The Missionary Review of the World — October 1895

TOlIB OF EZR_ OX THE TIGRIS

A GLIMPSE OF THE CHEEK AT Bl'SRAH. ARABIA. MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.

VOL. XVIn. No.lO.-.Oltl&riu.-OO~OBER.-VoL. YIn. No.lO.-Ne?JISerie8.

MIRAOLES OF MISSIONS.-No. XXIV.

* THE ROMANCE OF THE HovA BIBLE.

BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.

As the heart makes the theology, so, it is to be feared, it often makes the history, or at least misreads it. Because amid the four millions of Madagascar nine tenths still ramain heathen, there is on the part of some no little proneness to depreciate the grand results of Protestant missions there, and to disparage the magnitude of the work begun in 1820.

We have thought well to reproduce, from the ·panorama of these seventy-five years, one scene which is at once full of romance and reality, pathetic and poetic, vivid in its contrasts and intense in its interest-the story of the Malagasy Bible. Christian missions have many such pictures, which need no retouching by humau hands to make them brilliant with historic lustre, and fascinating with romantic beauty; but this story of the Hova Scriptures wiJl bear to be Fut beside any similar narrative of this Illissionary century.

Seventy-five years ago two humble Welshmen landed on the coast of Madagascar-David Jones and David Griffiths. But one year apart in their arrival at Antananarivo, they were the pioneers of Protestant missions on this great island, which has been called the Britain of the Dark Continent.

They found the French missio~, which had preceded them by more than a century and a half, had scarce left even a permanent footprint to mark its twenty years of experiment. Madagascar was still virgin soil ; the people lacked all true knowledge of Christ, and had not even a written language. It waa still a pioneer work that was to be done ; and a score of years of teaching, discouragement, and hardship had failed even to lay the foundations for a church of Christ.

* See" Mada,galiCal'.of To-d&y." By Rev. W. E. ColllliDl. F. U. Revell" Co.

JlI&ACLIII 0.- 1II11l0lfS

The reason was obvious. Roman Catholics had made there, as in 1M) many other places, the fatal mistake of not gitJing to the J"OPle the Wortl of God. God has ordained that no mission work shall be lasting which does not magnify the Holy Scriptures as the corner-stone of Christian education. These two WcIslunen recognized the cause of the failure of Nacquart and Gondree, and they began, as soon as they learned the Malagasy tongue, and when, in fact, they were u yet novices in this strange language, to translate into it the Word of God. Distrusting their own imperfect acquaintance with the vernacular, they selected from their more promising ~cholars, some as usistante, and they are still honored in Madagascar as "The Twelve." So faithful was the work done, that by March, 1830, only ten years after D~vid Jones had reached the capital, the first edition of three thousand copies of the New Testament was com. pleted j and considerable portions of the Old Testament had likewise been translated.

The devil now came down, having great wrath, as though he knew that, with an open Bible, his time would be short. Already the Word of God we had begun to turn the little world of the HoVAS upside down; and need no greater proof of the mighty power and inlluence it had begun to wield among the people than the organized opposition it now encountered.

Soon after King Radama I. died, in 1828 clouds began to gather OD the horizon, and lurid lightnings played amid the darkness. There were threatenings of a coming storm, and seven years later the violence of a malicious and cruel persecution burst upon the infant church. Queetl Ranavalona I.-the Bloody Mary of Madagucar-issued her famous edict against the religion of the Christian's Bible, March 1st, 1835.

At that time a part of the Book of Job, and the whole of the Old Testament from Ezekiel to Malachi, remained yet to go through the press. Uncertain how soon, by expulsion or martyrdom, they might have to leave the young church to itself, the missionaries prayed for time and strength to complete the Malagasy Bible. It wu like attempting to gather up household goods and put them in a place of shelter when a volcano WIUI belching out lava and ashes overhead. Undismayed by danger, undaunted by difficulty, deserted by timid converts, and watched by a suspicious government, they toiled without resting and prayed without ceasing.

Unable to secure native aid, they had to do the work of printing aDd even of composing type; but by the end of June, four months after the edict of intolerance had pealed out its thunders, the first bound copies of the complete Bible were ready for the HOTa Church !

And now the next question wu bow to prevent this whole editiOD from destruction by the Satanic queen and her sernle miDions. Most of these new Bibles were secretly scattered among· the converts in whose piety and loyalty they could repose most confidence. But, for greater securi~1' and so that, if all these were discovered and consigned to the lIames, as many of them were, a precious remnant might I1U'vlVe, they bnriedsevellty

189r;.] KIRACLES OJ' KI88IONS. '728

copies in the earth-precious seed for a future harvest when the storm should have spent its fury.

They had done their work none too soon or too speedily i and now their expulsion was decreed, and for twenty-five years Protestant missionariel!l were exiles. The translators of the Bible were driven from Madagascar, but the Bible they had translated was not so easily driven away. In th. story of that martyr church two facts stand out like opposing mountain peaks on a landscape-like Gerizim, the mount of blessing, and Ebal, the mount of curse, at the gateway to the plains of Sychar-the intense hatred of the persecuting queen and her court toward the new Bible, and. the equally intense love and devotion of the Hova martyrs toward that hateci and proscribed book.

History furnishes few more pathetic tales of heroism, even where touched with the pencil of romantic fancy, than is found in the Inartyr church of Madagascar. The blessed Book had to be treasured in secret, and in secret read and studied. Discovery meant the sure destruction of the book, and the almost equally sure death of the possessor. Every copy of the Bible was therefore kept and read at risk of life. A quarter of a century is a long period of testing i but they stood th~ test. When some of the Bibles were found, as they were, and committed to the flames, they hid the rest in trunks of trees and in rock caves, and many of them committed large portions to memory, that at least one imperishable record might be preserved which no fire could destroy. And, when the missionaries once more found welcome at Madagascar, very few complete Bibles were. left i perhaps not more than a dozen or so survived i and with these was associated a most pathetic interest. They were thumbed and worn into shreds, or patched and so preserved, but treated as precious relics that no price could buy i and he was counted specially bappy who could produce even a few leaves of the sacred Word, however soiled or ragged through much use, or mildewed with the mould of the damp place where they had been secreted.

The revision of this early translation supplies in its way a story scarcely less romantic. On December 1st, 1873, eight foreigners and three natives began a work, not completed until thirteen years later, of retranslation. When the first Bible had been prepared, the knowledge of the language had been so imperfect that, as in all other similar cases, errors had inevitably crept in, and it became necessary to prepare another version, embodying all the results of later and, more accurate scholarship. On that new Revision Committee five denominations of Christians were represented, all working in loving harmony during all the years of the work, though only two Europeans and one native, who were members at the inception, remained on the committee until its completion.

The meetings were held on Wednesdays, and two sittings of three hours each were given to the task. So slowly and carefully was the work done that a day was sometimes spent on a dozen verses, though sometimes from sixty to eighty were covered. But what a beautiful sight in God's eyes it must have been, when, for nearly fourteen years, Anglicans and Lutherans, Presbyterians, Independents and Friends sat every week studi- ously seeking to make a new and complete Bible for the people, forgetting all minor differences in one absorbing aim and work! and, as Mr. Cousins beautifully says, even Mr. Richardson's Malagasy Dictionary lying com- paratively unused on the table, because at one end was a living lexicon of the native language in the person of three native helpers, * to whom, in fact, the final re,·ision was mainly entrusted.

When the labor of these long years reached completion, and the prayers of more than six hundred successive sessions had been answered, it was felt that a thanksgiving service should signalize the close of such a gigantic task. And the place chosen for such a praise service-there could be none so appropriate-was the stone memorial church at Ambonin' Ampamari- nana, the sanctuary reared on the verge of the precipice over which, thirty- eight years before, fourteen Malagasy martyrs had been fiung, because they loved that Bible and would not disown the Christ it had revealed !

But in what different circumstances that thanksgiving service was held!

When that earliest edition had been completed, a storm of pitiless perse- , cation was beating on the heads of native Christians, before which even the ,translators were driven away. Now it was eighteen years since the public burning of the idols, and at the thanksgiving meeting behold His Excellency, Rainilaiarwony, the Prime Minister, sent by a Christian queen, Ranavalona II., the first Christian sovereign of Madagascar, to represent her and convey to all who, had aided in this great work the thanks of the queen. With what emotions must they who remembered the horrors of the reign of the first Ranavalona have heard this noble premier, the queen's consort, as he told of the profound personal interest his royal wife had taken in the work of revision, and how in her jealousy for its perfec- tion she had herself often suggested to the revisers certain suitable words and phrases to convey tho sacred sense. And so in more than two thou- sand congregations and nearly as many schools, representing more than three hundred thousand Protestant Christians, this revised Bible is to be used. .

If facts have any force, surely no one who candidly surveys this pano- ramic scene can doubt that a Divine Artist has been at work. The hand of God has drawn these outlines, and there is a touch of celestial color- ing. The rainbow round about the throne reflects its sevenfold beauty in the history of the Hova Church; there is something which arches this whole seventy-nve years, in sight like unto an emerald. Shall we question the Divine sanction upon missions when seventy-five years among the Hovas work such chang.es and reveal such fruits ~ • P. 122.

THE GOSPEL IN RUSSIA

THE GOSPEL IN RUSSIA.

The writer, in conversation with a highly placed Russian official, in- quired what he thought was the greatest obstacle to the progress of true religion in the great empire of the Czar, and the remarkable answer was immediately given: "There are no obstacles j the people are ready, even the Church is ready. Let the movement but have life, and be in harmony with our Russian sympathies and character, and nothing can oppose or retard it. Before all else, we are a religious people. "

From his peculiar point of view there is much of truth in this dictum of the Russian official. The people are unquestionably prepared for a great religious revival, and in many ways the Orthodox Greek Church shows a liberality and a receptivity which is quite remarkable. Nevertheless, in spite of the official's opinion, there are obstacles to the spread of evangelical religion in Russia, so formidable and so numerous that one almost despairs of seeing them altogether removed in onr day. Let us look for a moment at the position of affairs. Of the one hundred million Russians inhabiting Russia in Europe and Siberia, about eighty millions are orthodox Greek Churchmen, and some twent.y millions are heretics of one school or another-Old Believers, Old Ritualists, Molokans, Stundists, etc. The policy of the Church and State toward dissent has been almost invariably one of severe repression, appalling sometimes in its severity. The result is that persecutor and persecuted view one another with an hostility difficult for people to judge who enjoy perfect religious freedom. Besides, the conduct of the" heretics" themselves has been often so indecorous, so fanatical and intolerant, and the excrescences which they have put forth have been frequently so offensive, that almost all the sympathy felt for them by the warm-hearted and more liberal of the orthodox has been chilled. In Russia, therefore, dissenter and Churchman are face to face, hating one another bitterly, the former excluded from every privilege, from every office in the State, hunted down by those two steady allies, priests and police, prohibited in most cases from worshipping in his own way, his children often taken from him and forcibly brought up in the orthodox faith. The position of the Russian dissenter is an intolerable one, and only the most steadfast belief in the infallibility of his doctrines, and the ever-present hope that his fidelity to principle will have its glorious reward hereafter, could compensate him for his !ifeof toil and trouble, for the ignominy and contempt poured upon him.

There can be no doubt that among the different dissenting bodies in Russia there are, on the whole, far greater evidences of energetic religious life than among the orthodox. The very multiplicity of sects among them, however harmful and disastrous it may be in many ways, is still proof that they are thinking, that religion is a reality to them, that it is a tremendous force playing a controlling part in their lives. Hardly a sect among them that is not eagerly missionary in spirit and practice. Generally it is this very propagandist zeal of theirs which gets them so often into trouble, for no orthodox Russian is allowed to leave the Greek Church without being liable to transportation to Siberia, and the same terrible punishment is likewise meted out to any sectarian who either attempts to or succeeds in perverting any member of the Orthodox Church. These drastic punishments, however, have never deterred enthusiastic propagandists anywhere, and the result in Russia agrees with universal experience, that danger lends attraction to the missionary's work, and that a martyr's crown is often a far greater inducement to work than the prospect of full money-bags and an easy old age.

I am often asked, apart from the Stundists and other Russian sects professing what is known as Protestant doctrine, is there any vital evangelical force at work among the numerous millions of the other heretical bodies f I believe there is. To too great an extent the leaders of the Old Believers, the most numerous of these sects, are taken up with the empty points of ritual which divide them from orthodoxy, their minds are too full of an antipathy almost absurd in its strength to anything modern or that deflects in any way from the methods of their fathers, but their very isolation, and the fact that they give their minds to the consideration of sacred subjects, are evangelical forces of the strongest character. Many of them will not take a New Testament or other religious book in their hands if it is written in modern Russ. They deem it profane to quote Scripture in auy language other than the ancient Slavonic, but this very conservatism of theirs has forced them to pay attention to the Scripturel, and to learn by heart whole chapteri of the Bible, which are handed down orally from father to son, from generation to generation. One of the most affecting services I ever attended was in the little hut of one of these sectaries. Before retiring for the night my host and his wife stood in the middle of the room and recited psalm after psalm, passage after passage, without an error so far as I could judge. Neither of them could read, and their parents and grandparents before them were equally illiterate. After careful study of these, the more ancient of the sectaries, I am led to believe that the vital principles of religion are slowly and steadily finding their way among them, and that there seems to me some slight softening of the asperities which used to mark their dealings with those who were not their co-religionists.

But in addition to the hostile attitude of sect toward sect and of orthodoxy toward heresy, there is another far more fatal obstacle to the uninterrupted course of evangelical truth in Russia. I refer to the influences which centre in the great lay procureur of the Holy Synod, M. Constantine Pobedanostseff. This able man, notwithstanding a temporary eclipse at the accession of the present Czar, is still the most powerful statesman in Russia. He is thoroughly sincere in his notion that the welfare of the empire depends upon the intimate connection of Church and State, and no

I•.] TO fiOfI'ZL IN BVIIIU

pains are too great and no labor is without reward which has for its object the welding together the closest interests of both. Dissent from the Church is, in his view, disloyalty to the empire. The dissenter who, enamored of Luther's doctrines, hangs up a picture of the great reformer in his room, is not far from hanging up a picture of the German Emperor, or from deposing the picture of the Czar. These are in reality M. Pobeda- nostllej!'s views more than once expressed. The passionate love which this statesman bears to his church is part of the fibre of his being. In a well-known passage he once declared to the leaders of the Evangelical Alliance, that it was the Russian Church which stood for two hundred years between Western Europe and the Mongolian invaders from the East, that if the East has left its impre88 too deeply on the Russian character, it is because Russia took upon herself what might have destroyed Europe, and that instead of the Western churches sneering at the supposed intoler- ance and immobility of their Russian aister, they should be filled with admiration at the constancy and fortitude which has enabled her to preserve inviolate her holiest traditions and her undying hopes. Both as Churchman and as politician, therefore, Pobedanostseff will tolerate no deftection from the atandards of the orthodox faith, aud if a handful of peaaants here and there in the interior maintain their right to liberty of conscience, or if the Lutheran pastors of the Baltic provinces interfere with the rights of the RWlSian clerC', or if the Roman Catholics of Poland attempt any undue aasertion of the rights of the Latin Church, they are one and all summarily crushed. We can have nothing but admiration for zeal properly directed and guided by discretion into right channels, but when a highly placed statesman, a man of great culture and knowledge of the world, thinks that he can advance the cause of true religion by petty restrictions, by vexatious harryings of peasants' cottages and kidnapping of their children, by prison and stick and banishment, by depriving hundreds of innocent men and women of their personal rights and privileges, by conduct, in a word, which approaches in its ferocity the methods of the Spanish zealots of the seventeenth century, we have nothing but reprobation for such a statesman, we have nothing but condemnation for his principals, and our most entire sympathies are wholly with the wretched victims who for the faith that is in them remain undaunted in face of the priests and police who hound them on to prison and exile. It was the foolish notion of many well-wishers of Russia that the persecutions which had disgraced the last years of Alexander Ill.'s reign would cease under the sway of Nicholas, but auch hopes have turned out to be groundless, and after a short spell of quiet the jails are again receiving the more prominent of the Stundists and Baptists, and almost every chain of prisoners which crosses the anows of the C~Ucasus from Russia contains one or more representatives of that patient and heroic body of Protestant peasants who have done far more for the real advance of RU8sia than all the states.. mell in Peteraburg.

72i PEACE WITH JAPAN' :RIOTS m SZOllUAN'

But despite persecution and many a dark cloud on the horizon, the outlook in Russia is anything but gloomy. Even if we abide by the somewhat uncertain test of numbers, there is every reason to believe th&t the Protestant or evangelical sects are increasing. If in one or two places the Orthodox Church can boast that it has eradicated dissent, there are innumerable districts all over Russia which now contain il!lolated bodies of Stundists where ten years ago there were none. Th8 very dispersal of these brethren must tend to their rapid increase. Filled with zeal for his cause, the banished man and his family at once start to make known to their neighbors the great truths which have done so muw for them.

Perhaps no factor in the situation is so important and far· reaching as the extraordinary circulation of the Scriptures, which is effected year after year in the mighty empire stretching from the Baltic to the Pacific. Between five and six hundred thousand copies of the Word of God are circulated every year in Russia, and he who would learn what is being actually done in bringing the Gospel to the people of Russia has only to study the deeply interesting reports of the agents of the British and Foreign Bible Society and t.he report of the Russian Society for Circulating the Scriptures. From all parts of the huge country the colporteurs of these societies meet with encouragement. It is not merely in the towns and cities that this work is being done. We read of hundreds of copies being distributed in a village, of the peasants on steamboats sitting all day long reading the Gospell!l, of employers buying copies for their workmen, and officers for their soldiers. The writer of this article has seen the colporteurs at their work, and more than once has noticed the tears start to the eyes of great rough fellows as they became possessed for the first time in their lives of a copy of the New Testament. This wonderful sowing will some day, and some day soon rather than late, bring in a rich harvest of Bible-illuminated souls.

Unquestionably the prospects are bright, and it is safe prophesying that the day is not far distant when the sweet faith and tender paRsions of the Russian nation will be used by the Master in the advancement of his kingdom to the uttermost ends of the world.

PEACE WITH JAPAN! RIOTS IN SZCHUA~ !

BY REV. WILLIAM M. UPCRAFT, SZCHUAN, CHINA.

Again the flame of persecution and destruction has broken forth in China. While lovers of peace specially, and th8 world generally, were rejoicing at the restoration of peace in the Orient, and all were hoping for the fruits of peace in enlarged opportunities for intercourse with the subdued Chinese, Christendom was startled by reports of widespread uprising and persistent attacks on all kinds of missioB :wark and workers, such as have not been known before since the right to travel and rellide in the interior of China was granted to Western nations. On May 29th, a date coincident with the annual fifth month festival, the trouble began at Chentu, the capital city of Szchuan province.

Owing to the recent extension of missionary enterprise in the western provinces, quite a large work was in course of development at Chentu, this being one of the most eligible as it is one of the most important points in this vast inland province. The China Inland Mission (pioneers in this as in many other places), the Methodist Episcopal, and Canadian Methodists, each had a company of workers and a working plant in operation, so that some seventeen adults (all young and nearly all new to the work) and eleven children, English and American, were at home in Chentu.

For some weeks before the actual riot ugly rumors had been spread throughout the city and neighborhood, retailing the old stories of child murder and mutilation, with local embellishments, but nothing serious was apprehended. Missionaries in China are accustomed to a maximum of misrepresentation.

Inflamed with wine toward the close of an exciting day, the crowd of riotous rowdies bore down upon the Canadian premises, forced the doors, took possession of the courts, and finally caused the little handful of helpless missionaries to lieek Hight by a rear gate, where escaping to the city wall, they hid in the darkness till midnight, and then escaped to the house of the Inland Mission. Repeated applications to the officials failed to bring relief, owing, as we now see, to the hostility pf mandarins high in office, who refused the help that might easily have averted the disaster.

Returning early the following morning, the rioters finished their work of destruction upon the Canadian Mission, and then began an attack on the Inland Mission, in which the refugees of the previous night had taken shelter. Flight again was forced upon them, and having no door at the back, the wall was scaled by means of a ladder, and shelter purchased in a neighbor's house, where men, women, and children were hustled behind the curtains of a friendly bed, and the little crowd forced to wait in suspense and discomfort, within earshot of the yelling mob outside.

Who can tell of the hours of suffering in that poor refuge, and the uncertain future pressing upon them all! Meanwhile, over at the Methodist Episcopal Mission a similar scene was being enacted. Calmed somewhat, after the excitement of the previous night, by official assurance that no harm could befall them, the missionaries had returned to their house and arranged themselves for their usual work, when the crowd swept down upon them intent on destruction. Before the outer gate gave wa.y they were able to get the children and a very few things over the back wan, into a loft placed at their disposal by a friendly neighbor. The dust of years was in accumulated wealth on floor and rafters, a hot slln beat npon the unceiled tiles, while the motherli stifled the cries of their babes lest such a sound should attract the rioting crowd in the next yard.

01lJUSTIAN MIllION. IN ABAJtIA

All that day they remained as spectators of the scene, while home and chapel and dispensary, their furniture, books, even trees and 1l0wers, were destroyed, so eager were the crowd to wipe out the traces of the foreigners' home and work.

For ingenuity and diabolical delight in finding reasons why this should be done, the Chentu mob holds the palm. Bones were dug up and displayed, recent corpses exhumed and paraded, chickens killed and their blood smeared around on the walls, as evidence to support the charges made against the missionaries.

At length, from various points the driven, hunted ones were gathered together at the magistrate's yamen and found all safe; no one missing, though many a narrow escape was related as experiences were compared and the day's full total made up.

