward, following one direction; presently he emerged from the thicket, coming out into the very field where his brothers were at work. Here was another typical and prophetical incident. He got into many a tangled thicket afterward; but never did he forget Him who had led him out into light and safety, and in answer to prayer he was guided in every new experience of darkness and danger into a larger liberty and success.

Though he first consciously found Christ as a Saviour in time of revival, his religious life was singularly free from emotionalism. He had no sudden transitions nor violent revulsions of feeling. Mainly through an awakened conscience, a calm but quick sense of duty, and the study of the Word of God, he came to accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord. At that time his sister Hannah joined the Baptists, as that sect prevailed in the neighborhood where the family lived; but he preferred the Presbyterian fold, and at sixteen united with Dr. Parmelee's church at Malone. Never but once had he uttered an oath, and he never forgot it. His religious frame though always calm, was never cold; he was moved more by love and less by fear, more by deliberate judgment and choice than by sudden impulse or glowing enthusiasm. He knew he must found his whole Christian hopes upon the new nature regenerate in Christ; and believing that God had wrought in him the new creation, he enjoyed a quiet assurance seldom disturbed by doubts.

He studied by night by the light of pine knots, and worked by day to get the pine knots for his fire and the books for his study, until he entered Middlebury College in his twentieth year.

When he left home, his capital in life was less than ten dollars, most of which he had saved, and a dollar of which his mother gave him the morning he left home for college. He walked the entire distance, working his way over the lake by helping in the loading and unloading of the boat, and going barefoot part of the way to save his shoes. The same habits of frugality and economy and bodily exertion followed him through life.

From first to last he was a patient plodder. So desirous was he of a training for a useful life that he was willing to work from five o'clock in the morning till breakfast, and from noon till school again opened; that he might pay his board, cutting hay in summer, and splitting wood in winter, to earn the right to be a full-grown and well-equipped man. In college it was the hand on the axe-handle and the bell-rope that helped him through. When he was graduated in 1839 he had worked his passage; but he had won deserved honors, for, with his classmate, Foote, he stood-they two at the head of the class, and, strangely enough, they two had been born on the same day.

When he turned from the flattering prospects of a high position at home to spend his life among the pagans of Asia, he left a path that might have led him where one of his schoolmates, Mr. Wheeler, afterward came-to the Vice-Presidency of the nation. Foote, his twin honor-man, said to him: "Wilder, why bury yourself among the heathen?" Mr. Wilder was singularly attached to Mr. Foote, and for years they corresponded. Foote rose rapidly in his profession; very successful as a lawyer, he amassed wealth, and married a woman of unusual beauty. But death, in the midst of his prosperity, smote wife and daughter, and poor Foote blew out his own brains!

Mr. Wilder taught in Mississippi and Vermont; and then went to Andover for a theological course. There he found a missionary band, like the famous "Haystack band" of Williams, with the same constitution and covenant. Only twelve belonged to it, and even the professors seemed to feel little interest in it, but Royal Wilder became a member, heard Dr. Grant of Persia and Dr. Scudder of India, and others, speak on the great needs of a lost world, and so the missionary was preparing and maturing for his work. Here he had his first and last period of doubts about the Divinity of Christ. They were incident to the transition period when the mind was budding into full independence. Henceforth he was to feel too much of the Divine life of Christ in himself and see too much of the Divine power of Christ in others, to doubt that He was the Son of God. He was graduated from Andover in 1845. At the last, R. S. Storrs, Jr., was his classmate-and when he with five others of his class became missionaries, they all went to India, leaving Storrs to remain behind and become the Corinthian column of the Congregational Church in this country, while they departed for the regions beyond.

His missionary life was the final flowering of a gradual growth. No sooner did he believe himself to be a disciple than, like Dr. Duff, he began to feel the value of other souls and a yearning to save them. The idea of a mission to the heathen world was slowly and steadily taking form within him; first consciously turned toward the lost in other lands by reading Jonathan Edwards on Redemption, the story of "Henry and his Bearer" especially interested him in India.

During his college days Mr. Wilder became acquainted with a family living near West Rutland Village, Vt. In this family he found deep piety and a love for missions. The aged grandfather said, he thought he had not missed reading a page of The Missionary Herald for twenty years.

At the time of the departure of missionaries for the Sandwich Islands a collector visited this home to solicit funds. The devoted mother gave something, but her sad countenance that day showed her deep disappointment that the gift was not larger. As she gathered, with her nine children, for family prayers, she asked God to accept of one or more of her children for missionary work. A daughter in that group says of this incident-"that prayer struck me." This daughter was the one chosen to help cheer Mr. Wilder in his great work. For some five years the two were many a time alone at communion services. She shared with him the anxiety of the first months at Kolapoor when almost in despair of striking rock for the foundation of his church. She suffered with him the violence of the people who one night hurled a large stone through the window pane across the cradle of their little girl. She was his companion in such experiences as meeting a snake in the parlor, finding a scorpion on her son's coat, seeing a panther while on her morning walk, living for weeks in the mountains without seeing a white face. But she had also the joy of starting the first girls' school in a kingdom where not a respectable woman or girl could read, and of welcoming to the communion table, as the first native convert in Kolapoor, a woman.

Mr. Wilder's intention was to go to the Walled Kingdom. But Dr. Anderson, then Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M., wanted him for Ahmednuggur. The greater need was to Mr. Wilder always the louder voice, and so he went to India. From the day of his connection with the Andover Band he had no hesitation in promptly, cheerfully following the leading of God.

When his vessel was ready to sail, he departed from Malone, and his departure was the means of a revival in which many were added to the Church. His father rejoiced to give up his son to such a great work as was before him. His mother, to whom he had been particularly devoted, and for whose sake he had walked from Middlebury to Malone to spend vacations, was dead.

The vessel rounded the Cape of Good Hope and consumed 121 days in the passage to Bombay. Mr. Wilder had given three months, at Newark, Delaware, to the study of Mahratta, and, after another three months in India, Mr. Ballantine, being called away, asked him to preach. The invitation was a joke, but Mr. Wilder actually accepted it and did preach. The native Christians were astonished and said, "We prayed for him."

In Ahmednuggur Mr. Wilder spent six years. The day he reached there, he found a seminary with from fifty to eighty boys. Very soon after his arrival, this seminary was put under his care by a vote of the mission. Within a year there were six city schools, and, within three years, twenty more village schools. Fees had been given to induce attendance; he did away with fees, and had a larger and better school.

He went to Kolapoor in 1852. This city was especially holy in Brahmin eyes, and never had been contaminated by the presence of missionaries. The day he got there the leading Brahmins petitioned for his banishment. But, undismayed, he got a foothold and worked five years for his first convert. His school was the entering wedge of all his success. At the time of his coming he found in Kolapoor 44,000 inhabitants, and only one school, in a back street, with twelve boys in it. When he left, a college building, at Government expense, costing $200,000, had been built, and «Father Wilder" was asked to make the address at the opening. He was too busy to comply, but his associate, Mr. Seiler, made the address, and took as his theme, "The Evidences of Christianity."

The cholera drove him from India in 1857, and by a remarkable Providence, he sailed the very day after the breaking out of the great mutiny of the Punjaub. Some of his nearest European neighbors were killed in that massacre.

To this period belongs his well-known disagreement with the American Board. He was an ardent advocate of schools and edncation, and next to actual conversion he placed the education of the Hindoos. He zealously urged the hiring of pundits and native teachers where Christian teachers could not be obtained, and refused to curtail his schools and school-work because he could not get just such teachers as he wished. This got him into a difficulty with Dr. Anderson, and resulted in the abandonment of his mission and his dismissal from the Board. Backed by his Presbytery and friends in this country, he returned to India in 1861, and went back to conduct his work on an independent basis. For twelve years he labored, supported by no Board or Society. However low the funds ebbed, he would never give up. At one time, in distress for means to carry on his work, he and his devoted wife covenanted to commit all to God anew in prayer; and the next morning's mail brought eleven hundred rupees from an unknown donor in Calcutta; and to this day the source of that benefaction is a secret. The mission received cordial support from Sir Bartle Frere, Governor of Bombay; Col. Phayre, Robert Arthington of Leeds, and others. But it was sustained wholly by voluntary gifts. These years of simple trust, leaning on God, were the happiest years of Mr. Wilder's life, and became the basis for his subsequent and enthusiastic .advocacy of the voluntary principle in missions.

In this enterprise he was largely aided by the English, because they thoroughly respected him, and also by the natives themselves. Sir Bartle Frere and other prominent Indo-Europeans have said that Royal G. Wilder did more for the present system of national education in India than any other man. From 1861 to 1869 he was a constant contributor to the Bombay Times and Gazette on that subject, and wrote the editorials for the former paper relating to educational matters. He was prominent in memorializing Parliament and inducing the Indian government to establish the present system of national education. The money obtained from his contributions to the Indian press aided, in no small measure, in the support of the mission that he conducted for so many years at Kolapoor.

At the date of suspension of schools by Dr. Anderson, Mr. Wilder's scholars numbered some 500 boys and 100 girls. He writes of this: "Our deepest conviction from all past experience assures us that the loss of these schools involves the sacrifice of our most effective agency for prosecuting our missionary labors. If our Deputation could exchange places and labor with us for a twelvemonth, we cannot, for a moment, doubt that they would advocate these schools with all the persistency and authority with which they now oppose them. Our friends in India have manifested a very kind interest in these schools from the first, and it may gratify them to know that their generous contributions have wholly supported them. Not a farthing of their expense has come from the home funds of the Board, since their origin." Before Mr. Wilder came home in 1857 the schools were reopened. While at home the mission was abandoned. His appeal, published at the time, gives the reason for his returning as an independent missionary. Upon reaching India he found that his beautiful church, the only one among 252 heathen temples, had been sold and turned into a Mohammedan mosque.* He was remarkably helped in getting the site for his second church. He closed the year 1863-the second after his return as an independent missionary-with a native church of eight communicants and four baptized children.

In 1855 an intelligent man visited him from the Putwardhun States, and showed so much interest in the truth, that he gave him a Bible, hymn-book, catechism and the creed. He returned to his country and was lost sight of for nine years. In a report of 1864 Mr. Wilder writes: "On our recent tour he was the first man to visit us at Sanglee, brought all the books carefully preserved, and read and repeated from memory portions of Scripture, the creed, a tract of eight pages, and the entire cathecism of forty pages; avowing his faith in the truths and doctrines thus learned."

After building a home and church Mr. Wilder devoted himself with renewed energy to village work. The report of 1872 speaks of the interference of the S. P. G. His characteristic firmness was shown in this experience. This was a sore trial to him, and in the Appendix to the Report of 1871, his reasons are fully stated for his course.

Mr. Wilder was very anxious to stimulate in native Christians a desire to work for souls, not because paid for doing so but from love to Christ. In 1873 he writes: "Only four of all our converts receive any support from the mission, and these, small monthly sums of Rs. 8, 7, 5 and 3 as Christian teachers. "

The property of the Kolapoor Mission he gave in 1871 to the Presbyterian Board, and in 1875 left the field of his labor, partly from considerations of health, and partly to educate Robert and Grace in this country. The time between his sailing for India and his resignation from the Board covered a period of nearly thirty-two years.

During those thirty years he had preached in more than 3,000 cities, towns and villages, had scattered over 3,000,000 pages of tracts, had gathered in schools over 3,300 pupils, 300 of whom were girls. In a parish of 4,000,000 of people he and his wife were the only persons to take care of their souls. Beside all this work he had been on committee for translation and revision of the Bible; and was one of the committee in the Mahratta language, spoken by 16,000,000 people. Up to the time he left India he had already written and published commentaries on three gospels, and had edited and translated many books.

His hand was not forgetful of its cunning, even as his tongue did not cleave to the roof of his mouth. Every nail in the roof of his church building at Kolapoor he drove with his own hammer, and when the houses went up to shelter converts' families he led in the work. In the early years of the mission, he wrote many articles for the press, chiefly on educational subjects; and it is said by those in high official position, that his anonymous letters in The Times of India influenced Parliament in adopting measures for the education of the masses. He was offered a very influential position in the educational department.

His whole policy in India was to watch for the opportunities to plant and support indigenous primary schools. He cared for no high colleges. His ruling passion was to lift up the masses. He graduated salaries of teachers according to the number and progress of their pupils, thus indirectly striking a blow at caste by setting a premium on numbers and proficiency, without reference to the class from which pupils came. He encouraged only a moderate allowance to helpers, on the ground that natives could not support men who received large salaries. Like Wheeler on the Euphrates, he felt that by the tithe system ten believers might support a teacher or preacher who was willing to live on their level as to expense.

Whereas when he first went to Kolapoor there was not in the kingdom one respectable woman who could write or read, only recently they have sent to this country for a governess to go to the palace itself.

Of incidents, this one may illustrate the power of direct prayer. One day he had preached in some eight villages. Disputations and popular indifference had made him feel discouraged, and thus wearied he sat under a tree to rest. While here a coolie came from his home, bringing provisions, bread, etc., and also the overland mail. The mail was the most welcome. Among other letters was one from a dear friend in Philadelphia. It contained words of warm sympathy and encouragement, and more than all, this assurance: "Brother Wilder, we are praying for you by name every Wednesday evening." The effect of this letter and the blessing which came with it were immediate. He rose from under that "juniper tree" with fresh realization of nearness to God. He walked two miles to a large town. He went, as was his custom, directly to the Pahtil-the head man of the town. He was in his court-room, surrounded by some fifty clerks, but received him in a polite, cordial way, and upon learning his errand ordered all the clerks to drop their work and listen. After Mr. Wilder had talked about an hour they urged him to continue, and before he closed those learned men were wiping the tears from their eyes. This is one of the choicest experiences in his life, showing the power of the simple story of Christ's love. No wonder he believed in special objects for prayer and gifts. His convictions of Missionary methods, both at home and on the field, seem to have been rooted into his very nature by deep personal experience. This was so of his conviction that native churches should have native pastors; that native churches should be self-supporting; that native Christians should be trained to responsibility, and taught to keep on a level with their neighbors, that they might win them, and show them that they had not become Christians to better their temporal condition. The prayer-meetings were largely reporters' meetings. From the Christians were expected accounts of services, interviews, discussions, etc. Sometimes he would call on them by name for their report of the week. These reports suggested very definite subjects for prayer. This was true also of the women's prayer-meetings conducted by Mrs. Wilder. Praying in meeting was a part of their Christian life.

Mr. Wilder was, so far as known, but once in peril of his life. On the outskirts of a village a mob gathered around him, and demanded money. Though mou:p.ted on his horse, the leader of the gang had hold of the bridle; so, for a few minutes, the missionary seemed completely in the power of the fierce men. With seeming Cf'mposure he entered into a conversation with them. Their interest increased; he held their attention until he noticed the grasp on the bridle gradually loosening. Watching a favorable moment he spurred his horse and with a boun~ was out of their reach.

On his return, in 1875, he himself crossed the Continent and left his luggage and property to come by sea. Rounding the Cape of Good Hope, his goods were lost in the vessel's wreck. But among those lost effects was his whole manuscript on the Kolapoor kingdom, with full diary of his missionary work.

During later years his home has been in Princeton. There his parlor has been the Sabbath afternoon gathering place for the students, and the training school for missions.

In 1877, he started THE MISSIONARY REVIEW. The readers of that Review will not need to be reminded of the causes which led to its establishment. Even before he went to the General Assembly and presented his vigorous, incisive criticisms of the methods and expenditures of the Presbyterian Board, he felt there was need of a periodical that would review missions from a point of prospect more elevated than any denominational one, and the REVIEW became the channel for the expression of his personal convictions founded on a long and large experience, and a means of presenting the status of all missions of all denominations throughout all heathendom and nominal Christendom.

He yearned to return and die in India, and nothing held him back but his waning strength and the REVIEW. But so soon as he felt that the REVIEW was provided for, he determined, notwithstanding his keen bodily suffering, to sail for Kolapoor. "My whole soul," he said, "would leap, could I go back. Could I not place twenty missionaries there at once?" That humble Presbyterian Church at Kolapoor was very dear to him, for in its construction his own hands as well as heart were engaged for months. When the church first built by him, was sold to the Mohammedans, and a mosque built on the old site, it is characteristic of his quiet persistence to have bought ground and placed the new church as near as he possibly could to the site of the old one, and his efforts to obtain that site make a very interesting story in themselves.

To the last his heart went out to Kolapoor, and he charged his son Robert to settle about fifty miles from there, in a district peculiarly destitute, where, when he once told the story of the cross, the people with weeping followed him quite a distance, yearning to hear more.

His dying eyes were fixed on Jesus. When the death of his daughter, in 1861, was referred to, and he was asked: "Do you expect to meet her in heaven?" he said, "Yes; but it is my Saviour about whom I think most."

In looking over Mr. Wilder's life, we are impressed with the singular appropriateness of the motto he chose for the REVIEW: "Nil desperandum, Christo sub duce," as applied to his experience.

As a young man, he was extremely retiring and bashful and painfully sensitive; and at times he has, to very intimate friends, expressed his amazement that God had used him, and accomplished through such material His work. It seemed almost incongruous to him that one so timid and shrinking should be thrust into such severe fighting in the forefront of battle.

Of the tender side of his nature few can form a true estimate. These things do not appear in any public reports.

His life closed very beautifully and appropriately when his work was done. The last Saturday, Oct. 8, he sent proof to the printers to complete the closing number of the last volume of his REVIEW, and on the very day when the final arrangements were completed for its transfer to other hands, "he was not: for God took him."

MISSIONARY PROBLEMS IN INDIA

MISSIONARY PROBLEMS IN INDIA. [EDITORIAL.-J. M. s.] IN the Andover Review for September, the Rev. Edward A. Lawrence gives an elaborate and valuable article on this subject, the gist of which we condense and reproduce, for the benefit of our readers. Written by one on the ground, and in an intelligent, and impartial spirit, his views and statements are entitled to respectful consideration. The "Problems" he considers have a world-wide interest and application, and to solve them for India, is, in effect, to solve them for the whole missionary world.

The Problems here discussed are I. Mission Oo-operation; II. What shall be the Treatment of Oonverted Polygamists? III. Who shall be Employed as Teachers in Mission Schools? IV. Instantaneous Baptism.

I.-MISSION CO-OPERATION. The organized union of different mission societies, which happily exists in Japan, and in Amoy, China, has not yet extended to India. Still there is no division or bitterness of feeling. In the main, the field of the several societies is well defined and generally respected. 'fhe Irish Presbyterians occupy Rajputana, the American Methodists, Oudh and Rohilcund; the American Presbyterians labor in the Punjab side by side, and on friendly terms with the Church Missionary Society; while the American United Presbyterians, alike in Egypt and the Punjab north of the Lahore, are fortunate in being almost without competitors. In the south, the Lutheran Missionary Society in Trevancore, and the Church Missionary Society in Tinnevelly, amiably divide the end of the Oape. The bounds of the Madura Mission of the American Board have been settled by agreement with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, dividing the field between them. In Madras, Oalcutta, and Bombay, and in a few other places, there are Monthly Mission Oonfederacies, where members of most of the missions gather for paternal intercourse and discussion. While the general Mission Conferences, like that of the Punjab, or of the whole country, held decennially-the last at Calcutta, 1883-have gone far to prove to the heathen world that Protestants are really united in spirit and aim.

The Presbyterian family take the lead in the movement for organic union. For years past, the Dutch Reformed, the American, Scotch and Irish Presbyterians, have met in a general alliance, seeking to accomplish in India what has been done in Japan. At their last meeting in Bombay, committees were appointed to press forward the work of union, and it was decided to establish a periodical for that purpose.

The evils of sectarianism are nowhere so serious as in great heathen cities, where missions compete, and sometimes conflict, one with another. The natives fancy the divisions greater than they are, and the converts sigh for a national church, and complain of the burdens imposed by reason of differences.

The City Evangelization problem, which astounds and confounds the Church at home, is pressing heavily on the Church in heathen cities. Says Mr. Lawrence: "It is difficult and painful to express my disappointment with most features of mission operations in the Presidency cities of India. The educational work, indeed, is excellent; in some cases, unequalled. The Christian College in Madras, at the head of which is Dr. Miller of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, may well rank as the best institution of learning in India. But other forms of work languish. Not only that: in many cases the fat school-kine have swallowed up the lean evangelistic kine, and there is an actual famine of God's preached Word for the heathen. One great reason for this neglect of important branches of work, one explanation of the weakness or restlessness of the native churches in these cities, and of the fact that in the three where so many societies concentrate there is but one native church which is strictly self-supporting-the Congregational Church in Bombay-is to be found in the rivalries and confusions of sectarianism.

In Calcutta, matters are still worse. The Bengali Christians have able and fluent leaders among them, some of whom show their sincerity by great labors and self-denial. Several are successful lawyers or government officials, who devote their spare time to gospel work, or even take charge of some church. One of these laymen has just been ordained to the preaching office by the Presbytery of the Scotch Free Church Mission."

But the question of lay baptism is exciting earnest attention. A test case has been brought for trial before the Presbytery of the Free Church of Scotland, but not yet decided. Even such men as Ram Chandra Bose, well known in this country, favor lay administration of the sacraments.

"It is plain that some change in these city missions is needed before these great centres will become centres of Christianity. It is equally plain that we cannot expect to stereotype and perpetuate in the Eastern church the divisions which mark the Western church. The selfish desire of any mission board to keep its work intact and not to be swallowed up in a great union movement should be rebuked by Christians of every denomination, and the dangers of disorder and license should be checked by earnest sympathy with the aspirations of the native Christians on one side, and by earnest co-operation between all mission bodies on the other."

II.-THE TREATMENT OF CONVERTED POLYGAMISTS.

To us in the home field, this question seems very simple, but in India, and on other mission fields, it is a complicated and knotty problem.

"The opinion of missionaries on this subject is much divided, and the matter has been discussed at various conferences. An excellent statement of both sides of the question is made in the 'Indian Evangelical Review' of April, 1886, by Rev. J. J. Lucas, who has taken pains to inform himself of the opinions of many leading missionaries. My own impression, formed from conversation with a large number is, that a majority of the missionaries in India, especially of those longest in the field, would decline to advise a man to dismiss one of two wives, and that many of them would baptize him, in that state, while protesting against polygamy as unchristian. The Madura Mission not long ago decided to baptize converted polygamists who had acted in ignorance of Christian ideas, in cases where there was no way of separation without injustice. Of this decision the American Board has expressed its disapproval. But Mr. Jones, of that mission, avows the belief that the policy of refusing baptism to such candidates must in time be reversed."

To over sixty representatives of different missions, Mr. Lucas sent the following question: "Would you, under any circumstances, baptize a convert with more than one wife, allowing him to retain his wives ?" And an affirmative answer was received from the great majority.

Yet, Mr. Lucas himself opposes baptism in such a case, because of the apparent sanction given to polygamy, the temptation laid in the way of inquirers, the formation of two classes of Christians within the church, and the injury done to the church itself. Yet he would not ask the husband to put away either wife, but he would say, "Wait. Your first outward step towards Christ must not be marred by a cruel wrong and flagrant injustice. Wait, holding fast your faith, and time will bring a change." And still he admits that the majority of missionaries, if left free to act, would go further than this, though leaving much to be determined by the circumstances of each case. Mr. Lawrence was assured by old missionaries, that their opinions in this regard had been changed by long experience on the field.

III.-WHO SHALL BE EMPLOYED AS TEACHERS IN MISSION SCHOOLS.

Great trouble and perplexity are experienced in this matter. Hindus are hostile to the work of missions, actively so less perhaps than formerly, but have still to be carefully watched. Mr. Lawrence relates his experience in addressing a school of boys and girls in Bombay. He was obliged to use a Hindu teacher as interpreter. He spoke of the evils of idolatry, of the position of women, and of what each member of the school should do in opposing these evils. To his surprise he afterward found that the interpreter had added his own comments: to his words about idolatry he had added the remark that these were the sentiments of the speaker, not his own. The teacher had to interpose and say emphatically that they were the sentiments of the mission, and should be those of the scholars.

"It is supposed that a Hindu or a Mohammedan, secretly, perhaps, inclined to Christianity, will not do much harm while teaching mathematics or the languages from text-books chosen by the mission. It frequently happens, indeed, that the heathen teacher is himself converted while connected with the school. A Mohammedan boy in a school in Bombay came recently under the favorable notice of a government inspector, who, in commending him, expressed his purpose to find a place for him to teach. The boy left the school and was not seen there again. On being questioned as to the cause of his leaving, he said that he was afraid he should be made a teacher, and if he became a teacher, that meant becoming a Christian. But it is gratifying to find that the number of Christian teachers is constantly increasing, while that of non-Christian is constantly decreasing. In 1871, of 4,201 native male teachers in the mission schools, 2,206 were Hindus or Mohammedans. In 1887, of 5,943, but 2,462 were non-Christians. A much greater reduction may be expected during the present decade."

If only Christian teachers are employed, many schools must close, and the instruction given in others be far less efficient than now. The aim therefore is to secure at least a Christian head master or mistress, and Christians for religious instruction, while other positions are filled with Christian teachers as fast as practicable.