Starting from this central point, the contagion spread till Kiating, Suifn, Yachow, Lnchow, and many other points were involved. At some only a partial wreck was made, at others again the ruin was complete. In happy contrast to the conduct of the officials at Chentu, the mandarins at some other places did their utmost to protect the foreigners, and in a few cases succeeded.

The full tale cannot now be told. God intervened for His people marvellously, and in all the widespread trouble no life was lost. The native Christians suffered much and suffered well. And China stands again disgraced and discounted in the eyes of Christendom. The causes are not far to seek for this and other similar outbreaks.

It is, in the nature of things, only too true that we reap as we sow. Like seed like harvest. Given a credulous people, an incompetent administration, an assiduous misrepresentation of all foreigners, a relentless slandering of mission work and doctrine, and the result is not difficult to foresee. Sow Hunan placards; reap Szchuan riots.

A diligent inquiry should be promptly instituted in this cass and safeguards devised against a repetition. The right of Westerners to residence thronghout the interior should be made unquestionable, and freedom guaranteed. There is a strong plea in present circumstances for prayer and intercession on behalf of China, her rulers and people, that she may see her hour of opportunity and acceptance.

THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF MODERN CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN ARABIA.

IIY GJ:NERAL F. T. HAIG.

It would be deeply interesting, did space permit, to trace the gradual unfoldings of the Divine Providence in the re-introduction of the Gospel into Arabia, thirteen hundred years after Christianity had been blotted out in that land by the sword of Mohammed and his successors, but the limits imposed upon this article forbid anything more than a glance at this part of the subject. For many centuries the Arabs had ceased to be a menace to Christianity and civilization. As the great missionaries of Islam they had spread their creed over nearly half the African Continent, and the ever-advancing wave of Mohammedanism had begun even to threaten the young Christian churches on the western coast. Still it was not until some time between 1880 and 1890 that Arabia itself, the cradle and home of the race, seriously engaged the attention of the Church of Christ. About that time, however, it became evident that the Spirit of God was moving upon the hearts of His people, and that the yearninga of His love were beginning to find expression in their prayers for the 1000t sons of Ishmael. "For some years," wrote an American minister in the far West, " I and my people have been praying for Arabia. " More than one appeal went forth, pleading for the Arabs. Interest was awakened. Old Dr. Lansing, of the American Mission in Egypt, who for over thirty years had labored there, waiting for the dawn of a brighter day for the Moslem world, when one of these appeals fell into his hands, was all on tire to start for Yemen. "I could scarcely keep him," said his wife, "from mounting his donkey and setting off at once." Keith-Falconer felt the same mighty impulse, left home and country, and settled oat Aden, which for two short years became his mission field, and then his grave. The mantle of the elder Lansing fell upon his son, and he with a few other kindred spirits rose up at the Divine call and started the Arabian Mission, which now occupies the three most important points on the eastern side of the peninsula. Another mission, afterward taken up by the Church Missionary Society, was commenced at Kerak:, on the mountains of Moab, by a Methodist preacher, Mr. Lethaby and his wife; and Bagdad, which had already been occupied by the same society, in connection with their PerSian Mission, now assumed new importance as a great Arab city. Finally the venerable Bishop French, who, after some thirty years of missionary labor in India, could not, though feeble and broken, cease from his loved employ, commenced work: at Muscat, where shortly after, in a little nook: at the foot of the cliffs, where the waves have washed up just sand enough to afford space for a few graves, he was laid to rest, consecrating the whole movement by his noble example of devotedness Ullto death for the salvation of his fellow· men.

Thus six of the most important strategic positions aroUlld the great peninsula are now held for Christ : those on the East Coast and at the head of the Gulf, commanding the whole hinterland of Central Arabia, by the (American) Arabian Mission i that at Aden by the Scotch Mission; and the two on the north by the Church Missionary Society. When we remember that this has been accomplished in little more than ten years since the attention of the Christian Church was first drawn to the subject, including all the preliminary organizations at, home aud inquiries abroad, before actual settlement on the spot could be effec'ted, there is cause for thankfulness and praise. At the same time it is necessary to point out that each of the three stations of the Arabian Mission is held at the present moment by only one man, whose death or disablement by sickness would instantly stop the work at that point. Immediate and strong reinforceme~ts are called for. Only one side of the great fortress is as yet, and that but partially, invested, and no advance into the citadel, the great populous centres of Nejd and Jebel Shommar, is possible without further help. Ten millions of Arabs need- something more than half a dozen men for their effectual evangelization. It is surprising, indeed, how much of vigorous forward movement and exploration has been done, chiefly by the Americans, in this short period. They have explored the beautiful mountainous country of Yemen in the southwest; several hundred miles of the coast of Hadramaut on the south, including the centres of Makallah and Sheher; and many hundred miles of the Euphrates and Tigris on the north, making the acquaintance there of new forms of Arab life, and of the interesting little community of the Sabeans, the descendants of the Hemero-baptists of the first centuries.

They have annexed Bahrein and Muscat to Busrah, their original settlement, and Rev. S. M. Zwemer has pushed his reconnaissances inland as far as Khateef and Hofhoof, on the way to Nejd and Central Arabia, finding more than one evidence of t.he truthfulness of Palgrave's picturesque descriptions of that country. Thousands of Bibles, Testaments, and portions of Scripture have been scattered by the Bible societies and missionaries around the various mission centres. Thus a good beginning of the great work has been made, most of the strategic points for mission work have been occupied, but nothing more; but enough at least has been done to show that if only the men now in the field be properly backed up by the churches at home, not many years will elapse before all Arabia, north, south, east, and west, shall have heard the joyful sound, and " Ishmael shall live."

Let us now look a little more closely into the conditions of this great problem, the evangelization of Arabia. Nothing need here be said about the geography, climate, etc., of the country. Ample information already exists upon this part of the subject, and may be easily found elsewhere by those who desire it. Of the present distribution of political power, however, some account must be given, and I take the following from a tract by Rev. S. M. Zwemer.

" Sinai is Egyptian, and also the 200 miles of coast south of the Gulf of Akaba. Hedjaz belongs to the Turk, and he also grasps (not holds) Yemen, Asir, El Hasa, and Irak. All the rest of Arabia yields neither love, obedience, nor tribute to the Sublime Porte. The oppressed tribes of Upper Yemen were recently crushed into submission, but do not despair of future revolution. El Rasa (on the East Coast) frets like an Arab steed under the yoke of taxation, and Mecca itself dictates at times to the

THE TOMB OF A MOSLElIl SAINT AT

2. A CONVERTED 1Il0SLElIl HELPER. 3. REV. S. M. ZWEMER IN ARAB DRESS. 4. NATIVE HOUSES AT BUSRAH.

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN ARABIA. ~83

power behind the throne at Constantinople. The tribes near Aden, and the entire South Coast, including Oman with. Muscat, are in one way or another under subsidy or ' protection' by the English, who ruIe the Gulf, and have a voice at Busrah and Bagdad. Wide, wild Nejd bends to the iron sceptre of the greatest Arab of our day, Ibn Rasheed, the Ameer of Jebel Shommar. For the rest, nomads roam the free desert, acknowledging no Sultan save the sword ; they hold the parliament of war or peace in the black tents of Kedar. Thus, within the last fifty years have the schisms of Islam, the turmoil of Arab rebellion, and the diplomacy of English commerce, burst the barriers of the land of Ishmael for the Allconquering Son of Isaac ; the very cradle of Islam is aJmost unveiled for the heralds of the Cross." To ~hich I may add that Bahrein, the name given to two islands which lie just off the coast of EI Hasa, and are the centre of the pearl fishery, has in a remarkable manner been preserved from Turkish aggression, and is ruled by an Arab Sheikh under the control of the British Resident at Bushire. The islands have a large population, are the nearest point along the coast to Nejd and all Central Arabia, and are therefore of the utmost importance as a mission station for an advance in that direction. In all these political arrangements we clearly trace the overruling hand of God, curbing Turkish aggression, suppressing Wahabee fanaticism, and so preparing the way for His Gospel. There is not room to dwell here upon other influences which have told in the saIDe direction, such as the extension of commerce and intercourse with India, and the spectacle of the beneficent results of the British Government in that country, in Aden, and in Egypt.

But of yet greater interest is the question of the present religious condition of the Arab races. Does Islam retain its hold upon them as firmly as ever ~ How does their present mental attitude toward it, and toward the Christianity which it once supplanted, compare with that of the past ages and with that of the Arabs of North Africa ~ The question can only be lightly touched upon here. To treat of it at all satisfactorily would need a wider and fuller acquaintance than we yet possess, not only with the extent to which the outward forms of their religion are observed, but also with the inner thoughts and life of the people. Arabia is an immense country, about three fourths the size of India. Vast portions of it have as yet been unvisited except by a chance traveller passing hastily through, and having little real intercourse with the inhabitants. There may be lying, deep below the surface, phases of religious thought in parts of it with which we are wholly unacquainted. Has Christianity quite died out in the course of ages, or are there still faint memories and traditions of it which have influenced the religious ideas of the present day ? We know not. It is certain, however, that in another country which might be named such a survival of as remote a past has actually taken place, and may yet prove a powerful factor in the conversion of its inhabitants. In general terms, however, it may perhaps be said that the influences of

C. .I.TLUi MIIIBIOlf. Ilf AllA.:aIA

time have told less unfavorably, from the Christian point of view, upon the Arabs of Arabia than upon the scattered but probably equally numerous ponions of the race in North Africa. Romanism with its idolatry, on t.he one hand, and the scepticism and atheism which are the reaction from it, on the other, are the only forms of religious opinion, under the general name of Christianity, which the Arabs of North Africa have been acquainted with. The one they contemptuously reject, but. the other is secretly spreading among the more cultured classes, especially in Algeria and Tunis, where French education is rapidly extending, and the state of mind it produces is even more unfavorable to the reception of the truth than the most fanatical forms of Mohammedanism.

The isolation of Arabia has to a great extent preserved it from these forms of error, while there has been nothing within the borders of the peninsula itself to strengthen or resuscitate faith, or effectually to counteract the disintegrating forces of sectarian division, Persian speculative thought, and, more perhaps than either, the indifference to all religion. questions, which seems, according to some authorities, to· be a characteristic of the race, and which in the case of the; Bedouin is said to have led even Mohammed to despair of their conversion. In point of fact, Islam from the very first seems to have taken far less hold upon the Arabs than might be supposed. Immediately after the death of its founder a general revolt from his teachings took place, and for centuries the popular religion seems to have been little more than semi-paganism. Wahabeeism, which was an attempt to reinstate the religion of the prophet by his favorite weapon, the sword, has failed egregiously, and is now in the last stage of decay. The Arabs remain Mohammedans simply because they know of nothing better j fanatical in some parts, doubtful and bewildered in others, not because they have rejected the Gospel, but because they have never heard it. The Bedouin, constituting perhaps a fourth or fifth of the population, are for the most part Mohammedan only in name, observing the prescribed forms in the neighborhood of towns, but speedily casting them aside on regaining the desert. Yet there are men among them not without reverent thoughts of the Creator, derived from the contemplation of His works, thoughts which, according to Palmer, take sometimes the form of solemn but simple prayer. A missionary who some years ago spent more than two months with one of these tribes, living with the Sheikh, and accompanying them in their wanderings from pasturage to pasturage, found them willing though not particularly interested listeners, and singularly amenable to the Word of God as the one authority in matters of faith. The Sheikh, seeing that the missionary disliked travelling on the Sunday, inquired the reason, and willingly accepted the word of the Book as de. cisive upon the point, and indeed upon every other point, and from that time the tribe never marched upon the Sabbath. How sad it seems that 10 few of the race have as yet come under the sound of the Gospel !

In the cities and toWJll there is, of course, a more rigorous observance

CIIlUSTIAN MISSIONS IN ABABIA

of the outward forms of Mohammedanism, but there is also among the upper and middle classes, especially on the eastern coast, widespread doubt. A missionary writes: "There are very plain indications of an undercurrent of scepticism and free thought. Indeed, to anyone who knows the Mohammedans intimately, it is scarcely an undercurrent at all. I know men in the most learned Mohammedan society of B– who, judged by their dress and outward appearance, would be taken for bulwarks of the Mohammedan religion, and who yet have no more belief in it than Professor Huxley has in Christianity. One of these men astonished me by his expressions of downright loathing of the religion of which he is a professed teacher."

It would be foreign to the special object of this paper, and altogether beyond its scope, to give any detailed description of the doctrines and practices of Islam. It may suffice to say with regard to them all, that holiness of heart has absolutely no place in the religion of Mohammed, and that just as polygamy, unlimited concubinage, and divorce, being regarded as of Divine sanction, are not in the least degree revolting to the moral sense of its votaries, so there is no connection, either in fact or in popular estimation, between the most rigorous observance of the outward forms, which are of its very essence, and a holy life.

Arabs are not in the least deceived by what they know to be merely outward and ritual, and wholly without effect upon the heart j they draw, in fact, an unfavorable inference from much outward show of religion. In North Africa they have a saying, " Shun a man who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca once; live not in the same street with one who has performed it twice ; and reside not in the same country with one who has visited the Kaaba thrice. " I once myself formed one of a circle of some twenty gnests in the house of an Arab gentleman, who (excepting myself), when the evening adtham, or call to prayer, sounded forth from the mosque, joined the host in the most solemn and impressive recitation of the prayers, with the prescribed genuflexions and prostrations, but of whom he afterward privately declared that everyone was a thief, handing me at the same time the key of a room where he had had my baggage locked up, and warning me to be on my guard. The true Christian idea of prayer appears to be wholly wanting, though in times of great distress short ejaculatory prayer will be put up. The intercession of saints is much resorted to; prayer is offered at their tombs. At times the poor people, failing to receive an answer to such prayers, resort in their despair to necromancy.

In Arabia the women" pray." "At home," says Mr. S. M. Zwemer, "a larger proportion observe the times of prayer than do the men." (This is not the case in North Africa.) In the towns girls seldom, and boys never, "pray," until they are over twelve years of age. Women. are seldom or never allowed to attend the public prayers in the mosque.

Few of the Arabs can read, perhaps not above 10 per cent ot the dwellers in towns, and only some of these nnderstand what they read of the Koran. The Bedouin are wholly illiterate. Slaves are imported via Jeddah and the Persian Gulf, they are sold in Busrah privately, and doubtless in other towns, being brought from Mecca as merchandise by the returning pilgrims. Polygamy is· practically universal among the well-to-do classes, and divorce, almost unlimited, with its attendant horrors of cruelty and. suffering, takes its place among the poorer. Thus, with polygamy, slavery, and divorce (all sanctioned by their religion) the state of Arab society may be imagined. Happily space does not permit me to enlarge upon this terrible subject.

So, with fasts and prayers and pilgrimages, hoping in his good works, the mercy of God, and the intercession of the Prophet (such intercession being wholly unauthorized by the Koran), the poor Arab wends his way down through life, is laid to rest at last with his face toward Mecca, and passes into eternity with a lie in his right hand. One thing he never knew, that gracious message that was intended to be familiar as a household word to every member of the human race, that God loved him as God only can love, that Christ died for him, and that a free pardon and full salvation awaited his acceptance. He knew it not because he was never told, and he was never told because for ages the Church lost the blessed truth, and since it recovered it has neglected the one great duty, to proclaim it to every creature. Thank God those times of ignorance are nearly over. Through the tender mercy of our God the day-spring from on high has visited Arabia. And may we not hope that the churches which have taken the lead in this gr~at movement will spare no effort, neither men, nor life, nor money, to carry it on to the destined consummation.

Thus far we have traced the rise and progress up to the present time of the Arabian missions. A few brief remarks as to the future may not inappropriately conclude this paper.

1. It will be seen from what has been said that all the western and southern sides of Arabia are still without a missionary. The Free Church of Scotland Mission at Aden is doing an important work, and there is a wide field for extension before it. Not, however, being acquainted with its plans for the future, I do not venture to say anything on the subject here. Jeddah, however, the port of Mecca, might afford a base where, in spite of the intense jealousy and watchfulness of the Turk, a work might be begun. Asir and Yemen may not be accessible just at this moment, but they soon will be so.

2. As to the rest of Arabia, including the eastern, central, and southern provinces, in fact quite one half of the peninsula, I am indebted to the Rev. S. M. Zwemer for the following sketch, the result of four years' study of the subject on the spot, of a missionary scheme, such as the Church which sent him and his fellow-laborers out can hardly stop short of. I give this sketch only in very abbreviated form. Such a scheme would

—-~—— – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – —

ARCH OF CTESIPHOX NEAR BAGDAD.

ARAB PILGRIMS BOUND FOR lHECC_~.

OllRlSTLUT lUBSIONB IN ARABIA

include thre~ provinces, HasS3, Oman, and Nejd, with Busr.1h on the north, and a part at least of Hadramaut on the south. There would be twelve centres-viz., the seven coast towns already occupied, or visited, by the American Mission, four inland towns, Hail, Boreyda, HOfhoof, and Riad in Najd, and two or three inland towns of Oman, and Hadramaut (MakalIah is included in the coast centres). These would require twentyfour missionaries and twelve native helpers. The cost would be, in round numbers, $30,000 a year-viz., *25,000 in addition to the present outlay on the missionarie!!l and native helpers, new in the field. "With this demand supplied, all of Eastern, Central, and Southern Arabia would in ten years be p&rmeated with the Gospel message, by word and printed page. Leaving all other results with God, is that too much to pay for such a privilege! Can the Dutch Reformed Church do it ? Will she do it 1" To such an appeal there can be but one reply. That Church when it took up the mission originally commenced on an independent basis as the Arabian Mission, did so with full knowledge of the plans and purposes of its founders, which, as the very title of the mission shows, embraced nothing less thaD. !!Iuch a comprehensive scheme of evangelization as that above described. Surely then that church will feel it to be both a duty and a privilege to carry that scheme through to the end.

is As to the qualifications needed for the work, here a description by one of the missionaries now in the field: " 1. A strong and sound constitution. " 2. Ability to acquire the language. This is the one aud only quaIl- fication needfRl, mentally. Scholarship is good, but not at all necessary. Deep and abstruse arguers will not be wanted in Arabia for fifty years to come.

" 3. As to character-humility, patience, love-these three. A man with a hot temper could never stand three seasons in the Gulf. But after you have got these for foundation, pile 'on all the fire and zeal and enthusiasm you can get.

" Lastly, men foll of the Holy Ghost, sine qua non. " Christians of America, hearken to your brethren's call from the Gulf, come and take your stand by their side. The future of Arabia is largely in your hands. It will be very much what you make it. "Who among you is willing to consecrate this day his, service to the Lord ~ The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up."

SPECIMEN OF A MOHAMMEDAN PRAYER.-·O God, bestow blessing upon our lord Mohammed the beloved, and upon his father Abraham the friend, and upon his brother Moses the word, and upon the faithful Jesus the Spirit of God, and upon David and Solomon and Zechariah and John the Baptist and their people, as long as the thoughtful ones remember thee, and the thoughtless ones neglect to think of them.

THE JEWS IN PERSIA

THE JEWS IN PERSIA.-I.

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

The Jews in Persia can themselves Beni-Israel, which accords with the Bible account of the captivity of the Israelites in "the c:ties of the Medes," " by the river Gozan," which may be the Guzul-Uzun, the longest river of Media. Shahpoor II. transported Jews from Armenia to Persia.

The Jews now found in the limits of ancient Media are in the western part, having been driven there by Tamerlane. Starting at the northwest. ern border, we find them in Salmas, Oroomiah, Suldooz, Sonjbulak, Miandnab, Sakkus, Senna, Kermanshah, Ramadan, and other places. In Azerbijan there are twelve hundred and thirty houses of Jews. They are found also in Teheran, Kashan, Khorasan, and Ispahan.

These remnants have survived the persecutions of centuries. Tabriz has none except a few strangers. The cause is that old slander which is constantly renewed even in the present day and in Europe. It was reported by some renegade Jews that the Jews had killed a missing Mohammedan child and drunk his blood. The late Kala-Begi narrated how the police snatched a Jew, thns accused, from the hands of an infuriated mob, which followed him mto the courtyard yellmg for hIS blood. The Kala-Begi bastinadoed him to appease the mob, and afterward told the English consul, who remonstrated with him for beating an innocent man, that it was the only way to save him ahve from the mob. At that time the Jews fled from Tabriz.

A somewhat similar affair occurred in Oroomiah in Dr. Perkins's time. A Mohammedan infant was found dead before a Jew's door. The latter was accused of murder and arrested. The Mohammedans collected in an angry mob, and for several days surrounded the governor's palace, demanding that all the Jews should be put to death. To appease the mob, the Jew was delivered to them, beheaded, and burned.

In Meshed, the ancient Tus, the Jews have resided for centuries. It was one of their rabbis who made the first Persian version of any part of the Bible in the eighth or tenth century. They continued there near the sacred shrine of the Emaum Reza, until several decades ago a report was spread that the Jews had killed a dog in ridicule of the ceremonies of the Festival of Sacrifice. A mob rose, killed a Jew, tore down some of their dwellings, and finally gave the Jews the alternative of Islam or the sword. In fear of death they accepted an outward profession of Islam.

At Balfurush, in Mezanderan, in 1866, a massacre of Jews occurred. * The cause was, perhaps, a lack of rain. For this an efficacious remedy was supposed to be the disinterment and scattering broadcast of the dust * See Mormsey's "Through the Caucasus and Persia."

TJ[]I JBWI IN PBlUIIJ.•

of a Jew. For some unknown cause the Mussulmans rose one night, set fire to the Jewish quarter, and killed eighteen men and six women. Two of the men were besmeared with petroleum and burnt alive. The rest, to the number of four hundred and fifty, escaped to the woods. The British Minister made representations for redress. The Shah gave orders for the punishment of the culprits, and indemnifying the Jews j but the mollahs rose in their wrath that anyone should be punished for injuring a dog of a Jew. Popular fanaticism rose high in Teheran. An attack on the British Legation and on foreigners in general was even contemplated. The Shah was alarmed by the agitation, and to appease the mollahs dis· missed some French army officers from his service. Finally the Jews were partially indemnified for their losses.

In November, 1892, I was in Hamadan during a reign of terror for the Jews. 'Wishing to find a cause for the cholera, the Mohammedans turned their wrath upon the Jews, an ambitious mollah instigating the attack. Several Jews were seized and beaten. The mollah commanded that the Jews should wear a distinctive cloak, should have a badge of red on their coats, should not come out on rainy days, should dismount until a passing Mussulman went by j that Jewish women should wear black veils, and houses of Jews not be higher than those of their Mussulman neighbors. Some of the Jews took refuge with nobles, others fled to the telegraph office and appealed to the Shah and the English Legation. A crowd of Mussulmans shouting, "Ya Ali ! Ya Ali !" surrounded the refugees and threatened them, so that a dozen were frightened into accepting Islam. The Jews in Bagdad hearing of the disturbances, appealed to their friends in England. Lord Rosebery made inquiries concerning the affair. The Shah sent word that the mollah should come to Teheran. A month of confusion followed. Once the police seized the mollah. A frenl'ied crowd attacked the governor, looted his house, and killed a servant. It then turned toward the Jewish quarter, crying, "Kill the Jews!" The gate of their quarter was closed and the Jews escaped.

One young Jewish convert, who is a pupil in the school, was surrounded by some Mussulmans and pressed to become a Mussulman. He stood his ground as a Christian, and afterward gave before the governor the reasons for his faith.

After a while the mollah was taken to Teheran, and the Jews were again in peace.

These incidents do not show the continual state of the Jews, but they well indicate the continual attitude of the people toward them. Continual watchfulness is necessary on the part of the government, as there is no moment when fanaticism may not direct its attacks against the Jews. The Shah always tries to protect them from such attacks and oppressions.

Thus situated, it is no wonder that the Jews have a downcast mien and abject manner. They live apart from all, and not only hate, but no doubt despise their oppressors. They largely maintain their laws of food. I

'740 THE JEWS IN" PERSIA

invited a Salmas Jew to send bis boy to our Tabriz boarding-school. He replied that God had commanded the Jews not to eat the l-read of other races. Some Jewish doctors were invited to the wedding of our teacher in Zenjan. Separate dishes of natural products, as honey and fruits and bread prepared by one of their own race, were set before them. They gave thanks to God both before and after the meal. It is only lately and with difliculty that they have at last yielded their prejudice in Teheran and Hamadan, and pupils have begun to eat with their companions of other races. The Jews of Persia always kill their own animals, -and cut the meat into bits in extracting the sinews and veins from it. They are particular about the condition of the meat. If they find the liver diseased, they will eat none of the animal. Armenians, who are not so particular, sometimes buy such a butchered cow for one dollar.

Christians in Persia somewhat reciprocate the feeling of the Jews toward them. I took lodging in Sonjbulak in a Jew's house, much to the astonishment of the Armenians. They did not want me to drink milk furnished by Jews, saying it was unclean. Our evangelist for the .Jews in Sonjbulak told me that his innate feeling of aversion to Jewish food was so great that when he first plucked up courage to eat it, it stuck in his throat.

The Jews are limited in their occupations. Very few, if any, are farmers. Many sell dry goods in the bazaar or peddle them in the villages. Some are goldsmiths and jewellers, and dealers in antiques, real and false. A considerable number are physicians, sometimes celebrated, and the Mussulmans who refuse their food will take their medicines. In Hamad,n there are about one hundred Jewish doctors, and many more druggists. Many of them are liquor-sellers, and are themselves much addicted to drink.

On other points of morality they differ little from the rest of the population. They are polygamists, as the Mohammedans, and with the same results. They are very strict in keeping their Sabbath. They will not light a fire on that day, but will hire a Mussulman to do it for them. Some say that Sabbath-breaking is the sin for which they are suffering. They look for a national return to their own land, when they shall rule over the nations. Their schools are taught by their rabbis. Most of the men can read Hebrew, though they do not understand it perfectly. Their spoken language is an Aramaic akin to the Syriac. They speak also either Persian, Kurdish, or Turkish, according to the language spoken in the region in which they reside. They best understand the Persian Bible in the Hebrew character.

(To be C01IIJlud«l.)

HI88ION.A.BY JilFFOBT AND THE NESTOBIAN CHUBCH. '741

RELATION OF THE PROTESTANT MISSIONARY EFFORT TO THE NESTORIAN CHURCH.* BY REV. WILLIAM A. SHEDD, OROOMIAH, PERSIA.

It is generally known that the purpose of Protestant mIssIonaries among the Nestorians was at first to reform the old church, or rather to revIve spiritual life within that body. Various causes prevented the reali- zation of this effort in the manner and to the extent anticipated, and the missionaries have striven to establish an evangelical church, scriptural in constitution and spiritual in life. The change has been gradual, not sud- den, and the' relation of the old and the reformed Churchmen has never been that of bitter hostility, except in individual cases. The old Church is the mother Church, and the history and traditions of the past are rightly cherished by all. Within the last ten years a new force has come into the field, which is doing much to rear a wall of partition and to excommu- nicate and place reformed Christians under the ban. The old Church is persistently warned against the errors and schism of Protestant heresy by the members of the mission of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Just as far as possible, directly and indirectly, by precept and by example, in ser- mons, in teaching, through Nestorian ecclesiastics, the old Church is being , fortified against Protestant influences. This is simply a statement of fact based on daily increasing evidence.

'Vhat right Anglicans have to pose as the exponents of Nestorianism or Englishmen to represent the long descent of Assyrian Christianity is not easy to comprehend. They are unable to commune in the Nestorian Church, for she is, from the High Church point of view, the most venerable schismatic in Christendom, and yet forsooth t.hey offer themselves as her stanch defenders. Our right to preach the Gospel of repentance and life to those who call themselves Syrian Christians and our duty to do so are based on the great command, not only to baptize, but also to teach men to do.

I shall attempt briefly to discuss the question before us, viewing suc- cessively the old Church itself, the Reformed Church, and the Protestant missionaries from abroad.

1. The Old Ohurch. The theology of this ancient Church of the East iii, of course, Nicene, with the addition of the Nestorian definition of the relation between the human and Divine natures in the incarnate Son of God. Definite and logical development has not gone much farther, due partly to the character of the Syriac mind, impulsive in initiative and often vigorous in execution, but not constructive of either theological or ecclesiastical system. Another reason, perhaps the principal one, is that the vital conJiict of this church • A paper read at the Conference filf Mi~~ionarie8 to Persia, Hamadan, September, 1894. •

UroB'l' UD THE NESTOBUN CIIUlWR

has not been with heresy or variations of Christian doctrine, but with heathenism and Islam. On most theological questions, except the person of Christ, the Trinity, and the authority of apostolic and Old Testament Scriptures, a diversity of opinion is found in their literature. For example, transubstantiation is both affirmed and denied. There is, however, a practical tendency to replace simple faith in the crucified and risen Saviour with some sort of sacerdotal mediatorship. Still stronger is the tendency to trust to legal works instead of living faith. The fast is the greatest Christian institution, votal offerings and pilgrimages to shrines are most important auxiliaries. The priesthood of the clergy in succession to the Levitical priesthood is recognized, but the name commonly used to designate the clergy is not priest, but elder (qasha or qa8hi8ha), the New Testament presbyter. The sacrament holds a high place in popular regard, aod yet the fact that there is no confessional deprives the priest of inquisitorial power. Vows to famous saints are trusted means of curing disease and procuring blessings. Religion is largely divorced from morals, and has little power of moral restraint. The clergy are no better than the common people in general morality. are more given to idleness, and possibly more generally demoralized by begging in Russia. The higher clergy (there being at present the patriarch, one metropolitan, and eight diocesan bishops) are, with a few exceptions, shamelessly venal, and in some instances of notoriously evil life. Two favorable points may be emphasized.

The authority of Scripture has never been impugned, and is a holy tradition of universal acceptance; nor is there any objection raised to the Scriptures in the vernacular. The old dispute of Cyril and Nestorius has been fought over again by every educated Nestorian for fourteen centuries; and the appeal is always to Scripture as against conciliar authority. The possession of a pure and ancient version is an additional advantage.

The true catholicity of the Nestorians is the second point-that is, if catholicity consists in the recognition of other Christians as members in the viilible body of Christ. How far this has been true in the past is a subject for historical research, but certainly Protestant missionaries have been recognized as true ministers administering valid ordinances. The only exceptions, if any, are within the past few years, when the invalidity of non-episcopal ordination has been preached by the archbishop'S mission.

The dangers threatening this old church are mainly two : disintegration and perversion•..

The terrible storm of persecution which broke out under the Mongol emperors at the close of the thirteenth century was followed by the deluge of blood and fire when Tamerlane swept over these lands. Troublous days followed, and when peace was in a degree restored under various Turkish and Persian dynasties, the two Syrian churches, Nestorian and Jacobite, were shattered wrecks. The story since is one of continual loss. Oppression and fighting have held the Christian population in check. There has been a constant but small secession to Islam. Rome has beell the

MISSIONARY EFFORT AND THE NESTORIAN CHURCH

great gainer. As early as the thirteenth century the Nestorian patriarch, Mar x:-abha11aha, acknowledged by letter the primacy of the Pope j in 1445 the Nestorians in Cyprus became Roman Catholics, and in the beginning of the stJventeenth century a large part of the Christians of Saint Thomas, in India, were won over. During the sixteenth century the disorganiza- tion of the Nestorian Church led to various rival patriarchs, who were not slow to recognize papal authority in the hope of securing their own. About 1580 the present line of patriarchs, from its beginning dynastic, gained the authority over the Nestorians in Persia and Kurdistan. If we may trust Roman historians, patriarchs of this line during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have acknowledged the authority of the Pope and renounced Nestorianism. In the region of Mosul the proselyting to Rome has gone on so successfully that to-day nine out of ten of the Nestorian churches south of the Kurdish Mountains are in the hands of the Roman Catholics. This same work, begun in Persia over two hundred years ago, has not met the same success. The inaccessibility of Persia, and still more of Kurdistan, which have been ecclesiastically joined, is one reason, but not the chief one. French monks came to Oroomiah fifty years ago, but it was too late. They had now to meet not only Nestorians, but American Protestants, -the most watchful defenders against Rome. The struggle is not yet over, for Catholicism on the south is pressing to enter the mountain valleys of Kurdistan. Three years ago (1892) beyond question the Chaldean patriarch, subject to the Pope, had bargained for the submission of the Nestorian patriarch. The scheme was frustrated by an American missionary.

The condition of affairs in Turkish Kurdistan and Armenia is a most terrible disintegrating influence. Recent events have illustrated the misrule and anarchy more vividly than words, and leave little occasion for remark. Suffice it to say that extinction and ruin threaten most imminently.

A thir~ such influence emanates from Russia. The Greek Church has shown little concern for the Nestorian Church, but for half a century Russia has been open to Nestorian laborers and beggars from Persia. The former have supported their people very largely, the latter have demoralized them. Many thousands of roubles have been gathered from the superstitious Christians of Russia by beggars, working on their pious credulity in the name of shrines and churches with the aid of pretended relics. Long absence from home, often years at a time, and vicious habits contracted in a wandering life, have been the cause of an alarming increase of transgressions of the seventh commandment. The ill-gotten wealth, spent in extravagance and gluttony, has impoverished rather than enriched. The shameless blasphemy and sacrilege of these adventurers have gone far to destroy the simple faith of the people. Canting hypocrites in Russia at home are cynical scoffers. A chief source of revenue to the bishops in Oroomiah is the ordination of priests and deacons, that they. may beg more successfully, The old church alone cannot withstand this evil influence. In the conllict with Rome the higher ecclesiastics have again and again proved traitors j and the ignorant and superstitious people have been tho conserva- tive force. The archbishop's mission will do something to preserve the fabric of the Church, and most effectively in so far as it is a purifying power. Theirs is a helping hand held out to this tottering, falling sister church, and may God guide their efforts. They are ne~essarily and 'in loyalty to their principles under manifest limitations.

1. Moral reform is subordinated to ecclesiastical reform. 1£ the Church's life is its legitimacy, like a decrepit dynasty, thiil is right j but if the Church's charter is its life, it is wrong. The Anglican mission must either reform the bishops or effect moral reform under immoral bishops. A distinction is made between spiritual authority and spiritual character which is destructive of righteousness.

2. Emphasis is placed on conservatism. The life, the faithful endurance, the bold testimony, the zealous evangelizing, these are the glory of the old Nestorian nation-and these are lost. The old rituals are doubtless full of spiritual truth, but.the archbishop's mission prefer, in their zeal for the old forms, to hide the truth in an unknowll. tongue rather than print them in the vernacular.

3. The doctrinal reform cannot be more evanielical than the mission. This is a truism, but implies much. Loyalty to their conception of Christianity will compel a doctrinal reform. Nestorianism must be obliterated, and St. Cyril substituted for St. Nestorius. That old controversy is dead, and the name signifies little. More than this, the doctrinal reform means impressing on the old Church in fixed form the doctrines of sacramenta· rianism and sacerdotalism. Much can doubtless be found in Nestorian practice and teaching to support these errors, but they have been tindencies rather than dogmas. To impress this old Church with nineteenthcentury High Church Anglicanism is a perversion of her doctrines, a narrowing of her historic catholicity, and leads her to the schism of cutting herself off from other members of Christ's body. When a bishop of the old Church, a man of pure character, at his own request communed with Protestants, he was said by an Anglican priest to have taken part in " a blasphemous mockery." The past few years have been marked in Oroomiah by a revival of masses for the dead, a practice of late years fallen into discredit.

From such a source can we hope for reform, or must we expect the entrenchment of error'

II. The Reformed Ohurch. The first duty of the Reformed Church is to exemplify the Gospel of Christ. A strong, pure, loving Church of Christ will do morEl to hring about a reform in the old Church than any other rower. Let us emphasize the adjectives, strong in loyalty to truth and in its proclamation j pure in that life which is the characteristic of tho kingdom of heaven j loving in her conduct to aU, especially those who love the Master. The first duty is example.

The second duty is clear and unwavering protest. This, I take it, must be threefold and not entirely against the mother Church.

There is, first, the protest for morals, against the unrebuked evil in the old Church, against the bloody hands that receive the broken bread, the lips filled with revilings and foulness that are raised to His cup, the avarice that sells for gain the offices of God's Church, the unspeakable hypocrisy that uses holy things to coyer schemes of lying beggary.

There is the protest against false doctrine, against sacerdotalism and sacramentarianism binding God's free grace to men and rites, against Rome with her great high-priest on earth. This protest is not against the old Church as much as her self-appointed guardians.

There is,finally, the protest against formalism. Some years ago a Christian, to escape punishment for a kinsman's crime, became a Moslem. Authority was obtained for him to return to his own faith. "How can I~" he exclaimed, "I have eaten the great fast." Fasting is to multitudes the chief evidence and exercise of Christianity. It must also be a protest against unintelligible worship and ignorant ministers.

The Reformed Church must be a Protestant church. A third duty is that of nationalloyaIty. The true inheritor of the missionary spirit that inspired the fathers of this people is the Evangelical Church. Her sons have been the pioneers of missionary labor in this age, and from her sons in large measure must be expected the evangelization of Persia.' She is also the inheritor of the love and loyalty to God's Word shown by the Fathers. The best loyalty is devotion to the highest national ideal, and the past of this people is full of glorious aspirations. Herein lies a danger. Experience is showing us that breaking from old ties is too often the loosening of all ties, that the past is despised and not honored. There needs also to be a loyalty to the present duties and needs, a recognition of national unity and common sympathy. None have been more ready than our Protestant brethren to bear common burdens and to honor those who are in positions of honor. The patriarchal house in its civil functions has been frankly acknowledged and cheerfully honored by the Protestant Churchmen. III. The Missionaries from Abroad. The fundamental principle is that missionari8S are sent· to the whole people, not to the Evangelical Church alone j indeed, to all the peoples. While Christian equality seems best exemplified by our becoming members and ministers of the Evangelical Church, we must keep ourselves free from partisan animus. Neither our personal activities nor the missionary ;nstitutions must be confined to a section of the people. Our medical work is without any race or religious limitations whatever. Our educational work benefits many hundreds outside the Evangelical Church. Our literature is

DIVEBSITY OF OPJDU.TIONS IN TO MISSION FIELDS

by no means confined in its inll.uence to the Protestants. All this must be maintained, and if possible increased.

We need a fuller knowledge of the old Church and a deeper sympathy with its peculiar trials and dangers. Superstitions, old customs, and traditions are elements in the life of the people which we need to understand. Furthermorfl, we are losing in some measure an inll.uence of the highest importance in not making more use of the past as an incentive to present achievement. Martyrology, in spite ofits extravagances, has been a power in the Church everywhere. Such a martyr history as that of Mar Shimon bar Saha'ee, killed by the Sassanian king Shapor, is too precious to be forgotten. Scholarship is fostered· by the memories of former scholars, and this nation has many honorable names. We have no more right to doubt God's providence in the past than in the present, and the history of one's own nation is a book of God to him.

It may seem to be a strange Providence that has brought us children of the New World, even by our Old WorId ancestry only a few centuries removed from barbarism, to be the guides of this old apostol!c Church and ancient people. May God give us the wisdom to lead them aright, and to be warned and encouraged by the lessons of the past. May we and our generation be worthy of those who once before gave the Gospel to these lands, often sealing their testimony with their blood. Every one of the missionary stations in Persia was a bishop'S seat in the old Church of the East, Ispahan, Ramadan, Rhages (Teheran), Tabriz, Salmas, and Oroomiah j while Bagdad and Mosul were successively patriarchal cities. May the time soon come when everyone of the many other places where the banner of Christ was once raised may be made strongholds of truth and righteousness.

DIVERSITY OF OPERATIONS IN THE MISSION FIELD.

BY REV. D. L. LEONARD.

if mISSIonary zeal is to be according to knowledge, and so prove worthy and lasting, it must have length and breadth as well as depth, and facts are the fuel upon which this celestial flame must be fed. Let one, informed only concerning the doings of his own denomination, enlarge his field of vision sufficiently to include the entire evangelizing activities of Christendom, and an astonishing revelation will ensue. His little island is at once transformed into a continent, a universe crowded with strange phenomena. Row exceedingly complex the nndertaking, which before seemed so simple! What a heterogeneous mass of conditions to be taken in hand! All this we might well expect when we recall that multitudinous sects are engaged iu telling the glad tidings, and each with its marked idiosyncrasies of opinion, conviction, and ruling tastes i and remember also that heathen humanity is represented by peoples intellec-

DIVERiITY OJ' OnKATIOHI DIi TIlE KIIIilOH J'DU.DI. '14'1

tuallyas far apart as Eskimo, Hottentots, Pariahs, Brahmans, and lapsnese. A glance at this much-embracing realm may help to understand how mnch more is required for the world's redemption than the mere sending of a host of fervid souls to go up and down through pagan lands, by word of mouth declaring to the perishing millions the way of life opened by the sacrifice of the Son of God.

First, all to the matter of organization for the carrying on of missionary operations. It was Carey's idea that the task of proclaimwg Christ to the nations should be taken in hand, not by monarchs, or by ecclesiastical bodies as such, but rather by societies formed for this expreas purpose, and controlled by those who longed for the universal coming of the kingdom. The Moravians are unique at this point, since they make the furtherance of missions the reason for their existence as a church. Some denominations appoint mission boards and control their action. Curiously, the great English Establishment bears no direct part in Christianizing the nations, but all planning and performing are left to Churchmen who co-operate with the Church Missionary Society, the Propagation Society, the Universities' Mission, etc. In certain cases a close corporation hali entire control, while in others a single individual is supreme. And when it comes to details of management, the fashions are almost as numerous as the sects. For example, almost a treatise would be required to set forth the relations existing between the various woman's societies and the " parent" organizations.

It sometimes happens that a single fundamental principle will characterize an entire mission, like self-support. Carey's scheme was that, as soon as possible after arriving at the field appointed, he and his companions must needs in some way secure their own living. This is also the conviction of Bishop Taylor among others. The common conception, however, is that the herald of the Gospel can be engaged in far better business than "pending his time and strength in earning his daily bread. There are" faith missions" also, of various kinds and degrees, shading off from Hudson Taylor's China Inland Mission, which constitutes one of the chief evangelizing forces at work in that vast field, through the East London Institute, Bishop Taylor's, the Missionary Alliance, to certain. Swedish and other bodies, of which nothing commendatory can as yet be wisely said. Of all these the idea is not to solicit funds, to seek no certain income, and to make no pledges of salary. " Faith-healing," too, seems to be a natural concomitant. Industrial missions constitute another class. For these tracts of land are required, shops and machinery, the teaching of trades, etc. Commerce and merchandising are in order to supply funds. In tropical countries, and among sarage tribes, it would seem to be necessary to teach industry and impart mechanical skill. It was largely in this way that William Duncan, at Metlakahtla, has been able to work such wonders of transformation.

Unfortunately, even yet not everybody is able to see just how" mil-

DIVERSITY OJ/' OPERATIONS IN TB1!l MIlstON FIELDS

sionary money" can be expended for spelling-books and arithmetics without robbing God. The time is sho~t, the emergency is so great that we have no time to educate. Let us send forth great hosts of evangelists. Or if schools must needs be, who shall be admitted ~ Heathen children, or only those whose parents are Christian? And how much" secular" knowledge shall be bestowed? In aU this there is wide diversity in opinion and practice. Some societies have ·no place for the school-teacher, and others again lay spch emphasis upon education as almost to cast into the background matters lying much nearer to the realm of the heart and conscience. Happy indeed are they who keep the spiritual and the intellectual each in its place, and in proper balance j but alas for him whose soul does n.ot kindle as he ponders upon the sublime achievements wrought for the Gospel by such institutions as Lovedale, Robert College, and the Doshisha !