But for the present, Hindu teachers in part are inevitable. None desire more than the missionaries themselves to supersede them entirely, and none will so rejoice when a sufficiency of competent Christian teachers can be had. And to this end, says Mr. Lawrence: "Nothing can serve better than the Normal schools in charge of the Society for Vernacular Christian Education. In its excellent institutions which I visited in Dindigul, in South India, and in Ahmednagar, in West India, it receives to be trained as teachers Christian young men sent by any mission. And to the missions of the American Board it has furnished many of the best teachers in their employ. One of the greatest needs of India is devoted, well-trained Christian teachers, and anything which can increased their number is worthy of all the aid that can be given."

IV. INSTANTANEOUS BAPTISM.

This question has assumed prominence and importance largely by the remarkable conversions attending the preaching of Rev. Mr. Knowles, an English missionary, and his colleagues of the North India M. E. Conference, at the Hindu festivals. Mr. Knowles holds some peculiar views as to the gift of the Holy Spirit, on condition of faith, which leads him to press an immediate decision upon his hearers at these great religious gatherings of the Hindus. All who come forward and publicly declare their belief in Jesus Christ as their Saviour, he will baptize at once, taking their names and homes, and seeking to follow up the work thus begun. Hence the number of baptisms made of those who up to that hour were Hindus in full caste relations, is very large.

The same question is pressed in the Punjab, where the American United Presbyterian Mission has been very successful. Whole villages have come to Christ, and called for immediate baptism, and the United Presbyterian missionaries have granted it, with full admission to the church. The Methodists defer such admission, and the Church Missionary Society prefers, as a rule, not to grant immediate baptism.

There are serious objections against this policy. Many hearing the gospel for the first time get no just idea of its requirements. Their conversion to Christianity is liable to be so only in name and form. The danger is of getting into the mission churches a mass of Hinduism in reality, under the outward rites of Christianity, to say nothing of the scandal which their relapse into their old faith would bring upon the Christian life and faith. The evils of such a hasty admission into the church-membership without due consideration and teaching, are serious and damaging, even in Christian lands, and where public sentiment is comparatively strong and on the right side. What must they be in heathen lands, and even in India, where the church is feeble, and public sentiment for the most part hostile?

"In reply, it is urged that Christ has made distinct promises to those who are not ashamed to confess Him; that when this is done publicly, and with public explanation of the preacher, the church may claim the fulfillment of the promise. It is true, moreover, that Hindus universally attach great importance to Christian baptism, regarding it as a decisive act, which involves the breaking of caste and excommunication. If anyone goes so far as to take this step, so important in his own eyes, why should he not be baptized, followed up, instructed, and, at the proper time, received into the church? And is not this the way, after all, in which the bulk of the people of India are to be brought to Christ-not by preliminary education, which can reach but a few at a time, and may draw men away from Christ instead of towards Him, but by conversion, with instantaneous baptism to seal the act, followed by subsequent training in Christ? If the conversion of Indians occurs by masses, instead of as individuals, must it not be in some such manner, the old barriers giving way suddenly, and great bodies of the people becoming disciples of Christ while ignorant of Him except as their Saviour?"

There is great force and pertinence in these questions. Experience must, in the main, settle the matter in India, and in other mission fields. It is admitted, by the best informed, that very many of the Hindus acknowledge the truth of Christianity, and are looking for a widespread movement among their people. Immense and rapid changes are the order of Providence all over the Heathen, Pagan and Mohammedan world. It seems morally certain that only by some grand mass rising can India ever be brought to Christ. "For, of the majority of Hindus, even more than of other peoples, it is true that, like Wadsworth's clouds, 'they must move all together, if they move at all.' "

We have thus condensed and given the substance of this valuable article, largely in the words of its author. In reviewing it we are impressed with the fact that the Problems which press on the mission church in India, press also, with more or less modification, on the Christian church of America, and of other Christian lands. It is our firm conviction that the great lesson of the day of Pentecost has yet to be learned by the modern Church of Christ. While that glorious manifestation of Divine power was largely supernatural, yet there was a general expectation on the part of the mass of disciples-there was united, continuous, and importunate prayer on the part of the infant church, and a believing waiting for the fulfillment of the Master's promise given on the eve of his departure. Hence it was no surprise. They were "endued with power from on high" in answer to prayer, and thereby fitted for the emergency and the work it laid upon them. And they did not hesitate, in reliance on Christ's promise, to baptize on the same day the thousands of professed converts, though among them were some of the very murderers of our Lord.

And what did the disciples do when driven from Jerusalem and scattered abroad, but go straight into the great cities of the Roman world—into the very centres of idolatry, and heathen superstition, and philosophy, and corruption, and wickedness-and boldly plant in the midst of them the banner of the cross, and preach "Jesus and the Resurrection," to Gentile and Jew, to philosophers and peasants, to the high and the low, and straightway gather converts into Christian churches, and push on from city to city, and from province to province, till they entered Rome itself, and even invaded "Cæsar's household." Their simple reliance was "the gospel of the grace of God," which they carried in their hearts, and preached in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power, confident that Christ would verify his ascension promise, and that the Cross in the hands of the Eternal Spirit was, of itself, without circumlocution, or previous training, or litany, or visible machinery, able to convert the soul to Jesus Christ. It was the policy of faith-the policy of simple trust in God and the power of the gospel-and it wrought wonders. It went everywhere, "conquering and to conquer." And the nearer the church of our day, both at home and in the missionary work abroad, approaches this apostolic method, the more will God honor and bless her instrumentality. In no other way-on no other principle-can the mountains of unbelief and difficulty be removed; the infinite masses of vice, ignorance, irreligion, and

BIOGRAPHY OF MOFFAT

indifference, which now lie and fester in the great cities of the world, be reached and penetrated by the light and influence of the gospel, and the world of guilt, ungodliness, hostility, infidelity and agnostic materialism, be shaken, upheaved, cleaved assunder, and the Son of Righteousness find entrance. If this world shall ever be won to Christ, it will be by Pentecostal seasons of power and ingathering; by tidal waves of grace that shall sweep the earth from pole to pole, by sudden simultaneous movements and forces in the moral and spiritual world, that shall be irresistible and general in their majestic sweep, challenging the faith of the Church, overawing a guilty world, and "converting a nation in a day," in fulfillment of prophetic promise.

BIOGRAPHY OF MOFFAT.

The Lives of Robert and Mary Moffat, by their son, John S. Moffat. With Portraits and Illustrations. New edition with Preface and Supplementary Chapter. New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son. 8 vo, pp. 484.

[EDITORIAL.-J. M. S.] THE name of Robert Moffat has been dear to us ever since we read his thrilling "Southern Africa," more than forty years ago. The leading facts of his life have long been familiar to missionary readers; but in this Life we have the outlines fitly filled up by the hand of filial love. The picture, as now completed, only enhances our estimate of the man and of the importance and enduring value of his work.

Dr. Wm. M. Taylor, in his brief Preface to this new edition, which has just issued from the press of the Armstrongs, well says: "The name of Robert Moffat deserves a high place on the honor roll of modern missionaries. It is not so well known, indeed, as that of his son-in-law, David Livingstone, but it may well be held in reputation as that of the pioneer, without whose labors those of Livingstone and others would have been far otherwise than they were. When he went to South Africa in 1817, he found tribes of idolaters and savages, constantly at war with each other and with the white men, utterly ignorant and degraded. When he left it in 1870, churches had been called into existence, a permanent body of native pastors had been reared from among the Bechwanas, and the whole region had become largely civilized and Christianized."

On the day after his funeral, which occurred in August, 1883, the following leader appeared in the London Times, which is so remarkable, coming from such a source, that we venture to reproduce the substance of it. It is not always that the secular press bestows such just, discriminating, and lofty praise on our heroic missionaries and their achievements.

"Dr. Robert Moffat, who was yesterday laid in the grave, has left an abiding name as a pioneer of modern missionary work in South Africa. He was born in 1795, a year memorable as that of the foundation of the London Missionary Society, and in 1816 he entered on his career as one of the Society's missionaries. His first purpose was to proceed to the South Seas, but his final choice was the vast and yet unexplored field of the central region of South Africa. His chief work was among the Bechwanas. His picture of what they were when he first knew them would hardly now be recognized, so entirely have they changed under the new influences which Moffat was among the first to bring to bear on them. He found them mere savages, idol-worshipers, constantly at war among themselves and with their neighbors, ignorant of the arts of agriculture, and in the utterly degraded state for which we must seek a counterpart now in the more distant tribes whom the message of civilization has not yet reached. It was Moffat's mission to civilize as well as instruct, to free those with whom he was brought in contact from the curse under which they seemed to lie, to raise them to a higher life, and so to fit them to become recipients of the sacred message of good tidings which it was his main ultimate purpose to announce. His success within the limited field to which he confined himself-a field which has been now far overpassed by the subsequent labors of other devoted men, most notably by those of his own son-in-law, David Livingstone—was very marked. His first care was to make himself thoroughly master of the language of those to whom he was sent. For fifty years, he has declared, he had been accustomed to speak the Bechwana tongue; he reduced it to written characters, and, as an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, translated the Scriptures into it. The Bechwanas, under Moffat's guidance, became new men. Mission work grew and spread among them; what Moffat had begun to do was taken up by other hands; a permanent body of native pastors was created from among the Bechwanas themselves, and the whole region was raised out of the savage state in which Moffat had found it, and became in no small degree civilized as well as Christianized. To effect this, and to make it possible for others to effect it, was the chief business of Moffat's working life. He went out to South Africa in 1816. He left it finally in 1870. During that long interval the dark continent was attacked and explored in all directions. Scientific travelers and missionary travelers were busy pushing their way into regions to which Moffat never penetrated. It is Moffat's honor to have been the first in the field, to have laid, as it were, the stepping-stones by which his successors have been able to outstrip him; to have borne the burden and heat of the day in early missionary work, and at once to have given an example of devotion to his noble cause and to have furnished proof that the ground was not barren, and that even in South Africa the good seed might be trusted to spring up and to bring forth abundant fruit.

"It is the fashion in some quarters to scoff at missionaries, to receive their reports with incredulity, to look at them at best as no more than harmless enthusiasts, proper subjects for pity, if not for ridicule. The records of missionary work in South Africa must be a blank page to those by whom such ideas are entertained. We owe it to our missionaries that the whole region has been opened up. Apart from their special service as preachers, they have done important work as pioneers of civilization, as geographers, as contributors to philological research. Of those who have taken part in this, Moffat's name is not the best known. Moffat, it may be said, has labored, and other men have entered into his labor. Livingstone has come after him, and has gone beyond him, and has linked his memory for ever with the records of the South African Church. Speke and Stanley have become household names where Moffat has been unknown or has been forgotten. In his own simple words, it never occurred to him, while working among the Bechwanas, that he should obtain the applause of men. His one care was for those among whom he had cast his lot. He was an enthusiast, of course-a man would be worth little for missionary enterprise if he were not this at all events. But he was an enthusiast with a clear sense of the right means to employ for the accomplishment of his unselfish task. He had a message to deliver of love and of peace, and he must prepare men to receive it by instructing them in the arts of peace. The progress of South Africa has been mainly due to men of Moffat's stamp. In him, as in David Livingstone, it is hard to say which character has predominated, that of the missionary proper, or that of the teacher and guide. Certain it is that apart from the special stimulus they felt as proclaimers of the gospel message, they would never have thrown themselves as they did into the work to which their lives were consecrated. It was by no zeal for the spread of civilization on its own account that they passed weary years laboring and teaching among savage tribes, amid dangers of every kind, amid privations of which they themselves made light, but which only a sense of their high spiritual mission could have prompted them to face and undergo. One part of Moffat's work has been to prepare the way for others. He has given, so far, what promises to be a lasting stimulus. It is another question whether his own work will endure. . . . It is the missionary alone who seeks nothing for himself. He has chosen an unselfish life. If honor comes to him, it is by no choice of his own, but as the unsought tribute which others, as it were, force upon him. Robert Moffat has died in the fullness both of years and of honors. His work has been to lay the foundation of the Church in the central regions of South Africa. As far as his influence and that of his coadjutors and successors has extended, it has brought with it unmixed good. His name will be remembered while the South African Church endures, and his example will remain with us as a stimulus to others and as an abiding proof of what a Christian missionary can be and can do."

How this life work was performed; what a world of difficulty and opposition he encountered; with what tireless and persistent energy he wrought for more than half a century; amid what perils, hardships, discouragements and heroic endurances he stood at his post, this intensely interesting volume sets forth, modestly and lovingly, in fuller detail. Mrs. Moffat shared in her husband's work, and spirit, and missionary career. "Both," says Dr. Taylor, "were of such stuff as heroes are made of, and their names are worthy of a place in the peerage of faith, beside those which the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has ennobled by his praise."

Robert Moffat was the child of poor, hard-working, and pious parents in Scotland, to whom he owed much of his shrewd sense, industry, frugality and ability to turn his hands to anything. He learned to be a gardener, but at 16 left home for a situation in Cheshire, where he speedily attracted the notice and sympathy of his employers. He was soon after converted and joined the Wesleyan Methodists, and quickly thereafter resolved to be a missionary. But parents, employers, and others, tried to dissuade him from his purpose. But he persevered at the cost of his place, but soon found employment with a Mr. Smith, a Scotchman of Covenanting descent, who entered heartily into young Moffat's plans. So likewise did their daughter Mary, some months Moffat's senior. She had been carefully and religiously brought up and schooled at the Moravian Seminary at Fairfield, whose traditions are so full of missionary romance. Here she spent some happy years, and had engaged in home-mission work. She was strongly drawn to Moffat, as he to her; and both earnestly devoted themselves to work among the heathen. This union of heart and work at home was subsequently renewed in Africa, where, for a long and eventful period they worked together as husband and wife.

As the biographer says, Moffat did not become a great missionary by virtue of his collegiate opportunities. He valued learning highly, but he had no chance to become a great scholar. But he had a knack of seizing what was essential to him, and a gift for forgetting what was useless or secondary. His studies, in face of the greatest difficulties, completed, he was accepted by the London Missionary Society, and would have been designated for the South Pacific with the venerated Williams, had it not been for his youth-he was only twenty years of age. Says the biographer: "During the discussions in the Missionary Committee as to how the present band of men was to be distributed, it had been first proposed that Williams and Moffat should both go to Polynesia; but this was overruled at the suggestion of Dr. Waugh, who deemed that 'thae twa lads were ower young to gang thegither;' so they were separated. On these small links hang our lives."

Moffat was not long in South Africa before he gave proof that years are not the only gauge of wisdom and self-reliance and tact in management. His first difficulty arose from the caprice of the Governor, who refused, on account of disturbances, to allow the party to proceed beyond the limits of Cape Colony. Moffat at once set himself to learning Dutch, that he might the more efficiently do his work when he did reach Namaqualand. At last the Governor gave his consent; and for more than a year in Namaqualand, and for more than five-and-forty in Bechwanaland, his life was one ceaseless labor and difficulty and danger, fearlessly faced. He was builder, blacksmith, carpenter, thatcher, ditcher-for he dug canal after canal to bring water to his garden and field-gardener and dairyman by turns-and everything to which he set his hand he did well-even down to darning and sewing, which he was thankful that his mother had taught him how to do.

His life at the Oape, and in Namaqualand, however, was but a preparation; his real work began at Kuruman, where he was assisted by his wife (Miss Mary Smith having joined him at Cape Colony, where they were married), whose noble character and remarkable gifts are brought out in the volume by means of her letters. She was helper, inspirer, and a strong supporter.

Soon after their settlement at Kuruman, Mrs. Moffat writes to her parents: " At present Moffat is applying himself with all diligence to the language, as the particular object of his destination here. He finds immense difficulties from the barrenness of the language and imperfect interpreters, but he is naturally too persevering soon to lose courage. This is his sole motive for undertaking a journey at present, in order to become familiar with it by being for a time out of the habit of speaking Dutch with our own people here.

I think it will also be of advantage to me in that respect; having so much to employ my time with at home I have little chance of learning much of it. You beg of us to pay particular attention to the instruction of the rising generation, but alas, we have no opportunities of doing this: the people instead of desiring that their children should be instructed, are afraid of their becoming 'Dutchmen,' so tenacious are they of their old customs and habits, and if a boy and a girl venture to come they are soon laughed out of it. Perhaps if we gave them a meal of meat every day or a few beads, we might have the place crowded-but on no other condition. Oh! how we were affected on reading an account of Madagascar, when we thought of the difference between that people and this; they so desirous and these such despisers of instruction. As to some of these people having correct notions of God and of heaven, death and hell, as has been asserted, you must not believe it; for daily conversations convince us that the wisest of them have most corrupt notions on these subjects. We are astonished at their dreadful stupidity about these things. My beloved parents, we have much need of your sympathy and prayers, and those of all other Christians. Could we but see the smallest fruit we could rejoice amidst the privations and toil which we bear; but as it is, our hands do often hang down."

Their faith was put to a very severe test. They toiled for years without any visible fruit. But though disappointed, neither were disheartened.

" 'Mary,' he said one day to his wife, 'this is hard work.' 'It is hard work, my love,' she replied; 'but take courage, our lives shall be given us for a prey!' 'But think, my dear,' he replied, 'how long we have been preaching to this people, and no fruits yet appear.' Mrs. Moffat rejoined in this manner: 'The gospel has not yet been preached to them in their own tongue wherein they were born. They have heard it only through interpreters, and interpreters who have themselves no just understanding, no real love of the truth. We must not expect the blessing till you be able from your own lips and in their own language to bring it through their ears into their hearts.' 'From that hour,' said Mr. Moffat, in relating the conversation, 'I gave myself with untiring diligence to the acquisition of the language.'''

At the close of the year 1822 Moffat wrote his brother: "I shall now give some particulars of our present situation. The most important is the cause of Christ. Alas! we still hang our harp on the willows, and mourn over the destiny of thousands hastening with heedless but impetuous strides to the regions of woe. They turn a deaf ear to the voice of love, and treat with scorn the glorious doctrines of redemption. This often causes our hearts to languish, while our eyes fail with looking upward.

"It is, however, pleasing to reflect that affairs in general wear a more hopeful aspect than when we came here. Several instances have proved the people determined to relinquish the barbarous system of commandoes for stealing cattle. They have also dispensed with a rainmaker this season. We rejoice in this, because his services and presence must ever form a strong barrier to the spread of the gospel. "We prayed and hoped that a good season would thoroughly convince them that the power of giving rain belonged only to God, but He whose footsteps are in the sea has been pleased to order it otherwise. The season has been so dry as to destroy their corn, except a little which happened to be sown on ground a little marshy. Nothing, however, has been said as to the cause of the drought. We continue on friendly terms with them, though we have also much to suffer, especially from thieves, who pester us on all sides."

God chose his own methods of bringing his servant into favor with this people and giving him a powerful influence in their affairs. The Niantatees, a terrible horde of marauders, came pouring down upon the western Bechwanas, who, if driven back, would have no option but to perish in the foodless and waterless wastes of the Kalahari. The people were panic-stricken. The dreaded enemy drew nearer every day. And still nothing definite was known of their purpose or strength. Moffat, choosing a few companions, plunged into the wilderness, and after perils innumerable (seeing nine lions in one day) accomplished his purpose and hastened back and warned the people, and roused them to action, and gave such advice, and exercised such strategy and commanding ability as resulted in saving the people from destruction. His forethought, coolness, courage, and sagacity excited the admiration even of these savages, and led the grateful people almost to worship him.

From this time on the mission brightened and the influence of the Moffats widened and deepened. Mrs. Moffat writes home to her father about this time: "To hear of the steady and growing piety of these sable children of Adam, together with the increase of Divine knowledge in the minds of others, must be reviving to the hearts of all who love the cause, but especially to such as are so nearly connected with this mission as yourself. Our gracious God has been very condescending to spare the lives of His unworthy servants to witness some fruits of missionary labor-a felicity we frequently despaired of enjoying in this lower world, where crosses and disappointments seemed to form so large a proportion in our cup. We now often wish you could be with us, to witness for yourself what we see. . . . The converts are going on well, and though the general commotion in the minds of the people has in a great measure subsided, we have solid reason to believe that there are many persons who are the subjects of an abiding conviction of their position as sinners before God, and are in the constant and diligent use of the means of grace, which we doubt not will be effectual through the Spirit in leading them to the Saviour of sinners. The Spirit of God has commenced His operations, and surely He will go on."

We have not space to follow Moffat through the long and fruitful years of his toil and sacrifice among this people, nor to describe his manifold labors in the wide field of Southern Africa exploration, civilization and Christianization; nor his intercourse with and influence on the career of David Livingstone, who married his daughter Mary; nor yet his great work in the matter of Bible translation and the circulation of the Scriptures as agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, laying the foundation of a Bechwana literature; nor his visit to England in 1838, and the wonderful interest he awakened in his native land; nor of his return to Africa and subsequent career there, till in a ripe old age, he returned to his native shores in 1870, and until the day of his death, worked on unceasingly in behalf of the cause to which his life had been devoted.

A single parting glimpse we give the reader.

"On Sunday, the twentieth of March, 1870, Robert Moffat preached for the last time in the Kuruman church. In all that great congregation there were few of his own contemporaries. The older people were for the most part children at the time when they had first seen the missionaries. With a pathetic grace peculiarly his own, he pleaded with those who still remained unbelieving amid the gospel privileges they had now enjoyed so many years. With a fatherly benediction he commended to the grace of God those who had been to him a joy and crown. It was an impressive close to an impressive career. Many years must pass before that service can be forgotten in Bechwanaland."

We note a single trait of Moffat's character. He was not a man of one idea; was not wedded to a system or preconceived methods, but studied to adapt himself to the existing condition of things. While he insisted that no civilizing processes were of any effect without conversion, he despised no means of gaining influence in order to lead the heathen to better modes of living, to improved methods of agricul- ture, and to thrift and settled habits.

" He was first a missionary; but he was also a great' captain of industry,' a man who, if he had devoted himself to any form of worldly enterprise, would probably have made a colossal fortune. He could govern men. He knew how to attach them to him, and could gauge their capacity with the eye of a master. He could direct each to the exact task suited to him, and, what is more, keep him heartily at it. Impulse and will went together, and he seldom missed his aim. A mere stripling of twenty-one, he tamed the redoubtable Africaner, and made him a humble follower and helper; he subdued Moselikatze, the warlike Matebele, and made him feel that the missionary was essential to him. His simple manhood and fearlessness, with great natural tact and independence, enabled him always to appeal to that side of their nature which was most open to him. And he could wait. It has been well said that the courage necessary to face indefinite perils, such as those to which Moffat was constantly exposed-especially in the first portion of his career-is greater than that which supports the soldier in the midst of excitement of battle. What a probation was that of the long years in the dry and waterless Kuruman, without the token of a single impression being made on any human creature! Shamelessly the people stole; neither grain could grow to ripeness, nor cattle or sheep be left in the fold, or a tool allowed to lie where a bit of work was being done, or a canal made, without the risk of the water being diverted before it reached the mission station. Many a time on returning from their out-door labors, or from a service, they found a stone in the pot instead of the meat they had left to cook. But all undismayed, Robert Moffat and his heroic wife toiled on, assured that their reward would come."* And come it did. He lived to see great changes wrought in South Africa and to lay the foundations of the South African Church with his own hands. The progress of South Africa has been mainly due to Moffat and men of his stamp. In him, as in Livingstone, it is hard to say which character has predominated, that of the missionary proper, or that of the teacher and guide. His mission largely was to prepare the way for others. He has given a great and apparently lasting stimulus, and laid Africa and the whole missionary world under great obligations.

On one point we think Mr. Moffat's testimony bearing on the policy of missions is entitled to serious consideration. We quote from an admirable paper in the Leisure Hour for November, 1883: "Much might be added in illustration of Dr. Moffat's extreme versatilIty in acquiring every industry or art which the exigencies of the place might demand of him. His treatment of the bodily ailments of the natives who came to him was almost prophetic of the medical missionaries, of whom so much has happily been heard in later days. Enough, perhaps, has been said to indicate the manifold resource and adaptiveness which helped to establish the memorable mission to Bechwanaland.

" The question of the bearing of civilization in such circumstances upon the work of evangelization is a weighty one, and the testimony of such a veteran missionary as Dr. Moffat would not fail to be of the greatest value. It is one, also, on which he has spoken with no uncertain sound, for the facts were pressed upon him at an early period of his work among the Becnwanas. After twenty-six years of missionary work he writes: 'Much has been. said about civilizing savages before attempting to evangelize them. This is a theory which has obtained an extensive prevalence among the wise men of this world, but we have never yet seen a practical demonstration of its truth. We, ourselves, are convinced that evangelization must precede civilization. It is very easy in a country of high refinement to speculate on what might be done among rude and savage men, but the Christian missionary, the only experimentalist, has invariably found that to make the fruit good the tree must first be made good. Nothing less than the power of Divine grace can reform the hearts of savages, after which the mind is susceptible of those instructions which teach them to adol'n the gospel they profess."–Leisure Hour.