Then there are medical missions, or rather medical missionaries are in ever-increasing demand. But what I Shall we turn away from ministering to diseased souls, and stoop to caring for the bodily aches and pains of humanity? Even yet in societies not a few the physician is conspicuous by his absence. Others commission him, though without enthusiasm, and because such is the fashion, or because other missionaries may need his services j while yet others set great store by hospitals and dispensaries. Surely at this point it should be enough to justify and even to compel, that the Saviour of the world was the Great Physician as well as the Great Preacher. But, besides, the fact is thoroughly established that there is no more effectual method of reaching the indifferent and prejudiced soul than by relieving suffering and healing disease. Salvation is also meant to restore to wholeness the entire man.

At least until recently there has been diversity of opinion as to the length and breadth of woman's sphere as a missionary. By the fathers she was regarded mainly, if not wholly, as an adjunct, a helpmeet to the man. The Germans believe most heartily in missionaries' wives, but have slight occupation for unmarried women. Most American and British societies regard it an advantage for men to be married, though also according to women without husbands a large and honorable place. The Universities' Mission to East Africa, however, tolerates only the celibate of either sex. But probably, on the whole, at no point has missionary development been more marked during this generation than just here; and whether we regard the thoroughness and vigor of organization, the amount of interest excited and of money gathered, and the increase of laborers in the foreign field.

Neither is there any agreement as to what constitutes fitness for evangelizing work in foreign lands, what grade of intellect, what degree of education shall be required. Probably the standard is highest in the United States, though even here there is wide diversity of judgmel:t and practise. With some the noblest specimeils of cultured manhO<.)i and womanhood are eagerly sought, while for preachers a college and seminary course is required. With others much less care is taken in selecting, and almost anybody with a proper spiritual experience will pass muster. European societies commission a far larger proportion of persons possessed of only average natural abilities and education. Self·supporting missions and industrial missions readily make room for those whose skill is in the hand rather than in the brain. Besides, the world is wide, the unevangelized range all the way from savagery which approaches the bestial, to lofty attainments in intelligence and refinement. And hence, though in a sense there is room somewhere for every humblest disciple who longs to help hasten the day when the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God, it still remains that in every field learning and the qualities of generalship and statesmanship are imperatively demanded.

This further question is yet under debate. To what countries is the missionary called to go, or who are the proper subjects' for his pray~r and toil 1 Clearly, to all lands where Christ is not known, and to all classes both high and low. And the queer Moravians actually prefer tribes that are most degraded and wretched. As clearly, also, to Mohammedans and Jews. Yes, and most would add, Roman Catholics and all other corrupt churches; and hence Austria, Italy, the Spanish-American States are visited, arid a pure Gospel is taken to Copts, Armenians, and the like. Here probably most would draw the line, though several societies go further and sustain missions in Lutheran Germany, Scandinavia, etc. At the extreme in this direction are certain rilects whose" missionary" zeal is wholly expended upon Great Britain and the United States, and in proselyting to the utmost from their brethren of every name. Since some 800,000,000 of the human family are perishing in the darkness of utter paganism, this proceeding would seem to be a case of missions gone stark mad.

One of the burning questions in the foreign field, as well as at home, relates to what constitutes fitness for baptism. The conclusions are various. The Baptists, of course, administer the ordinance only to adults who give evidence of conversion, while others would include such and their children. The continental societies make much of catechizing in the doctrines and church rites, and count those Christians who pass an examination, while the Methodists with their system of probation are ready to count as brethren any who desire to flee from the wrath to come. Some who are soundly orthodox believe that mass-baptism, baptism by the wholesale, is in order in certain cases, as when whole communities cast away their idols and put themselves under Christian instruction. Ah, what wisdom is required to decide just how far to go in meeting such poor souls whose faces are turned toward the light !

Can it be that not all missionary bodies require their representatives to preach and practise total abstinence from all that intoxicates! In this country those who come short at this point are few and far between.

'750 emTIOIfXI Olf 'I'D ORltI8TUN b»….VOlt CON'YDTIOlf

Aeroo the sea. also a large number are just 8S scrupulous; but yet, accord. ing to credible rumor, there are societies still retaining the conviction that alcohol is nece888ry for the stomach's sake, and so despatch regularly invoices thereof as a portion of the supplies required for the furtherance of the Lord's work.

It is worth while to take note how societies differ as to size and strength. While a few have attained to mammoth proportions, the many possess but a limited treasury, a little group of laborers, and a handful of converts. The English Church Society is the greatest, with an income of ,1,500,000, and an army of men and women scattered all the world over. The American Baptists can count 115,000 communicants, , and the London Society almost 95,000, with 125,000 pupils in the schools.

And, finally, no society is equally successful in every field. If here great successes are won, then over there certain fields stony and barren are likely to be discovered. The American Board can point to the Sand. wich Islands, the English Wesleyans to Fiji, and the London Society to Madagascar. The Baptists have beheld wonders among the Telugus and Kar.ns, but not among the Burmans, while over against the frnitful Northwest Conference of India the Methodists must set Bulgaria with its years of sowing much and reaping next to none. In every case, such are the wisdom and goodness of God, with succe!l8es enough to inspire, are mingled failures sufficient to keep the saints humble and prayerful.

Thus in missions as elsewhere it is "many men of many minds." The tremendous problem is perplexing because so complex, composed of such a heterogeneous mass of facts. Countless experiments must be tried, that proving all things the good may be held fast. No single denomination is in possession of the wisdom required to couquer the whole world for Jesus. And when any disciples in His name undertake to cast out the devils of paganism, we are not at liberty to " forbid them because they follow not us," our ideas, our convictions, our methods of work. Paul W&8 made all things to all men, that by all means he might save some.

CRITICISMS ON THE CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR CONVENTION.

BY UT. JAMES M. GltAY, BOSTON.

Now that the Christian Endeavor Convention is over, it is very notable how much is Mid in commendation of it and how little criticism of any kind is heard. Concerning the latter, however, the question is being raised in some quarters as to whether so great a gathering pays. It is estimated that the Boston convention cost, in round numbers, .1,000,000 ; might not this sum have been expended to better purpose in the Lord's cause' Fifty or sixty thousand enthusiastic young people collected together at one time and in one place, bent on Christian culture and ser·

18915.] CBITICI8H8 Ol'f TBIl CBlUITUN ENDEATOR CONVENTION. '751

vice, is an impressive and valuable demonstration before the world, and there can be no question also but that it has its effect upon the young people themselves, and through them upon the work of the churches they represent. But did the average individual delegate obtain as much, either of instruction or inspiration, as he would bad he been able to hear better, or to get nearer the heart of things, or had his attention and interests been less divided by other powerful attractions incident to such an occasion? This is not a question for Christian Endeavorers only to consider, but appertains also, for example, to the Baptist Young People's Union, whose convention, more recently concluded in Baltimore, is open to something of the same criticism. Could these great conventions be divided into three or four parts, and held in as many different locations, and could their officers and principal speakers be conveyed from one place to another after the manner of the bishops who preside over the Methodist conferences, might not the expense be very much less and the benefit proportionally more?

Speaking of the great size of these conventions, another inquiry is being heard as to whether it has not a tendency to beget a trust in numbers, or rather a trust in men, instead of the power and grace of God. And if this be put aside, then there is the other thought, that so large a concourse makes great demands upon the commercial world for financial help and upon the political world for civic recognition, which give to the convention or the movement a semi-secular tone, if they do not necessitate a spirit of compromise on certain critical questions of public moment.

Moreover, the success of such mighty gatherings means the perfection of organization and machinery of a certain kind; and while every one admits the value and importance of both, yet there are true friends of the movement who deprecate the utterance of one of its representatives that "Christian Endeavor stands for organization." This cannot be true. Christian Endeavor should stand, and we believe it does stand, before everything else for spiritual life. But organization is not life. To quote the suggestive words of one of the critics we have in mind: "The organization, rules, and practices of the Christian Endeavor may have been the expression of an ardent and devoted life j but the mere adoption of these expressions wm never produce that life, and the too rigid adherence to them or the too great dependence upon them may be a hindrance rather than a help to the desired end." While this criticism bears rather upon the society itself than its convention, yet the latter is what it is only because of the nature of the society.

The convention which has just closed gave a powerful impulse to the subject of good citizenship as one of the principles of the Endeavor movement. Indeed, before the convention met, at the preliminary meetings of the great chorus, the speeches that were heard bore chiefly upon that topic, the addresses of welcome climaxed upon it, some of the Ressions of the convention were charged to the very full with the electricity of patriotism, and tho pilgrimages that followed it to points of historic interest gave a culmination to " Boston '95" that must make it memorable as the great " civic" convention. Every true Christian citizen must rejoice over this. Moreover, it seems the most likely thing imaginable that a real revival of religion such as Christian Endeavor is should result in purer primaries, in better legislators and legislation, and in the more thorough execution of righteous laws. But it is just here again that a danger signal is raised. Can young Christians have their attention turned and their energies en- gaged with such persistency and power toward the betterment of their earthly citizenship without in some degree detracting from their apprecia- tion of that which is from above 1 In other words, if more attention be paid to the cultivation and development of their own inner IIpiritual life, will not that be the better way of promoting good citizenship in both direc- tions 1 There is in this city an institution known as the Sunday Patriotic Meetings. It dates back to the time, in 1888, when there was a great uprising of the communi/;y against an attempt on the part of the papal hierarchy to dictate the policy of our public schools. These meetings were then begun on Sunday afternoons in one of the largest places of assembly, for the purpose of educating the people in the history and plans of the Church of Rome as a political machine. They have been continued ever since with immense audiences, and at times manifesting the most intense enthusiasm. But many who were interested in them at the first have come to see that they have taken the place of religion to a large ,proportion of their regular attendants; they are the only church they attend, the only worship they engage in, and practically the sum and substance of the gos- pel which they know. To be an intelligent and consistent opponent of the papacy is to have a clear title to a mansion in the skies. Those who have passed through a temperance revival have met with the same phase of ex- perience, and have found scores of otherwise very intelligent people who • believed that total abstinence was not only the chief good in the present time, but that merit which had the all-inclusive claim on the time to come. It is suspected and feared in some quarters that the enthusiasm for good citizenship in Christian Endeavor may work: somewhat in a similar direc- tion unlellS most carefully watched and guarded. Of course it is not alISumed that it is not carefully watched and guarded. The criticisms which the writer has heard and read, in other words, are not those of ene- ' mies of Christian Endeavor seeking in some way to weaken its hold upon the young people of our churches, but sincere and sympathetic friends, in some sense leaders in the movement, who speak of these things chiefly in the hope of awakening each individual society to exercise special care and supplicate special grace on account of them.

In my own judgment, God Himself, who has originated this movement and is directing it, has in this last convention provided a safety-valve of escape from many of these anticipated dangers. I find this in the engage- ment of Endeavorers in evangelistic effortS. The different conventions have seemed in their particular features to mark a progress or development in the principles and work of the movement as well as in its numbers. At first consecration and loyalty to Christ and the Church were insisted on, then special attention was called to the duty of foreign missions, then came good citizenship, which we have seen culminating in this convention in a mighty patriotic impulse ; but side by side with the consideration of this last subject in the present gathering, there has been an aggressive movement for souls which marks an advance upon the work of any convention hitherto. Not only were the noon meetings at Faneui! Hall and Bromfield Stre~t Church filled to overflowing with audiences who came to hear the great evangelists, but the young men and women of the convention themselves went everywhere preaching the Word. They visited the wharves and lumber-yards, the stores and engine-houses, the factories and lanndries, bringing the glad tidings to thousands of needy souls at the same time that they were training themselves and stimulating their appetites for more of such work in their own respective localities. Dr. Duff once said that the e~angelistic Church would be the evangelical Church. He might have added also that it would be the holy Church. Practical work for souls not' only makes for sound doctrine, but consistent living. Let the Endeavor conventions henceforth seek more and more for the evangelization of the cities in which they meet, and the reflex benefit upon every society represented will be the best that their truest friends can desire.

There was just one feature of this convention that the writer of these lines would deprecate, and that was the tendency to speak jocularly of older people, and to intimate that if it had not been for this uprising of the young people all our churches would have been dead and buried. There is such a"thing as pressing a truth like that too far. When the once noted theologian and revivalist, Dr. Lyman Beecher, was too aged to engage longer in regular employment, he removed to Brooklyn and attended the ministry of his more famous son, Henry Ward. One Sabbath morning, as the congregation was retiring, he heard them praising the sermon and the preacher in, the most exalted terms, and turning round when he reached the vestibule he shook his finger at them, and with a merry twinkle in his eye exclaimed, "Ah, if it hadn't been for me you'd never had him 1" It is certainly not only bad taste but bad judgment, as well as bad religion, for Christian Endeavor to make too many comparisons to its own advantage at the expense of the Church to which it is almost entirely indebted.

But critics may say what they please about the Boston convention, it was, nevertheless, a great demonstration. It was a great demonstration of the fact that yonng people are now coming to the front in religion, as they have long been coming to the front in other lines of thought and action. Such a convention makes it very much easier to present the subject of personal religion to a young man or woman of your acquaintance than if it had never occurred. It was a great demonstration of the life and power of the Gospel. These young people bore witness to something

THE LATEST BLOW TO THE AFRICAN SLAVE POWER

different from the Unitarian cultus of Boston. Theirs was an infallible Bible, a salvation of grace, a Divine Saviour. Theirs was a faith that awakened a lively and unselfish interest in the lost. Theirs was a faith that begat a life and walk of righteousness. A great army of youth entering a city within forty-eight hours of one another, and not a keg of beer or cask of wine added to any cellar, not an extra chair placed in any gambling-room, not an additional ticket sold at any low theatre, no brothel made richer by them, no low rough crowd following them, no uncouth manners or bad actions seen in them, no increase in the number of arrests on their account-a decrease rather of thirty-three per cent! Boston entertained the flower of the world for one week when it entertained the Endeavor convention. Evil was out of harmony with these young people, and yet they had a happy time. They sang continually in the houses, and on the streets, and in the cars, as well as in the hall and tents. Wherever they went the richest laughter fell. upon the ear. There was a peculiar urbanity about them, a winsomeness in their Christianity, as another expressed it, which has left a most delightful impression on the whole city. Yes, and this convention was a great demonstration of anotherfact, namely, the power of a Divine idea lodged by the Holy Ghost in the heart and brain of a consecrated Christian man.. This Christian Endeavor movement is of God. There can be no doubt of this when we consider its origin, its character, its development, and its results. No man, no hundred men can account for it. And yet God was pleased to use a man in bringing it into being. How this thought exalts our human personality! It is the truth that is to convert the world and conquer it for Jesus Christ, but truth incarnated, truth dwelling in men, borne witness to by men, lived out in the lives of men. As one thinks of what has been accomplished by this religious movement among the young people of our generation, and what its possibilities are, he may well ask, who would not be a man, sanctified and surrendered, for God to use ~ THE LATEST BLOW TO THE AFRICAN SLAVE POWER.

BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, DARWEN, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND.

Another crushiug defeat has been delivered to the slave traders in Nyassaland. By the intrepidity of Acting Commissioner Sharpe, Kawinga, a notorious human hunter and terror to his peaceful neighbors, has been chivalrously resisted and defeated. So far back as 1859, when Livingstone explored the Nyassa regions, this same chief, then known as Kainka, belonging to the Yao race of slavers, was in the habit of harrying the Mauganja tribes, and of his ravages Livingstone wrote graphic and thrilling narratives. Kawinga has ever !lince been one of the most active slavers firmly intrenched on the southern and eastern shores of the lake. Part of the country of the Yaos lies in the northeastern corner of the British Cen- tral Africa protectorate and a greater portion within Portuguese territory, and over the entire district the slave trade has had a vigorous stronghold through unknown generations. Similarly Kawinga's own town, though covered by the British flag, has been a regular halting-place for slave cara- vans on their journeys from the slave fields of the interior to the Portu- guese settlements on the east coast. To rid himself of Kawinga and two or three minor chiefs holding effective positions, Commissioner Johnston, who has rendered valiant service against slave chiefs along the shores of Nyassa, was obliged to leave for India in order to recruit a few hundred Sikh soldiers for the accomplishment of his unavoidable militant object. Kawinga assumed that the commissioner's absence would afford a favorable opportunity for an assault on the protectorate. Happily this anticipation has been wholly frustrated.

The incessant energy of Commissioner Johnston in putting down slave operations around the lake, which has a length of 350 miles and a breadth averaging from 16 to 60 miles, roused Kawinga some time since to plan an attack on the Shire settlements to the south of his town. To effect this he determined last March to make war on Malemya (a chief under British protection), and, subsequently, to destroy the thriving Domasi mission station, for long years associated with the famous Blantyre missionary headquarters of the Church of Scotland. If success had attended Kawinga it meant an invasion of the whole of British Nyassa (looking southward) ; and, inasmuch as six chiefs rallied to his call and others were awaiting the results to share in the spoils, it is apparent that this perilous combination of slave raiding-chiefs would have swept away the promising civilizing colony from end to end. Unpleasant as it is to make use of the Angel of War as the forerunner of the Angel of Peace, the Acting Commissioner, Mr. Sharpe, bravely confronted his wily antagonist and proved a sufficient match. In the darkness of night Domasi, the branch of the Blantyre Mission lying to the southwest of Lake Shirwa, was assailed hy a tremendous force of native Yaos from different points, and, save for the gallantry of the Sikhs at hand and the traders acting under the directions of Messrs. Sharpe and Fletcher, Domasi and its surronndings would have been utterly lost. With considerable loss Kawinga was repulsed, and ultimately his pursuers, following up their advantage, took possession of his capital, the fugitive chief being obliged to find refuge across the Portuguese borders in the valley of the upper Lugenda River.

Had Domasi been captured by the Yaos, the Scotch missions and plantations on the Shire highlands, for the growth of which a quarter of a century of patient labor has been required, would have been levelled to the ground. If the defeat has not finally broken the back of the Yao slavers, it will enable the colonists to extend their activity northward unmolested and eventually abolish the old slave trade route around the south end of Nyassa. The passage of the slave traffic across the lake is impossible,

'156 THE LAW OF SPIRITUAL.HEREDITY

states Archdeacon Maples, of the Universities' Mission, now that the last. of the slave dhows is destroyed. On the arrival of Commissioner Johnston's reinforcements from India there will be no further dread of victorious slavers overunning Nyassaland. At an early day it may be expected that the country stretching to the distant north between Nyassa and Tanganyika will be equally cleared of Arabs, whose staple commodity is hnman flesh, and whose forays are stained by organized murder. By that achievement the slave trade in East Central Africa will have received a deadly blow. For its extirpation it would almost seem, as an authority has observed, that" of the slave trade it may be said, without extravagance, that there is nothing in African human nature which leads us to suppose that this abomination will eventually yield to any argument save force."

Meanwhile, the outlook over Nyassaland presents an encouraging prospect. Missionary and civilizing agencies exhibit a forward movement. Strangers unarmed are growingly trusted by the natives and welcomed as defensive allies. As a thoroughly interesting race of people, skilful in a variety of native trades and willing to adopt Western ideas and handicrafts, the Nyassa tribes are universally described. Nor is it anyexaggeration to say that for their moral, material, and spiritual salvation magnificent efforts have been made by men and women, mostly of Scotch ancestry, whose record makes an epic volume in the history of modern mlSSlOns. The standard of the cross has been unfurled on the sonth, north, east, and west, at many points of the silvery beach of Nyassa (the Lake of the Stars) by the ensigns of faith whose sanctified vocation it has been, as Whittier sings, to "Right the wronged and raise the weak."

THE LAW OF SPIRITUAL HEREDITY.

BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.

Rev. J. Murray Mitchell, LL.D., tells how he once climbed to a mountain peak in the Western Ghats, in India, in search of the source of one of India's noblest rivers, the Godavari; and how at last the exploring party reached a spot where a few drops were trickling from the rocks, so few that for two or three seconds the whole stream was held in the hollow of the hand, and it needed but to scoop out a small channel to divert the stream in a new direction. From this small beginning the insignificant rill could be traced, descending the slope and gradually broadening. It flowed eastward toward the Bay of Bengal, widening, deepening, gathering volume and momentum, until it was the secret of fertility to tens of thousands of acres of otherwise barren desert.

That river is a parable of human life. "The king's heart is in the hands of the Lord, and He turneth it whithersoever He will." Is not that proverb a reference to the point in the stream of life, near the heart, out of which flow life's issues, and where character and destiny wait for a determining hand ~ And does not God put the mother at that point of power where the heart of the child-and every child is one of God's born kings-is in her hand to be turned whithersoever she will ~ Thackeray says, ' , We sow a thought, and we reap an act; we sow an act, and we reap a habit; we sow a habit, and we reap character; we sow a character, and we reap des1iny." What an awful responsibility when you or I have the opportunity to give direction to the thought, the aim, the desire, the motive from which conduct, habit, character, destiny spring!

No lesson of missions is more sublimely and pathetically grand than that which is taught us in the proof afforded by the lives of missionary heroes and heroines, of the power of a spiritual ancestl·y, of a faith first dwelling in a mother and a grandmother, and by a law of spiritual heredity descending to the son or daughter. It almost seems as if there were an inheritance, not of aptitudes only, but a legacy of character.