"One of the great attractions of this biography is, that it faithfully presents Mrs. Moffat alongside her husband-a heroine in every sense of the word. There was no work in which she did not share-no enterprise or adventure however perilous-in which she did not take her part. For years she made it her work to accompany him in the wagon, when he meant to be absent for more than a couple of days, for the double purpose of insuring that he should have ordinary comforts (which in bachelorhood in Namaqualand he had been apt to overlook), and that she should learn what she could of everything. Moffat had laid it down as the result of his three-year-long single-life experience that, 'A missionary without a wife in South Africa was like a boat with only one oar. A good missionary's wife can be as useful as her husband in the Lord's vineyard.' She over and over again undertook journeys to the Cape without Moffat (whom she would not permit, for her sake, to leave his work for a moment), and with faithful Bechwanas and Hottentots only for attendants, who never failed her. She combined missionary help with attention to family matters, and conveyed back printing materials or other goods, which were needed and waited for. Once, when she was ordered to the coast for her health, she persisted in going alone.

Unfortunately this time they found the Orange River in flood, and could not get across. For a whole month in ill-health she had to wait on the bank in the hot weather. But she never got disconsolate or even depressed, and her power of taking the best and most hopeful view of things amounted almost to an art. This is how she tells of her suffering: " 'I was in company with Mr. Hume, who rendered me every possible assistance, but my health being in such a delicate state, I could not but suffer much from the extreme heat and exposed situation, and was severely tried. Frequently were we tantalized with the prospect of being able to ride through "to-morrow," but as sure as to-morrow came the river rose again, till all hope was gone, and we came at last to the conclusion to cross on a raft. . . . There were eighteen wagons altogether, and with hard labor we got everything over that dreadful river in less than three days without a single accident. How much have we to be thankful for! And it was gratifying to find that, for all I had endured, I was no worse, but rather better. Perhaps being obliged to take it easily was in my favor.'

"This so entirely expresses the character of the woman as she appears to us throughout these pages-patient, courageous, equal to any emergency, gifted with power of command such as few men have, and yet tender and true to every claim of womanhood-that we can only praise her sufficiently by saying that she rose to the same heights of unconscious heroism as her husband. To read of her must prove an inspiration in many a home."*

THE CHRISTIAN AND NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS

THE CHRISTIAN AND NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS. SIR MONIER-WILLIAMS, Professor of Sanskrit in Oxford University, is universally recognized as an authority in all questions relating to the literature and faiths of the Orient. At the late anniversary of the Church Misssionary Society in London, he delivered an address which is so remarkable, that notwithstanding its appearance in other forms, we desire to give extracts from it a permanent place in this REVIEW. He says: "An old friend, a valued missionary of this society, founder of the James Long Lectures on the Non-Christian Religions, said to me a few days before his death: 'You are to speak at the anniversary of the Church Missionary Society; urge upon our missionaries the importance of studying the non- Christian religious systems.' Unusual facilities for this study are now at our disposal; for in this Jubilee year of the Queen, the University of Oxford has completed the publication of about thirty stately volumes of the socalled Sacred Books of the East, comprising the Veda, the Zend-Avesta of the Zoroastrians, the Confucian Texts, the Buddhist Tripitaka, and the Muhammadan Kuran-all translated by well-known translators. Our mIssionaries are already convinced of the necessity of studying these works, and of making themselves conversant with the false creeds they have to fight. How could an army of invaders have any chance of success in an enemy's country without a knowledge of the position and strength of its fortress, and without knowing how to turn the batteries they may capture against the foe? Instead of dwelling on so manifest a duty, I venture a few words of warning as to the subtle danger that lurks beneath the duty.

"In my youth I had been accustomed to hear all non-Christian religions described as 'inventions of the devil.' And when I began investigating Hinduism and Buddhism, some well-meaning Christian friends expressed their surprise that I should waste my time by grubbing in the dirty gutters of heathendom. After a little examination, I found many beautiful gems glittering there; nay, I met with bright coruscations of true light flashing here and there amid the surrounding darkness. Now, fairness in fightmg one's opponents is ingrained in every Englishman'S nature, and, as I prosecuted my researches into these non-Christian systems, I began to foster a fancy that they had been unjustly treated. I began to observe and trace out curious coincidences and comparisons with our own Sacred Book of the East. I began, in short, to be a believer in what is called the evolution and growth of religious thought. 'These imperfect systems,' I said to myself, 'are clearly steps in the development of man's religious instincts and aspirations-interesting efforts of the human mind struggling upwards towards Christianity. Nay, it is probable that they were all intended to lead up to the one true religion, and that Christianity is, after all, merely the climax, the complement, the fulfillment of them all.'

"Now there is unquestionably a delightful fascination about such a theory, and, what is more, there are really elements of truth in it. But I am glad of the opportunity of stating publicly that I am persuaded I was misled by its attractiveness, and that its main idea is quite erroneous. The charm and danger of it, I think, lie in its apparent liberality, breadth of view, and toleration. In The Times of last October 14, you will find recorded a remarkable conversation between a Lama priest and a Christian traveler, in the course of which the Lama says that 'Christians describe their religion as the best of all religions; whereas, among the nine rules of conduct for the Buddhist, there is one that directs him never either to think or to say that his own religion is the best, considering that sincere men of other religions are deeply attached to them.' Now to express sympathy with this kind of liberality is sure to win applause among a certain class of thinkers in these days of universal toleration and religious free trade. We must not forget, too, that our Bible tells us that God has not left himself without witness, and that in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. Yet I contend, notwithstanding, that flabby, jelly-fish kind of tolerance is utterly incompatible with the nerve, fibre, and backbone that ought to characterize a manly Christian. A Christian's character ought to be exactly what the Christian's Bible intends it to be. Take that Sacred Book of ours; handle reverently the whole volume; search it through and through, from the first chapter to the last, and mark well the spirit that pervades the whole. You will find no limpness, no flabbiness about its utterances. Even skeptics who dispute Its divinity are ready to admit that it is a thoroughly manly book. Vigor and manhood breathe in every page. It is downward and straightforward, bold and fearless, rigid and uncompromising. It tells you and me to be either hot or cold. If God be god, serve him. If Baal be God, serve him. We cannot serve both. We cannot love both. Only one name is given among men whereby we may be saved. No other name, no other Saviour, more suited to India, to Persia, to China, to Arabia, is ever mentioned-is ever hinted at.

"What! says the enthusiastic student of the science of religion, do you seriously mean to sweep away as so much worthless waste paper all these thirty stately volumes of Sacred Books of the East just published by the University of Oxford? "No-not at all-nothing of the kind. On the contrary, we welcome these books. We ask every missionary to study their contents and thankfully lay hold of whatsoever things are true and of good report in them. But we warn him that there can be no greater mistake than to force these non-Christian bibles into conformity with some scientific theory of development, and then point to the Christian's Holy Bible as the crowning product of religious evolution. So far from this, these non-Christian bibles are all developments in the wrong direction. They all begin with some flashes of true light and end in utter darkness. Pile them, if you will, on the left side of your study table, but place your own Holy Bible on the right side-all by itself-aU alone-and with a wide gap between.

"And now, I crave permission at least to give two good reasons for ventur- ing to contravene, in so plain-spoken a manner, the favorite philosophy of the day. Listen to me, ye youthful students of the so-called Sacred Books of the East, search them through and through, and tell me, do they affirm of Vyasa, of Zoroaster, of Confucius, of Buddha, of Mohammed, what our Bible affirms of the Founder of Christianity-that He, a sinless Man, was made Sin! Not merely that he is the eradicator of sin, but that He, the sinless Son of man, was himself made sin. Vyasa and the other founders of Hinduism enjoined severe penances, endless lustral washings, incessant purifications, infinite repetitions of prayer, painful pilgrimages, arduous ritual, and sacrificial observances, all with the one idea of getting rid of sin. AU their books say so. But do they say that the very men who exhausted every invention for the eradication of sin were themselves sinless men made sin. Zoroaster, too, and Confucius, and Buddha, and Mohammed, one and all, bade men strain every nerve to get rid of sin, or at least of the misery of sin, but do their sacred books say that they themselves were sinless men made sin! I do not presume, as a layman, to interpret the apparently contradic. tory proposition put forth in our Bible that a sinless Man was made Sin. All I now contend for is that it stands alone; that it is wholly unparalleled; that it is not to be matched by the shade of a shadow of a similar declaration in any other book claiming to be the exponent of the doctrine of any other religion in the world.

" Once again, ye youthful students of the so-called Sacred Books of the East, search them through and through, and tell me, do they affirm of Vyasa, of Zoroaster, of Confucius, of Buddha, of Mohammed, what our Bible affirms of the Founder of Christianity-that He, a dead and buried Man, was made Life? not merely that he is the Giver of life, but that he, the dead and buried Man, is Life. 'I am the Life.' 'When Christ, who is our Life, shall appear.' 'He that hath the Son, hath Life.' Let me remind you, too, that the blood is the Life, and that our Sacred Book adds this matchless, this unparalleled, this astounding assertion: 'Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.' Again, I say, I am not now presuming to interpret so marvelous, so stupendous a statement. All I contend for is that it is absolutely unique; and I defy you to produce the shade of the shadow of a similar declaration in any other sacred book of the world. And bear in mind that these two matchless, these two unparalleled declarations, are closely, are intimately, are indissolubly connected with the great central facts and doctrines of our religion: the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension of Christ. Vyasa, Zoroaster, Confucius, Buddha, Mohammed, are all dead and buried; and mark this-their flesh is dissolved; their bones have crumbled into dust; their bodies are extinct. Even their followers admit this. Christianity alone commemorates the passing into the heavens of its divine Founder, not merely in the spirit, but in the body, and 'with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature,' to be the eternal source of life and holiness to his people.

"The two unparalleled declarations quoted by me from our Holy Bible make a gulf between it and the so-called Sacred Books of the East which sever the one from the other utterly, hopelessly, and forever-not a mere rift which may be easily closed up, not a mere rift across which the Christian and the non-Christian may shake hands and interchange similar ideas in regard to essential truths, but a veritable gulf which cannot be bridged over by any science of religious thought; yes, a bridgeless chasm which no theory of evolution can ever span. Go forth, then, ye missionaries, in your Master's name; go forth into all the world, and, after studying all its false religions and philosophies, go forth and fearlessly proclaim to suffering humanity the plain, the unchangeable, the eternal facts of the gospel-nay, I might al- most say, the stubborn, the unyielding, the inexorable facts of the gospel. Dare to be downright with all the uncompromising courage of your own Bible, while with it your watchwords are love, joy, peace, reconciliation. Be fair, be charitable, be Christ-like, but let there be no mistake. Let it be made absolutely clear that Christianity can not, must not, be watered down to suit the palate of either Hindu, Parsee, Confucianist, Buddhist, or Mo. hammedan, and that whosoever wishes to pass from the false religion to the true can never hope to do so by the rickety planks of compromise, or by help of faltering hands held out by half-hearted Christians. He must leap the gulf in faith, and the living Christ will spread his everlasting arms be- neath and land him safely on the Eternal Rock."

To this remarkable testimony, we add that of Professor Max Müller, who, in addressing the British and Foreign Bible Society, said: "In the discharge of my duties for forty years, as Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Oxford, I have devoted as much time as any man living to the study of the Sacred Books of the East, and I have found the one key-note -the one diapason, so to speak-of all these so-called sacred books, whether it be the Veda of the Brahmans, the Puranas of Siva and Vishnu, the Koran of the Mohammedans, the Zend-Avesta of the Parsees, the Tripitaka of the Buddhists-the one refrain through all-salvation by works. They all say that salvation must be purchased, must be bought with a price ; and that the sole price, the sole purchase-money, must be our own works and deservings. Our own holy Bible, our sacred Book of the East, is from beginning to end a protest against this doctrine. Good works are, indeed, enjoined upon us in that sacred Book of the East far more strongly than in any other sacred book of the East; but they are only the outcome of a grateful heart -they are only a thank-offering, the fruits of our faith. They are never the ransom-money of the true disciples of Christ. Let us not shut our eyes to what is excellent and true and of good report in these sacred books, but let us teach Hindoos, Buddhists, Mohammedans, that there is only one sacred Book of the East that can be their mainstay in that awful hour when they pass all alone into the unseen world. It is the sacred Book which contains that faithful saying, worthy to be received of all men, women and children, and not merely of us Christians-that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."

THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. [EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] "Let the dead bury their dead! Follow thou ME.

Go thou and preach the kingdom of God." -Matt. viii: 21, 22; Luke ix: 60.

WORDS of deep meaning are those words, "life" and "death." The difference between them is the difference between holiness and sin; the distance between them is the distance between Heaven and Hell.

We are in a world of Death. It is full of the dead-those who have neither spiritual vitality nor sensibility; who lack all true spiritual life and all proper sense of the powers of the world to come.

God made man, like an ideal house, in successive stories. On the earthward side, the body, identified with matter; next above it, the intellectual, affectional and moral nature, higher up and nearer God; then above all, and crowning all, that which constituted the very "image of God," -the spiritual nature, the oratory and observatory, nearest to Heaven.

The fall of man shattered the whole house, but it left the upper story in absolute ruin. The spiritual image of God was effaced, while the whole man was defaced. That observatory that looked out upon the celestial scenery, became at best "a death chamber." The noblest, highest, divinest affections, affinities, and capacities of man were left in a state of decay; and so this world became the abode of the dead.

Yes; and the dead are burying the dead. All human history, without God, is one long burial. What is burial? It is the magnifying of the material and mortal; it is lavishing care and cost upon the body, when the invisible spirit has departed, and putting it out of sight and contact of the living. So are the ways of the world. That unseen reality and personality which we call soul, is habitually neglected, while lavish attention is given to the body; and selfishness, that it may revel in ease and indulgence, seeks to bury out of sight and touch of the living, the want and woe, sorrow and suffering of humanity.

The sayings of our Lord, which introduce these paragraphs, are far more comprehensive than may at first appear. Christ is not denying to a son the privilege of fulfilling the last sad offices of filial love to a deceased father. A soul has reached the crisis of history and destiny, and stands trembling and wavering upon the verge of a decision upon which hang eternal issues. To go just now, even to a father's funeral, with its elaborate ceremonial and tedious period of formal mourning, would prove a diversion that might prevent conversion, dissipating serious impressions and convictions. What if that son, drawn back into worldly associations, should lose all interest in things divine; and going to bury his father, should end in being buried himself ! But let us mark the grandeur of the scope of those two words of command: "Follow thou me !" "Go thou and preach the kingdom of God!"

Christ is the Lord of life. He came to give life and to give it more abundantly-not to bury but to revive; not to commit to the sepulchre but to call the dead from their tombs. "Follow thou Me !"

and so get life; then, "Go thou and preach the kingdom of God," and so give life.

We have intelligently chosen these words as the motto of this MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD. Taking the two accounts as presenting the whole incident in its spherical completeness, we find here the entire duty of every human being, comprehensively expressed: first to be a follower of Christ, and then a preacher of Christ; receiving life from the dead, to go forth bearing the potent message of salvation, and so imparting life to the dead.

Our Lord thus sounds, in these sayings of His, the silver trumpet of evangelization, and down through the aisles of the ages, with growing clearness, rings the clarion peal. It is time that it had reached and rallied the whole church of God to the universal assembling of the Lord's hosts, and the universal onset of the army against the foe.

Evangelization is the one word that deserves to be emblazoned on the banners of the believing host. The one immediate, imperative duty of every follower is to become a "herald." To bring this gospel of life into contact with every living, human soul in the shortest possible time and the best possible way-that is evangelization.

The scheme is so grandly colossal that it fills the whole word of God, and reaches round the whole world of the dead. Like the wheel of Ezekiel's vision, it is so high that it is dreadful. Its rim rests upon the earth, but reaches to heaven.

God's gigantic plan of evangelization embraces the whole family of man. That family consists at this time of fifteen hundred millions of souls now living upon earth. More than one-half of this vast number have never yet had a copy of the Word, heard the sound of the good tidings, or even seen the face of a missionary. There are some thirty millions of evangelical Christians within the territory of a nominal Christendom; and the problem is how to bring those thirty millions into contact with the seven hundred and fifty millions who have not the gospel within the space of a generation's lifetime!

How can it be done? That is the absorbing question. We should utterly despair of doing it but for one fact: The Captain of our salvation has commanded it, and the existence of the order is the warrant for obedience, and the assurance of success. Let the whole church but take the attitude of obedience, and we should see wonders of achievement that would astonish us.

It is, nevertheless, very plain that the methods now employed by the church of God are inadequate to this great work. All Christendom sends to the foreign field to-day less than seven thousand workmen, of whom more than half are unordained laymen and women. The native Christian churches contribute some thirty-three thousand more, of whom nine-tenths are laymen. We have, therefore, a total of forty thousand Christian disciples scattered among the millions of Pagan, Papal, and Moslem communities. Were these evenly and equally distributed, it would still give every worker, male or female, native and foreign, ordained and unordained, a parish of 18,750 souls to reach with the gospel in the space of about thirty years, the lifetime of a generation.

"What are these among so many?" And with all the obstacles of foreign language and hoary superstitions to surmount before there could be even an approach or access to them. Our missionary workers-nay, even our missionary stations-are like stars set in the centres of vast vacancies. And, therefore, it is that with over 100 missionary organizations belting the globe, the unevangelized population of the world grows faster than the church; population strides more rapidly than evangelization can keep up with it; and there is to-day a larger number of unsaved souls on earth than during any previous decade of years.

Where lies the core of this difficulty? We have forsaken the standard set up for us by our Lord and adopted by the primitive church. To every human being our Lord's double message is "Follow me, and preach me." The command is representative. The only qualification necessary for preaching the kingdom is to be a subject in it; and every follower of Christ must be a fisher of men.

This is the doctrine of the New Testament, and this was the practice of the New Testament church. Our Lord laid down the law of evangelization: ALL ARE TO GO, AND TO GO TO ALL. The occasion on which, upon that Galilean mountain, He said: "Go make disciples of all nations," was, without doubt, the occasion on which he "was seen of above five hundred brethren at once," commissioning all disciples to make disciples.

And they accepted the commission. The persecution that followed Stephen's martyrdom scattered the disciples abroad, and they went everywhere, preaching the word.* Observe!-not the apostles, for they are expressly excepted, as remaining at Jerusalem. Philip, though only a deacon, not only evangelized but baptized. The careful reader of the" Acts of the Apostles" finds there the acts of a great many beside the Apostles. He finds there a vital truth of Scripture side by side with a vital fact of history. The obvious intent of our Lord was that every follower should be also a witness, warrior, worker, winner of souls. The so-called "ministry" properly exists in the interests of law and order, sound doctrine and safe polity; but does not properly exist as a clerical caste, drawing a line of division between the followers of Christ in the matter of work for souls. Neither the world nor the church can afford to confine or entrust this work of evangelization to a class. The world needs all disciples as heralds, if all men are to hear the gospel; and the church needs all her members to be workers if she is to fulfil her great commission, or even escape the dry rot of indolence and inaction. Growth there must be where life is, and action there must be where growth is. What we do not use we lose. Current alone keeps the stream from stagnating and freezing.

Go thou, whoever thou art, if thou followest the Lord, and preach the kingdom of God. This is a universal duty, an individual responsibility. It is not necessary to change our sphere, but only to pervade our sphere with a new spirit of life. "In whatsoever calling he is found, let every man therein abide with God."* Let him use the shoemaker's shop, the carpenter's bench, the merchant's desk, the artist's studio, the market stall, the senator's chair, the kitchen or nursery, the throne or palace, as the pulpit from which to preach Jesus. If, like Wesley and Whitefield, Moody and McAll, you can reach the multitudes with your voice, thank God for the privilege. But if not, perhaps, like John Pounds of Portsmouth, you can win the confidence of street gamins by a hot roast potato, or, like Maria Millis in the humble nursery, teach infant lips to pray, and sow in a child's heart the seeds of a mighty passion for souls that shall yet sway, with resistless persuasion, the Lords and Commons in Parliament! These opening words of salutation from the editors to the reader, are not the result of any sudden, transient outburst of feeling. Here are crystallized the solemn convictions reached or wrought by a quarter of a century of study and thought upon this great theme. Before the church stands a great problem, for which the Scriptures furnish the only practical, possible solution. The whole church must accept the duty of telling the old, old story. Each of us is his brother's keeper. Every hearer must become a herald. This is the theory of evangelization in a nutshell; and we have only to put this principle into practice, and the wisdom of our Lord's words will be demonstrated; we may thus bring the gospel to the ears of every living member of our ruined race before the bells of God's great clock of the ages shall ring in the natal hour of a new century.

"Go THOU, AND PREACH THE KINGDOM OF GOD."

A VIOLENT thunder storm once preserved the town of Basle from the shells of the Russians and Hungarians, who were besieging the place. The pious people, in gratitude, founded a training-school for Christian Missionaries. This was the origin of the Basle Missionary Society, which has sent out over five hundred devoted men to the heathen.

*1 Cor. vii.

MISSION WORK IN PAPAL EUROPE

MISSION WORK IN PAPAL EUROPE.

By WILLIAM CLARK, D.D., FLORENCE, ITALY.

[Dr. Clark has a right to speak on the subject which he here briefly intro- duces to the notice of our readers. During the past twenty-five years he has resided in Papal Europe and made its institutions, especially those of an educational character, a matter of special study. The female college which he has established at Florence is an important mission agency and deserves the sympathy and aid of American Christians, and especially of the friends of female Christian education. Previous to this-from 1850 to 1860-he was in the service of the A. B. C. F. M. in Turkey, having charge of the Bebek Theological Seminary, out of which grew Robert College.-EDs.) THE moral and spiritual transformation of Central and Southern Europe must be done for women and by women. Establishing evangeli- cal schools of higher female education is the great mission agency to be employed, and the agency the most successful of all others. It is not by any denominational propaganda arrayed against Popery, or by Protestant Mission Boards of England and the United States sending their forces into these countries with their agencies of sect. I have been intimately conversant with mission work in foreign and Papal lands for nearly forty years, and, with all my experience and observation during this long period, I am fully convinced that true and successful mission work can never be accomplished, especially in Papal Europe, by a strictly denominational agency. I speak what I know when I say that the greatest obstacle to the work of a true religious reform in Papal Europe for the last twenty-five years has been the introduction of different religious denominations, and the sectarian spirit that has characterized them. To do true Christian work in Europe, churches must leave sect at home, and carry alone the essentials of Christian salvation and Christian character.

In 1866, Hon. George P. Marsh, our honored Minister in Italy for thirty years, wrote me thus: "Garibaldi is right in saying that Italy must owe her salvation to her women. No country has produced, and none now produces, nobler women than this, and there never was a crisis when such could render greater service to the cause of humanity and truth than now." The union and independence of Italy, that have taken place since that time, have proved a powerful incentive in ennobling and quickening the life of woman. Nowhere is the regeneration of Italy more marked than in Italian female life. They now ask earnestly for a new and improved system of higher female education. They wish schools and colleges for women similar to those in America. Our system of higher female education has been made known in all these countries by the Expositions at Vienna and Paris. My classmate, Hon. John D. Philbrick of Boston, our Educational Commissioner at those expositions, made such a beautiful exhibit of our female schools and colleges as to make our system of female culture so popular that it is everywhere desired in all these countries, and desired as a system to take the place of the Convent system, with which from year to year they are more and more dissatisfied.

Establishing evangelical schools of higher female education would be setting up a great agency that would be attended with immense results, an agency having no sectarian taint to poison it, and most cordially welcomed by the people. In Italy, for instance, this agency affords us a rare opportunity of doing a most noble work for Italian young women of the higher classes, in bringing a high and ennobling religious influence, as well as a high culture among those who really have the destinies of their country in their hands.

The great obstacle to the regeneration of Italy, is woman. Educate woman, and bring her under a true religious influence, and Italy will quickly become a truly enlightened and a truly evangelized country. And this work is feasible, if means and lady teachers can be obtained among Christians of America. The present is a time so favorable for instituting a great enterprise and an undenominational mission agency, that I cannot but urge it upon the attention of Christian women in America. I have heard many Italians express deep regret that, in all Catholic Europe, there was not one superior college where they might send their daughters for a higher culture. Is not this fact a sad one, especially when we consider how much high Christian culture there is among the women of America and England? Is it true that this culture is really Christian and benevolent in its character? Why, then, are not greater efforts made to extend it among other nations? Establish, for instance, schools in Italy bearing the stamp of our culture and our religion. This would be the noblest possible way of doing mission work. It is not enough that we boast of our higher female education at home; we must consecrate it to the good of other nations.

We want $10,000 to make a college, already established in Florence, Italy, an agency of great good to all the Papal States of Europe. Similar schools we wish to establish in all the principal cities of Italy, Austria, France and Spain; and such schools will bring these countries into the kingdom of Christ. To the importance of this work we have the testimony and endorsement of the best men of all Christian nations. Lord Shaftsbury, J. B. Braithwaite of England, Sir William Muir, Prof. Calderwood of Scotland, Mark Hopkins, Dr. Roswell D. Hitchcock, Mrs. ex-President Garfield, and many others in our own land-all these speak of this agency as mission work of the highest importance.

Many years ago Mrs. Emma Willard, of Troy Female Seminary, gave $3,000 to establish a school for young women in Greece. This school, nobly sustained by Mr. and Mrs. Hill, has educated more than 20,000 Greek young women.

BRIEF NOTES ON NEW BOOKS OF A MISSIONARY CHARACTER

BRIEF NOTES ON NEW BOOKS OF A MISSIONARY CHARACTER.

James Hannington. By F. C. Dawson, M. A. A. D. F. Randolph & Co., N. Y.

This is a graphic story of the life and work of the first Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa. It has already gone through six editions in England, 'and two here. It is a thrilling narrative. There are many incidents of great interest in the volume; but the central figure is the manly, unselfish, heroic Hannington, whose martyrdom so shocked the Christian world. The reading of the book has suggested so many useful and instructive thoughts that it is the purpose of the editors to give hereafter a special article on the subject of this memoir.

The Cross and the Dragon. Rev. B. C. Henry of Canton. A. D. F. Randolph & Co.

Few books of 500 pages contain more interesting and useful matter. Mr. Henry is an acute observer. He has eyes and ears and knows how to use them: and he has the rare quality of being able, both by his tongue and pen, to reproduce in vivid, graphic style, those matters which are most apt to enchain the attention of the hearer or reader. This book will be one of the standard books on Missions.

Siam, or The Heart of Farther India. By Mary L. Cort. Published by Randolph.

This book, in size and style, corresponds to The Cross and the Dragon, and is not unlike it in value and power to interest and instruct. Few people know what a unique country and people are presented in this book, about which so little has been known until of late. The supreme king, Chulalangkorn, is a wise, intelligent, charitable monarch: like his father before him a patron of art, science and literature. In this empire all practical hindrances seem removed to missionary work. There have been no marked results which can be expressed in figures and statistics, but the gospel seems to be slowly but surely preparing for a great conquest. We advise everybody to read Miss Cort's book.

The Dragon, Image, and Demon: or, the Three Religions of China, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Iaoism, giving an account of the Mythology, Idolatry, and Demonolatry of the Chinese. By Rev. Hampden C. DuBose, fourteen years a missionary at Loochow. New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son. 12mo, pp. 468. 1887.

We give the full title of this book as explanatory of its contents. The work is profusely illustrated, and is gotten up in gorgeous yet appropriate style. Written by one who knows whereof he writes; who is familiar, from study and observation on the ground, with the system of religion and philosophy which he describes; and who has taken pains to gather information on a great variety of points little understood by the Christian world, it will prove a valuable addition to our missionary literature. The work is of interest to the general reader, as well as in all missionary circles. Even the London Saturday Review says of it: "It is a book likely to be widely read. Of the author's minute description of popular and household deities, and the mass of legend connected with them, the book and its curious illustrations can alone speak. Mr. DuBose has much to say that is fresh and suggestive, and he says it with force and conviction."

The Crisis of Missions: or, The Voice out of the Cloud. By Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D. D. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 12 mo, pp. 370.

Like all their issues, the publishers have given this little book an attractive dress, befitting the character of the work. It is a marvelous book, in its power to inform, impress, and electrify the reader. The grouping of inspiring facts; the rapid action of the discussion; the intense glow of missionary feeling; and the irresistible array of motives and argume~ts and

ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK

Providential movements, all conspire to challenge the reader's attention, thrill his soul, and cause him to hear "the voice out of the cloud," as he never heard it before. If our beloved associate had not written the book, I should use still stronger language. I am not surprised that the reading public are showing their appreciation of it by exhausting six editions of it in one year!

Woman and the Gospel in Persia. By Rev. Thomas Laurie, D. D. Adoniram Judson. By Julia H. Johnston.

The Woman's Presbyterian Board of Missions of the Northwest, located at Chicago, is publishing a series of brief works entitled" Missionary Annals." The first in the series was a Memoir of Robert Moffat. The two, whose titles are given above, form Nos. 2 and 3. Others are in preparation. They are neatly produced, and sold at a small price, only 30 cents in cloth. .

The plan is an excellent one. Its execution will greatly widen the circle of missionary readers and create a demand for larger works. The materials for the sketch of Dr. Judson were drawn from Dr. Wayland's memoir of him, from Dr. EdwardJudson's "Life" of his father, and from "The History of Baptist Missions." "Woman and the Gospel in Persia," is an abridgment of "Woman and her Saviour in Persia," by Dr. Laurie, and was generously prepared by him and presented to the Board which publishes it.

n.-ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK.

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

THE seventh annual meeting of the Board was held at Springfield, Mass., Oct. 5-8, 1887. It was a remarkable assemblage, both as to number and character—one hundred and sixty-five corporate members and over 800 ministers. The discussion of two reports from the Prudential Committee was long and earnest, and resulted in an overwhelming vote sustaining the policy of the Board. Still it was not unanimous, and the outcome of the trouble it is impossible to predict.

The editor of The Independent, who was present, gives the following as the substance of the action of the Board:

"1. That the Board, acting through its Prudential Committee, will hereafter as heretofore assume and exercise the right to judge and determine upon the qualifications of all persons applying to it for appointment and support as foreign missionaries. 2. That, in the judgment of the Board, the Word of God teaches that the moral conduct of men in this life, whether living and dying in heathen or Christian lands, is determinative of their condition and destiny in the life to come, and hence that this Word excludes the hypothesis that any persons who in this life have failed to secure the great salvation through Christ will, after death, have another probation in which salvation will be offered to them, and by them may be obtained. 3. That all persons applying to the Board for appointment and support as foreign missionaries, if holding as a positive faith or a probable hypothesis the doctrine of a second probation or that of this life continued into the next life, are to be regarded as not possessing the proper qualifications for such appointment and support, since, in either case, their position is contrary to the Word of God, and is calculated in its natural effects to impair the power of that Word over human hearts."

The report of the year's missionary operations was highly encouraging, and the several papers submitted by the Secretaries, particularly "The Appeal of the Hour," by Secretary Smith, and "The Message and Messenger," by Secretary Clark, were inspiring in the highest degree. We regret that our space will allow but a bird's-eye view of the year's results.

RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES.

From churches, individual donors, and Sunday-schools, $218,427.58. From the four Woman's Boards, $148,530.82 (from Woman's Board of Missions, $89,304.60; from Woman's Board of Missions of the Interior, $55,248.12; from the Woman's Board of Missions for the Pacific, $3,678.10; from the Woman's Board of Missions for the Pacific Isles, $300); a total of donations of $366,958.40. From legacies, $98,414.59, and from the income of the permanent funds, $11,071.28; making the total receipts from these sources, $476,444.27.

From the Swett bequest, set apart to meet special calls for a brief period of years in the evangelistic and educational departments of our missionary work abroad, $154,319.96 has been appropriated for the purposes named, including, for Japan, $43,745, and for China, $34,762.83.

From the Otis bequest, set apart for new missions, $48,808.31 has been devoted to work in West Central and East Central Africa, in Shanse, in Northern Japan, and in Northern Mexico.

These amounts, added to receipts from ordinary sources, with balance in the treasury at the beginning of the year, $1,381.49, make the total $680,954.03. The expenditures of the year amounted to $679,376.90, leaving a balance in the treasury of $1,577.13.

GENERAL SUMMARY. 1886-87.

CONCLUSION.

Such is the brief record of that great work which the Board sustains in twenty-two missions among unevangelized people in all parts of the earth. In almost 1,000 populous centres a force of 2,500 laborers, foreign and native, is preaching the gospel in twenty-five different languages, and conducting a great evangelistic and educational work. Fifteen new churches have been organized, and out of a total membership of 28,000, nearly 3,000 have made profession of faith this year. In ninety-six high schools and colleges 6,000 picked youths of both sexes are in training to reinforce the native agency, besides 34,000 pupils under Christian instruction and influence in common schools. And above all, the Christian character of the native converts is assuming greater depth and earnestness, and their share in evangelistic work is steadily increasing in value as well as in amount.

THE FIRST MONTH.—The financial beginning of the new year is favorable, the receipts being more than double those of the first month of the preceding year; amounting to $30,668.57, of which over $22,000 is from donations.

American Baptist Union.

THIS Union represents some 600,000 or 700,000 Baptists in the Northern and Western States, and is the second oldest foreign missionary society in the country. Its 73d annual meeting was held in Minneapolis, Minn., May 27-28. We give an abstract of its annual report.

Its first field was Burmah, where it has planted a vigorous and self-supporting Christianity, which, with its admirable system of schools and its missionary spirit, is making constant inroads on heathenism. Since Upper Burmah was opened to the world by the overthrow of King Thebaw, the Union has been sending missionaries into that kingdom. It has also a strong mission in India, among the Telugus, thousands of whom were gathered in during the remarkable awakening in South India some years ago. Besides these missions the Union has others in Assam and Siam, China, Japan, Africa (in Liberia and on the Congo), and in Europe.

The European missions are in Sweden, Germany, France, Spain, and Greece, where their membership foots up more than the Asiatic and African missions. In Sweden and Germany the work may be said to have passed the missionary stage. There are regular churches, ordained ministers, and associations of churches and ministers. In Sweden alone there are 460 churches, a gain of 26 the past year, 483 preachers, and 31,064 members. In Germany there are more members (33,451), but fewer churches and ministers. The latter number 450, of whom 300 are unordained, and the churches count up to 168 only. The work of the year was very successful, if we may judge from the fact that there were 3,473 baptisms in Sweden, and 2,530 in Germany. An effort is being made to reach the Finns, of whom there are about two millions, who are said to be in a state of dense spiritual darkness. They seem anxious to know the truth and be saved. The amount of contributions in Sweden last year was $79,187.

Germany received $5,628 from the Union, raising among its own churches $98,900. The German Baptist Union, consisting of 13 associations, embraces missions in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Russia, Roumania, Bulgaria, Denmark, and Africa. The mission was begun by Johan Gerhard Oncken, a German who married and settled in England and became an Independent. Traveling in Lower Saxony, as an agent of a Bible and a tract society, he organized a Baptist church in that kingdom and became its pastor. This was in 1834. Next year he was appointed missionary of what is now the American Baptist Missionary Union, and he went all over Germany and Denmark preaching and baptizing. From this beginning have sprung all the churches and missions in connection with the German Baptist Union. There is an association in Austria embracing 5 churches, 62 stations, and 930 members; one among the Poles, with 8 churches, 52 stations, and 2,624 members; two in Russia, with a total of 18 churches, 183 stations, and 5,026 members; one on the Baltic with 4 churches, 9 stations, and 1,206 members; one in Denmark, with 22 churches, 101 stations, and 2,181 members; and one in South Africa, with 3 churches, 16 stations, and 676 members. Of the 58,108 members which are returned from the Asiatic and African missions 26,574 are in Burmah and Siam, showing an increase for the year of over 700. A special difficulty in the work in Burmah is the fact of the division of the population in language and race characteristics, requiring distinct missions to the Burmans, the Karens, the Shans, the Kachins, and the Chins. And these separate missions are to be found in the same territory, in the same towns and cities. In Henthada, for example, there is a Burman, a Karen, and a Chin department; and the Karens are sometimes divided into the Red-Karen, Bghai-Karen, and Paku-Karen departments, and there are still other varieties of Karens. The majority of the members in Burmah are Karens, who are an inferior people and were formerly slaves to the Burmans. The total of baptisms in Burmah last year was 1,794. The appropriations from the Union aggregated about $100,000, to which the mission added about $35,000 for churches, schools, and general benevolence. The missionary force is 107, and the number of ordained and unordained ministers 513. Of the 510 churches, 310 are self-supporting. In the 7 stations in Assam are 1,922 members, gathered in 30 churches, of which four are self-sustaining. The field in India is among the Telugus. This was for many years a fruitless mission, but it now reports more members than the Burmah mission, and was the most fruitful mission last year in the list of the Union, returning 1,000 of the 1,668 net gain of all the missions.

The mission in China reports 1,516 members in 18 churches, of which 4 are self-supporting. There are 519 members in Japan, with 13 churches, only one of which pays its own expenses.

The African mission is yet in its infancy. A few years ago the mission received the Congo mission from the Livingstone Inland Mission, an undenominational organization, which had its headquarters in Cardiff, Wales. There are now seven stations on the Congo, one being at Stanley Pool and one at the equator, above the Pool.

The following is a summary of results for the seventy-three years of the Union's operations:

The American Missionary Association

HELD its 41st Annual Meeting in Portland, Me., Oct. 25-27, 1887. Items from its Annual Report: The receipts of the year cover all the expenses of the year, wipe out the debt of $5,000 with which the year began, and leave $2,193.80 with which to start out on the coming year.

EDUCATIONAL WORK IN THE SOUTH.

Total number of schools planted in the Southern States is fifty-four. Six of these are chartered institutions, fairly entitled to the rank of Colleges. Sixteen are Normal and Training Schools. Thirty-two are common schools, scattered throughout nine different States. In these schools are 246 instructors and 8,616 pupils.

CHURCH WORK.

These statistics show a substantial gain over last year. Seven new churches were organized.

There has been during the year a quiet Christian work throughout the South, which has borne gratifying fruits, over 1,000 having confessed Christ for the first time. The Sunday-school enrollment has increased by nearly 2,000. They contributed this year for benevolence, outside of their own work, $2,322.51, and for their own church purposes, $16,014.50, making a grand total of $18,337.01. This was an increase over the previous year of $610.96 in their benevolences, and $3,075.61 in the total. This is an average contribution of $2.32 per member for every man, woman and child in these churches.

INDIAN WORK, chiefly in Nebraska and Dakota. The following is the summary:

CHINESE WORK.

RECEIPTS.

The total disbursements for the year have been $298,783.80, a decrease in the expenditures of last year of $13,467.

Foreign Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

FROM 52d Annual Report, closing Sept 1st, we glean the following facts and figures:

In Japan the advance is rapid. In Africa, notwithstanding the political disturbance at the lower end of the Missionary Jurisdiction of Cape Palmas, the workers are brave and true and the work is being systematically prosecuted; not only in the localities with which the Church has been familiar for years, but also in the regions beyond. In China, the evangelistic work, largely conducted by the native clergy, as well as the parochial work among the converts, and that of the day and boarding-schools and St. John's College, and the medical mission, each has its own story to tell of diligence and encouragement, notwithstanding the publications during the year which have given the impression that the work in China is suffering. Bishop Holly makes his own report of the labors of himself and of his little band of clergy in Haiti. It is a story of energetic labor amid discouraging conditions and with limited resources. All of these statements will be fully borne out by the particulars that will be submitted. Still the call is for more workers. The fields are indeed white unto the harvest. We thank God that the whole Church is praying, in the Litany, that the Lord of the harvest will send forth laborers into his harvest.

*From Church Almanac. †Including $4,250, specifically contributed toward paying off the Mexican Loan. ‡Including a single gift of $13,200, and also $2,000 for Mexican Loan. §Including $2,481.50 for Mexican Loan.

This table shows the exact resources for Foreign Missions of the Board of Managers since its organization in 1877. During the decade there have been but three years in which the contributions for the general work have exceeded those of the past year, and in two instances that excess is accounted for in the table. At the same time the amount received from legacies available for the work of the Society in Foreign Lands is much less than in any other of the ten years named.

The total receipts of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society for the year were $402,440.52, a decrease of $1,732.45 from previous year. The receipts for Domestic Missions were $219,439.33.

Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.

ABSTRACT of the 50th annual report presented to the General Assembly at its meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, May, 1887.

No less than eight of the missionaries of the Board have died during the year, while seven ordained and three medical missionaries, and six lady teachers, have permanently withdrawn during the same time. To strengthen the posts weakened by this depletion, the Board has sent out during the year seven ordained missionaries, of whom six were married, eight medical missionaries, of whom two were ladies, and eleven unmarried ladies.

Work has been prosecuted among 11 tribes of American Indians, and the Chinese and Japanese in the United States; in Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil and Chili; in Africa, among the inhabitants of Liberia, and those of the Gaboon and Corisco region; and in Asia in important centers of influence in India, Siam, China, Japan, Korea, Persia, and Syria. In addition to this the Board has rendered substantial assistance to the evangelical work in Papal Europe through approved societies on the Continent. There have been in commission during the year, 173 ordained missionaries, 30 laymen, mostly physicians, and 296 ladies. Besides these, the missionary force includes 134 native ordained ministers, and 154 licentiates, which, with 756 Bible readers, catechists, etc., makes a total force in the employ of the Board during the year of 1,543. Three hundred and ten organized churches are on the roll, with 21,420 communicants, of whom 2,791 were added during the year. These churches report contributions to the amount of $28,552. The aggregate attendance on schools of all grades was 23,329.

In the various fields occupied by the Board there has been much to encourage, and yet not a little to perplex and disturb. In some of the missions, the Holy Spirit has so sealed the truth upon the hearts and consciences of the people that precious ingatherings have been witnessed, and the joy of harvest experienced. In others it has been a time mainly of diligent sowing and patient waiting. When the deep poverty of many of those gathered out of heathenism is remembered, the contributions of native Christians for the support of the Gospel during the year indicate high attainment in the grace of Christian beneficence. In some parts of the field a noteworthy advance has been made in the measure of government favor accorded to our missionaries, as in China, Japan and Siam, showing that the mission work is commending itself to those in high position, and that the door of access to the nations is constantly widening. On the other hand, the restrictions of the French government, in the territory occupied by the Gaboon and Corisco Mission have become so severe, as virtually to tie the hands of our missionaries, and to drive them from the field. After repeated efforts to secure some modification of the restrictions imposed, the Board has felt constrained, at the urgent request of the brethren on the field, to take measures to transfer that mission to another evangelical body, should the way be clear, and secure a foothold, if possible, within German territory.

RECEIPTS FOR THE YEAR.

This shows an increase last year of $55,618.14, although $34,696.39 was a special gift for the debt in the previous year's receipts.

The Assembly resolved to aim at the raising of $1,000,000 for the current year for foreign missions.

EXPENDITURES AND STATISTICS OF THE MISSIONS.

For missions among 11 tribes of Indians, with which are connected 15 American and 13 Indian preachers, 2 Indian licentiate preachers, 3 American laymen and 35 women, 15 native assistants, 1,741 communicants, and 13 schools, with 422 scholars, of whom 194 are in boarding-schools—$28,839.79.

For missions to the Chinese in this country, with stations in New York, San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles and other places, in connection with which are 4 ministers, 8 female teachers (unsalaried teachers not enumerated), 7 native assistants, 286 communicants, and 17 schools, with 779 scholars, not including pupils in Sabbath-school—$17,909.57.

For mission in Japan, at 4 stations and several outstations, with 12 American and 11 native ministers, 15 licentiate preachers, 2 American laymen and 31 women, 2,178 communicants, and 11 schools, connected with which are 1,184 scholars, of whom 200 are in boarding-schools—$63,166.27.

For 3 missions in China, with 13 stations and over 150 outstations, 36 ordained Americans and 15 ordained natives, 35 licentiate preachers, 8 American laymen and 49 women, 144 native assistants, 4,306 communicants, and 94 schools, with 1,983 scholars, of whom 572 are in boarding-schools—$102,626.57.

For mission in Korea, with 1 American minister, 2 American laymen and 3 women—$8,868.63.

For 2 missions in Siam and Laos, at 4 stations and 14 outstations, 11 American ministers, 4 native licentiate preachers, 3 American laymen and 17 women, 23 native assistants, 676 communicants, and 14 schools, with 380 scholars, of whom 112 are in boarding-schools—$37,928.20.

For 3 missions in India, at 25 stations, 13 outstations, with 35 American and 19 native ministers, 31 licentiate preachers, 2 American laymen and 57 women, 216 native assistants, 1,033 communicants, and 9,671 scholars—$113,317.21.

For 2 missions in Persia, with 5 stations and about 100 outstations, 10 American and 32 native ministers, 35 licentiate preachers, 5 American laymen and 30 women, 120 native assistants, 2,052 communicants, 115 schools, with 2,731 scholars, of whom 230 are in boarding-schools—$61,430.83.

For mission in Syria, at 5 stations and 86 outstations, connected with which are 13 American and 4 native ministers, 32 licentiate preachers, 1 American layman and 23 women, 143 native assistants, 1,440 communicants, 119 schools, with 5,172 scholars, 270 of whom are in boarding-schools—$55,248.22.

For mission in Liberia, Africa, 7 stations, 3 American and 3 native ministers, 1 American layman, 1 woman, 1 native assistant, 284 communicants, 5 schools, and 157 scholars, of whom 88 are in boarding-schools—$3,669.17.

For Gaboon and Corisco Mission, at 6 stations and several outstations, with 5 ordained American and 3 ordained native ministers, 2 licentiates, 1 American lay missionary and 9 women, 14 native assistants, 688 communicants—$20,216.79.

For missions in Brazil, at 9 stations and several outstations, with 10 American and 6 native ministers, 2 licentiates, 1 male and 12 female missionaries, 29 native assistants, 1,895 communicants, 21 schools, with 518 scholars, of whom 42 are in boarding-school—$50,640.59.

For mission in Chili, at 3 stations, 8 ministers, 1 native minister, 4 native licentiates, 6 female teachers, 11 native assistants, 449 communicants, and 3 schools, with 260 scholars, of whom 27 are in boarding-school—$23,089.59.

For mission in U. S. of Colombia, at 1 station, with 2 American ministers, 3 female missionaries, 5 native assistants, 66 communicants, and 1 school, with 50 scholars, of whom 10 are in boarding-school—$5,798.99.

For mission in Guatemala, at 1 station, 2 female missionaries, 12 communicants, and 1 school, with 26 scholars—$4,536.72.

For mission in Mexico, with 6 stations, and about 100 outstations, 8 American and 27 native ministers, 21 licentiates, 12 female missionaries, 29 native assistants, 4,314 communicants, and 20 schools, with 620 (partial report) scholars, of whom 51 are in boarding-schools—$80,597.82.

For missions in European Papal countries—France, Belgium, Italy, etc.—$4,354.70.

For Home Expenses—printing, salaries, miscellaneous—$36,727.93.

*Includes $13,368.28 for investment.

United Presbyterian Church.

Abstract from the 28th Annual Report, presented May 26, 1887.

The Board report a year of unusual interest. "Every department of the work has shown the signal presence and favor of God." In the Indian mission, 1,934 professed Christ. The native church increased from 2,176 members in 1885 to 4,019 at the close of 1886. A marked advance was made also in Egypt. At home additional interest has been shown. Women's Missionary Societies increased from 501 to 593; members from 13,585 to 15,004; and contributions to foreign missions from $10,765 to $13,803.

MISSIONS.

There are two—one in the Punjab, or northwestern Province of India, and the other in the Delta and valley of the Nile in Egypt. In the former, the mission embraces the eight districts, Sialkot, Zafarwal, East and West Gujranwala, Jhelum, Gurdaspur, Pasrur and Pathankot with their several hundred villages. The latter has the districts of Alexandria, Cairo, Mansoora, the Fayoom, Lower, Middle and Upper Thebaid, and is in as many as possible of the 12,293 town and villages that are in them and the country at large.

GENERAL SUMMARY.

Missions 2, Stations 121, Foreign Missionaries 16, married women 16, single 20, Physicians 2. Total foreign laborers 54. Native ordained ministers 20, licentiates 9, other workers 346. Total native workers 375. Total of all laborers 429. Churches 31, Average Sabbath attendance 7,759. Communicants 6,161. Increase during the year (India 2,030, Egypt 311) 2,341. Baptisms 2,881. Sabbath-schools 138. Sabbath-school scholars 5,625. Other schools 192. Scholars in them 9,219. Contributions for church purposes $5,587. Appraised value of mission property $325,701.

RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES. The receipts for the year were:

The Expenditures for the year were for the Egyptian Mission $37,620.45, for India $30,351.04, for sending out, returning, and new missionaries $4,325.60, for salaries and children of missionaries at home $5,056.02, for other necessary home expenses $1,899.07, for payment of debt to Quarter Centennial fund $5,091.62, and for payment of debt to Egyptian mission $3,248.70, making a total of $87,592.50. The contributions of the church were less by $3,648.70 than the expenditures.

CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE

III.-CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

ONE of our esteemed editorial correspondents, Prof. W. C. Wilkinson, D.D., writes us in the following inspiring words:

A World's Missionary Council.

THE MISSIONARY REVIEW will, if God prosper the enterprise, fulfilling the hopes and prayers of its conductors, become in some sort a realization of a certain broad and beneficent idea lately breathed in a published volume. One of the editors of this REVIEW, in a book entitled "The Crisis of Missions," proposes in the serene boldness of faith, the plan of holding an Œcumenical Council of a new order, a Pan-Christian Conference in behalf of Missions in every part of the world. A "World's Missionary Council," he calls it.

The idea is inspiring. There is a tonic audacity in it. It has the spirit of the beginning of the era of modern missions. It might have been William Carey's proposal. Its motto well might read, "Expect great things from God."