Ziegenbalg was trained to be Christ's pioneer in the East Indies, not first at Halle, under the saintly FrancH, but before that in the primary school of his own home, under the teachings of a mother who baptized her words with tears and hallowed them with prayers. In a humble hamlet near Dresden that consecrated mother was dying with a group of little ones about her, and being very poor she amazed them by saying, "A great treasure I have laid up for you-a very great treasure. Seek it, my children, in the Bible, and there you will find it. There is not a page which I have not wet with my tears. " One of those children was Bartholomew Ziegenbalg. And when after thirteen years of apostolic labor he passed away singing, "Jesus, my Confidence," it was his mother's treasure that had been his from childhood to the end.

In Sonnenberg, Germany, another holy woman Jay dying, and with her last breath confided to her weeping husband this whispered secret, "Our youngest son I have dedicated to God for such service as He shall appoint. Assure me that when he hears the Lord's call you will not discourage it." That lad was christened Friedrich Schwartz. Then, under Francke, at Halle, what his mother had begun in his heart received development, and Schwartz went home to announce to his father his conscious call from God to the career of a missionary in India. Then the father sought the dying chamber of that holy mother, and in that atmosphere, after three days of agony, gave up his boy to God. At twenty-three Schwartz sailed for India, where for forty-three years he did so grand a work that it may be well doubted whether any other man has so impressed that empire for good. Schwartz's name is to this day spoken with a sort of holy awe in India. This man, who lived in one room barely big enough for a bed and table, who was cook for himself and ate rice and other vegetables, and who spent less than seventy-five cents a day on his entire support, held a sceptre which swayed not only the common people, but princes and kings in their palaces.

The story of Zinzendorf, the Moravian bishop, is very familiar. His grandfather was a martyr in spirit, resigning his estates for the sake of Christ, and he was brought up by a grandmother and aunt who faithfully nursed his infant piety. At four years of age he covenanted with Jesus, "Be Thou mine, dear Saviour, and I will be Thine," and the simplehearted boy, yearning for communion with Jesus, used to write to Him little notes, un burdening his heart, and flinging them out the castle window to be found and read by Him. It was he who could say, "'One passion have I, and it is He, He alone j" it was he to whom any country was home and native land where Christ had need of him j he it was who would rather be hated for Jesus' sake than loved for his own. How little did the grandmother know that she was shaping the whole course of Moravian missions !

Alexander Duff, so famous in the history of missions in India, owed everything to his spiritual ancestry. Back to and through a former generation the subtle influences must be traced that ripened into the self-offering of this marvellous man, so that from the hour when he was led io care for his own soul he began to know a passion for the souls of others, and especially the heathen, that led him once for all irrevocably to devote himself to their salvation.

Samuel J. Mills is entitled, if any man is, to be called the father and founder of missions on this side of the oceltn. Though he died at sea, on to the African coast, and was never permitted enter fully upon the work for which he set himself apart, he had set in motion the springs of both home and foreign missionary effort and organization. A score of various forms of benevolence, wide as the United States, the continent, the world, owe to him their inspiration and encouragement, if not their origin. And yet that wonderful life whose lamp went out so early and yet wrought such marvels, was sealed with consecration to God and to missions before birth by a holy mother j and when Mills grew to boyhood and was yet unrenewed by the Spirit, and even blind to his own need of regeneration, it was his mother's prevailing prayer that on a definite morning caused him to be overwhelmed with a new sense of sin and guilt, and l~d him to a full surrender to a new master.

When the secrets are brought to light, what wonders will be revealed of parental influence, known only to God, shaping the character and lives of children !

INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT

n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.

EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BlIV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.

The International Duel in the Far East. the fact that France and England con. stitute, either merchant or missionary, It is well to remember the severe their avant IXntreur. Either may afford strain put on some non-Christian na- occasion tor new foreign political comtions. So far as China is concerned, plications. The missionary may preshe stands chullenged to single-handed cipitate national disturbances as well combat against the combined nations of as the merchant. He is the picket of a Europe and America in their solidarity. new order of things. If we remember correctly, it was Hon. William B. Reed, as United States Pleni- Let us illustrate. The Republic of potentiary, who, now, nearly fifty years Liberia prohibits titles of property to ago, introduced into the treaty with any white man. She needs foreign China the" most favored nation" clause. capital and knows it ; but she knows, Perhaps the most penetrating diplomat too, that property investments by forof the world had little anticipation of eigners become, too frequently, the occathe ultimate result of that shrewd and sion of national strife. The Chinese apparently just demand. But what has know this as well as the black man of been the outcome? Every treaty-con- West Africa does. cession, however incidental or however ruinous to China's interests, made After having pigeon-holed for more amicably or at the cannon's mouth, to than a third of a century applications anyone of the European nations or to to allow titles to the Christians, and to that of the United States, is necessa- direct that the vendor who chooses to rily made to everyone of them. For lIell to them property be allowed to do so forty-five years all the Western powers unrestrained, the emperor has just now have been a unit as against China. 'fhe gazetted the governors that this must be duel is unequal. the order. At the same time, Christian missionaries are urging their govern- It is little wonder that the Chinese, ments to demand anew treatybywbich finding themsel ves in danger of being the foreign missionary or his society parcelled out, like Africa, into ,. spheres shall be granted the privilege of holding of influence" by Europeans, should titles, alleging as one reason, that if held grow increasingly restive In their pres- by the Ohinese Church the government ence. Millions in China have before may at any time confiscate their investthem the prospect of starvation during ments of foreign money. and their own the transition from the old industrial governments be powerless to demand and commercial conditions, to the new redress. It is just this that the Chinese ones which contact of foreigners is re- themselves know. We make now no sistlessly introducing. A million of argument, pro or con, but state the pro idle, pensioned ex-soldiers or their de- and con of this case as a mere illustrascendants organized about the gambling tion. Take as another illustration the den as a unit, are ever present to stir the following : The hcad and centre of the quiet people to riot that they may plun- anti-foreign agitation is the province of der. The ruling class, the literati, are Hunan. Thence issues indecent and always disposed to resist the presence strife.engendering literature against for· of foreigners' as liable to become the lIigners, missionaries in particular. A occasion of disturbance, and thus af- Hunan Inan, an officer in Szechuen, ford ground of fresh encroachment of boasted during the recent riots at Chenforeign powers. They are not blind to tU,that if a foreigner entered Hunan they killed him and wiped the streets with him. This riot occurred in Szechuen, but Kucheng, the turbulence having sub· the diplomatic pawn that it is proposed sided-Dr: Gregory, of the same mis- to move forward is,that the French army sion, also. We have no tidings whether march on Hunan and demand the open- the missionaries of the English Church ing of at least one port for foreigners in removed or not temporarily from Ku· that province. The" most favored na- cheng at the time of that disturbance.

tion clause" will of course apply. The But it appears that several of them were Chinese see all this, resistless as the tides. at a health·station at Whasang farther A thousand other similar complications up in the mountains. Miss Hartwell steadily result in foreign political, com- went up there also. It was at Whasang mercial and religious advance. Seen that the massacre took place; those mis- from their standpoint, it is humiliating sionaries of the American Board, the and irritating. We must bear all this in Methodist and the English churches who mind in judging of and dealing with were at Kucheng were undi~turbcd.

China. On the night of July 31st the mob rushed into the mission premises and The Massaore in Kuoheng, Ohina. murdered Rev. R. W. Stewart, his wife, and two children;' Miss Elsie It is scarcely worth while, except for Marshall, Miss Annie Gordon, Miss Bes- making the historical record in this peri- sie Newcombe, and Miss Flora Stewart, odical, to repeat the details, which the all of the Church of England Mission.

secular press has made widely known, Miss Hartwell was lodging in a native of the riots of March 28th and massacre house near by, and escaped with minor of Christian missionaries, which took injuries, after a severe struggle with one place at Kucheng, China, July 31st last. of the mob and a race for her life.

That of March 28th was conducted Mr. Stewart, who was slain with his by the vegetarians, who, whatever wife, had been some twenty years in the their original organization was designed country and was the head of his mission.

to effect, are now known as one of the In his last report of the Church of Eng- secret political organizations which are land zenana mission he referred to the a constant menace to the peace and pros· ladies who were since cruelly murdered perity of entire Central China from the as follows: seacoast to the borders of Tibet. .. Nangwa is the centre mission for the Previous to March 28th everything ladies in the far Northwest. It is four had been quiet for a long time, and no days' journey over high mountains from disturbance whatever was apprehended. Kucheng. I visited them ,at the be- On that day the rumor was current that ginning of the year, and found there the vegetarians would march into Ku- :Miss Johnson, Miss Newcombe, Miss cheng, kill the local magistrate, and Rodd, Miss Bryer, and Miss Fleming; burn the missionary property belonging they have also among them a Miss Sin· to the llethodist and other missions. clair, who has come from England in- The wildest confusion prevailed for dependently, and is making herself use- three days, when the United States ful in various ways. These ladies are consul at Foochow warned the Ameri· living as nearly like the native women can missionaries that they must retire as possible; no knives or forks are seen to Foochow, as no soldiers could be sent in the house. I am told that one knife to protect them. Dr. Gregory, Miss is kept for any unhappy guest who can· Rouse, and Miss Hartwell proceeded not manage chop.sticks, and though the to Foochow, which lay s:lUthwest of locality is far from healthy, and our Kucheng, the route being thirty miles C. M. S. missionaries have one after an· " through the mountains by chair, and other felt the effects of malaria, your sixty miles by the river Min, in boats. ladies have in a surprising degree main· Miss Hartwell subsequently returned to tained their strength. You know the kind of life they lead, visiting from vil- at a place called Sek'ci-Du, with Miss lage to village, sometimes at long dis- SaunderS, of the Australian Association, tances from home, putting up not at who is stationed in Kucheng while chapels or at Christians' houses, for, learning the language.

alas! there are none, but in the native " A letter has come to-day from Miss inns or the house of some hospitable Marshall telling of the great encourage- heathen woman. Their reward for this ment they find in Sek-ci-Du. This is devotion is being used of God. It is remarkable because, although we have truly invigorating to the soul to sit down been for years endeavoring to rouse an and listen as they tell of the good hand interest there, hitherto we llave entirely of their God upon them, and the spir- failed, and purposed retiring from the itual results they have seen. Oh, for station altogether. Thank God for the more of these" women that publish the ladies whom you send us; wherever tidings" I They have, too, a little hos- they go God gives His blessing, and the pital here, and this year they tried a secret lies in the quiet, unwavering trust small station class, though in doing so in a living Saviour by their side. Such they had to face difficulties that were trust He does not disappoint."

not met with in the old districts. The only American missionary who "The three other ladies who regard suffered personal harm in the murder- Kucheng as their headquarters are Miss ous Whasung attack was Miss Mabel Gordon, Miss Marshall, and Miss Stew- C. Hartwell, of the Methodist Episco- art. .Miss Stewart is still working for pal Mission, who was in a native house her examinations; when she has got near by the mission premises where the through them her sphere of labor will English missionaries were quartered.

be in the country, in the western sec- Miss Hartwell makes the following tion of the -district. Miss Gordon's sta- statement: tion, where she spends the greater part "August 1st, at 7.30 A.M., I heard of the year, is Dong-Gio, the chief cen· shouts. They were the yells of servants tre of the Ping-Nang district. This who rushed in shouting to me to get great district, or, as we should say in up, for the Vegetarians were coming, England, county, has no other lady tearing down the houses on the hill be- worker, and I need not say that, how- longing to the English mission.

ever hard she may try, she can do little " A few minutes later a teacher came more than touch what is waiting to be to my door and told me to run. I put done. At that one station of Dong-Dio on my clothes and rushed to the door.

80 or 90 women usually attend the Sun- I was met by a man with a trident day service. We have to thank the spear, who yelled, 'Here is a foreign Rev. H. R. McCartney, of Melbourne, woman.'

for this valuable missionary. Miss " He pointed the spear at my chest.

Elsie Marshall's work is also in the coun- I twisted it to one side and it just try; she only returns now and then to grazed my ear and head. He threw me Kucheng as headquarters. Her sec_ to the ground and beat me with the tion lies north of Kucheng, and covers wooden end of the spear. A servant more than 300 square miles. She has came and wrenched the spear away, several centres in this region, where she then told me to run. I jumped down stops for a few weeks or two months at the embankment and ran along the road.

a time, collecting the women together A servant came and pulled me along and visiting from house to house. Our until I got up on the side of the hill. I plan is for your missionaries to travel then lay down there to get more breath.

in pairs, accompanied by a Bible wom- After resting twice I reached a seclud- an and Christian servant, and to put up ed spot and lay there. All this time at chapels where a married catechist is the yells went on and two houses were stationed. Just now Miss Marshall is burning to the ground. " After a while the yells stopped. I but I only saw one, the man who rat· supposed tbe Vegetarians had gone tacked me, who shouted, C Here is a away. A servant went to see how foreign woman.' He had a trident matters were. He returned in half an spear. Some had swords. There was hour, telling me to come home, that five at least one gun, for I heard it fired off. ladies of the English Mission had been The natives say there were more." killed. and some had been wounded, but that my house-a rented native Government Defence of Missionaries. house-had not been troubled at all. A great deal of nonsense has ap· " I went home to find Miss Codring· peared in the secular press of this coun· ton much cut about the head and beaten try since the riots in Chentu and Ku· all over; Mildred Stewart, twelve years cheng as to the duty of the United old, with knee cut and bleeding very States Government to demand redress hard; Herbert Stewart, six years old. for injury done to person and property cut on the head and almost dead ; baby to missionaries. Even such rubbish has Stewart, with one eye black and swol· found place in influential newspapers. len; the second Stewart girl; Kathleen, as that, affording protection to missiona· eleven years old, with the second boy, ries and missionary property is propa- Evan, three years old, were beaten and gating religion by the sword. pierced with a spear, but not seriously injured. The boy vomited all day, So far as missionaries are concerned, but we thought it was from fright. they go to these foreign fields fully aware that they are liable to be harmed .. Mr. Phillips, of the English Mis· by such outbreaks. Weare not aware sion, who lived in s native house some that the missionaries from America ever distance away, escaped all injury, only asked government aid or protection in arriving in time to see the bodies of the the prosecution of their calling. If they dead and hear the Vegetarians say, ' We obtain it it is on the basis that they are have killed all the foreigners.' American citizens. It might be possi· ble that they would advance their influ· U At first we heard that some foreign. ence more by not demanding redress at ers had escaped and were in hiding, but all. Native Christian Chinese have over Mr. Stewart did not come and we feared and over refused indemnity proffered the worst. Mr. Phillips went to the by the authorities for injuries to person ruins and found eight bodies-five not and property. They gained greatly in burned and three burned so as not to influence as religionists among the peo; be recognizable. Dr. Gregory arrived pIe thereby. There may be occasions at dark and dressed the wounds of the when missionaries might choose to do patients. Coffins were made and the likewise. The missionaries in Uganda bodies put in them. The bones of the gained great triumphs while absolutely burned were put in boxes. unprotected to any degree by the Brit· ish Government. The Gospel can win .. When I was thrown down my its way without patronage of any po· teacher's wife called on some Whasung litical powers. But no state can afford men around to save me. There were to see its subjects unprotected. This, four men there to only one Vegetarian, regardless of their calling, whether mis· but they would not help me. She came sionary, merchant, or bicyclist reporter. and tried to pull me away as he was The British Government in one instance beating me. The Vegetarian kicked spent millions to defend a single one of her. its subjects-and he a Jew! The per- son and property of the citizen of any U When the Vegetarian who beat me country must be held to be absolutely started down the hill to come to our inviolate in every other country, Thus house three others were with him; but these ran off after some Chinamen, so I escaped with only one persecutor.

" There were about fifty Vegetarians, missionaries as citizens or subjects must it appear vast and well worth remark be protected by their governments,' not for size. But this knowledge isolated, for missionary interests, but for the pres· counts for nothing. Look at the" Dark tige of the government. Whatever the Continent ;" our land would go more missionary may choose to do or not to than three times therein; then recall, for do in the ca8e, when wronged or harmed, our one minister to 800 persons, Africa the government has no alternative. It has one for every 600,000. Or note must protect an American citizIJn, Brazil, larger than us, yet with as little though he be a Jew, Moslem, or Budo chance for enlightenment as Africa. In dhist propagandist, or whatever else, in the land east of the Mississippi (India'S any part of the globe. A government area) put one·sixth of the world, or that does not do that, or attempt to do let the swarming millions of China over· it, is not worth owning. flow our fnll area, somewhat. You are utterly powerless to grasp even the out· Maps and Money. side edge of these facts unless you have BY v. F. PENROSE. a map of the world.

But if you have been constantly in The Christian Church is nowevery· contact thus with maps, your present where using maps. Hence we read rate of giving fails to satisfy. How that the " estimated increase of wealth could it ? "There remaineth yet very among evangelical Christians in the. much land to be possessed," and your United States was four times greater utmost efforts cannot make up for the than all the contributions for foreign anti·mission and partly.mission multi· work by all American Christians duro tudes. What railroad would proceed ing the entire century," for we are giv· to work without maps? What army ing at the rate of twenty·five cents a could be active unprovided with map~ ?

year apiece. The latest historical books are having What does the use of maps mean? their maps so printed that a blank space Accurate knowledge. The children who equal to the page is on the bound·side never have a meeting without maps of of each map in order that it may be al· the world and of the country studied, ways before the reader.

comparing every land in area with our It is not, however, enough to have own, and then imagining the quarter of maps; you must use them. "Oh, yes, the world's population, the Chinese, we have maps. They are put away in our somewhat lesser area, while reo somewhere. I forget where and what membering we have 65,000,000 people, they are; but we have maps ;" and the are gaining the intelligent interest based search the minister then made for me on business and scientific information revealed a map of Paul's missionary that will make their future gifts, put to journeys, which scarcely answered my shame those of grown people who are needs in telling of India after the above yearly giving without ever seeing and methods. The same incident occurred realizing the vast areas utterly un· in more than one locality.

touched by any Christian influence. A .. Weare so impressed by your map map of the world cannot be done with· of the world," a missionary speaker was out. You do not know China or Mex: told, "that we are going to buy one.

ico unless you compare it with other How much did yours cost ?"

lands and see its neighbors and find " A dollar and a half. It is paper their political influence. which I mounted on cloth, is eight feet Take Pennsylvania; it looks large six by four feet six, and came from the when compared with the New England American Board. I add our own sta· States. Bring California or Washing. tions as I need them. Your members ton forward and it is tiny. A large can -examine it, and ten·cent donations railway map of the United States makes will soon secure it," and they got it. When new members join your so- meeting while the influence of each naciety, if you have no map of the world, tion is being described. while you are studying China, how can they be expected to take a money inter· Have you ever tried to have an exest in your Osaka scholarship-for few hibition of all the maps of your local· can locate our mission stations without ity? Such a one has recently proved maps. Therefore first make or buy a wonderfully suggestive. Each society map of the world, and then secure the had individual map-methods. maps of the lands to be studied. It is not difficult to draw an outline of the Start an audience from where they live continents on a large sheet of paper or across their continent-on the map-reo on cloth. ferring, in passing, to the missionary' from Japan who returned- home after Clay or putty maps moulded on a ten years' absence and could scarcely large board covered with oil cloth, In· credit the increase of luxury in every terest greatly. Putty, not cracking place, and ye1; everywhere, as excuse for readily and softening in linseed oil, Is not giving, heard: "Debt, debt, debt." better than clay, though both can be Then crossing the Pacific, show the rela· used over and over again. Candles In tive size of the United States and China, Christmas-tree holders mark the mission and turn to a large map of China, speak. stations, and are lit one by one as bits of ing of the swarming population, illusinformation are given of the medical trating by the popUlation chart of China. work at this one, the press·work at that. A hundred squares, each representing The grains or names of animals can be 4,000,000, form a square, ten each wuy, affixed. Tiny flags may indicate where and all are needed for China. InRide, our missionary heroes have lived, or the tbe United States have their 65,000,000 mission stations. (A bit of ribbon and a in one corner; underneath, Great Brit· big pin make a flag.) The "black ain, France, Germany, and the Russian map," a map of the world with tbe Empire half fill the square, and China continents painted solidly black on some has one missionary for 300,000. They cheap material, or else on your ordinary give for their "spirit offerings" an· map covered with black paper or cloth nually $400,000,000. We gave in 1890, cut to fit, has the various denomina- $11,000,000 for home and foreign mistions' work represented by little circles sions; $1,200,000 we spent for drink in of white fastened by means of a pin, as that year; $24,000,000 we spend for work is described in Africa and Asia, cutjlower8 each year. till, at th<l last, a fringe of white repre· sents the Gospel in all lands. After such a map-illustrated talk, a most interested auditor said he felt com· Represent Africa alone in this way, pelled to arrange his household exor any country, marking all the socie- penses that he might ha ve more to give, ties at work. While the different col- so overwhelming was it to ored circles are being placed for the missions, you might have some defini· U Contrast tions read by various persons-diction- The petty Done, the Undone vast;" ary definitions of darkness, light, uncivilized, evangelized, mi88ionary, Ohristian· and others have proved the 8ame by ity, ending with Jesus as defined in their gifts when facts were once thus Matt. 1: 21. presented.