THE MISSIONARY REVIEW is already in purpose something like a fulfillment of such a noble dream. It offers to be a council in perpetual session, to consult for the spread of the Gospel throughout the whole earth. It will do what it can to bring about, in God's good time, the actual convening of Christendom in a council to concert measures for the speedy evangelization of the world. The reflex influence upon present Christendom of an effort to make itself commensurate with mankind would be such a strengthening of the things among us at home that remain, and that, without such a forthputting like this of power to save, are themselves ready to faint—such a strengthening, we say, as would mark an historic epoch in the advance of Christianity comparable to that of the Protestant Reformation—comparable, but, perhaps, superior.

May that God who has promised His Son the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession, graciously accept each successive number of this REVIEW as one more prayer of His expecting Church,

THY KINGDOM COME!

China Inland Mission.

Letter from J. Hudson Taylor, our London Editorial Correspondent:

LONDON, Nov. 1st, 1887.

DEAR DR. PIERSON:

May I, for Mr. Radcliffe, as well as myself, reply to your kind letters about Editorial Correspondents? We are both so circumstanced that, while we should be very willing to be occasional correspondents, we could not undertake to write at regular intervals, or to any large extent. For myself, I must also add that perhaps half my time is spent in China and half in England.

We are both in hearty sympathy with you, and would gladly do anything in our power to help you. May the Lord make the REVIEW more than ever a blessing and a success.

Yours, faithfully,
J. HUDSON TAYLOR.

One of our editorial correspondents, Dr. H. H. Jessup, of Syria, writes a private letter, but it is of such public interest that we venture to print it. It was in acknowledgment of a copy of the little book on missions recently sent by the author to his old friend in Syria.—A. T. P.

BEIRUT, SYRIA, May 9, 1887.

MY DEAR BROTHER PIERSON:

I have just received a copy of your excellent book, "The Crisis of Missions," with your card, and write to tell you how highly I value the book.

Your preliminary word, that "the spirit of Christ is the spirit of Missions," is the keynote to the whole book, and should be the keynote of the life of every Christian disciple. One of the problems which I cannot solve, and which I shall be anxious to have solved when I reach the kingdom of glory, is this: "How will those Christians who say that they do not believe in missions explain their position to the glorified Redeemer?"

There can be no question as to your position on this great subject. I trust every young man and woman in our colleges and seminaries will be enabled in some way to read this stirring volume. But perhaps I was hasty in writing that sentence. For supposing that they should read it, and be stirred and thrilled by it as I have been, and hundreds of them should be led to say, "Lord, here am I; send me." "Churches of Christ, here we are; send us:" and all this in addition to the 1,500 mentioned by Dr. McCosh in his letter who have already decided to go, what would be the effect on the churches? Of one thing I am sure, and that is, that while a few "Thomas" churches might doubt and even despair, the great body of Christ's own children everywhere would be set on fire with the conviction that now is the Crisis; that God hath verily spoken to his people; that the silver trumpet has sounded the note of advance; that the church must either rise to the duty of the hour, or be swept aside, and another church be raised up to do the work.

I have just had under my roof that devoted man of God, Major General Haig, long in India, and now from England, who has just journeyed all around the west, south and east coast of Arabia, looking for openings for planting Missionary and Bible Stations; and his reports which are appearing in the Church Missionary Intelligencer are like the journals of an apostle.

The fact is that the last bolts and bars with which Satan clinched the gates of heathen empires centuries ago are dropping to the ground, and the rusty hinges are creaking open while the imprisoned nations stand wondering and waiting for the liberty of Christ.

Let us continue, my dear brother, to lift up our voices and call on our brethren and sisters everywhere to go forward.

I was greatly moved, when a lad, by reading Dr. Enoch Pond's "World's Salvation." But the facts and figures of that book, as I recall them, were far less stirring than those of your little volume. The darkness and the want then existed and were well described, but the open doors were few, and the actual call for men quite limited. But now the 1,500 candidates preparing to go could find work ready to their hands in Japan, or in Interior Africa.

The church's ear seems to be heavy and the church's hand to be shortened, while the Lord is calling louder and louder, and His mighty providence is moving on.

For years I have been waiting to hear Brother Moody's voice on this great subject of Foreign Missions, and now that he has thrown his heart and help and voice into the work, the Lord has granted a rich blessing. Your plan of apportioning out the unevangelized world among the Christian churches is a grand one. See how the nations of Europe are cutting and carving the continent of Africa for their own commercial objects! It is time that the whole world were thus taken possession of for Jesus our King.

We are working on quietly here in Syria. Our last annual report shows a greater advance than in any previous year, in additions to the church and in all other departments of our work.

Yours, affectionately,
HENRY HARRIS JESSUP.

Japan.

Rev. James H. Ballagh writes:

YOKOHAMA, May 4, 1887.

REV. DR. PIERSON:

Dear Brother—Knowing well your interest in mission work in general, and also something of your interest in particular in Japan, through your acquaintance with native brethren, now members of your church or residents of your city, I take the liberty to present the claims of an interesting field of work for assistance. It is to ask aid for help in erecting a church building at Tokosuka, the naval station in this part of Japan, and where most of their ship-building is carried on. There are extensive dry docks and works there, several marine hospitals, a fleet of vessels, and a considerable body of marines, besides a very live and enterprising population. Iniquity is also very active. The brothels are large, and thronged at night like a fair—the veritable Vanity Fair of "Pilgrim's Progress." To the outside world it is interesting as being a most beautiful land-locked harbor in an inner bay of Yedo bay, near Perry and Webster islands.

At this place the French Romanists had a fine chapel when they commenced work at the navy yard, but it has been sold for old lumber on their loss of influence in Japan. There is now an active Protestant Church of our United Church of Christ in Japan with 76 members. It is only of two or three years' growth. The work was commenced mostly under Dr. Saiki's influence, and, though himself a Congregationalist, he threw his influence in favor of a Presbyterian Church being established here. The Church meets in greatly straitened quarters at present. As the town is small, lots expensive, and few houses to let, the Church desires to build a suitable chapel. One thousand dollars will secure land and erect a modest building. $500 we hope to be able to raise here, and they would like an equal amount in gold from America. Their pastor, the Rev. Ito Tokichi, is an indefatigable worker and an excellent Christian man. The membership is largely doctors—naval physicians—and their families.

Hoping that some practical manifestation of the hearty interest which American Christians take in the establishment of Christ's cause in Japan may result from this appeal,

I am sincerely yours in Christ,
JAMES H. BALLAGH.

Revised Edition of Dr. Judson's Burmese Bible.

The following extract from a recent private letter of the Rev. Dr. Jameson, Baptist Missionary in Burmah, to his seminary classmate, Prof. W. C. Wilkinson, D.D., will be read with interest. The date is Rangoon, Aug. 31, 1887:

"I am here for two weeks on the proofs, for I have agreed to give half my time to watching the new edition of Dr. Judson's Burman Bible through the press. I read each form seven times. Once correcting copy, and three times for typographical and other errors—besides verifying corrections. Of course I have good native help. But they need me as much as I need them. When I go back to my own district, I take my work along. For example, on that jungle trip, I corrected eight pages of the quarto for copy. After the Bible was printed, Dr. Judson made many changes in spelling, and the spelling of the Bible must be corrected from the dictionary. The whole must also be newly punctuated, and Dr. Judson's own corrections of the text must be made. When I am away, I leave the work in the hands of the Burman proof-readers, who do their best, and these forms I read only five times. But no form is put to press except when I am here. I will send you the next form with an English word in it, that will tell you where we are. When you receive it, you may comfort yourself with the thought that we are through that Book [Deuteronomy], probably."

India.

Communication from Rev. Jacob Chamberlain, M.D., Madanapelle, India, one of our editorial correspondents:

A Brahmin on the Bible.

In 1870, after three years of baffled effort, a lot was obtained in the bazaar street of the native town of Madanapalle, Madras Presidency, India, and a free reading room was erected and opened by the missionary in charge, Rev. J. Chamberlain, M.D., of the Arcot Mission of the Reformed Church of America. It was designed to obtain a hold of the educated young men of the place. Well-stocked with newspapers, periodicals and books, and with copies of the Bible in seven different languages on the tables, and with Scriptures, tracts, Christian books and school books for sale, it was thrown open for their use on every week-day and evening, with the exception that on Wednesday evenings there was to be a Biblical lecture, which all were invited to attend.

On each lecture evening a parable, a miracle, a biography, a prophecy, a sermon on Christ, a historical account—as of the creation, deluge, Joseph in Egypt, the exodus, etc.—was taken up and illustrated. While it was endeavored to make the lectures attractive as a literary treat, the bearing of each subject on the gospel of Jesus Christ and His salvation was never lost sight of.

From the beginning the room was always crowded on these occasions by intelligent heathen. At the close of one of these Bible lectures by Dr. Chamberlain, a Brahmin—one of the best educated in the place, not a convert—arose and asked permission to say a few words. In a neat address he urged upon his fellow-citizens the importance of availing themselves of the advantages offered for their intellectual and moral advancement, and in conclusion gave the following remarkable testimony to the Christian Scriptures:

"Behold that mango tree on yonder roadside! Its fruit is approaching to ripeness. Bears it that fruit for itself or its own profit? From the moment the first ripe fruits turn their yellow sides towards the morning sun until the last mango is pelted off, it is assailed with showers of sticks and stones from boys and men, and every passer-by, until it stands bereft of leaves, with branches knocked off, bleeding from many a broken twig; and piles of stones underneath, and clubs and sticks lodged in its boughs, are the only trophies of its joyous crop of fruit. Is it discouraged? Does it cease to bear fruit? Does it say, 'If I am barren no one will pelt me, and I shall live in peace?' Not at all. The next season the budding leaves, the beauteous flowers, the tender fruit again appear. Again it is pelted, and broken, and wounded, but goes on bearing, and children's children pelt its branches and enjoy its fruit.

"That is a type of these missionaries. I have watched them well, and have seen what they are. What do they come to this country for? What tempts them to leave their parents, friends and country, and come to this, to them an unhealthy climate? Is it for gain or for profit that they come? Some of us country clerks in Government offices receive more salary than they. Is it for an easy life? See how they work, and then tell me. No; they seek, like the mango tree, to bear fruit for the benefit of others; and this, too, though treated with contumely and abuse from those they are benefiting.

"Now look at this missionary! He came here a few years ago, leaving all, and seeking only our good! He was met with cold looks and suspicious glances, and was shunned, avoided and maligned. He sought to talk with us of what he told us was the matter of most importance in heaven or earth, and we would not listen. But he was not discouraged. He started a dispensary, and we said, 'Let the Pariahs take his medicines, we won't;' but in the times of our sickness and distress and fear, we had to go to him, and he heard us. We complained if he walked through our Brahmin streets; but ere long, when our wives and daughters were in sickness and anguish, we went and begged him to come, even into our inner apartments; and he came, and our wives and daughters now smile upon us in health. Has he made any money by it? Even the cost of the medicines has not been returned to him.

"And now, in spite of our opposition, he has bought this site, and built this beautiful room, and furnished it with the choicest of lore in many languages, and put in it newspapers and periodicals, which were inaccessible to us before, but which help us now to keep up with the world around us, and understand passing events; and he has placed here tables to write on, and chairs to sit on, and lamps for us to read and write by in the evening; and what does he get for all this? Does he make money by this free reading-room? Why, we don't even pay for the lamp-oil consumed by night as we read.

"Now, what is it makes him do all this for us? It is his Bible. I have looked into it a good deal at one time and another, in the different languages I chanced to know. It is just the same in all languages. The Bible—there is nothing to compare with it in all our sacred books for goodness and purity and holiness and love, and for motives of action.

"Where did the English-speaking people get all their intelligence, and energy, and cleverness, and power? It is their Bible that gives it to them. And now they bring it to us and say, 'This is what raised us; take it and raise yourselves.' They do not force it upon us, as the Mohammedans did with their Koran, but they bring it in love, and translate it into our languages, and lay it before us, and say, 'Look at it; read it; examine it, and see if it is not good.' Of one thing I am convinced: do what we will, oppose it as we may, it is the Christians' Bible that will, sooner or later, work the regeneration of this land."

Death of Rev. E. P. Swift.

Rev. G. W. Scott, of the Reformed Presbyterian Mission, India, writes Sept. 17, 1887:

The Rev. Elisha P. Swift died at his residence, Gujranwala, North India, Aug. 16th, 1887. His health began to fail about a year ago, when he had a fall while out in the district. Still he kept on with his duties, whether the weather was hot or cold, wet or dry, realizing that he was approaching the gates of death, preaching as a dying man to dying men. He was taken sick while in the district looking after the Christians he had baptized with his own hands, who were scattered through the towns and villages of western Gujranwala, many hundreds in number; for in some months he baptized as many as three or four hundred persons. His co-laborer, the Rev. J. P. McKee, was with him to the last. About a month before his death he was confined to his house with carbuncles, caused by diabetes, which caused him great pain. Yet he bore all with Christian patience, knowing that the Hand which afflicts is able to heal. His death was a peaceful and quiet one, surrounded by his wife and children, whom he leaves to mourn his loss. His funeral procession was a very large one, attended by several hundreds of people—the majority being from the Hindu and Mohammedan classes. These people, while opposed to Christianity, had learned to love the "man of God," and followed his remains to his last resting place, which is in the Church of England graveyard, close to the city of Gujranwala.

Africa.—Nothing was known of the interior of the Dark Continent until within a few years; now Africa is girdled with Christian missions. Between thirty and forty societies are working there. On the eastern coast the English penetrated to the great lakes, walking over the burning sands a thousand miles on foot, to plant the standard of the Cross. On the Congo River the Baptists of our own country have recently taken charge of the missions founded by Mr. Guinness, and their work is to be pushed into the interior—into the centre of cannibalism. Truly "Ethiopia is stretching out her hands unto God." The island of Madagascar, on the eastern coast of Africa, has been so largely Christianized that the natives of late gave some ten millions of dollars to Christian missions and evangelistic work.

To-day thirty-four missionary societies are at work in Africa, and all its 200,000,000 souls are practically within the reach of Christian missions; thirty-three societies have begun work in China, and all its 350,000,000 souls may be visited with the message of the gospel; more than fifty societies have entered India, and the light is dawning upon its 250,000,000; Turkey and Persia and Japan are filling with mission churches and mission schools; practically, the whole world is open, and the grandest day of opportunity for the kingdom of God that the earth has ever seen has fully dawned. If the cry of the lost nations reached the ear of those young men at Andover, with whom our work began, and would not let them rest, how that selfsame cry, to-day repeated from every people and land, and grown more articulate, must thrill the very heart of Christendom, and command instant and glowing response!—Judson Smith, D.D.

India.—The Church Missionary Intelligencer shows how the British Government and the East India Company were shamed out of their base patronage to Indian idolatry. Sir Peregrine Maitland accepted from the East India Company the office of Commander-in-Chief of the Madras army, and a seat in the Council—an office worth $50,000 a year—only on the condition that he should not be required to have any official connection with the idolatry of the country. He knew how the company had catered to the heathen ceremonies of India, even making large grants for their support. A few days after his arrival in Madras he received from the company's office in London a document sanctioning the appointment and payment of dancing girls in a certain Hindu temple, to which he was expected to affix his signature. He resolved to throw up his lucrative appointment and return to England rather than put his hand to any such scheme. The company declined to excuse Sir Peregrine, and, although comparatively poor, he sacrificed his $50,000 and returned to England. The annual festival of the goddess Yayagathal, the protectress of a part of Madras, was approaching; and the annual ceremony of marrying the East India Company to the image of this goddess was to be performed with great pomp. The goddess was borne in procession around the "black town," and then brought to government headquarters; a high official of the company came out, with a handsome cashmere shawl as a bridal present to the idol, and an ornament to be put around the bride's neck, the latter being used in native marriages in place of a ring, while repeating the words, "With this I thee wed," etc. The East India Company and the idol Yayagathal were thus pronounced husband and wife. Two missionaries in Madras united to caricature the scene. One wrote a minute description, the other with graphic pencil made a telling sketch of the nuptial scene. These were sent home. Bishop Blomfield carried them to the House of Lords, held them up to view, and declared that if the connection between the East India Company and the idol system of India was not abolished, he would send the letter and the cartoon broadcast throughout the land. This was sufficient. The absurdity and degradation were potent. Probably a petition signed by all the missionaries in India would scarcely have been so effective.—The Church.

There were in British India, according to the census of 1881, no less than 207,388 widows under fourteen years of age, and 78,976 of these were under nine. They can no longer legally be burned, but their earthly sufferings are worse than burning. Their widowhood is viewed by all Hindus as the punishment for horrible crimes committed in some previous existence. They are closely confined to the house; forbidden all companionship; confined to one meal a day, which they eat in solitude; obliged to conceal themselves in the morning, lest the sight of them bring bad fortune on the beholder; cursed, abhorred, suspected of every crime—and all this for life. Yet the doom of these innocent children is only the door-mat theory brought to its completeness. Because there is no one man living who has the right to tread them under his feet, they are trodden under feet of all.—Harper's Bazar.

There are in India 135,000 lepers—men, women and children—victims of the most terrible disease known to humanity. This society seeks to proclaim to them the blessed gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and, as far as possible, to relieve their dreadful sufferings, and provide for their simple wants.—Mission to Lepers in India.

At Lucknow, where so many were murdered during the Sepoy rebellion 30 years ago, 2,000 children, nearly all of Hindu Mohammedan parentage, recently marched in a Sunday-school procession. Two men in Dr. Chamberlain's hospital, on leaving for home asked for copies of the Testament read and explained to them while there. Being told that they could not read it, they replied, "When a peddler or tax-man comes around we'll make him read before we buy anything or pay our taxes." Four years after this, Dr. Chamberlain visiting a town some miles away, these men brought their whole village to him to be baptized.—The editor of The Star of India writes to The Independent: "There are no less than 36 missionary societies represented in India, besides ten or more private missions. The English Baptists were the first to enter this field (passing by the early Danish Missionary Society which sent the first Protestant missionaries to India in 1705), and the Disciples of Christ, whose mission dates from 1883, the last. All branches of the Church are represented. Europe and America, Great Britain, the Continent, the United States and Canada—all are here, laboring hand in hand for the uplifting of India. According to the statistical summary for 1885 there were 137,504 communicants representing the fruits of these missions."—In the Imperial Gazetteer of India, Dr. Hunter, Director-General of Statistics to the Government, says Christianity is now the faith of over two millions of the Indian population—a number twelve times as large as that of those who follow the teachings of Buddha. Whereas in 1830 there were only 27,000 native Protestants in all India, Ceylon and Burmah, in 1871 there were 318,363. The Government expends £170,000 per annum in supplying the spiritual wants of the troops and civil service.

Madura. There is worshiped by the natives a deity whose name means "Prince of Darkness." "They sacrifice to devils." The name of the village is "Temple Village," but it is a heathen temple. The ideas of these heathen, and even their language, are degraded by association with idolatry. (Compare "Hawaiian Islands," by Anderson, p. 291.) By religion they understand idol worship. When you tell them of Jesus living and dying 1800 years ago, they say their gods are 18,000,000 years old. When, on outbreak of war, the native disciples heard of the Missionary Board as straitened, they gave their jewels; one man gave a silver chain, worth half a year's savings, and children brought their toe rings and earrings and gave them to the mission treasury.

Revival in the Punjab. A remarkable work of grace is progressing in the English Church mission in Punjab, chiefly in and about Amritsar. Several prominent men, as well as people of low caste, have been reached. About 150 low-caste converts were baptized the previous year, but now the work seems much more extensive. Nothing like it in vigor and growth had ever been seen before in that region. The ingathering of low-caste people is affecting the Hindus, Sikhs, and the Mohammedans, and several of these higher classes have been reached. The missionary at Amritsar writes of the remarkable interest manifested in the simple story of the gospel: "Our compound resounds from morning to night with voices repeating to each other the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Creed, with bhajhans and bits of the Gospels." Much of this is the result of medical missions.

Japan.—English Books in Japan. The great spread of instruction in the English language in Japan has led to a great demand for English books. Over 85,000 English books of all classes were imported last year, as against 40,000 in 1885. The import of American books increased from 59,000 in 1885 to 119,000 in 1886. Sir F. R. Plunkett, British Consul at Tokio, remarks upon this: "An argument against a large import of educational works has hitherto existed in the fact that foreigners have no claim to the protection of the Japanese copyright, and any work that gained extensive popularity was sure to be pirated by Japanese publishers, and cheap editions of it issued that could be profitably sold at far less cost than the imported originals. This difficulty has been and can be got over by the co-operation of Japanese booksellers, and in this way not only is the benefit of copyright obtained, but the books are sold at lower prices than were formerly obtained for them by European booksellers in Japan." A large demand during the year for printing paper is traced principally to the publication of numerous translations of English works on law, political economy, history, and other educational subjects.—London Globe.

Japanese on Hawaii. The number of Japanese who have emigrated to Hawaii within two years is 2,859. Only about 100 of them have returned to Japan, and about the same number have died.

Greek and Roman Catholic Missions. The following statements respecting these missions are by Rev. J. Hartzler: "Bishop Nicolai furnished the statistics of the Greek Mission in Japan for 1886, as follows: Bishops, 1; foreign priests, 3; native priests, 11; deacons, 2; theological students, 104; whole number of native members, including baptized infants, 22,546. The Roman Catholic Mission in Japan reports: Bishops, 2; missionaries (all French), 59; native priests, 3; churches and chapels, 100; theological seminaries, 2; theological students, 72; catechists, 284; schools and orphan asylums, 69; pupils in the same, 3,340; total native membership, 32,294."

The Bible. The Bible is to-day translated, either wholly or in part, into 287 languages and dialects, including all that are widely spoken; so that the message of salvation from the printed page may reach nine-tenths of the entire population of the globe. The adherents of the religion of Jesus Christ to-day outnumber the followers of any other faith in the world. Christian missions number more than 2,000,000 adherents on heathen soil, and at the present rate of increase will include 20,000,000 before this century closes. Obstacles are not all overcome; the hardships and perils and heroisms of the work are not all past; Christian faith still finds itself often tried and courage is put well to the test, and checks and defeats enough attend the work to prove that the evil spirits of hate and murder are not yet exorcised: that still "through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God."—Judson Smith, D.D.

Increase of Protestantism. So extensive have been the defections from the established Greek Church in Southern Russia that the Holy Synod have appointed a commission to investigate the matter. This commission has now reported, acknowledging that these defections are great, and accusing their own clergy for their failure to discharge their clerical functions. The remedy for what they deplore seems to them to be greater zeal in attendance upon church services, more preaching, and more attention to church music. This report is substantial evidence of the power of Protestantism; and even the effort to withstand this new movement is very likely to help forward a needed reformation in the Greek Church.

Spiritual Progress in Persia.—The Church at Home and Abroad has an intensely interesting report of what has occurred in Persia within the last two years. This was the field of the old Nestorian Mission of the American Board, and is very dear to us still. A year ago it was reported that a larger number had been received to the church within the twelve months than during any former year. During the last winter more converts were won than in any of the first twenty-five years of the mission, though that period was marked by some memorable revivals. In Western Persia there are now 1,932 church members, in place of 713 fifteen years ago. During the revival which followed the Week of Prayer, the number of inquirers was over five hundred. This revival was conducted wholly by native pastors. Of the seventy-nine students in the college at Ooroomiah, seventy are followers of Christ. The western mission has ninety-four village schools, with over two hundred scholars. Dr. Labaree reports that the Moslems of Persia are more accessible than those of any other land. They are receiving large editions of the Bible, and those who have accepted Christianity, though a small company, have shown remarkable steadfastness and zeal.

An Egyptian papyrus, forty-two feet long and containing all the chapters of the "Book of the Dead," has been received and unrolled at the Sage Library, in New Brunswick, N. J. It was secured for the library by Rev. Dr. Lansing, a well-known missionary in Egypt. Experts pronounce it to have been written nearly 3,000 years ago.

The Bible in the Last Fifty Years.—The last anniversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society falling in the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria's reign, the speakers naturally reviewed the progress of the Bible cause during the last half century, and made some striking comparisons. The Earl of Harrowby, President of the Society, said:

"Fifty years ago our receipts were £100,000; now they are nearly £225,000. Fifty years ago the Auxiliary Societies amounted at home to 2,370; now they are over 5,300. Abroad you had 260 auxiliaries and branches fifty years ago; now 1,500. Fifty years ago the annual issue of the Bible and portions of it from this Society was 600,000; now it is about 4,000,000. The cheapest copy of the book, half a century back, was issued at about two shillings; now the price is sixpence. The cheapest Testament then was tenpence; the cheapest now is Lord Shaftesbury's, and the price is a penny. And that is not done by any grinding of the people who produce these works. One of the first questions I asked when I had the honor of being called to occupy this chair was, how were the workpeople treated who manufactured the cheap Bibles; and by the testimony, not only of ourselves but of the outside press, I have assured myself that there is neither overwork nor underpay. Fifty years ago the Scriptures were circulated in 136 languages; now they are circulated in 280. Fifty years ago fourteen fresh languages of Europe had been honored by Bible publication. Now the Bible has been published in twelve fresh languages in Central Asia and Siberia, twelve in India, fourteen in China and Mongolia, nineteen in the Pacific, thirty in Africa and thirty in America. In this fiftieth year of the Queen's reign there is only one great language which has not a complete translation of the Scriptures, namely, the Japanese language."

INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT

IV. INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.

CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D., OF THE "INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY UNION."

FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY UNION.

The International Missionary Union is an organization composed of returned missionaries of all Evangelical churches, whether at home temporarily or permanently. It seeks to promote mutual sympathy and co-operation of missionaries in their work, and holds annual meetings for the discussion of important questions connected with the work and the diffusion of missionary intelligence. The fourth annual meeting was held Aug. 10-17, at Thousand Island Park, the entire body of missionaries being entertained without cost by the Thousand Island Park Association. The forenoons were devoted to business, covering discussion of methods and recommendation of measures calculated to increase missionary efficiency. The afternoons consisted largely of presentation of incidents, statistics and facts bearing on specific topics of missionary interest, while the evenings were given to more formal platform addresses.

The "Seventy" missionaries present were as follows:

From India: Miss Dr. M. A. Anderson, Congregational Church; Rev. and Mrs. Chandler, Congregational; Miss M. J. Frith, Canada Baptist; Miss E. Gibson, Methodist Episcopal; Dr. and Mrs. J. T. Gracey, Methodist Episcopal; Rev. A. Hazen, Congregational; Rev. G. J. Martz, Evangelical Lutheran; Mrs. Rev. G. H. McGrew, Methodist Episcopal; Rev. James Mudge, Methodist Episcopal; Mrs. Stella Nichols, Evangelical Lutheran; Rev. C. W. Park, Congregational; Rev. Dr. J. L. Phillips, Free-will Baptist; Rev. D. W. Thomas, Methodist Episcopal.

From Turkey: Rev. Dr. H. M. Barnum, Congregational; Rev. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, Congregational; Rev. L. O. Lee, Congregational; Rev. and Mrs. J. G. Leonard, Congregational.

From Bulgaria: Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Belden, Presbyterian; Rev. and Mrs. D. C. Challis, Methodist Episcopal.

From China: Mrs. Mary D. Culbertson, Presbyterian; Rev. J. G. Fagg, Reformed; Rev. Benj. Helm, Southern Presbyterian; Rev. and Mrs. Spencer Lewis, Methodist Episcopal; Rev. John Murray, Presbyterian; Rev. Dr. Speer, Presbyterian; Rev. and Mrs. C. A. Stanley, Congregational; Rev. and Mrs. J. L. Stuart, Southern Presbyterian.

From Assam: Rev. M. B. Comfort, Baptist; Rev. T. J. Stoddart, Baptist.

From Italy: Rev. Dr. Cushing, Methodist Episcopal.

From Jamaica: Rev. Dr. Douglass, Canada Methodist.

From Japan: Rev. and Mrs. W. C. Davidson, Methodist Episcopal; Miss Julia Gulick, Congregational; Rev. Dr. D. McDonald, Canada Methodist; Rev. and Mrs. J. M. McCauley, Presbyterian; Rev. J. H. Pettee.

From Siam: Rev. Dr. Wm. Dean, Baptist; Rev. and Mrs. Dr. S. R. House, Presbyterian; Rev. and Mrs. Lisle, Baptist; Rev. Dr. S. Mattoon, Presbyterian; Rev. J. Wilson, Presbyterian.

From Germany: Bishop and Mrs. J. F. Hurst, Methodist Episcopal.

From Mexico: Miss L. M. Latimer, Methodist Episcopal.

From Burmah: Rev. and Mrs. C. A. Nichols, Baptist.

From Ceylon: Rev. and Mrs. T. S. Smith, Congregational.

Missionaries to North American Indians: Rev. and Mrs. Egerton R. Young, Canada Methodist; Rev. and Mrs. Dr. Geo. Young, Canada Methodist; Rev. and Mrs. E. Arnold, Methodist Episcopal.

Persons under appointment to foreign fields: Rev. H. F. Laflamme, Canada Baptist, India; Rev. J. F. Smith, Canada Presbyterian, China; Rev. J. P. McNaughton, Canada Presbyterian, Turkey; Miss Dr. May Carlton and Miss E. J. Hinckle, both to be sent to China this autumn under the auspices of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Thirteen mission countries were thus represented, besides which one native of Armenia, one of Japan, and a Karen took part in the exercises. Missionaries from Saskatchewan and Ceylon clasped hands in the fellowship of a common cause. Veteran and volunteer inspired, either the other. The utterances of Dr. Dean were rendered weighty by the fifty-three years of self-sacrifice and toil behind them. His address on "The Translation of the Scriptures into Chinese," will be found on another page in this Department.

Dr. Leonard had preached in Tarsus, Iconium and Cappadocia. Miss Gulick of Japan was born of missionary parents in Honolulu. Mrs. McGrew of India was born on mission soil in Buenos Ayres. Rev. Dr. Phillips and Rev. Mr. Smith of Ceylon claimed India as their native land, being of the second generation of missionaries.

Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, after more than forty years of missionary service, and with the weight of seventy years upon him, intellectually demonstrated that his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. He was appointed by the A. B. C. F. M. to Constantinople in 1837, and was the father of Robert College. The manner in which he secured for the erection of this College the most desirable of all the sites commanding the view of the Bosphorus, makes a story of thrilling interest, and gives him the highest rank for diplomacy. For seven years he held on to a pledge of Ali Pasha, who, under the influence of a protest from the French Ambassador, crowded on by the head of the Jesuits, and a like protest from the Ambassador of Russia, goaded on by the Patriarch of the Greek Church, was openly declaring that it was not possible for the pledge to be redeemed; because the property was so related to that of these powers, that the college could not be erected on that commanding site. But notwithstanding all this, he held his position, until at the end of seven years he received a note from Ali Pasha saying, "You may begin the erection of your college as soon as you please." He had outdone the diplomacy of the head of the Jesuits and the French Ambassador, as well as of the Greek Patriarch and the Ambassador of Russia, and had secured from the Sultan himself by Imperial Volition a permit to build the college. This was infallible, and neither Ali Pasha nor any one else would dare call it in question. But this was not all. An order was given to allow all the material brought from England and France to enter duty free.

Here were men and women who had hazarded their lives for the Lord Jesus. The "beloved physician," Dr. S. M. House, had been gored by an elephant; Jonathan Wilson, a pioneer to the Laos mission, was imperilled, when his converts were slain by royal order. The younger brother and sister Lewis, of far Western China, had faced the fury of a Chinese mob that plundered and destroyed their chapel and their home, compelling them and their colleagues to set off in native boats on a 1,500 mile journey down the great Yang-tse-kiang to the sea. Here were those whose hearts had been kept from fear when 2,000 in a day were dying of cholera in the capital city of Siam, where they lived; men who had given bread to the famishing thousands in North China, saving many lives at the risk of their own; those who had ministered to the lepers and outcasts of India. Some had lived with the savage Santals in their jungle homes, and with the red men of our continent in their wigwams. Others, on their mission-preaching tours, had traveled in wheelbarrows, in sledges drawn by dogs, in palankeens, in jinrikshas, in birch-bark canoes, on elephants, on camels, and hundreds of miles on snow-shoes. One member had been speared by Malay pirates, and another, like Paul, had been shipwrecked and cast ashore on an island in the Mediterranean Sea. But whatever else had been their experiences or deliverances, all could speak of the blessedness of the Master's service, and of souls once without God and without hope turned from darkness to light and rejoicing in the Saviour they had found.

THE THEMES DISCUSSED.

"The place of higher education in mission work" was presented by Rev. Mr. Smith of Ceylon, who gave an interesting account of the development of the educational work of the American Board in that island. The prevailing view seemed to be that when there appeared to be a general desire among people for higher education the missionary should endeavor to meet it with Christian schools, where English should be taught, if desired. Astonishing statements were made of the eagerness among many to learn English. On "The voluntary desire of the heathen for the Gospel," and "Remarkable instances of Divine grace, as manifested in the lives of converts from heathenism," there were narrated incidents drawn from personal experience and observation of so valuable a nature, it is a pity they could not have been preserved in a permanent form. So great was the interest in some of these topics that the discussions were prolonged several hours. Even then not a tithe of the important questions was so much as touched upon. Bro. Davidson, of Japan, gave a vivid sketch of the wonderful revival which recently swept over that empire. He hoped that in fifteen years Japan will be Christian. Turkey, partially dismembered, was served one evening. Dr. Barnum, speaking of eastern Turkey, said that there was the cradle of the race. "The cradle does not need rocking, for the people are all asleep." "We jog the cradle now and then, and the occupants are beginning to open their eyes and yawn." Bro. Challis, of the Methodist mission in Bulgaria, told something of the outlook in that country. He compared the people, with their liberty-loving spirit, to Americans, and expressed firm faith that, in spite of the designs of Russia, God would overrule to give them independence and freedom.

One evening was given to addresses by missionary ladies on different phases of woman's work, and a special woman's meeting was held one afternoon. On Sabbath morning the large tabernacle was filled, when Bishop Hurst preached an excellent and inspiring sermon from "Whoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed," etc. The "mountain" was heathendom, and "whoever" was the Church, which should remove it by the power of faith. The theme was "God's day our day for the salvation of the world." The audience numbered over three thousand. The bishop also delivered, one afternoon, his excellent lecture on "Protestantism in Mexico." At the children's meeting on Sabbath afternoon there were several short and spicy talks and an exhibition of curiosities, singing in a dozen or more languages, and presentation of natives of foreign mission fields who were in attendance.

TRANSLATION OF THE SCRIPTURES INTO CHINESE.

BY REV. WILLIAM DEAN, D.D.

THE entire Bible was first translated into Chinese at Serampore by Joshua Marshman, D.D., in 1807-8, with the aid of Joannes Lassar, an Armenian, born at Macao, who was a good Chinese scholar. Dr. Marshman went out to India under the patronage of the Baptist Missionary Society of England. He was born in Wiltshire 1768, sailed for India 1799, and died at Serampore 1837, at the age of 69, having had 38 years for missionary work.

A similar translation of the entire Scriptures was made at Macao and Canton by Robert Morrison, D.D., who went to China in 1807, under the patronage of the London Missionary Society, and died at Canton 1834, at the age of 52, having 27 years of mission work in China. In addition to the Scriptures, the Chinese dictionary of Kang Hi was translated into English by him, in six quarto volumes—a great and important work, to aid subsequent missionaries in the acquisition of the Chinese language.

In Morrison's version of the Scriptures, William Milne, D.D., translated the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther and Job.

Dr. Milne was born in Scotland, 1785, went to China in 1813, under the patronage of the London Missionary Society, and died 1822, at the age of 37, after nine years in the China Mission. During these few years he acquired a good knowledge of the language, had the superintendency of the Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca, performed an important part in the translation of the Scriptures, and prepared some of the best Christian tracts we have in Chinese.

He is the man who (before the committee), when asked if he would be willing to go out as an assistant to the mission, replied, "I would be willing to be a hewer of wood or a drawer of water to help to build the Lord's house;" and perhaps no man ever did so much in so short a time for the Chinese mission as William Milne, the little Scotchman.

Another translation of the Scriptures into Chinese was made by Walter H. Medhurst, D.D., and his associates, which was called the Shang Ti mission. Dr. Medhurst went out as a missionary printer, under the London Mission Society, and became a prominent preacher and writer in Chinese. He was born in London, 1796, went out, in 1816, worked efficiently 40 years for the Chinese in Batavia and China, and died on landing in England, 1856, aged 61 years.

Another version was made by Charles Gutzlaff, D.D., born at Pyritz, in Prussian Pomerania, 1803, went out under the appointment of the Netherlands Missionary Society in 1826, landed at Batavia, visited Rhio, Singapore, Siam, and finally became Chinese Secretary to the English Government of Hong Kong, where he died in 1851, at the age of 48 years.

He was a man of portly form, quick motion, rapid speech, possessed a practical knowledge of various European languages, and a ready use of the Chinese colloquial and written language for missionary work and political purposes. His hasty action was not always promotive of the nicest accuracy, and his multitudinous labors did not allow of the most finished completeness in all.

Another version of the entire Scriptures in Chinese was made by Elijah C. Bridgman, D.D., Walter M. Lowrie and M. S. Culbertson, completed at Shanghai, which uses the term Shin for rendering the words Elohim and Theos. This, in most cases, has been a distinguishing mark between the versions made by the English and American missionaries. The former mostly use Shang Ti and the latter use Shin as the term for God.

Dr. Bridgman was born in Belchertown, Mass., 1801, and went out under the American Board to China, 1830; he died at Shanghai in 1861, aged 60 years; 31 years were spent in China, and he was the first representative of the A. B. C. F. M. Society in their mission to China, and to the end was a faithful and honored missionary. Dr. Culbertson went to China in 1844, finished the translation of that version, and died the day before they commenced printing it. He went up suddenly like Elijah in the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. One of his associates reported his departure by saying, "A translator translated." Josiah Goddard made an excellent translation of the New Testament in Chinese—some think the best extant—with some portions of the Old Testament also. His mission work began with the Chinese in Siam, and ended at Ningpo, China. Dr. Goddard was born at Wendell, Mass., 1813, graduated, the first in his class, at Brown University in 1835, graduated at Newton in 1838, sailed for the East the same year under the patronage of the American Baptist Board, spent a year at Singapore in the study of Chinese, landed at Bankok in 1840, removed to Ningpo in 1848, where he died in 1854, at the age of 41, after 16 years of efficient missionary service, in translating the Scriptures and preaching the gospel to the Chinese. Some may have labored longer to do less work. Men's lives are measured, not by the years they live, but by the work they do.

William Dean published two editions of the New Testament and one edition of the Pentateuch in Chinese, with a commentary on Matthew and Mark, Genesis and Exodus. Dr. Dean was born at Eaton, N. Y., in 1807, sailed for China in 1834, labored for the Chinese in Siam till 1842, when he removed to Hong Kong; returned to Bankok in 1864, and ended his missionary work in 1887, at the age of 80. He was 50 years in the service.

In 1843 a Convention of missionaries assembled at Hong Kong, to consult with reference to a new translation of the Scriptures in Chinese. There were present Medhurst, Dyer, and Stronach, of the London Society; Bridgman, Ball and Bonney, of the American Board; Dean, Shuck and Roberts, of the American Baptist Board; Bishop Boone, of the Episcopal Mission, with others, who spent days of prayerful endeavor to harmonize on some general plan of Scripture translation.

First there was a want of agreement on the proposition to make the Textus Receptus the model of a new version. Some thought we should make the original Hebrew and Greek the standard for a new translation in Chinese. Then came up a question regarding the rendering of the terms θεος, επισκοπος, βαπτισμα, on which there was a want of harmony of sentiment, so that it proved necessary to divide the Convention into classes, or for each one to go on in his own way, and look to God for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead him to understand the meaning of the original text, and call in the help of native scholars to aid him to express it in idiomatic Chinese. In this way a number of versions, in a variety of style, have been prepared, and some portions of the Scripture have been made to harmonize with the Mandarin and the colloquial of the local dialects, and some have been Romanized, or the sounds expressed in Roman letters as used in English words, and the Chinese women taught to read them easier than to learn to read the complicated and multitudinous characters of the Chinese written language. One objection to this mode of learning to read is found in the fact, that learning to read Chinese in this way would limit the reader to one dialect or province, whereas learning to read in the Chinese way, prepares one to read in Chinese in every province, or wherever the Chinese language is written, as in Cochin China, Japan, and all over the world, where you find a Chinaman who can read his own language; the form and signification of the written character is the same, however the spoken dialect may differ.

In preparing the various translations of Scripture into Chinese, other persons, whose names are not mentioned above, have rendered important aid. Such men as J. R. Morrison, Chinese Secretary to the English Commissioner and the Government of Hong Kong; G. T. Lay, Agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and various other missionaries, such as David Abeel, James Legge, Walter Lowrie, George Smith Bishop of Victoria, and, indeed, all missionaries to the Chinese, may have contributed, in some measure, to aid in giving the written word of God to the people for whom they labored orally, and all translators have depended upon Chinese scholars for the idiom and style of the language by which the idea is expressed.

LIQUOR ON THE CONGO.

AMONGST the resolutions of the Missionary Union none deserves more persistent and prominent advocacy than that relating to the International sanction of the introduction of Rum into the Congo Free State. The extension of European Colonial possessions and protectorates in Africa means a fearful extension of the use of intoxicants in the Dark Continent. We are assured, besides, that the article furnished for the Congo is a specially vile compound prepared for that market. A representative committee of missionary societies laboring in Africa have published a pamphlet entitled "The Liquor Traffic and Native Races," to be had of the secretaries of these societies. The Bishop of London presided over a meeting in London last spring which condemned the traffic and the government protection it has received. A meeting of members of the House of Commons, held to consider the subject, resulted in the expression of their readiness to aid in suppressing this trade and of the sanction the governments give it. Public meetings have been held in Manchester and Cambridge with like result. Bishops and Archbishops, and leading men like Canon Farrar, have entered the arena to oppose this great evil, which blasts the progress of civilization and missions, and hinders the elevation of the people. Archbishop Johnson, a Negro of Lagos, west coast of Africa, and member of the Legislative Council, is appealing to Africans to circulate petitions all along the coast, and the king of Belgium, with other prominent persons, encourages this West African remonstrance to the trade. It is high time the voice of the people of America was heard on this subject. The missionary societies might very properly take the initiative in a public meeting in Boston or New York. A remonstrance should be sent to our own government, that it may feel the force of public sentiment in the case. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishop of London, have addressed the following letter to the Bishops of the British Colonies and dependencies:

"My Lord: The attention of the Church has been recently drawn to the widespread and still growing evils caused by the introduction of intoxicating liquors among the native races in the colonies and dependencies of the British Empire, and in other countries to which British trade has access. Part of the mischief is certainly due to other traders than the British, but British trade, as exceeding in volume that of many other countries put together, is mainly responsible. This mischief cannot be measured by what we witness among our own countrymen. The intemperance is far greater; the evils consequent on intemperance are far worse. Uncivilized people are weaker to resist, and are utterly unable to control temptations of this kind. The accounts given of the numbers that perish from this cause and of the misery and degradation of those who survive are painful in the extreme. And besides the grievous wrong thus inflicted on the native races, reproach has been brought on the name of Christ. The English missionary who preaches the gospel, and the English merchant who brings the fatal temptation, are inevitably associated in the minds of the heathen people, and by many not only associated, but identified. It is asserted by travelers of repute that in many parts of the world the moral character of the natives gains more by the preaching of Mohammedanism than by the preaching of the gospel, for the former tends to make them sober.

"The evils of intemperance in the British islands have, as you are well aware, long engaged the attention of the Church at home. The report of the Lower House of Convocation of the Province of Canterbury in 1869, and that of the Province of York in 1873, in each of which a large mass of evidence from every class of society was got together, had a painful effect on the public mind at the time, and they have served as trustworthy manuals on the subject ever since. The formation of the Church of England Temperance Society has organized and concentrated the efforts of those Churchmen who have been deeply impressed with the necessity of combating intemperance, and that society is daily growing in numbers and in influence. Owing to these and similar endeavors made by both Churchmen and Nonconformists, drunkenness has been and is still being diminished in these islands, and there is every reason to believe that before long public opinion will demand of the Legislature that steps should be taken to remove, wholly or partially, the temptations which now make it so difficult for weak men to lead sober lives.

"It is not for us nor for the bishops at home to suggest to your lordship or your clergy the best means for dealing with similar evils in our colonies and dependencies, and in the heathen countries in your own parts of the world. But we have felt it our duty to bring to your notice the painful accounts that have reached us, and to assure you of our warmest and most earnest sympathy with any efforts that you may see fit to make to deal with the serious difficulty. You may have the means of influencing your Legislature; you may do much to form public opinion; you can at least make it plain to all men that the Church is not, and never can be, indifferent to this great sin. In whatever you may be able to do in this matter you may be assured that the Bishops at home are supporting your action with their earnest prayers, and, where co-operation is found possible, with their most hearty co-operation."—EDWARD CANTAUR, W. EBOR, F. LONDIN.

A GENERAL MISSIONARY CONFERENCE IN LONDON IN 1888.

IN October, 1878, a General Conference on Foreign Missions was held in London. Upwards of 150 members represented nearly 40 distinct missions. Six American missionary societies were represented in the number. Much information was elicited, and considerable missionary stimulus was given.

Arrangements have been begun for the holding of another such conference in London, in 1888. Forty European Missionary Agencies are represented in the call, and the American societies are to be invited to send delegates. The Committee say that they "are most solemnly impressed with the conviction that there has never been a time, since the days of the apostles, when it was of more urgent importance than it is now, that all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity should labor 'in the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace,' in order that 'the gospel of the kingdom of God' may be carried out into all the world and preached 'unto every creature.' They, therefore, entreat that earnest and continued prayer may be offered unto God by His people, that it may please Him in all things to direct their efforts, as a Committee, on behalf of the proposed Conference, and eventually to grant such an outpouring of His Holy Spirit upon its meetings, that His cause shall mightily prosper, and His name be exceedingly glorified in the ingathering of great multitudes in every part of the earth, into the kingdom of His dear Son Jesus Christ."

The Committee have classified the ends aimed at under three heads, viz.:

1st. To turn to account the experience of the past for the improvement of the methods of Missionary enterprise in the foreign field.

2d. To utilize acquired experience for the improvement of the methods for the home management of Foreign Missions.

3d. To seek the more entire consecration of the Church of God, in all its members, to the great work committed to it by the Lord.

The following Topics have been suggested for consideration, subject to modification:

I. MODES OF OPERATION IN THE FOREIGN FIELD.

1st. Self-Support and Self-Government in Native Churches.

2d. How to Educate Native Evangelists and Pastors, and to stimulate the higher life and enthusiasm of converts for the conversion of the heathen.

3d. How to adapt Missionary methods to the different states of Civilization or Barbarism among heathen nations: (a) Education. (b) Woman's Work. (c) Medical Missions, etc.

4th. How to adapt Missionary methods to the different forms of Religion among non-Christian peoples; especially those having sacred books.

5th. The providing of Christian literature for Converts in all parts of the Mission Field.

6th. The proper treatment of such questions as Polygamy, Slavery, Caste, the Marriage of Infants and of Widows, etc.

II. METHODS OF MANAGEMENT AT HOME.

1st. Comity of Missions, or their relation to one another and to their respective spheres of labor; and the apportioning unoccupied fields to different Societies.

2d. The Choice and Training of Missionaries with reference to different spheres of labor.

3d. The nature and extent of the Control to be exercised over Missions by Committees or Churches at home.

4th. Support of Missions, and Finance.

III. THE MUTUAL RELATIONS BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND MISSIONS.

1st. The reflex influence of Foreign Missions on Home Evangelization and Church life.

2d. The duty of Christians, in their personal and collective capacity, to obey the Lord's command to "make disciples of all nations."

IV. A POPULAR SURVEY OF THE RESULTS OF MODERN MISSIONS AND OF THE GREAT WORK WHICH REMAINS TO BE DONE IN "THE DARK PLACES OF THE EARTH."

V. THE CONSECRATION OF COMMERCE.

The Rev. James Johnston, F.S.S., has been appointed Organizing Secretary of this Conference, and has, by request of the Committee, come to the United States to secure, if possible, a good representation of the American Societies at the Conference. Dr. Johnston needs no introduction to the American churches. He was appointed to draw up the report of the Imperial Commission on Education in India, and is the author of important pamphlets, amongst which is that entitled "A Century of Protestant Missions, and the Increase of the Heathen during the Hundred Years," which has already run through an edition of several thousands. Mr. Johnston can be addressed care of Dr. Gilman, Bible House, New York.

Amongst the subjects discussed was "Methods of arousing interest in Missions among Home Churches." Rev. W. H. Belden opened this discussion with a valuable paper on "Simultaneous Missionary Meetings," and Dr. Spear spoke on "The Consecration of Wealth."

The following officers were elected for the ensuing year:

President, Rev. J. T. Gracey, D.D., Buffalo, N. Y. Vice-Presidents: Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, D.D., Rev. S. L. Baldwin, D.D., Rev. S. H. Kellogg, D.D. Secretary, Rev. C. W. Park, Birmingham, Conn. Treasurer, Rev. W. H. Belden, Bridgeton, N. J. Executive Committee: Rev. J. L. Phillips, M.D., Howard, R. I., Rev. E. R. Young, Rev. J. Mudge, Rev. M. B. Comfort, Rev. B. Helm, Rev. H. N. Cobb, D.D., Miss C. H. Daniels, M.D.

The following Resolutions were adopted during the session:

THE STUDENT MISSIONARY MOVEMENT:—Having learned that large numbers of students in the higher institutions of learning in this country and Canada are proposing to devote themselves to the Foreign Missionary work in obedience to the Saviour's last command, we wish to express our gratitude to God for this new proof of His own determination to secure the speedy coming of His kingdom among the nations.