Again, have a mere outline of Africa Three leaflet·charts may be enlarged on brown paper, and cut the areas to assist this map force. They may be owned by England, France, Spain, etc., had for thirty cents per hundred of in red, blue, yellow, and other papers. W. B. Jacobs, 148 Madison Street, Chi· Have these fastened on at a public cago: "A Mute Appeal," "Trifling with a Great Trust," and "A Com· parative View;" the first two may be also had enlarged for sixty cents aim of miSl!ionary work. They either each. lay too much streSl! on the work of testi- fying, or they depend wholly on the Grown persons need not rebel at such Holy Spirit regardleSl! of human methmethods. Money comes spasmodically, ods. from impulse of the moment, unless the mind can recur again and again to the Such is the gist of the criticism. reasons for giving. The two· tenths area Now, while we do not belong to the of the whole world that alone have class of men who imagine that miSl!ionknowledge of Christ is a fact not to be ary methods are above criticism, we canforgotten when once seen demonstrated not but take issue with Professor Kozaki on a map of the world, and is empha- in what he says regarding present methsized each time the map is seen afler- ods of work, and also in what he outward. lines as the" true scientific method." It is somewhat startling to read that to- At oncll we feel we must give morc. day, after a hundred years of mission- Ask for birthday offerings of dollars, ary work, neither the churches at home dimes, or pennies. Give out nickels or nor their representatives abroad have dollars for investment. Find out every any idea of the true aim of missionary way in which you may increase your work. If that be true, no wonder that gifts; nay, lessen your indebtedness to our methods are bad and our converts the One whose light makes our life. few. The wonder is that such aimless men should have any methods or any To this, a constant use of maps, im- converts at all; and, wonder of wonpels me. ders I how have they been able to ac- complish what even Professor Kozaki From Another Standpoint.* speaks of as a work not inferior to what was done in apostolic times? It seems BY REV. W. WYND, BAPTIST MISSION. to us that, although the churches are not all that they ought to be, the ones OSAKA, JAPAN. which support missions are pretty clear about the aim of missionary work. As In your June issue of the MISSIONARY for the missionaries, God knows how REVIEW we were favored with a discus- hr short we feel ourselves to be of these sion of the missionary problem by Pro- grand ideals that we read of in the fessor Kozaki, of the Doshishi College, .. Acts of the Apostles," but even of Kioto. Looking at the problem from the worst of us, it cannot be truly said the point of view of a Japanese Chris- that we have no .. definite idea of the tian, the learned professor sees the prea- true aim of missionary work." In that ent methods of missionary work to be at least we k7W1J) our Lord's will; how wholly at variance with scientific prin- we are doing it is another question. ciples. More especially is his criticism Some, he says, are laying too much levelled at present methods of conduct- stress on the work of testifying, thinking work in civilized c(luntries. ing when they have done this their work is done, whether men are converted or Neither the missionaries who are sent not. to the field nor the churches that send If a missionary gives his time and them have any definite idea of the true strength and whatever talent God has given him to the work of testifying, is *[We do not hold ourselves responsible for the he not following in the footsteps of the great apostle of the Gentiles, who went views of contributor., and much prefer that r~­ from city to city doing nothing else 1 joinders to any article that appears should take Without minimizing in the least the imthe form of independent presentation of oppo- portance of educational work; without site opinions, common now, as a symposium. But as this paper is written in a good spirit we make an exception. In securing Mr. Kozaki's paper we intended it to inangurate a series by pastors native to several fields. We expect to furnish such an article from a Mexican minister in an early issue, and invite others of these brethren to send US contribntions from time to time.-J. T. G.] detracting from the value of work done verts that the missionary searches for, by noble-hearted, courageous, consecra- and it is converts that together both ted native workers, the fact remains that Church and missionary rejoice over.

to·day in non·Christian civilized lands Again, he says II we depend too much the foreign missionary of the right on the Holy Spirit regardless of human stamp,by the power of his testimony can methods." Those who believe the words do at least as great a work as he could do of Christ have a right to depend on the in any other sphere; a work that but for Holy Spirit; but certainly they have no his presence would probably not be right to depend on Him unless they done, even if the independent native themselves are using means and meth- churches had plenty of funds at their ods to accomplish the work with which dispolilal. they have been entrusted. The mis- I would remind the reader that in sionary who does so, to say the least of Japan, during the last three or four it, betrays a sad lack of sanctified com- years, the gain in almost the whole of mon sense.

the independent churches has been very In Japan each mission has its yearly slight; in some cases, indeed, they have or quarterly meeting for discussing, gone backward, and the churches Which formulating, and improving methods of have gained have been for the most part work, for devising new meaDS of reach- churches with which the missionary has ing the unbelievers. I know not of a had more or less to do. From the days society, a mission, or a missionary that when the disciples went everywhere tes- expects to see men becoming Christians tifying that Jesus was the Christ, the without human means beiDg used to Saviour of men, the blessing of the Lord make them so, and am consequently has followed the work of testifying; wholly at a loss to know where Profes- and statistics to.day will show that that sor Kozaki found the type of men of blessing hath not been withheld from whom he writes. The advocate of foreign missionaries testifying in non- " scientific methods of Christian work"

Christian civilized lands. To say that ought to have been the last man to de- too much stress is laid by, the foreign part from a scientific method of criti- missionary on the work of testifying is cism.

to betray a superficial knowledge of the After a careful perusal of the article subject in question, and to tell the in question, the following I take to be churches at home-these churches that the substance of the new II scientific hunger to hear of conversions, that scan method" outlined by the professor in every missionary periodical to find out his article : how many conversions are taking place 1. Send only a few first·rate foreign -to tell these that both they and their missionaries, and let their work be edu- representatives in foreign lands regard cational.

their work done when they have testi- 2. Instead of sending missionaries to fied, whether men are converted or not, testify to the unbelievers, send funds to is to betray utter ignorance of these the independent churches and do the great principles that are working in the work through them.

home churches and impelling them on He is convinced that the great need to missionary efforts. of non-Christian civilized lands is na- If the Church regards her work done tive workers; and in order to provide when she has testified, why has she these he would have the home churches again and again kept her missionaries send out only a few select teachers.

ten, fifteen, and twenty years working With the help of these, and a staff of in fields where not one has turned from eq ually gifted native teachers, first-class idols to serve the living God '1 Even a institutions of learning could be estab- superficial observer might see that it is lished. from which a sufficient number converts the Church longs for, it is con- of cultured workers might reasonably be expected. With these at work the native churches, doing the work through first step would be taken toward put- them.

ting missionary work on a scientific That is not an original idea. For the basis. We also believe that what is last year or two it has been the pet cry, greatly needed in these lands is more not of the Church in Japan. but of a native workers of the right stamp; but few leaders more or less imbued with however important a part schools may an anti-foreign spirit. That such a have in furnishing such men, with all spirit should manifest itself at times is our applications of modern science to most natural, human nature being what our school system we have not yet it is. In the churches at home there reached the point where we can take in are always those who are ready to hug men, by disposition, sentiment, and some personal grievance against their training, estranged from God, and turn pastor until they are firmly convinced out spiritually-minded men, full of the that he is the round man in the square Holy Ghost, of faith, wisdom, and hole, and so in all good conscie!lCe they power, for only such men are titted to clamor for his removal.

be entrusted with the future wellbeing of If so at home, the foreign missionary the Church. To get such men, the in civilized lands must always expect present system, in spite of its draw- some ready to clamor for his removal; backs, seems to be preferable. The but in spite of these things, until the missionary who sees the young Chris- native self-governing, self·supporting tians in their home and at their places churches are ready to take the whole of business, who listens to their first responsibility of raising up other self- feeble testimony, who witnesses them governing, self-supporting, self·propa· conquering pride and making a Chris- gating churches, are the home churches tian confession before unbelieving justified in withdrawing their repre- friends-in short, the missionary, even sentatives? We think not. When the if he be a " mediocre man," who watches gardener sees the plant push out its the development of the spiritual life of tendrils, the tendrils taking root, grow- the young Christians, is better fitted to ing, multiplying, and surpassing the make a wise selection of workers than parent plant in strength and beauty, he the professor who hears the student knows .that there is no danger of that demonstrate a problem, prove the exist- species dying out. It will,even under ad- ence of God, or conjugate a Greek verb. verse circumstances, propagate its kind.

Itmight be mentioned, in passing, that It were foolish of the missionary to Captain L. L. James, who is mentioned leave a great nation in darkness as soon as an example of a foreign educator as he sees a few independent churches j doing a great work, is a man who, what- but when he sees the children and grand- ever he may have been in the past, now children of these churches shooting out, makes a specialty of ridiculing every- taking root, springing up, and surpass- thing that Christians hold sacred, while ing the parents in faith, hope, and char- some of those men whom he was the ity, he may depart with gladness, for a means of raising up are not the kind of church has been founded which, even men the Christians at home would care under adverse circumstances, will prop- to entrust with the care of the Japanese agate its kind. As for the home church. Others, it is true, of the men churches ministering to the independent whom he taught are men of ability and native churches, that is to reverse the piety and worthy of all honor i but that order that we read of in the good old is in spite of the fact that in their early Book containing the first missionary days they were under the influence of records.

Captain L. L. James. Professor Kozaki reminds us that the Again, he would have the home church at Philippi did so to the church churches send fewer missionaries, and at Jerusalem; but that is no plea for send the money saved to independent the churches at home to do so to their independent offspring abroad. We can un- missionary station to the Sassoon mas- derstand how the church at Philippi sacre, writes that one of the Turkish would be strengthened by the effort it soldiers, troubled in mind by the mem- made to pay back in temporal gifts what ory of those awful scenes, told his wife it had received from the mother Church to ask the wives of the' Giaours ' (in- in spiritual gifts; but we fail to see how, fidels, unbelievers), who is 'Hissoos in civilized non-Christian lands, the Nazaretsee ' (Jesus of Nazareth). For churches which have attained their ma- all the women whom they had to slaugh- jority will be strengthened for their ter died calling upon Him. They could work by continuing to draw money have life by just saying, 'Mohammed from the parent who has still to support is the prophet of God.' The Turks call many children under age. On the con- Jesus'Isa,' and so the ignorant soldier trary, we see every reason for believing did not understand the Armenian form that such a course would be the means for Jesus of Nazareth. This incident of stunting the growth and dwarfing must touch any Christian heart."

the life of these churches, not because the brethren in the independent churches The Turki8h &ldier to hi8 Wife after the are unworthy to be entrusted with the Ma8SaCre8 at Bas8oon.

funds-far from it-but because such a "Who is this' Jesus of Nazareth '?"

course would be a violation of the law The Mussulman soldier caught his breath of growth and development. In these And knit his brow, like a man oppressed lands there is no lack of money. Let Whom the soft divan hath brought no rest. the leaders of the independent churches not turn to the foreign churches or the He had come from a field of God accursed: foreign missionary and demand that He had fought where devils did their worst! The fearful fray he would faiu forget- In his soul its echoes were ringing yet.

more responsibility be put on them. .. Who is this ' Jesus of Nazareth '? Let them rather open their eyes to the The women all called His name, in death: great fact that the responsibility is al- And the very children, caught to impale- ready on their shoulders, placed there Nay1 not for a woman's ear that tale 1 not by any society or any missionary, .. Your blood would freeze at its very fount; but by the Lord Jehovah. When the Yet the fire up into your brain would mount, leaders realize that fact and the mem- Till you shrieked at night, when the wind awoke, bers realize that they are but stewards And, shuddering, cowered till the morning broke. of the Lord, that their time and talents and means are to be given without stint "Nay, ask no question! I know not why for the spread of the Gospel, then the The women and harmless babes must die. 'Twas my chief's to order-mine to obey. Be it on his head at the Judgment Day I missionary problem will be one step "Yes-there was one alternative: nearer solution. • CalIon our Prophet, and you live I'

But every victim, with dying breath, Called upon' Jesus of Nazareth !'

"Who is this Jeaus of Nazareth 7" .. Who is this ' Jesus of Nazareth'?

Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, one of the ablest Does He bear the sword that conquers Death? of the able corps of the corresponding Must I meet Him there, when Azrael calls editors of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF My naked soul to the Judgment halls? THE WORLD, sends an interesting explanatory note of the incident in the .. Go-ask the Giaours-and tell me true, Who is this 'Jesus of Nazareth'? Who? I have fought for Allah 1 But if He be massacre of Armenians at l:lassoun, Allah's vicegerent-woe is me I"

Turkey, which inspired Mrs. Hamlin, J ""US of Nazareth 1 Lord of Life, wh:> was many years with her husband Conqueror of all this world's mad strife 1 in Constantinople, to write the follow- VeJlgeance for blood that cries to Thee 1 ing lines, which appeared in The .Ad- Bow the False Prophet on bended knee, 'Dance, under the caption quoted above. Dr. Hamlin says: Till the Cross shall quench the Crescent's ray From St. Sophia to the Gates of Day; "Mrs. Knapp, of Bitlis, the nearest And murderous Moslem, with contrite breath, Shall call upon Jesus of Nazareth !

FIELD OF :MONTHLY SURVEY

I1I.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.

BY D. L. PlEBSON.

Turkey,* Persia,t Arabia,t North Africa and Egypt,§ Russia, I Oriental Ohristianity-r Mohammedani3Dl. ** '

THE TURKISH EMPIRE. impulse or resentment. Missions in Turkey have always been carried on The feeling against the .. unspeakable amid tremendous difficulties. Islam has Turk" has by no means subsided either here undisputed sway in the governin America or in England. There is but ment, so that while, according to the letslight difference of opinion in the gen- ter of the law, freedom of religion is pro· eral condemnation of the action, or non- claimed, the law is interpreted by the action, of the Porte in regard to the Ar- Moslem to mean simply that any man menian massacres. It seems certain, at may become a Mohammedan. The any rate, that the government is not Turk has no sympathy or mercy for an grieved at the sufferings of the Chris- " infidel," whether he be so by birth or tians. It is rumored that the Turkish au- conversion. The Moslem races of Turthorities are trying to induce grain mer- key consist of Ottoman Turks (the chants to hold back food products in rulers, chiefiy in Asia Minor and Conorder to increase the sufferings of the stantinople), Arabs (in Mesopotamia, Armenians. What the final outcome Arabia, and Syria), Kurds (mostly outwill be is not yet determined, but in laws in eastern Asia Minor), Circassians, any case it seems that it will be as the Turcomans, and various smaller tribes. result of calm deliberation and not of The Christian races are the Armenians * "History of the Ottoman Turks," E. S. (in Asia Minor and northern Syria), the Greeks (Greece and Asia Minor), the Creasy; "My Life and Times," Cyrus Hamlin, Bulgarians, Jacobites, and Chaldeans D.D.; "Forty Years with the Tnrkish Em- (tn Mesopotamia), and the Maronites in pire." E. D. Prime, D.D.; "Antoblography of Syria. W. G. Schoulller, D.D.;" "The Armenian Crisis in Turkey," F. D. Greene; also pp. 32 (Janu- The chief missionary organizations at ary), 133 (February), 339 (May), 604 (Angust), 768 work are the American Board, laboring (present i~sue). in the Balkan peninsula and Asia Minor; the Presbyterian Board in Syria t See "Persia and the Persians," S. G. W. and Mesopotamia; the Reformed Pres- Benjamin; .. Henry Martyn," George Smith, byterians, in Syria; the Methodists in LL.D.; "Woman and her Saviour in Persia," Bulgaria ; the Church of England. 'the Dr. Thomas Laurie; "Dr. Grant and the Monn- Friends, Disciples, and Free and Estaio Nestorians;" "Persia, the Land of the tablished Churches of Scotland, and Imams," Rev. James Bassett; also pp. 3 (Janu- various other independent educational ary), 738, 741 (present issue). organizations in Syria. Turkey in Asia has an area of about 500,000 square :I: See "Memorials of Hon. Ion Keith Fal· miles and a population of 16,000,000. coner," Sinker i h Arabia Desena," Doughty; The total number ordained missionaries also pp. 1 (January), 414 (June), 730 (present is- is 75; lay, 15; medical, 18; and wom- en, 140. With these labor 270 native sue). pastors and 640 other workers. Prot- § See "Daybreak in North Africa," Mrs. estant communicants number about F. S. Haig; "Pioneeringin Morocco," Dr. Rob- 01040,00n0o. miBneaslidCeshrtihsetisaensthewrheoaraere5'0s0c0a~- ert Kerr; "Morocco as It Is," Stephen Bon· sal, Jr.; "Open Door for the Gospel in Egypt," tered throughout the empire, and among Mrs. F. 'f. Haig. whom the most promising missionary work has been carried on. The earnest II "The Highway of Sorrow" (Stundlsts), and united prayers of Christendom are Stretton; also p. 725 (present issue).

~ See "Missions to the Oriental Churches," Rufus Anderson, D.D.; "The Armenians," Rev. M. C. Gabrielian, M.D.; "Romance of Mis· sions," Miss West; also pp. 523 (July), 741 (present issue).

** See "Mahomet and Islam," Sir William Muir;" "Islam and its Founder." J. H. Stobart; "The Mohammedan Missionary Problem,"

H. H. Jessup, D.D. neeued for these downtrodden strug- kinds-the people living in the cities, gling races. the wandering tribes, and the inhab- itants of villages and country districts_ The government censoi-Bhip of the The latter are engaged in agriculture, pres8 is one of the features marking the and some of the best wheat in the world opposition to all religious and elevating is raised in Persia. Cotton, sugar, rice, influence. As is stated in the official re· and tobacco are also raised in the southports of the United States Government ern provinces. The wandering tribes (1893), the quotation of words of live in tents, and move about with their Scripture has been subjected to the will flocks and herds as the seasons change. of the censors. Appeal from the deci- They spend the spring and the summer sion of the censors is practically unavail· on the mountain slopes, and the winter ing. The censors insist that the phrase on the plains. The two principal races " kingdom of Christ" may not be used are the Turks and the Persians, the latter by Christians. The censors refused to of whom belong to the Mongol race. Bepermit the publication of the index to sides these, there are Arabs, Kurds, and Bible lessons for 1893 unless certain Gypsies, and other smaller tribes. words were erased-e.g., "Gospel lib· erty," omit liberty>" "sorrow turned to Most of the people belong to the joy" must be suppressed; "encourag- Shiah, or heterodox system of the Moing the people" must be erased; hammedan religion, although there "wicked devices frustrates" (Ps. 33) are a few adherents to the Sunni, or must be stricken out; also" sorrow in orthodox system. There are also the palace" (Esther 4), "saved by Parsees, Jews, Armenians, and Nesgrace" (Rom. 4), "hope in distress" torians. (Ps. 38), " fear not" (Josh. 1), " rejoicing in persccution" (Rom. 8), " a benevo- The Persians were first called Elamlent object" (Rom. 15). iteB. Their descent is traced to Shem, through his son Elam. The first relig- The references indicate the passages ion of the Persians, as well as of their on which the Bible lessons were found- neighbors, the Medes, was that of Zoroed, and the erasures are in themselves a aster, which knew but one God, though commentary on the Turkish Govern- fire, the sun, moon, and stars were, by ment, indicating, as they do, the ideas its followers, worshipped as his symwhich the authorities consider might bols. The Jews and the Persians were foster rebellion, etc., in the minds of brought into contact through Daniel the people. and the other captives in Babylon, and when Babylon was overthrowll and the PERSIA. ]Iedes established the Medo-Persian Empire, Cyrus, King of Persia, was in- The" Land of the Lion and the Sun" strumental in the restoration of God's has an area of 628,000 square miles and people and the preservation of the true a population of about 9,000,000. Mis- faith. sionary work is carried on chiefly by the American Presbyterians and by the It is conjectured that Thomas and Church of England Society, mainly Bartholomew carried the Gospel to this among the Nestorians, Armenians, and land. Old documents tcll of the mis- Chaldeans. The missionary force con- sion of Thaddeus to Edessa, in Mesosists of 23 ordained men, 8 physicians, potamia. There are documents, too, 20 women, and 84 native preachers; recording the acts of martyrs at Edessa these have gathered about 2500 commu- in 115 A.D. The Christians were numernicants. ous at that time, and the conversion of [ As elsewhere in Mohammedan coun- the king is proved by coins as early as tries, Islam is the great obstacle to the A.D. 165. spread of the Gospel in Persia. The Jews and the followers of Zoro- The population of Persia is of three aster opposed Christianity, and terrible persecutions began in Persia, and lasted released, as well as in direct evangeliza- for a century after they had ceased in tion, the physician is a power of GOd.

the Roman Empire. In the sixth and The missionary physician does a great seventh centuries there was much mis- work in promoting true medical science.

sionary activity in the Persian Church. The old medical practice is very defi- The missionaries even went into China. cient. At its best it is unscientific, but, Later, the ~lohammedans overthrew the mixed with superstition, it is still worse_ whole system of the Zoroastrian relig- The conjurer and the astrologer are the ion, and now its only followers arc companions of the physician. The about 5000 souls in Yezd, and 100,000 Vendidad of ancient Persia says: "If Parsees in Bombay. several healers offer themselves-name- Christians were subject to heavy ex- ly, one Who heals with a knife, one who actions by the Moslems, but were recog- heals with herbs, and one who heals nized as the" people of the Book," and with the holy Word-it is the latter who the Nestorians had special privileges will best drive away sickness from the and held offices of trust. Missionary body of the faithful." The astrologer work was still carried on and gained consults the stars as to the favorable influence in Tartary and China, beyond time for calling the doctor, and which the Moslem rule. When the Moguls one shall be called, and whether the conquered Chinese Tartary and Persia, medicine he has given shall be taken.

in 1202 A. D.. Christianity was tolerated A noble living in a distant city consult- for awhile, but finally the Nestorian ed the astrologers as to what physician Church fell before persecution, and not he should consult. The lot ,indicated a vestige of the Christians was left east Dr. Holmes, so, leaving the able help of the Kurdish Mountains. The Nes- at hand, he took a five days' journey on torians left, however, a monument in horseback to Tabriz. At a case of China in the shape of the Nestorian childbirth a Mollah led a sheep into the Tablet described in our February issue. room and around the couch of the wom- Persia has been gradually reduced by an, and then took it out and offered it Russian aggression and Mohammedan as a sacrifice for the life of the woman.