And furthermore we wish to express the profound conviction which we have, that this uprising of laborers greatly emphasizes the responsibility of the churches at home; that it calls upon all who love the Lord to give these candidates for service a large place in their sympathies and prayers; and also to devise liberal things by their contributions, not merely for the support of a large number of new missionaries, but for greatly enlarging the sphere of missionary labor, and for speedily carrying the gospel to every creature. "How shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?"

QUEEN VICTORIA'S JUBILEE—Resolved: That the International Missionary Union of different evangelical denominations do offer on this Jubilee year our sincere and hearty congratulations to Her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India, on the signal prosperity, extension and glory of her reign. Some of our members saw her ascend her throne, and we would most gratefully acknowledge the great kindness and protection which we have enjoyed from officers of Her Majesty's government in America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the islands of the ocean, where we have been called to preach the gospel of Christ. And we do supplicate Almighty God to continue the bestowal of His distinguished mercies upon Her Majesty, Her Royal family, and Her wide extended domain. May grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ be and abide upon Her Majesty forevermore. Amen.

BIBLE TRANSLATION—Resolved: That this Union, having heard from Bishop Hurst of the most interesting races of Indians in Mexico now numbering eight millions, who are an honest, independent race, friendly to Protestantism, and yet who have no translation of God's word, do hereby overture the American Bible Society to take such steps as will lead to the translation and publication of the word of God in the leading dialect of this most interesting race; and that our Secretary forward a copy of this resolution to the Secretary of said Society.

ON DR. TOURJEE'S OFFER—Resolved: That the International Missionary Union, having heard of the kind offer of Dr. Tourjee, of the New England Conservatory of Music, to furnish free instruction in music to missionary candidates, and believing that both vocal and instrumental music constitute an important auxiliary in all our work among the heathen, cordially recommend to such candidates the special training of the ear and voice with a view to acquiring and improving whatever of native melody they may find in their several fields.

ON LIQUOR ON THE CONGO—Resolved: That as missionaries of the various denominations in the International Missionary Union, we protest against the wicked and disastrous policy of allowing the introduction of intoxicating liquors into the free Congo State, and that we suggest to the secretaries of all missionary societies to exert their combined influence to induce the governing powers to change their policy to one of prohibition.

ON THE OUTLOOK ABROAD—Resolved: That the members of the International Missionary Union returning to their respective fields abroad be constituted an Outlook Committee, and requested to report to the Union, through the officers, movements of promise, signals of danger to missionary interests, and tokens of cheer in foreign lands, thereby increasing the efficiency of this Union and strengthening the bond that binds us together as one in the work and hopes of the Gospel.

PROGRESS AND RESULTS-MONTHLY BULLETIN

V.-PROGRESS AND RESULTS-MONTHLY BULLETIN.

IT is a sign of great good that not one man has yet been asked by the editors to accept a close relation to this REVIEW as editorial correspondent who has not cordially responded in the affirmative. Already we have secured Dr. J. T. Gracey, Dr. Josiah Strong, Rev. D. L. Leonard, Rev. A. P. Happer, D.D., of China; Prof. W. C. Wilkinson, D.D.; Rev. Jacob Chamberlain, M.D., and Rev. John Forman, of India; Rev. and Prof. Geo. Wm. Knox, of Japan; Rev. Geo. W. Chamberlain, of Brazil; Rev. J. Hudson Taylor and Mr. Reginald Radcliffe, of China Inland Mission, and Rev. H. H. Jessup, D.D., of Syria. We expect to enlarge this list until we shall have at least one competent correspondent in every great missionary land in the world.

The Eighth Annual Convention of the Inter-Seminary Missionary Alliance was held in Alexandria, Va., Oct. 27-30, 1887, and addressed by Rev. J. E. Grammer, D.D., and Rev. F. M. Ellis, D.D., of Baltimore; Rev. Jos. Packard, D.D., of the Theological Seminary; Rev. R. A. Goodwin of Petersburg, Va.; Rev. Wm. E. Griffis, D.D., of Boston; Rev. H. A. Nelson, D.D., and Rev. A. T. Pierson, D.D., of Philadelphia, and Rev. G. W. Chamberlain of Brazil. Papers of a high order of excellence were also read by Messrs. T. J. Villiers of Rochester, E. R. Chadwick of Bates Seminary, Isaac I. Gorby of Union, Benson Sewall of Bangor, Robert I. Fleming of Garrett, D. A. Murray of Princeton. So earnest, prayerful and consecrated a body of young men is not often brought together. We look for great results.

AFRICA.

—Cairo. The University of El Azhar. Dr. E. W. Blyden differs from Gen. Haig, in thinking the Mohammedans very active in propagation of Islamism among the Nigritian and Soudanic tribes.

—Madagascar. In the capital, Antananarivo, the Protestant school has 2,387 pupils. . . . The Queen recently attended the opening services of two Christian churches at Ambokimanaga. In fourteen years 700 Protestant chapels have been built in Madagascar, making the number now 1,200. There are 8,000 Protestant communicants, and all the churches are self-supporting. In the Protestant school at Antananarivo 2,387 children are in attendance.

The statement made in the Roman Catholic Review that the German government would allow but one missionary society (the R. Cath.) in its East African territory cannot be correct. From three societies seven missionaries have already gone to Zanzibar.

—Soudan. Emin Pasha pleads for British sway over the equatorial provinces of the Soudan. The missionaries unite in the plea. It is thought it would be a death-blow to the slave trade. Stanley's force found E. Pasha on the south shore of Albert Nyanza, and in health.

—Congo Baptist Missions. Rev. T. J. Comber, the courageous, untiring pioneer, so useful and so beloved, who was penetrating toward the interior, died on board the "Lulu Bohlen," while anchored off the Loango.

An Evangelical German East African Missionary Society has just been formed in Berlin, "to preach the German evangelical faith, and prepare the way for the introduction of German civilization into East Africa, where this year only Englishmen and Frenchmen have been at work." Whether the primary object is the advancement of Christianity or of German civilization does not yet appear.

—Professor Stewart, of Liberia, says it is estimated that for every missionary that goes to Africa 70,000 gallons of liquor are sent to that country. Who shall estimate the wretchedness and degradation of an African heathen under the power of rum and tobacco? And what a greed for blood the liquor dealers must have who, not content with killing 70,000 human beings in this country, extend their work of destruction across the sea!—Cent. Presbyterian.

CHINA.

—Nankin. The North China News states that a benevolent gentleman in the United States has subscribed $300,000 for the establishment of a university at Nankin. It is hoped that the amount will be increased by contributions to $500,000. Several missionaries are interested in the undertaking, which promises to be of great advantage to China, and incidentally to the cause of missions in that empire.

—Dr. Happer returns to China, having secured $100,000 for his Christian college, and $5,000 more toward endowment. He finds it hard, however, to get the money subscribed fast enough to go on with the buildings.

—Dr. Williams, after thirty-two years in China, thinks that half a century more of Christian missions will evangelize and even Christianize the Empire. Mr. Burlingame testifies that intelligent men of China put no faith in popular religions; and Dr. Bartlett adds that "this Gibraltar of Pagandom may become its Waterloo."

—A Christian missionary, on entering a new field in China, was kindly received by the Mandarin, who promised to do all in his power to help him. "I have not heard your doctrine," said he, "but I have seen it. I have a servant who was a perfect devil, but since he received your doctrine he is another man, and I can now trust him."

—The New Version of the New Testament prepared by Rev. Griffith Jone, of Hankow, is said to be superior to any other, and it is confidently expected that it will be adopted as a basis of a union version for all China. Such a book will be in a language spoken and understood by three hundred millions of people. Unlike India, China has really but one language, and if once the Bible were satisfactorily translated into that language the result may be something such as the world has never before witnessed. The book has worked wonders before. It will doubtless work wonders again.

—Tientsin. Mrs. Bryson says: "Some little time ago we commenced a special service for women at three o'clock on Sunday afternoons in the rooms used as a class-room for Mrs. King's medical school in Tientsin. We are getting regularly from twenty to thirty women and a large number of girls. The service takes the shape of a Sunday-school, our older and more intelligent members teaching the others. The women seem to be much interested in the service, and I trust that God's blessing will rest upon it."

—The Spirit of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church for October states that "the Chinese Governor of the large island of Formosa, in starting a College, has chosen a missionary to inaugurate and organize the institution. Such a step would have been regarded as a miracle one generation ago."

—"The North China Herald" of Sept. 10 publishes in a letter from Tientsin, where the great statesman of China, Li Hung-chang, has his official residence, the following statement, viz.: "A letter was recently addressed to Mr. Smithers, the American Consul of this place, requesting that he should see H. E. Li Hung-chang in regard to the location of the College which Dr. Happer is laboring to establish at Nankin, and requests His Excellency to memorialize the throne on the subject, giving all the particulars, that the future institution might also have imperial cognizance. As the Chinese are always partial to knowledge and learning, the Viceroy readily assented to the proposal. But he requested that, as the institution was to be founded at Nankin, the parties should address a written petition to the Viceroy at Nankin on the subject, and also present a copy to him, after which they would jointly memorialize the Emperor on the subject."

—In Canton, with its 1,500,000 inhabitants, are now opened fifteen Christian chapels, where the missionaries and the native ministers preach the gospel not on the Sabbath day only, but daily, and from two to four hours each day, to audiences varying from fifty to several hundred. After the sermon, Chinese evangelists continue the services. Free conversations and discussions follow; rooms are at hand for private conferences, and Christian books and tracts are kept in readiness and disposed of in large numbers. The preaching halls are thronged during the hottest months—July, August and September—and from noon until three o'clock—the hottest part of the day. Tens of thousands of visitors to the city have heard the gospel in these chapels and have carried it hundreds of miles into the interior. The missionary encounters these in the most remote places on his inland tours, and sometimes listens with surprise while they repeat the substance of the discourses which they have heard. The dialect used by most of the missionaries, in preaching, is the Pun-ti, or pure Cantonese, by which they have access to twenty millions of people.

FRANCE, in order simply to be prepared to cope with other nations, has within five years built 45,000 school-houses, at a cost of $80,000,000! What might not Christian America and England accomplish for missions, if the opportunity were appreciated! It is said that if a rod 71 inches long represents the income of the Presbyterian Church, one inch would stand for their gifts!

—McAll Mission in Paris. The attendance at the services has increased largely during the past year, although the number of stations remains the same. The McAll Mission Record says: "The missionary schooner 'Annie' having again been placed at the disposal of the Mission, a very interesting campaign was organized on the coasts of Brittany. Of this work Mr. McAll writes in a private letter: 'Brittany, so long supposed to be completely enthralled by Popish teachings, is now evidently open for the proclamation of the Gospel, and the people—a race much resembling the Welsh in many things, as well as origin—are kindly disposed. To them the message of divine love comes as a new and strange discovery, in contrast with the almost idolatrous ritual to which alone they have been accustomed.'"

JAPAN.

—Rev. George Wm. Knox, of Tokio, writes: "In the Tokio First Presbytery, the additions on profession of faith were more than 240 during the six months previous to April 1, an increase of 15 per cent. In the Tokio Second Presbytery over a hundred adults had been baptized. He himself took a trip of 250 miles to the north. At Sendai, the most influential city in the north, the Miyagi Presbytery was organized with five churches. Large meetings were held in the theatre, and most attentive and respectful congregations were present. Similar meetings were held for lectures at three other towns en route, and in all much interest was manifested. Opposition seems to have died away, and the best part of the people unite in saying that Christianity is a necessity for the further development of Japan."

—Tadmor in the Desert, or Palmyra, City of Palms, is a beautiful type of the Church of God among the gentiles, a historic parable of foreign missions. A great stretch of wilderness lay between Jerusalem and Babylon, arid, barren, without rest or food. King Solomon, Prince of Peace, had the pure water from the springs on the high hills conducted along the plains, and made "rivers in the desert," a very Elim for palm trees and springs of water, and called it "the City of Palms." It was a new Jerusalem transported into the wilderness, and making it blossom as a rose, providing a rest and a refreshment for the hungry, thirsty, weary pilgrim. What a figure of what the true Prince of Peace is doing to-day in the wilds of pagan lands!—bringing the streams from celestial springs to turn the deserts of sin into the Palmyra of Pilgrims.

—London Missionary Society. In fifty years the communicants in the missions have increased from 6,615 to 70,561, and the native preachers from 451 to 7,168.

—The Moravians have an important mission on the Moskito Coast, Central America, among a mixed population of Indians, Creoles and Spaniards. Begun in 1849, down to 1881 it had been quite successful, there being at the beginning of that year about a thousand communicants. A great awakening occurred, and all classes were most deeply moved. Bands of Indians at work in the forest, away from the mission stations, were seized by an overpowering conviction of sin, children at the stations knelt and prayed for forgiveness, and an almost universal awakening followed. It seemed to come spontaneously; it continued without special effort of the missionaries, and there was great excitement, which the missionaries labored to subdue as much as possible. The result of the revival was the adding of 1,500 or more to the list of communicants. Tested by time, conversions proved genuine; few have fallen away. A spirit of consecration possesses the older members, and the field of mission work is greatly extended. The natives no longer say that God does not love the poor Indian as he loves the white man, but rejoice in the revival as a special manifestation of God's grace toward them. Not a few heathen and dissolute characters were thoroughly converted and reformed.—Independent.

—The statistics of Presbyterian missions from the report of 1886 show the total number of communicants in the mission churches to be 20,294. This shows a gain during the last decade of nearly 136½ per cent.

—Some statistics appear in a recent issue of the Siglo XIX, of the City of Mexico, which will surprise many who regard an acquaintance with the Spanish language as merely an accomplishment. That it is of great use is proved by the tables submitted and the growth of our commercial relations with Mexico and South America. English is found to be spoken by 87,000,000 of people throughout the world; Spanish by 63,690,000; German by 53,000,000, and French by 43,000,000. Thus Spanish is second in importance, as a commercial language, being the only means of communication with a large percentage of the population of the earth. We must, however, take into account the fact that a larger part of them are of inferior importance to the bulk of the population of the United States, and of the other countries; yet it still holds that a vast extent of territory exists in which nothing but Spanish is spoken.

MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS

VI.-MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.

VI.-MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.

THE following letter is from Dr. James L. Phillips, Chaplain State Institutions, Howard, R. I., a medical missionary "from Midnapore, Bengal, India, now at home on furlough, but earnestly hoping to return to his work abroad, in which it has pleased God to grant him 17 years, and very happy years, too."

REV. ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D.:

Dear Brother—I learn that you are to take up and carry on Mr. Wilder's Missionary Review, and I am delighted to know this. From the first number I've read it eagerly, and have done what I could to introduce it to friends in Europe and India. I most earnestly hope that by God's blessing upon your labors it may continue to hold its high place as a thoroughly independent, undenominational, faithful and fearless review of all missionary enterprises, home and foreign. So far as I know, it stands without a peer, in its own special province, in Christendom.

I should like to know the plans for the future conduct of the REVIEW, with a view to getting our pastors to subscribe. Some of our people have been taking it from the first, but hundreds more ought to.

Could you devote space in THE REVIEW to the Monthly Concert of Prayer for Missions, which has fallen into sad neglect during these 20 years? I am continually hearing of Congregational and Presbyterian churches—the two churches that observed it most faithfully years ago, when I was a student in this country—that do not even have the Missionary Concert. In this State the Baptists are keeping it up, I think, better than any other church.

My proposition is: Let THE MISSIONARY REVIEW consult with The Gospel in All Lands, and draw up a Programme for the Missionary Concerts of 1888, so that our pastors may have ample time to read up and be ready. As dear Dr. Duff used to say, "the hitch is with the pastors." What an added power we should gain in all our missionary work, at home and abroad, could we establish, and faithfully sustain, in our American churches such a grand CONCERT OF PRAYER, by taking up each month the same general topic, and instructing, interesting and inspiring our congregations with it! I cannot doubt that British Christians would join us in this good movement, for they have held up the monthly concert better than we have in America. Could we not have something like the International Sunday-school lesson—the same verses of Scripture studied in many lands and languages? For months these and kindred thoughts have been revolving in my mind; and the reading of such books as your noble "Crisis of Missions" only adds fuel to the fire already kindled. If there be a work in which sect-lines must more and more disappear, it is this great work of the world's evangelization. Christians must come into close fellowship with Christ, be more loyal to His government by keeping His great and last commission, before the "greater things" he spoke of can appear. Believe me, my dear sir,

Yours, with high esteem and very sincerely,
JAS. L. PHILLIPS.

This letter was followed by another from the editor of Gospel in All Lands:

NEW YORK, Oct. 27, 1887.

My Dear Dr. Pierson—I have just learned that you will have charge of the Monthly Concert Department of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW. I have been arranging the topics for the Monthly Concerts for 1888 to be treated in Missionary World and Gospel in All Lands, and a letter from Dr. J. L. Phillips urges me to see if Gospel in All Lands and MISSIONARY REVIEW cannot agree on topics for next year. I propose those on the enclosed paper. Several are the same as those adopted by the Presbyterians North and South.

EUGENE R. SMITH.

1888.

January—The World.
February—China.
March—Mexico, Central America.
April—India.
May—Burmah, Siam and Laos.
June—Africa.
July—Islands of the Sea, North American Indians, Chinese and Japanese in America, etc.
August—Italy and Papal Europe.
September—Japan and Korea.
October—Turkey and Persia.
November—South America.
December—Syria.

[The above arrangement will be adopted.—EDITORS.]

THE WORLD FIELD.

IN looking at the great field of missions, we are first of all overwhelmed with its vastness. We talk of continents as covered with the death shade, but how vague are the terms we use.

Let us take Connecticut as the unit of measurement, with its area of 4,700 square miles. It is contained in Dakota 47 times, and Japan is about as large as Dakota. And now we begin to get some definite conception of the Island Empire of the Rising Sun that is just now attracting the attention of the world by changes so radical and revolutionary that the like have never before been seen.

But Japan, large as it is, is very small in comparison with other heathen and pagan lands. Japan could be contained in India 10 times, and even India could be contained nearly three times in China; or, to be more accurate, you might carve out of China two empires like India, and have left enough to make seven more like Japan, or three hundred and thirty like Connecticut. And yet out of Africa you might construct China and two Indias besides!

Next we are impressed with the vastness of the vacancies where as yet no gospel light has shone. Great districts that are themselves empires have never yet been approached by the heralds of the Cross. When Samuel Hebich reached Calicut in 1834, the whole coast from Bombay to Cochin was as yet unoccupied, and looking inland, Bangalore, Bellary, Belgaum were the nearest stations, each between one and two hundred miles distant. When Robert Moffat landed in Africa, in 1817, the greater part of that Continent's interior had never been trodden by a white man's foot. And even as lately as Stanley's passage across the continent, ten years ago this summer, he came out at Banana, at the Congo's mouth, having, since he left Zanzibar, seven thousand miles distant, seen no man who had ever heard the gospel! About the same time two missionaries of the China Inland mission went from Bahmo in Upper Burmah to Chun-King, in China, one thousand miles, without finding one gospel station.

A third thing that impresses us is the wonder-working of God in connection with the history of modern missions. The days of supernatural signs in the church were the days during which the church was one great evangelistic body. When evangelism began to decline, the dark ages came rapidly on; and only since evangelical faith was revived and the church reformed, and so prepared again to take up the work of world-wide missions, have the days of manifest supernatural influence returned. We do not hesitate to say that the history of modern missions is a history of modern miracles—manifest workings of divine power, as convincing in their way and as peculiarly adapted to the present age as any miracles wrought in the days of the apostles. Single men, like Robert Moffat in Africa, Robert Morrison in China, John Williams in the South Seas, Wm. Johnson in Sierra Leone, Zeisberger and Duncan among the Indians, have been permitted to see results that as plainly show the hand of God as when the paralytic took up his bed and walked, or Lazarus came forth in grave-clothes.

A fourth impression is made upon us by the long study of missions, viz., that if a man or woman wants to make the capital of life yield the largest interest, here is an investment worthy the full engrossment of all the aims and powers of manhood and womanhood. To some, a life given to Christ in the great field of foreign missions means a life buried, wasted, thrown away. And it is so, if the standards of the world as to money-making, selfish indulgence, aspiring ambition and worldly emolument are to be taken as the measure of success or failure. But if a higher point of view is once got and held from which to survey life, it is not so.

Follow Moffat in his fifty years of consecrated toil, the apostle of Africa. Not only did he lead the way as an explorer, even for the heroic Livingstone, but he translated the Bible into the Bechuana tongue, dialects of which, varying but little, are spoken over almost the whole of the Dark Continent south of the equator! We have no proof that to any person it was ever given to render into Saxon the whole of the Scriptures. Bede was engaged on "John" when he died; Wickliffe and Coverdale had helpers. But Robert Moffat was permitted to translate the whole word of God into the pagan tongue of South Africa—an achievement which, had he done no other service, puts him among the most distinguished of the world's benefactors.

But Moffat is but one among a host of men and women whose lives have shaped the destiny of whole continents. The quiet work of the preachers and teachers at Beirut is permeating not only Syria but the whole Arabic-speaking world. Bishop Taylor in Africa, leaning only on God, going almost single-handed among the most barbarous tribes, and making the very chiefs tributary to his mission work; Dr. Clough among the Teloogoos, baptizing ten thousand in less than two months, and breaking down caste in his noble schools; Royal G. Wilder, "burying himself" among the heathen, that in thirty years he might preach in 3,000 villages and cities, scatter three million pages of tracts and gather 3,300 boys and girls into Christian schools—these are examples of "wasted life." If so, let our lives be wasted. Such a buried life becomes the seed of a harvest that neither time can measure nor man estimate.

II. SUGGESTIVE PARAGRAPHS.

The first Protestant sermon preached west of the Mississippi was preached by Samuel J. Mills, the father of the American Board. Desiring to get out of this "pinhole," he went abroad. He had before said: "I cannot suffer my influence to be limited by Atlantic, Mississippi, great lakes, or gulf."

Miss Tucker (A. L. O. E.) went to India as a missionary, leaving the field of authorship for the comparatively obscure field of mission work. Judge Tucker, of Futtepoor, was her brother. He served long in India, giving to missions $200 per month. To those who remonstrated as to his liberality, he replied: "Here are 86,000,000 adult population; 5,000 die daily; every day's delay means 5,000 souls!" At the entrance to the station he had four stone tablets erected. On two, the Ten Commandments; on two, John iii: 14-18. After the duties of his office were fulfilled, he preached Jesus. "If every hair were a life," said he, "I would give them all to Him." He fell in 1857, at the hands of the mutineers. On his sitting-room walls were inscribed: "Fear God," "Love your enemies," "Prepare for death."

The gospel is still foolishness to the Greek. He mistakes the twilight of the morning for the twilight of the evening; what light he sees in the gospel he thinks is the last lingering, fading ray of a declining day, instead of the precursor of a splendid noon.

Post-mortem Gifts. "Father was wont, at this season of the year, to look with great anticipation to the great missionary anniversaries. I desire to act as his steward and pay in his behalf his ordinary annual contribution, which I enclose."

"W. E. D."

"SACRIFICE IS GOLD IN HEAVEN."

Bishop William Taylor: "I feel such a yearning in my soul to help the Lord Jesus to convert this world, that I would gladly be multiplied into a thousand workmen, and then live a thousand years to help on this work."

John Wesley loved to scatter every penny above his scanty necessary outlay. In 1782, his income was £361 19s. (about $1,820); of this he spent for clothing some $30, and gave away the entire remainder with his own hands. His book steward the same year, by his directions, gave away $1,185 more. At the end of his days Wesley wrote: "For upwards of 86 years I have kept my accounts exactly. I will not attempt it any longer, being satisfied with the continual conviction that I save all I can and give all I can—that is, all I have. I never put sixpence out at interest since I was born; nor had I ever a hundred pounds together, my own, since I came into this world." He regarded riches as a "necessary evil," a "serious danger."

A very fine article on Foreign Missions may be found in "Appleton's Encyclopedia," from the pen of an eminent writer.

There is needed a far larger recognition on the part of Christians of the duty of a personal instead of a proxy evangelization. "You see the day is past when the Church could say, 'Silver and gold have I none,'" said Innocent IV. complacently to St. Thomas of Aquinum, as he pointed to the masses of treasure which were being carried into the Vatican. "Yes, holy father," was the saint's reply, "and the day is also past when she could say to the paralytic, 'Take up thy bed and walk.'" It is not simply gathered treasure, whether of gold, or of social position, or of culture, which can make the Church able for her duty, disarm distrust of her among all classes, and fill her with power for the compelling of the millennium. It is scattered treasure which will do it. It is as each one of her members does and keeps doing his share and hers of the priestly ministry of personal interest and invitation. Why should you be willing to sit in one corner of your empty pew on Sunday? Why should you not be restless until even from the highways and hedges you have compelled them to come in—shown by divine deed that God's house is for all, and at least done your share toward the disarming of any possible distrust?—Dr. Wayland Hoyt.