misrule to a desert. The American Sometimes the priest will write a pray- Presbyterian Board conducts successful er, and the patient will swallow the missions at Oroomiah and Tabriz in the paper or dissolve the writing in water west; at Teheran, Hamadan and Resht and drink the solution. For craziness in the east; the Church Mission is at priests are called, as their holy robes, J ulfa, the Armenian suburb of Ispahan. especially the blue and green of the There Dr. Bruce has amended Henry Sayids, are supposed to frighten the Martyn's Persian translation of the devils. Sometimes they exorcise by New Testament. It has a medical mis- beating in a barbarous manner. Others sion at Bagdad. In 1747 two Moravians are taken to a shrine and shut up in a made the first and unsuccessful attempt dark cave for several days to be cured to reach the Parsees or Kerman, and of lunacy. Others make the long pil- the Greek Church of Russia drove out grimage to Kerbela, hoping to be healed the Scottish and Basel missionaries who, by being tied in the portico of the from Shooshab in the Caucasus, sought shrine.

to influence Persia. European science is being introduced, Medical missions are very influential partly through European physicians, in Persia. In relieving suffering, mak- through the Shah's College, and natives ing the heart tender and friendly to re- who have received a foreign education.

ceive the truth, removing prejudices, The medical department of Oroomiah CUltivating the friendship of the authori- College, in charge of Dr. Cochran, is ties, so that doors of opportunity are doing a good work educating Christian opened, and the persecuted or:oppressed physicians. The hospital gives full opportunity for practical work. Instruc- them /lore at present mainly occupied in tion is from the best English text-books, learning the languages. As the bulk and is thorough.* of the population are in villages, many workers are needed to evangelize this country. The Scotch Presbyterians North Amollo and Egypt, have a mission in South Morocco. Algeria is the most advanced in civ- North Africa consists of Morocco ilization of all the countries of North Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, Egypt, and Africa, having been held by the French the Sahara. Almost all its native in- since 1830. After great expenditure of habitants are Mohammedans whose life and money, it is now thoroughly creed has nothing in its teaching that subject to their rule. Its extent is can save the soul. It carefully denies ~bout three times that of England, and the fundamental doctrines of Christ's Its popUlation about 4,000,000, princidivinity, death, and resurrection. No pally ltIoslems, but with some tens of effort has, until recently, been made to thousands of French, Spaniards, Italevangelize this part of the Moslem ians, Jews, etc. The country has a world. It was considered impossible good climate, and much beautiful scento gain an entrance, much less a hear· cry; there are many good roads, and ing, among these followers of the False more than fifteen hundred miles of rail- Prophet. God has lessened and is still way. The North Africa Mission has lessening the political power of Mo- seven stations and twenty-two brethren hammedanism in Africa. Its vices and sisters working there. The bulk were too glaring for civilization to en- of the people live in villages scattered dure. Slavery and piracy in Algeria over the country, and only a very few led to its subjugation by the French, ha ve, as yet, been reached by the Goswho also are paramount in Tunis. pel. Tripoli is still under the Turkish Government. Egypt enjoys :the protection Tunis is under French protection, of England, and Morocco is as yet an and practically under French rule. It independent ~,[oslem empire. Islam's' is hardly so extensive as England, but spiritual deceptions and social degra- has a population of about 2,000,000, dations cannot be r€moved by force of nearly all of whom are Mohammedans. arms. Only the reception of the truths There are, however, a few thousands of of the Gospel can remedy these evils. Italians, Maltese, French, and Jews, etc., on the coast. Thirteen workers 'Morocco has an area of about 260,000 of this mission are stationed in the capsquare miles, and a popUlation estimated ital, some of them at present engaged at from 5,000,000 to 8,000,000. It is in study; the remainder of the Regengoverned by a Sultan, whose name is cy, with its cities and villages, remains Abdul Aziz, a youth of about 'sixteen unevangelized. Who will go to them ? A medical mission is now carried on in years of age. The North Africa Mission (British) began work in Morocco Tunis. in a small way in 1884; at the close Tripoli is a province of the Turkish of 1892'it had substantial mission premiscs, with hospital in Tangier, and sta- Empire, several times larger than Engtions in Tetuan, Fez, and Casa Blanca. land. It has a population of about It has twenty·six missionaries in the 1,350,000, who, with the exception ot a few thousands, are followers of the False Prophet. The Moslems here are country, laboring among Moslems, more intelligent and better educated Jews, and Europeans; but several of than farther west, but much opposed to the Gospel. Two brethren began, * For much of this review of Persia we are in 1889,. to labor for Christ among them, and others have since been sent, A indebted to an article by Rev. S. G. Wilson. medical mission has been conducted as midwifery diploma. Ability to ac- quire Arabic should be manifest. here with cheering results. 3. Stewards or associations of Chris- Egypt is still tributary to Turkey, tian contributors are earnestly sought but under the protection and super· of the Lord.

vision of the British Government. The' (a) To support individual miBBiona- ries. The inclusive expense of ft single miBBion commenced work in Lower brother may be reckoned at $500 (£100) Egypt in April, 1892, and has, includ· yearly, and a single sister at $350 or ing wives, six missionaries there. The $400 (£70 or £80); married missionaries population of this portion of the coun· at the same proportion, according to the extent of their families. try is estimated at nearly 4,500,000, the (b) To support forms of work such as bulk of the people being Mohamme· medical mi.ssions, schools, or provide dans. There are 40 towns with from for itinerating and rent of miBBion 7000 to 40,000 inhabitants each, and houses. 500 towns with from 2000 to 7000 each, (c) To secure and, if po~sible, find without any Gospel agency whatever. working expenses of a house·boat. As The vast Sahara, with its few scat· the Delta is a network of canals an easy tered millions of Berber and Arab Mo· and inexpensive method of evangeliza· hammedans, remains still without a soli· tion is at our hand, if only we had a tary missionary. We pray God that small craft at our disposal– one to ac· soon some brethren full of faith and of commodate three or four missionaries the Holy Ghost may be sent to preach could be procured for $1000 (£200). Christ amid the inhabitants of its palmy Perhaps some would like to pay the oases.-North Africa. hire of a boat for a few journeys dur· Northern Arabia is peopled by the ing the winter season. Bedouin descendants of Ishmael; they 4. Remembrance8 at the Throne of are not bigoted Moslems, like the SyrI· Gl·ace.-To be daily importunate on ans, but willing to be enlightened. behalf of the Egyptians and the mis· One brother went to labor among them sionaries who labor among them. in 1886; he has now retired, and an· Besides the North Africa Mission, other brother and his wife, who were which supports three men and four thinking of taking up the work, have women missionaries in Egypt, there are: through ill·health been obliged to come 1. The United Presbyterian Church home. of America, with headquarters in Cairo.

The Lord has greatly blessed their work among the members of the ancient The spiritual claims of Egypt are Coptic Church. They have raised up a strongly presented by Mr. W. Rum· native Protestant Church in Egypt with mers, who thus voices the needs of this native pastors. 2. The British and Foreign Bible S0ancient land of the Pharaohs : 1. Men are needed as evangelists ciety, with principal depot in Alexan· whose first qualification is to be soul· dria ; and the American Bible Society winners. They should not be without in affiliation with the American Pres- some intellectual and theological train. byterian Mission. ing. If possible, a rudimentary knowl· S. The Church Missionary Society edge of the healing art would be of carries on work in old Cairo. They great assistance. Fair linguistic abil· have a medical miBBion, small hospital, and school work. ity is absolutely necessary. Qualified Physicians. – Medical mis· 4. Church of Scotland Mission to sions are practically a forgotten agency Jews, with four well·conducted schools. in Egypt. What little has been done 5. An undenominational Dutch mishas proved successful. Government sion has been working for eighteen hospitals have free dispensaries, but years in Calioub, a town near Cairo. are as a drop in the bucket among those A native church is formed, and schools needing medical aid. There are dozens are efficiently conducted. of centres in the Delta alone where 6. Sailors' and Soldiers' Institute in medical missionaries would find large affiliation with Miss Robinson's work. Besides individual effort among Engand unoccupied spheres. 2. Women who have a passion for lish and other Europeans. souls, even if they live in the midst of Still the dense Mohammedan popula- filth and disease. Much patience and tion in the Delta remains unreached by ,love for Christ are needed to win the the news of the world's Saviour. They Moslem women to Christ. Ladies hav· mU8t be evangelized, for " They shall ing some medical knowledge should know that I am the Lord God" (Ezek. take an elementary qualificati.on such 29: 16).

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.

The March of Events. aonf dAsmuecrhicaannaatnidonBarsitiCshhinmaissshioonualdrie~s A massacre of missionaries began at held to strict account, entirely apart Whasang, near Kucheng, China, on from any religious question involved, August 1st. A mob fired the mission for the sacrifice of valuable lives, not to premises, killing ten people-one man say buildings. No money indemnity is and his wife, with seven other women, adequate in a case like the present. It and one child. Several other Christians is too loose and easy a method for rewere more or less seriously hurt. All pairing au irreparable wrong, and sets the killed were British citizens. The a premium on such merciless crimes. attacking party are said to belong to a Nothing less thau the arrest and severe Chinese sect, the "Vegetarians," and punishment of such assassins can satthe outrage was unprovoked and mali· isfy the common conscience and act as cious. The Chinese Government was a preventive. China should be made to compelled to take steps to discover understand that about the person of and punish the guilty parties, but the every citizen of America or Britain all governmental action was slow and un- the power and prestige of these two satisfactory. great nations wrap their guarantiel!, and that whoever unlawfully touches them, These murders are the more unac- when innocent of violating law, will be countable as being in the Fo·Kien prov- treated as an enemy of humanity. We ince, where a friendly feeling has gen- see nothing un-Christian in extreme reerally existed between the natives and sorts when nothing less suffices to inforeigners. Kucheng is on the Min sure immunity from such acts of vio- River, some ninety miles above the lence. treaty port of Foochow. The river is not navigable at this point, and hence The Armenian atrocities, as disclosgunboats cannot be used to protect the ures and exposures now warrant us in foreign residency. For months past saying, exceed for wanton outrage and the officials, or literati, have been at cruelty and nameless horrors anything work breeding discontent and riot, and on record. No wonder Britain's" Grand this is the result. All Americans at Old Man" finds one more burning fire work there were sent to Foochow for shut up in his bones which must have safety in June last. The mandarins are vent. Indignant protests from civilsaid to be charging ou foreigners the ized nations seem unheeded, and peace failure of China in the present war with may be purchased for Armenia at a Japan, as having stood by indifferent heavy cost. Mr. Gladstone sums up and beheld China whipped. the crimes committed against these people by four fearful words: "plun- The indignation aroused by these der, murder, rape, and torture;" he wholesale murders, and outrages on charges the Sublime Porte with the reproperty, is intense, and severe measures sponsibility, which, he claims, must be are threatened. We have no conscious brought home to the Turkish governspirit of retaliation or desire to magnify ment. China's faults unduly, but avenging is not revenging. There is a protection The treaty of 1856, he said, gave the which Government owes its citizens, Powers the right to march into Armenia and which Britain is usualJy jealous to and take the government of the country afford. We have long felt that, while out of the hands of Turkey, and under any nation may lawfully exclude for- thetrcatyof 1878 the Sultan was bound eigners or compel their withdrawal from to carry out reforms. He makes three proits territory, all needful guards should posals. First, that the demands of the be put about the person and property Powers should be moderate; second, that out .. fear of contradictIon." Of these no promises of the Turkish authorities should be accepted; and third, that the gatherings we have 5rowing conviction Powers should not fear the word •• coercion." .. We have reached a critical that, whatever good may be the outcome position," said he, .. and the honor of the Powers is pledged to the institution one way, the ultimate result is confuof reform iu Armenia." A resolution was then adopted by the meeting which sion-a Babel of ideas as to religious Mr. Gladstone addressed that the government would have the support of the obligation and the way of salvation. If entire nation in any measures it might adopt to secure in Armenia reforms guar- all religious faiths are entitled to recog· anteeing to the inhabitants -safety of life, honor, religion, and property; and nition, not as ethical systems having in that no reforms can be effected which are not placed under the continuous them a modicum of virtue and value, control of the great Powers of Europe. The speech made a profound impres- but as entitled to comparison as having sion. Mr. Gladstone said he was glad to see that as much indignation exists in in them essentials of salvation, the America as anywhere over the atrocities. unique position and claims of Christian· It is becoming a question whether those who act as the Turks do should ity must at once and forever be aban· not by other nations be treated as burglars, highway robbers, and murderers doned; Christian missions become im· generally are served. There is a broad question of political economy that is pertinent as a declaration of one only awakening Blore and more attentionviz., whether the race is not to be con- Name whereby we must be saved, and sidered as a whole, in its solidarity; and whether an "international police" is sink to the level of a friendly confer· not a demand of the age. It is felt, and not without reason, that there are some ence in which we may have as much to crijlles which are against humanity as such, and should so be punished. It is learn as to teach. hard to see why a city, State, or nation should exterminate a band of villains We quote from Ohristian Work, a who infest the highways, lurk in hiding places to assault the innocent, and paper so liberal that some orthodox peouse weapons of torture and assassination, and yet the community of nations ple think it lax. Yet hear its earnest stand by in helpless inactivity and see a whole district swept.by atrocious mur- and faithful testimony: derers I .. To whatever extent the Toronto The Pan·American Congress at To- Congress would place an equal value ronto, which was held in July, provid· and authority upon each religion, to ed a platform from which the various that extent it is misleading, dangerous, .. religions" of the world might plead and false to the facts. And it is signifithrough their respective advocates. cant of the character-'of the discussions Bishop Ireland, of the Roman Catholic held at Toronto that none of the relig- Church, Rabbi Gottheil, the Jew, with ions was put on the defensive; conserepresentati ves of nearly every Christian quently their reverse side was not seen. denomination, as well as of Mohamme· Take, for example, Mohammedanism. danism, Buddhism, Confucianism, etc., Mohammed certainly did perform the had the" right of presentment" with· noble service of overthrowing idolatry in Arabia, and he proclaimed the one- ness of God: so far we are with him. But the failure of Mohammedanism is to be found in its wholly inadequate conception of God, which rests on the mere fact of his unity and sovereignty-. The sacrifice for sin, the fact that 1D love only is there power to save from sin and turn earth into heaven-the abo sence of all this is the fatal weakness of Mohammedanism: this weakness was not brought out at that Toronto Con- gress. Then, take Confucianism: the cause of its failure-snd it has failed- is that Confucius based religion on man and wholly ignored God. Confucianism makes no full provision for dependence, fellowship, progress; certainly there can be no sense of dependence where the worship of God is restricted to the offering of sacrifices on State occasions by the emperor, thus relegating God to the background; there can be no fel· lowship with a God who is afar off! It is _little wonder that Confucianism failed. And Buddhism ; how could it be expected to succeed, excellent as is embarrassed by a gift made by Robsome of its ethical precepts are, when ert Arthington, of Leeds, England, some it is agnostic, if not positively atheistic? yeats ago, for the opening of a miBBion -for Gautama considered there was no south of Khartoum, on the Nile, which such spirit. Really, Buddhism, with has grown by regular increase and the its act force, is only an older form of addition of other donations till it amounts the deification of force and is nineteenth to $52,400. The money cannot be used century materialism dressed in the garb to carry out the design of the donors on ilf twenty·two centuries ago. account of the Arabian occupation of the Soudan and tbe exclusion of all for· " The one tremendous fact not to be eigners, and yet much of the money ignored is that whatever be the ultimate given could not be restored to the unfate of the deluded heathen in their known donors. The society has there- fore brought a friendly suit to secure a ignorance of sin and of the fact that love decision that the use of the fund in the only can save the sinner, Christianity region specified is impossible; and jualone supplies this: the religion of dicial instruction as to what use shall be Christ alone satisfies the wants of the made of it. This leads us to say, again, weary, sin-burdened soul. bringing him that it is well for donors not to condiinto reconciliation with God. Theolo- tion their gifts too restrictedly. gies are misleading. and confessions and standards and creeds are imperfect and Many questions of vital importance often foolish: but these are not relig- to missions require carefully to be ex· ion; but the implanting of the Christ amined and adjusted. The Independent life in the soul is. Any' congress' spirit of the Japanese makes them imor • parliament' which ignores this su- preme fact, and thinks to bring all religions down to a common level along the line, not of thorough discussion even, but of presenting the best photograph of each, makes a jest of the eternal verities and sows a crop the harvest of which will be fruitful of tares."

From a Chicago journal we quote: patient of foreign control even in the missions established by missionaries "Without assuming to decide the from abroad and in the schools they question, the Living Ohurch ventures originated or helped to develop, and a an opinion as to the cause of the gen- deputation has bee!. appointed by the eral falling off of mlBBionary offerings. A. B. C. F. M., consisting of Hon. It is an opinion which two years ago W. P. Ellison, Boston; Rev. J. L. Barwas a prophecy, when the extraordi- ton, D.D., foreign secretary; Rev. J. nary spectacle was presented in Chicago G. Johnson, D.D., Chicago; Rev. A. H. of the apostles of all the false religions Bradford, D.D.. Montclair, to visit of the world being invited to give an Japan. Some changes may be made in ea;-parte representation of faith and life the deputation, which started in Septemunder the religious systems which they ber. represented-or, rather, misrepresented. The Babel of Christian sects was mar· August 26th a company of missionshalled by Drs. Barrows and Bonney, aries of the Protestant Episcopal body who did what they couId to make a left Vancouver for China. Bishop good showing for the Christian religion Samuel 1. J. Schereschewsk; goes to (without any church), while they afded superintend the publication of his Bible in working up a hospitable enthusiasm translation into the Wen-Ii, his wife for the savants and picked men of all and daughter accompanying, also Rev. heathenism. Returning home, these D. T. Huntington and Miss Steva L. represented Christianity to be a failure Dodson, with Dr. W. L. Ludlow, mediin the countries they had visited; and cal missionary. in one case, we believe, missionaries were sent to America to convert our benighted people. Some part of the present falling off of enthusiasm for missions may be fairly attributed to this • exploiting' of heathen systems (without rebuttal) at the central point of the world's interest in 1893."

The African Inland Mission sent forth, The American Missionary Association August 17th, Rev. P. Cameron Scott as pioneer, who llaS spent already seven first at Shanghai, and then at Tung- years in Africa, with his sister, Miss chow for over thirty. He was of a Margaret C. Scott, a medical mission· genial spirit, full of humor, a fine stu- ary, Miss Bertha M. Reckling, Lister R. dent, especially gi ven to historical study, Severn, and Rev. Willis Hotchkiss and [.nd a cultivated man of scholarly tastes.

Rev. Fred W. Kreiger. Walter MeL. He was a native of Buffalo, N. Y.

Wilson joins the party in Scotland. The Such deaths leave a great void.

mission is interdenominational, and em· phasizes basal truths, such as the divino The death of an American citizen of ity, atonement, and second coming of Siam, Marian A. Cheek, is announced.

Christ, person and work of the Spirit, He went there twenty·two years ago as the verbal inspiration of the Word of a medical missionary of the Presbyte- God, salvation by faith, the eternity of rian Board, at the age of twenty, and future punishment, and the evangeliza· had become one of the most influential tion of the world as the duty and mis- men in the country, the intimate coun· sion of the Church. They go in the sellor of the king. Ten years ago he strength of these truths to confront severed his connection with the Board, deadly climate and relentless Moslem engaged in trade, and accumulated a hatred in the Soudan. May God go large fortune, and at the time of his with them! death was pressing a claim against the United States for several hundred thou· The well-known Charles N. Critten- sand dollars alleged to be due on ac· ton, of New York, founder of the Flor- count of the negligence of American ence Mission, attempts a t(Jur of the officials in Siam. Some years ago he United States to found similar missions -obtained a concession from the king to for outcast women. He left New York farm out a teak forest. While he was August 19th in a special car, Good floating thousands of logs to market in New8, and a trip of eighteen months is be- the form of a raft, they were confiscated fore him and his party. Portland, Ore., by representatives of an English com- California, the Southern States, and pany. Cheek floated the stars and Atlantic coast are the boundaries of the stripes on his rafts and called on the trip. Services of song and exhortation American officials for assistance. They from the car platform wherever there is failed to come to the rescue, and Cheek a wait of a quarter of an hour, and more accordingly sued this government for extended services where longer stops damages. The officials at Washington are arranged for, with meetings in halls contend that he had no right to fly the or churches wherever a night can be American flag in the situation he was spent in a city, are among the plans. then in.