It is never safe to make an exception a rule of conduct. One of the best illustrations of this fact was given by the Rev. Dr. Lorimer, during the Minneapolis meetings, in a little dialogue, which, if not veritable, is certainly suggestive. Talking with a man who had professed to be converted, a minister said: "Have you joined the church?" "No; the dying thief did not join the church, and he went to heaven." "Have you talked to your neighbors?" "No; the dying thief did not talk to his neighbors, and he went to heaven." "Have you given anything to missions?" "No; the dying thief never gave anything, and he went to heaven." "Well, my friend, it seems to me the difference is that he was a dying thief, and you are a living thief."

France: The Paris City Mission, started at the time of the Exhibition in 1878, in 1880 fairly commenced work with a staff of three missionaries, subsequently increased to 13. Latterly, funds have failed, and the number has been reduced to six. The income has ranged at different times from $3,200 to $3,600. One-third of this money is raised by pastors and congregations in connection with which the missionaries labor; the rest by private subscription.

India: Bengal.—Ten native young men have responded to the call for missionaries to preach to the Bengali coolies in Fiji.

Ahmednuggur.—It is said that the A. B. C. F. M. is going to establish there a college to train young men in English.

Japan: The first Japanese missionary student to the Basle Mission is Geusi-Igutsi, who was instructed and baptized (John) in China. The missionaries who have had opportunities of closely observing him have great confidence in him.

Korea: There is a call for a woman to work among the native women, and the government will encourage schools, though open preaching of the gospel is yet somewhat restricted.

North American Indians: At the late Indian Conference at Mohawk Lake, it was said that the effect of the recent orders of the Indian Bureau forbidding the use of any other language but English in the native schools would close some twelve to twenty Dakota schools where native teachers are at work. Another order stops the government boarding-school children from coming to Sunday-school! What do such orders mean?

Palestine: The opposition of the Turkish Government to the Mission Schools in Palestine, so far as the education in them of Mohammedan children is concerned, has culminated in an order from Constantinople forbidding the attendance of Moslems altogether; and one father has been thrown into prison for sending his child to a Mission School.

Persia: Persia has had a remarkable spiritual awakening, beginning with the Week of Prayer. The revival extends to several villages. Many lukewarm Christians were greatly revived, and sinners of all grades, young and old, converted. Places of worship have been found too small to accommodate the crowds. Mr. Labaree, of Oroomiah, reported the work still progressing and spreading. In several towns there are from twenty to forty, and even sixty inquirers.

Scotland: Free Church of Scotland sends out 109 missionary workers, of whom 30 are laymen and 30 women.

Syria: Beirut.—Two young men, members of the Senior class in the college, offer themselves to African missions. Dr. Jessup commends them highly. They have taken all the deprivations and difficulties into account, and make no stipulation as to the nature of their work or the amount of their pay. Their familiarity with Arabic would be of great help.

Thibet: The United Brethren have recently established a station at Leh, the chief town of Ladak, or Middle Thibet, a province of Cashmere. Many persons who at Kyelang have been brought to the knowledge of the truth have returned to Leh. Permission to reside there was given to these missionaries by the maharajah, at the request of the Marquis of Ripon. The town is situated in a fine, open valley, surrounded by lofty mountains, and is close upon 11,300 feet above the level of the sea. The winter has been spent here by Mr. and Mrs. Redslob and their family, who, by reason of the climate of this elevated station, have had much sympathy with the ice-bound missionaries of Labrador and Greenland.

III.—MISSIONARY TEXTS AND THEMES.

The field is the world.—Matt. xiii: 38.

1. World-wide extent, and the period, all time.

2. Two kinds of seed, the word and the children of the kingdom.

3. The harvest is to be sure and abundant.—Is. lv: 13.

4. The results will be rapid and marvellous.—Amos ix: 13.

5. All mainly depends on prayer.—Matt. ix: 38.

"Missions, Past and Prospective." In the "Bampton Lectures" by Anthony Grant, 1843, the following is the outline of the argument:

1. The adequacy and tendency of the gospel to gain universal sway. Its adaptation to mankind at large is contrasted with other religions, as adapted to a limited area; there is not one so much better than others as to pay to attempt to propagate it extensively; and when this is done it is only as a defensive measure to prevent decline.

2. The Universality of the Message and tendency to unity. He well says that "The gospel is not to be in all places at all times, nor in all places at one time; but in some place at all times and in all places at some time."

3. Christianity is not a spiritual influence on the soul of man, solely; but rather a spiritual and visible institution in which souls are gathered unto the Lord and nourished unto eternal life. Body, soul and spirit benefited. The gospel is communicated through external and visible system, which is threefold, viz.: 1. The conveyance of spiritual blessings. 2. The education of man as a social being. 3. The perpetuating and propagating of truth.

The New Testament contemplates both voluntary and commissioned agents for preaching, combining the authoritative teaching of the Church with that of the written Word of God.

Preaching, teaching, living, are to go together: Non magna loquimur, sed vivimus.

"There is no question as to whether or not missions are binding upon Christians. Missionary effort is not a matter of choice but of obligation. Indeed, it is as much an obligation as baptism or the Lord's Supper. Christ gave very few detailed instructions for the guidance of his Church. He left her policy to be shaped by the Holy Spirit. But one definite injunction He did give, and that his last as the risen Saviour: "Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." This is not merely a commission for baptism. It is the outline of a policy—the missionary policy of the Church. It presents to us a command, a duty, a statement of the principal object of the Church's existence; with the encouraging promise, in view of the immense obligation, of power commensurate with the task—"Lo, I am with you alway." Missions are not optional. "Make disciples of all nations," is as binding as "This do in remembrance of me."

The Chinese are proverbially dull when first reached by the story of the gospel. Yet one woman in Shanse, though a cripple, came a long distance for a second visit to the missionary, and when asked what she remembered from the previous Sunday's talk, replied: "I am old, and my head is thick, and I have no memory. I only remember two things: That God is my Father in heaven, and that his Son Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins."

STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS

VII.-STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS.

British Contributions to Missions in 1885. Rev. W. H. Scott Robertson has summarized and analyzed them as follows: Grand total, including dividends, interest and rents, $7,936,870, an advance over 1884 of $71,990. He includes Roman Catholic contributions, $33,440. It appears from his tables that the Christian world raises over $11,000,000 a year for Protestant Missions, while Romish Foreign Missions receive but $1,325,850, little over one-eighth of that sum. (Missionary Review, Feb., 1887.)

—While the Church of England in 25 years has spent on Foreign Missions $50,000,000, seven times that amount has been spent on Home enlargements, improvements, etc. From a careful examination of the statistics of Christian Missions, the Quarterly Review states that during eight years the ordained missionaries from Protestant Christendom have increased fifty per cent., and the total income seventy per cent.

—Foreign Missions in 1885-1886, as reported in Wilder's Statistical Tables:

These tables, of course, only approximate the truth. But some things in them are noteworthy. 1. The year's growth in communicants at home was nearly 52,000 less than the previous years (1884-5), and only 1.35 per cent.; abroad it was nearly 150,000, and nearly 19 per cent.

2. The total of workers has risen from 37,837 to 40,246, but still all Christendom sends but 6,647, while the native churches provide 33,600, five times as many. Christendom sends one out of every 4,332 members to the field; the native churches give one out of every 28! At that rate Christendom would have to-day one million workers in the foreign field, or one to every 850 of the unevangelical population of the globe!

—"The Independent" takes note that Dr. Daniel Dorchester has just made a fresh study of statistics, which are not specially flattering:

The total yearly receipts from all our American Home and Foreign Missionary Societies in 1850 were $1,232,123; in 1860, $2,525,549; in 1870, $4,225,952; in 1880, $5,939,845. Since 1880 the average amount has been about $7,000,000 yearly. The increase has thus been large, being four-fold for Foreign Missions and six-fold for Home Missions in the thirty years from 1850 to 1880.

But when we come to count the members of the Protestant churches we have a different story. The number of church members are given by Dr. Dorchester as having been 3,529,988 in 1850; 5,240,554 in 1860; 6,673,396 in 1870, and 10,065,963 in 1880. Now, assuming these figures to be correct, we have 35 cents per member given in 1850 for Home and Foreign Missions, 48 cents in 1860, 63 cents in 1870, and 59½ cents in 1880. In the last period there has been a falling off, and there has been no adequate increase since 1860. It must be that there is an immense number of church members reported who give absolutely nothing for missions; and it must be that the interest of those who do give is much less than it should be. An average of less than sixty cents in a year is vastly less than what ought to be given.

But when we come to the property test, the case is still worse. Supposing the church members to have just an average amount of the wealth of the country (we do not doubt they have more), in 1850 they gave to missions one and one-tenth mills to each dollar of their property; in 1860 this sum was reduced to nine-tenths of a mill; in 1870 to eight-tenths, and in 1880 to six and a half tenths of a mill. Thus we see that while the total gifts have increased five times, the amount given by each converted dollar has been reduced nearly one-half. This is very far from a creditable showing, and proves that not near as much sacrifice is made for the cause of missions as forty years ago.

The one great duty of the Church is to convert the world to Jesus Christ. Are the effort and the self-denial adequate which give sixty cents a member per year, and two-thirds of one-tenth of one per cent. of property?

—Foreign Missionary Organizations raised last year in the United States $3,898,944. The total gain in communicants was 22,069.—Wilder's Tables.

—Since the Methodist Board of Church Extension began its work, in the year 1865, it has helped to build 5,805 churches. It has collected and disbursed nearly $3,000,000.

—Presbyterian Growth. From the narrative of the state of religion to the last Assembly we learn that the additions to the membership during the year were over 52,000 on examination and 29,000 on certificate—the most fruitful year in the Church's history. The Boards received $1,915,987. Foreign Missions had the largest receipts ever known in the history of the Church, $784,157.59. Of this the Women's Boards contributed $248,649.50. The growth of the contributions of the latter is a remarkable exhibit of what can be done by "organizing the littles." In 1871 they reported $7,000. This amount has gone up by the following strides during subsequent years: $27,000, $64,000, $87,000, $96,000, $115,000, $124,000, $136,000, $170,000, $176,000, $178,000, $193,000, $204,000, $224,000, $248,000.

—Moravians have a noble missionary record. During the last century 25,000 of them have been sent to "the regions beyond," while $300,000 have been expended yearly, and nine vessels been kept busy in the interests of missions. This small band of disciples may well put us all to the blush by their sanctified liberality and self-consecration.

—Roman Catholics in China.—The Chinese Recorder gathers from a table of statistics of Roman Catholic missions the following facts: "There are in the various provinces of China 483,403 Catholic Christians, 471 European missionaries, 281 native priests, 2,429 churches and chapels, 1,779 colleges and schools, with 25,219 scholars, and 33 seminaries and 654 seminarists. In Corea, Japan, Manchuria, Mongolia and Thibet there are 130 European and 15 native priests, 227 churches and chapels, and 77,254 Catholic Christians. In the Indo-China peninsula there are 694,286 Catholics, and in India 1,185,538 Catholics. The grand total for these Asiatic countries is 2,440,486 Catholics, 2,639 missionaries and native priests, 7,293 churches and chapels, 4,469 colleges and schools, with 112,359 scholars, and 76 seminaries, with 2,746 seminarists. These countries are divided into 67 vicariates apostolic and 4 prefectures apostolic. Six of these vicariates are worked by the Jesuits. Most of them, however, are under the charge of missionaries of the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris and the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Milan."

—There are 40,000 Wild Indian Children in this country. Of this number, all told, there are but 12,000 gathered in the Government and Mission schools, leaving 28,000 children to whom no school opens its door, and to whom no Christian missionary comes. There are at least sixty whole tribes upon whose darkness no ray of Gospel light has ever fallen, as pagan and as savage as were their ancestors when the first white man landed upon these shores!

—Perhaps the power of God has been manifest in the islands of the Pacific more than in any other part of the world. In the Sandwich Islands one pastor baptized 12,000 converts in 45 years. In the group of islands called the Philippine, the Society, the Friendly and the Caroline, the natives were savages and cannibals of the worst type; but they have exchanged their savage life for the life inspired by the gospel of Christ; and in those groups of islands there are nearly 200,000 native Christians. In the Fiji Islands, also formerly a centre of cannibalism, out of a population of 120,000 all but one-seventh are said to be attending the Wesleyan meetings, and the most of the remainder belong to other meetings; so that church-going there is quite universal.

—The Salvation Army, entering India five years ago, has now 120 English and 80 native missionaries.

—The Imperial Academy of Sciences has recently completed the publication of a translation of the New Testament into the language of the Calmucks. This, it is said, is the first attempt to make known to the Calmucks the text of the Christian Gospels. The initiative is due to the British Bible Society, by which the work of translation was confided to Prof. Pozneieff, of the Chair of Mongol and Calmuck Literature in the University of St. Petersburg. Two hundred copies have been sent to Astrachan and sold to the converted Calmucks of that province. The rest have been sent abroad for distribution in Asia by European missionaries.—St. Petersburg Dispatch to the London Times.

—The Australian Church, under the direction of the Bishop of Sydney, has resolved upon the establishment of missions in the English portions of New Guinea, which portion is about equal in size to the whole of Great Britain. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel has appropriated £5,000 to aid the work.

—The "Ragged Sunday-schools" in London have 40,000 scholars and 4,000 teachers. Its president was the late and honored Lord Shaftesbury. His son succeeds him in the work. The income of the society, consisting wholly of voluntary contributions, amounts to $80,000 per annum.

—There are 400 Mormon bishops in Utah, 2,423 priests, 2,947 teachers, and 6,854 deacons. Salt Lake City is divided into wards of eight or nine blocks each, and a bishop is put in charge of each ward. Under him are two teachers, whose business is to learn the employment and income of every resident of the ward and report the same to the bishop. Then the bishop collects the tenth of each man's income and turns it in to the church authorities. The Mormons are as adept as the Roman Catholics in getting their hands into the pockets of believers.

—Two hundred and fifty millions of women depend for the Gospel upon the women of the Protestant Churches of America. Nine-tenths of the contributions to foreign missions are given by one-tenth of the church membership, while only one-half of the membership give anything. The average amount per member is fifty cents per annum—only the seventh part of a cent per day for the conversion of a thousand millions of people. An average of five cents a week from every member of the Protestant churches of the United States would bring into the treasury during a single year $16,500,000. Ninety-eight per cent. of the Church's contributions for religious purposes is spent at home, while only two per cent. is applied to the foreign mission field. There are 75,000 ministers in the United States, or one to about every 600 persons, while only one is allotted to half a million in heathen lands. There are 1,500 counties in China without a single missionary.

—There are about 600 native newspapers in India, all of which, with the exception of about half a dozen, are bitterly opposed to Christianity. Societies are now being organized for the dissemination of the skeptical writings of England and America. An important society is in operation from Lahore, as a centre, while another has its headquarters in Benares. The pictures of the gods best known to the Hindu pantheon are even lithographed in Germany and England and sold in Calcutta! Native rajahs interest themselves in circulating Hindu tracts, and have adopted shrewd methods to carry on their work. The Rev. Mr. Craven says he knows of one rajah alone who is printing at his own expense 2,000,000 of Hindu tracts, and intends to distribute them at the large fairs of North India. The missionaries, however, keep close watch over these antagonistic forces. They too are enlarging their operations rapidly. But the churches and societies which they represent should adopt far more liberal measures to furnish the millions of natives to whom they are sent with sound Christian literature. The passion for reading has struck every part of India. The people will have books and newspapers. It is for the western Christian world to say what their fibre shall be.—Dr. Hurst, in Harper's Magazine.

—The Chinese Recorder gives the following statistics of Christian missions in China to Dec. 1, 1886:

Of the single ladies nearly half are American. Others are not named.

—The China Inland Mission has 43 married and 129 unmarried missionaries. Including wives and 117 native workers, the entire force numbers over 300. They are asking for 100 more for this year. Their operations have been continued for years, and the hundred new men are called for by way of celebrating the majority of the society.

—The Japan Mission of the Presbyterian Board are asking for ten new men instead of a hundred, and the question is whether the Presbyterian Church is able and willing to grant their request. What will the synods, the presbyteries and the churches say to their petition?

—The Chinese Governor of the large island of Formosa in starting a college has chosen a missionary to inaugurate and organize the institution. Such a step would have been regarded as a miracle one generation ago.

EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS

VIII.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.

A WORD TO OUR PATRONS.

Enterprises are nowadays so commonly started with supreme reference to pecuniary returns that it seems like an affectation of unselfishness to claim any other and higher motive in the wide circulation of this REVIEW. Nevertheless, the editors are conscious of no ulterior end but the arousing of the Church of God to a more vigorous prosecution of the missionary campaign. And in our effort we desire the warm, sympathetic co-operation of all our subscribers. We undertake the work with a deep persuasion that it is God's work laid upon us, and we care for no reward beyond the consciousness of His approval. We mean to make this REVIEW indispensable, if we can, to all who love the cause of Christ, and especially to all who wish to know the needs of a world-wide field and the progress of the Kingdom,

We wish to establish between the Church at home and the workers and warriors on the outposts a line of communication, which shall also be a line of supplies; to create and foster a living bond of active and intelligent sympathy; to know what is doing and needs to be done—what needs are met and what lack is felt; to mark progress and trace causes of defeat, to canvass methods and criticise defects, to prevent waste and relieve friction, to promote co-operation and allay antagonism, to stimulate giving and especially self-giving—such are some of the many glorious results we aim to further. The wider the circulation of the REVIEW the more rapid and widespread the success of our measures.

We want those whom God has blessed with means and a generous heart to put at our disposal a Fund for gratuitous distribution to those who cannot afford to pay for the REVIEW. For example, in this country and in England, there are some three thousand young men and women who have signified their desire and intent to go to the foreign field when their studies are completed, if the way shall open. Many of them are poor and self-dependent. Can any man or woman make a nobler appropriation than to put at our disposal such sum of money as may enable us to send the REVIEW to such young persons free for one year?

While at Rochester, two young persons came to one of the editors, who made an address there on Nov. 15, and said: "I have just read your book, 'The Crisis of Missions;' it has decided me to give myself to the foreign field." A similar scene occurred at Buffalo, next day, and at Alexandria, Va., a few weeks before. If some man or woman who cannot go himself, or herself, can, by the free distribution of such a missionary organ as this, make missionaries, what offering can be more acceptable to God? We are willing to be custodians of such benevolence and see that it is made just as powerful as it can be in furthering the work. And if there be any who cannot give, will they not at least pray that our work may prove to the churches the world over even a greater blessing than our hearts could dare to anticipate?

The fund is already started by a gift of $100 from the editors and $100 from the publishers, and a considerable addition will be made from arrears of subscriptions on THE MISSIONARY REVIEW, all of which Mr. Wilder put at the disposition of the editors. We want to raise $5,000 for this purpose.—P.

The recent meeting of the American Board at Springfield, Mass., was in many respects the most eventful one since its organization. It was generally felt that the meeting would be a battle-ground between the new theology, with its post-mortem probation, and the older, more conservative, and, we hesitate not to say, more Scriptural and evangelical position held by the Reformed churches for centuries. Happily, as we think, the issue of the battle was on the side of the old and not the new theology. The landmarks which the fathers set up will not be removed, and Dr. Storrs' manly and Christian letter, accepting the presidency of the Board—a letter too long to be reproduced in these columns—covers, to our view, the whole case.

In this letter of acceptance, he expresses the opinion that the question of the "new theology" is, for the present, practically settled, so far as the Board is concerned; and adds that a withholding of funds from the treasury, "if that should unhappily come to pass," would not change the convictions on which the decision was based. He frankly gives as his belief that it would be unsafe to allow the same latitude of opinion in the missionary field which local churches here occasionally allow, whether properly or not, to those who transiently minister to them. There is a loyal and royal ring in words like these: "This society exists for a purpose wide as the world, solemn as the Cross, connected with eternal issues. It is always responsible to the Lord of the Gospel for what its messengers proclaim in His name."

Dr. Noble of Chicago one year ago expressed on this subject, comprehensively and briefly, the practical bearings of the whole question. He said, in effect, that there are two ways which we may pursue: we may either spend our time and energy speculating as to whether mankind will have probation after death, or we may give ourselves to the endeavor to secure their acceptance of this great salvation in the present probation before death. "As for myself," he added, "I propose to give all my thought and powers to securing for men a present salvation." To all of which let all the people say Amen!—P.

In New Jersey, the week between November 13 and November 20 was kept as one of simultaneous meetings in the interests of Foreign Missions. The whole work was in the hands of five members of Synod, Rev. Dr. Augustus Brodhead, of Bridgeton, being Chairman. He lived long enough to make the arrangements and was then called up higher.

All-day conventions were arranged for in every one of the 219 towns in the State where there was a Presbyterian church. The convention was not held on the same day in every place, but some time within the week. Fifty-eight places were designated as centres, provided with special speakers at the evening meeting. The plan of the conventions was uniform: A morning prayer-meeting, followed by an open meeting for familiar conference as to the mission field, its work and workers; in the afternoon, separate meetings of ladies', young people's and Sunday-school societies and bands, and in the evening the main meeting, with at least two specially prepared addresses.

To our minds, this simultaneous meeting is one of the grandest plans ever adopted to arouse, concentrate and vitalize the interest in the great foreign Mission work. We hope to see the day when, throughout the whole land, simultaneous meetings shall be held, and, like the three annual feasts of the Jews, all the tribes go up to take part, bring offerings and carry back a new inspiration and blessing. The movement is timely, popular, grand, effective, and promises results far beyond our present calculation.—P.

MRS. WILDER, widow of the late editor of The Missionary Review, and Grace E. Wilder, the daughter, sailed for Kolapoor, Western India, on the 26th of Nov., under the auspices of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. Miss Grace was born there, and the mother spent thirty years of her life there in missionary work in connection with her devoted husband. She had a school of 300 girls, at one time, and gave Christian education to a large number of the native women of India, who regard her in the light of a mother. Denied the privilege of going back to her work, after twelve years' absence, in company with her venerated husband, she, after his death, begged to be allowed to go back with her daughter and resume active work there, as a Bible reader, on her own charges. Her first love is still fresh and strong, and poor India, for whom she and her life companion sacrificed so much, is dearer to her than her native land, and even the sons whom she leaves behind. The daughter inherits a full measure of her parents' spirit, and, having rendered her father important help on The Missionary Review, and received rare training for the work, consecrates her life to the same blessed service. And one son, now in Union Seminary, New York, who has gone among our colleges lately and helped to kindle the missionary spirit among the students, will follow his aged mother and youthful sister as soon as his studies are completed.

What heroism have we here! The timid maiden and the solitary, aged widow, parting with children dear, the comforts of a good home and the dust of her loved one, and braving the winter storms of ocean, embarks joyfully for her long voyage, to carry once more the message of redeeming love to her sisters in India, and with trembling voice to repeat to the children the sacred lessons she taught in early life to their mothers!

The God of the widow and the Father of the fatherless preserve and speed them on their glorious mission and spare them to sow the seed of an abundant harvest! Just before his death the husband and father said to the writer: "I consider it a privilege and a joy inexpressibly great to have been permitted to spend forty-two years of my life in the service of Christian missions, and my one desire to-day is, now that you have kindly relieved me of this Review, to be spared to go back to India and lay my worn-out body to rest among the people there, whom I love. Yes, I would gladly start, even if sure I should not live to get there and my body find a grave in the deep."—S.

"THE day is breaking,
We are living, we are dwelling
In a grand and awful time!
In an age on ages telling;
To be living is sublime.
Hark! the waking up of nations—
Gog and Magog to the fray!
Hark! What soundeth? 'Tis creation's
Groaning for its latter day."

Yes, the time is hastening. God is rolling on the ages with awful sweep and force. He is crowding a whole century of opportunities into a day. He is bringing the world together, so that the Church may compass it, know it, traverse it, a hundred-fold quicker and better than in former generations. Competent engineering authorities assure us that in five years we shall be able to go round the world in forty days; and go in all the comfort and with all the security of our modern civilization! And are not such facts the voice of God, speaking out of the cloud to His people to go forward?—S.

WE beg our friends and patrons to be a little lenient in their judgment of this our first number. The call to the editors was sudden and unexpected. It found them both full of work, and yet they dared not decline what seemed a call of Providence. We have done what we could, at short notice, and with the material and help we could command; and yet we have not realized our ideal. We hope to improve as we get familiar with the work and gather in a vaster and more select amount of material. We expect also to enlist competent pens to aid us in the Literary department, ensuring greater variety and ability. We have also arranged for assistance in Statistical matters, and fuller information from our Editorial Correspondents. The editors are mainly responsible for this initial number.—S.

As it is pleasant to know whose thoughts one is reading, the following rule will be adopted: All editorials will have the initial of the writer. The names of other writers will be given in connection with their contributions. To Parts I., V. and VIII. both editors will contribute. Dr. Pierson will conduct Part VI., while his associate will be responsible for Parts II., III. and VII.

Through an oversight, Dr. Pierson was not credited, as he should have been, for Mr. Wilder's Biography, on pp. 7-16. An excellent likeness of Mr. Wilder will be found in the number.—S.