Up to this time nineteen missions have heen established through the efforts of At St. John's l'lission, Grand Cape this New York merchant, whosedaugh- Mount, Liberia, Mrs. M. R. Brierley, ter's death gave such impulse to his life. one of the oldest missionaries on the What strange ways God has of leading African field, died July 6th. She was His people who are ready to be led. We about sixty-five years old, and went to know of no one man whose life is more the Dark Continent with her husband telllng on the reclamation of fallen in 1865 as missionary of the Church of womanhood. May great blessing fol- England. After her husband's death, low this new method of extending these in 1882, she was transferred to the mis· rescue missions. sions of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States and placed at the Rev. Charles R. Mills, D.D., died sud- head of St. George's Hall, one of the denly in Tung·chow, China, June 22, largest schools in Liberia, and was at having been in China about forty years, the head of it when she died. The death of J. L. Phillips, M.D., of practice in general use of assigning It young, inexperienced girl to each China- Oalcutta, already noticed in this RE- man for the purpose of teaching him VIEW, has awakened widespread sorrow our language and bringing him to a and left a great gap which will not be knowledge of the truth. I stated that easily filled. He will be most lovingly in all my experience among the China- men of this city I had never known a remembered in connection with the De- single one that·1 regarded as hopefully cannial Oonference of December, 1882. converted in this way, nor was I at all He was a man of deep spirituality and hopeful of ever seeing one thus brought great spiritual power, and had marvel- to Ohrist. I was simply criticising a lous tact in harmonizing discordant ele- method, and not considering the ques- tion as' to the possibility of the conver- ments. He was a peacemaker. If he sion of a Chinaman to Christianity. It had a new method to introduce he had is too late to discuss this latter question, singular felicity of manner, which made since many have been hopefully con- verted both in China and California. I • it seem unlike an innovation. He kept am not now, nor have I ever been en- a weekly prayer-meeting in his family gaged in missionary work among the on Friday evenings. and this is one of Ohinese.My interest in these people the influences which moulded his fam- has simply been a philanthropic one, the work being forced on me as an offi- ily for Ohrist and His service at a tender cer of the Prison Society, in which I age. His whole influence was in favor have been called to defend them against of a consecrated life. The memorial the cruel and' unjust persecutions to service was an impressive and mem- which they have been from time to time subjected at the hands of our own peo- orable occasion, in the college chapel ple. In this way I have come to be at Keuka Park, N. Y. According to recognized as their friend and advocate previous announcement the people as- in this region, and not because of any sembled, and all seemed intent on special missionary work among them. I have the hope and confidence that paying homage to the model modern God's elect will be safely gathered into Ohristian hero in the world's great the kingdom out of every nation and mission work. tribe under heaven; but I do not be- lieve that the coddling methods used to get these Ohinamen into the Sabbath- The newspaper8 have been making school will ever result in any success.

no little capital of a reported remark of " Respectfully, .. E. R. DONEHOO." Rev. Dr. Donehoo, of Pittsburgh, to the effect that, after long and large ex· perience of mission work among the Yukichi Fukuzawa, the" Grand Old Ohinese in this country, "he has never Man of Japan," though about twenty yet found, and never expected to find, years younger than the members of a thoroughly converted Chinese." ,This that famous triumvirate, Gladstone, statement has been made the more of in Bismarck, and Li Hung Ohang, has view of Dr. Donehoo's advocacy of more than any other man brought Japan Christian missions, etc. And now Dr. to her position among civilized nations.

Donehoo rises to explain; and, as a Thirty-five years ago he visited this country, and on his return home intro- specimen of the facility with which duced the Webster Dictionary to his countrymen, a book that is considered some people misunderstand and mis- the foundation of Japan's intellectual power; he also introduced English into quote, it may be well to append his own all the schools. In days when Japan was divided into two parties-one for explanation. He writes to the New and the other against foreigners-he ad- vocated the opening of his country to York Obser'l!er: the New World; and his book in be- half of Western civilization, which he .. Entirely too much has been made wrote from his studies and travels in out of a very .innocent statement of America, had a considerable effect in mine, not intended for publication, in restoting to the throne the dynasty of regard to the outcome of missionary work in this city. When questioned as to my opinion of the method"here em- ployed to reach Ohinamen with the Gos- pel, I unhesitatingly condemned the which the present emperor is a member. familiar friend by his carefully pre- The Jiji Shimpo (the Times Newspaper) is his organ ; and although he does not pared monthly notes of the progress of actively manage it, his sons are the editors, and its influence is widespread, the kingdom. We have seen no other doubtless because it is independent in every sense_ Perhaps his greatest bene· book that covers the same ground. And faction was the founding of a school known as the Kewgijiuku University, this was one reason for the work so carewhich is second only to the Imperial Uni.versity at Tokio in point of num- fully and admirably done. The book bers and rank of scholarship. Mr. ]j'ukuzawa comes from the common begins by laying down principles, the people, and is known as the "great commoner," and what shows above all basis of all missions, in Christ's own the character of the man is that he has never allowed himself to be carried conception and command. Then are away by his success, and has modestly refused to accept decorations, honors, briefly traced early attempts at evanor even the peerage from the Mikado.- Exchange. gelization, the influence of medireval " Missions at Home and Abroad" is missions on European history, etc. ; the title of Dr. E. M. Wherry's com- then the modern revival or renaissance pilation of papers and addresses at the of missionary life from Carey on to World's Congress of Missions in Chicago our day. He describes what he aptly in 1893, of which the editor was corre- calls the phenomenon of missionary ex- sponding secretary. It is published by pansion, traces the work done in India, the American Tract Society, New York. Africa, Persia, Korea, Turkey, China, In this book are thirty or more essays South Seas, Japan, North and South or addresses from representative men and women on home and foreign mis- America, etc., and then gives a final outsions, the questions that concern Jews and Mohammedans, Turks and Indians look on the unpossessed domain. For and lepers, etc., and city missions as well. Some of the papers are profound- this book we invoke God's blessing. It ly philosophical, others as profoundly practical. While there are flentiments is a new and valuable contribution to here contained which we could not agree with, the body of this testimony the study of the greatest practical probis of peculiar value. We would call special attention to Bishop Nicholson'S lem ever put before the Church. paper on" The Jew and his Land ;" Dr. Dennis's, on "The Inaccessible R. H. Woodward Company, 220 and Fields;" Wellesley C. Bailey's on "The Work Among Lepers;" George 222 North Charles Street, Baltimore, E. Post's on "Medical Missions;" 'Ehomas Kane's on "Consecration of Md., have published" Forty Years in Property;" and Joseph Cook's on " Victories and Hopes of Missions." China," by Rev. R. H. Graves, D.D.

One of our editorial staff, Rev. D. L. The retail price is $1.50. The work is sold by subscription, but where there Leonard, recently published .. A Hun- are no agents the book may be obtained by writing direct to the publishers. A dred Years of Missions, " through part of the proceeds from the sale of this book are to be given to missions, Funk & Wagnalls. This is the story and iu order to interest ministers in for- eign missions, the publishers furnish of the march of events since Carey's this volume to any minister whose year· ly income is less than $500 upon receipt humble beginning in 1792. The author of 40 cents in stamps.

was himself a very useful superinten- Dr. Graves has been in China for more than one generation, and has been dent of missions in the home field of a personal witness of the stupendous changes which he chronicles, and which Utah and surrounding territory, and in have nearly all of them occurred since the Tientsin treaty of 1861, when he had theso pages he has for years been a already been in China five years. In this valuable book an unusually ob- servant man has traced the conservative and reconstructive forces which have been contending for the mastery. He shows that ruin is before the Celestial Empire which can be arrested only by the acceptance of the lessons taught in history as to the secrets of a true and progressive national life, and especially the necessity of a religious faith that has in it the elements of individual and SHANGHAI, May 21, 1895.

national regeneration. The illustrations DEAR FRIENDS: I feel it laid on my in Dr. Graves's book are superb. heart to communicate with you by let- ter, as I have done before when delayed in China, and to thank you very warm- Mrs. M. G. Watt writes from Guelph, ly for your continued help in our ser- vice here. I shall not be able to meet Canada, that much more is being done any of you personally for some time, for the lepers of India and other lands and I have been unable to keep in touch than is usually known, and that a large with you as I could have wished through amount of .. leper literature" is free, Ohina'8 Million8. I am, therefore. ask- ing Mr. Sloan to forward to you a copy distributed only on one condition-that of a little sketch of the mission which I it be passed round after reading. Her daughter prepares pamphlets on the mrwas able to prepare when confined to room by sickness. You are partners subject of European lepers, etc., and wIth us in this branch of God's work in China, and will, I am sure. rejoice wit h thus th'lY were enabled to send $1500, us in what He has wrought tor the in· $600 of which came from Guelph, to terior of this needy land.

the treasurer in the old country. Six It is over a year now since we again auxiliaries are already at work iii. Can- reached Shanghai, expecting, after a short stay, to return to England. We ada, that in Guelph being the pioneer had not been here long, how('ver, ere and holding monthly meetings in all the we felt unmistakably called to visit a churches in turn. number of our inland stations. While away in the interior the sad war be- tween Japan and China broke out, and F. A. Jefferd, missionary in Funchal, it became clear that my duty was to re- Madeira, asks prayers of our readers for main here until thc rest.oration of peace.

the mission work he is conducting in A second journey enabled me to visit other stations, und was safely accomconnection with W. G. Smart, his plished before the end of the year.

brother-in-law. In 1884 the Protestant In January I was laid aside, and a General Mission was founded, with the protracted tIme of weakness ensued, object of evangelizing the island, with from the effects of which I have not yet its population of 140.000. They have fully recovered. I was able, however, since been permitted to form the first to visit Yang-chau and Gau-king be- Baptist church and two sub·stations in fore the scattering of the students; and other parts of Madeira. The objects my heart was greatly rejoiced a); each kept in view are the work among sail- place. Never have parties of brighter, ors stopping at the port. the teach- more capable, and more consecrated ing in day schools. and preaching among workers gone out from these homes the residents of the island, and the circulation of the Word of God and Chris- than this year. tian literature. After these brief visits, when consid- The mission among sailors was found- ering the question of reaching home in ed in 1876 by the late George Smart, time for Keswick, we were led to see and the Sailors' Rest in 1882 by W. G. clearly that Mr. Stevenson should re- Smart. turn and we remain in CIJina. I trust that he may have the opportunity of During 1894 vessels carrying a total crew of 31,225 men and 29.191 passen- meeting many of you. gers entered the port. It will be seen The restoration of peace will have rewhat ample opportunity is afforded for most needed service among seafaring joiced you, and is the answer to many men. Only 5 per cent of the inhabit- prayers. We must thank God for the ants of Madeira can read or write. preservation of His servants during the time of war, and continue to pray that These brethren. Smart and Jefferd, rebellion may not be permitted to folwill gladly respond to any inquiries. low, and that the troops may be safely and welcome any gifts to aid in their blessed and self-denying work. The disbanded and dispersed. address is 29 Rua do Conselheiro, Fun- A new call is given us to hasten the chal, Madeira. evangelization of China; let us remem- ber the power we possess in united prayer. Five years ago there were 1296 China missionaries. The Shanghai Mis- The following letter, addressed to all sionary Conference of 430 missionaries prayed and appealed for new ordained friends and donors to the China Inland and unordained workers-1OOO men in Mission, will be read with interest: fl… " years. What has been the response? No less than 1153 new missionaries have filled missionaries may be <lent out, and come out since that time-481 of them that all of us here may be filled to overhaving been men. Not just as we asked, flowing with the living water, and bebut as God saw best. And doubtless lieve me, there would have been a still fuller re- Yours gratefully in Christ, sponse but for the war. Now we have J. HUDSON TAYLOR. peace, and we must look for large and immediate reinforcements.

We in the C. I. M. have been con- Ohina's Orisis. scious that God was preparing us for this. Needed facilities have been sup- An .. Appeal for Missionaries for plied without which large reinforce- China, " addressed to all Protestant ments would have embarrassed us. The need of enlarged premises in China and churches of Christian lands, has been England was spoken of at our annual issued by Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, and meetings in 1887, and it was mentioned that a site had been obtained in Shang- we gladly reprint it : hai, and that one was in view in Lon- In May, 1890, the General Conference don. In the record of the annual meet- of Missionaries, assembled in Shanghai, ings of the following year Mr. Broom- and representing the 1296 Protestant hall reported that the latter also was missionaries then in China, issued an obtained, and gave the reasons why the urgent appeal for 1000 men within five mission needed and should have" much years; and appointed a permanent com- more accommodation" for the home mittee to observe and report the results work. Both these needs hal'o been of the appeal, consisting of Rev. J.

met, and we have to thank God for suit- Hudson Taylor, of Shanghai; Rev.

able premises, not only in London and William Ashmore, D.D., of Swatow; Shanghai, but also in several important Rev. H. Corbett, D.D., of Chefoo ; Rev.

centres in China. God has also given C. W. Mateer, D.D., LL.D., of Tung- us valued workers who are carrying on chow; Rev. C. F. Reid, D.D., 01 Shang- the business work of the mission in hai.

them. My beloved brother-in-law, Mr. At the same time the lady missiona- BroomhalI, has retired from the work, ries of the Conference put forth an ap- and we shall often miss him; he has peal for additional lady 'Vorkers.

not done so, however, before our hon- The five years have now elapsed, and orable secretary, Mr. Sloan, with our the Rev. C. F. Reid, D.D., has carefully competent staff of helpers, was thorough- collected and tabulated the returns.

ly able to carry it on. Miss William- From these it appears that 45 societies son, who as an honorary missionary had have sent new workers to China since superintended the Shanghai home for May, 1890. Some unconnected mis- some years, is at my request rendering sionaries have also come out. Includ- the same kind of service in London. ing these, the following numbers are And I need not further refer to the help reached: Male missionaries, 481 ; wives of Mr. Marcus Wood in England, of of missionaries, 167 ; single ladies, 505.

Mr. Graham Brown in Scotland, or to Total in fi ve years, 1153.

Miss Soltau's honorary services in the These numbers do not exactly corrc- ladies' training home, etc. Here in spond with the appeal-only 481 of China. during Ml·. Stevenson's absence, them being men. God knew the needa Mr. William Cooper, who has been of China, and sent those He saw would helping him for some time as assistant be most helpful. The answer, there- deputy director. is conducting the fore, is a gracious response, and shows work; and we have now the help of What may be done by united prayer and Mr. C. '1'. l!'iske here, who for so many effort; and thus adds to our responsi- years acted as financial secretary in bility to use these means stilI more large- London. Never before were we so well ly for the advancement of the Redeem- prepared for definite advance, and our er's kingdom in China. An important hope and prayer is that now that the crisis in China's history has been war is over we may have given to us reached. The war just terminated does many" willing skilful" helpers-men not leave her where she was. It will and women-for every department of inevitably lead to a still wider opening missionary service. of the empire and to many new develop- Continue to pray for us, dear friends, ments. If the Church of Christ does not and to help us as God may lead you. enter into the opening doors, others Thank God for the hundreds of souls will, and they may become closed against being reaped each year, and ask that her. We would reiterate some of the soon the aunual increase may be very earnest words of appeal, written five llluch larger. Pray that only Spirit- years ago, which have to-day, on the eve. of great changes and of great op- help. • •• That the holy and loving portunities, still more urgent weight and Spirit of God may incline your hearts should lead to more vigorous effort. to respond to His call is our earnest The Conference said in 1890 : prayer." " Realizing as neTer before the magnitude of China and the utter inade- To the above extracts we will only quacy of our present numbers for the speedy carrying into execution of our add the last paragraph of the appeal of Lord's command, 'Go ye into all the the Conference for 1000 men: world and preach the Gospel to every .. We make this appeal in behalf of creature,' therefore " Resolved, That we, the 430 members 300,000,000 of unevangelized heathen j of the Missionary Conference, now in we make it with all the earnestness of session in Shanghai, earnestly and unanimously appeal to you to send out our whole hearts as men overwhelmed speedily as many hundreds as can possibly be secured of well-qualified or- with the magnitUde and responsibility dained men…• of the work before us j we make it with "We appeal to young men to give unwavering faith in the power of a risen themselves to this work, .•. to indi- Saviour to call men into His vineyard vidual congregations to greatly increase their contributions for the support of and to open the hearts of those who are one or more of these men ; to Christian men of wealth to prayerfully consider His stewards to send out and support the duty and privilege of giving themselves personally to this work, or of them, and we shall not cease to cry supporting their representatives. mightily to Him that He will do this "This Conference • • . would also present a direct appeal to the home thing, and that our eyes may see it." churches for lay missionaries. . . . ,It would point to the many millions of Time is passing. If 1000 men were our fellow·men who have never heard the Gospel of the grace of God j and to needed five years ago, they are much some millions more who, though tbey have possessed themselves of some por- more needed now. Of the 1296 mis· tions of His word, still fail to compre_ hend its meaning for want of some one sionaries in China, only 589 were men j and of them not a few have entered into to guide them. . • . .. We appeal, then, to our lay breth- their rest or have returned home from ren .•. to solemnly ask themselves various causes. In view of the new whether, for the greater glory of God, they are not called to meet this pressing facilities and enlarged claims of China, need and to devote themselves, their the next five years should see a larger service and their wealth to this missionary enterprise in China." reinforcement than that called for in To the above earnest words we add 1890. Will not the Church arise and the following extracts condensed from the" Appeal of 204 Lady Members of take immediate and adequate action to the Missionary Conference" : meet the pressing needs of this vast land? " We . . . come to you, our sisters in Christ, with an urgent appeal on be- On behalf of the Pel'manent Commithalf of the • • . women and children of J. HUDSON TAYLOR. China. . • • tee, "Beloved sisters, if you could see SHANGHAI, May, 1895. tbeir sordid misery-, their hopeless, loveless lives, their Ignorance and sinful- (Additional copies of this appeal may ness as we see them, mere human pity would move you tJ do something for be had at the Presbyterian Mission their uplifting. But there is a stronger motive that should impel you to stretch Press, at $1 per 100.) out a helping hand, and that we plead -the constraining love of Christ. We Rev. J. Hudson Taylor well says: who are in the midst of this darkness " We need persons who will consecrate that can be felt send our voices across their lives to foreign mission service at the ocean to you, our sisters. and be- home. It is for some to consecrate their seech you, by the grace of Christ our lives, their thoughts, their prayers to just this service. I believe that some Saviour, that you come at once to our of the best missionary work that is done to-day is done by invalids who never leave their bedrooms, or by old people, or by those who are very poor and have not much to give; but they give the Lord what is most precious-a true yearning heart, a constant remem- brance, a constant prayer."

W. Burns Thomson, M.D., F.R.S.C.E., FiR.S.E., was in some sense one of the fathers of modern medical missions. He accounted it his highest earthly honor to write "medical missiouary" after his name, for it identified his whole career They arrived in Yokohama without any with the Lord and His apostles. This place to live, but soon rented a Bud- godly man was God's elect servant to dhist temple for a house, and all the cOlhmunicate to the Church the medical idols were taken away and stored. Mrs.

missionary impulse after the way had Hepburn was the first American woman been prepared by Asahel Grant, Parker, who ever landed in Japan, and was con· Hobson, Lockhart, in various quarters sidered a great curiosity. She is pres of the globe, and when the Edinburgh ent with her husband here. Dr. Hep- Medical Missionary Society had been burn opened the first dispensary in that organized, and men like Dr. Coldstream country; and performed the first surgical and Dr. Handyslde had been the elo- operation. He worked for six years quent advocates of such forms of mis- before the first convert was made, who sbn work by both their tongues and was baptized in Dr. Hepburn's dispen- pens. sary. He assisted in the first transla- Dr. Thomson we have long regarded tion of the Bible into Japanese, a work as the finest specimen of a medical mis- which was completed in siX; years.

sionary we have ever met. His large Now there are 40,000 converts, and pos- brain and well-furnished mind was the sibly :t.oO,OOO under Christian instruc- handmaid of one of the tenderest and tion.

most sympathetic natures trained in Seven of the great missionary family suffering's school. And his passion for of Scudders were present. This famhis Lord and for the souls He died to ily counts five hundred and thirty years' save brought him into such identity service on the mission field. Dr. and with Christ that he was ever filling up, Mrs. Blodget have been in continuous like Paul, that which is behind of the service since 1853, and Dr. William Ashsufferings of His Master in his own flesh more since 1850. These men do not for His body's sake. With holy insight " die at the top." They are out on the into God's truth, rare singleness of aim, picket line of all the thinking and childlike simplicity of character, de- movement of the age. voutly prayerful l$bits, and a peculiar charm of personality, Dr. Thomson The Sunday morning service will be stands before those who knew him as ever memorable. The Fellowship and one of the most unique men of modern Consecration Meeting at nine o'dock history. furnished a fitting prelude to the ser- mon at 10.30 by Rev. W. E. Witter, These reminiscences of his life, edited M.D. The serVlCe for young people, a by Dr. J_ L. Maxwell, published by stereopticon composite lecture, the presi- Hodder & Stoughton, Paternoster Row, dent's reception on the lawn, and the London, E. C., will be thankfully read farewell meeting for those returning to by thousands. their fields before another annual meet- ing were all interesting. Forty-four of We cannot find space for the bio· those present expect to be once more in graphical sketches of the veterans. We the midst of the fray abroad within a give only one. Dr. Hepburn graduated few coming months. at Princeton, and in 1840 was appointed to missionary work, and he and his The officers elected for the ensuing young wife sailed in a whaling ship year are: President, J. T. Gracey, when there were only two steamers in D.D., Rochester, N. Y.; Vice-Presithe world. They went to Singapore, dents, Cyrus Hamlin, D.D., S. L. Baldand soon were transferred to Amoy, win, D.D., Rt. Rev. C. C. Penick, China, when they were associated with D.D., F. A. Cassidy, William Ashmore, many of the early missionaries. Owing D.D., Henry H. Jessup, D.D., Jacob to failing health they returned home, Chamberlain, D.D.; Secretary, Rev. and in 1859 were appointed to Japan. W. H. Belden, Clifton Springs, N. Y. ; Associate Secretary, Mrs. Dr. C. C. Thayer; Treasurer and Librarian, Rev. C. C. Thayer, M.D. ; Executive Com- mittee, Rev. J. A. Davis, Chairman, Nyack, N. Y. ; Rev. C. W. Cushing, D.D., Rev. J. L. Ammerman, D.D., Rev. L. R. Luther, Mrs. W. H. Belden, Mrs. Wellington J. White, Mrs. J. T.

Gracey.

GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE

V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.

lIDITED BY BEV. D. L. LEONARD.

Extracts and Translations from Foreign manam vres both on land and sea; has Periodicals. utilized ironclads for sea fights; has availed herself of the most modern type BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, of death-dealing weapons; and has seized on the most approved forms of MASS. high explosives. She has struck terror into the hearts of the Chinese, and has MISCELLANEOUS. pUed up dead Chinamen all over the neighborhood of Japan. What more -" Dr. Glover, in his valedictory ad· evidence is needed? Our brethren of dress, at the Baptist Union, to missiona- Korea are indeed civilized."-Catholie ries returning to the field, gave utter- Home JOU1'nal. ance to some weighty thoughts which are more and more coming to the front. -The brethren of the Rhenish Mis- He said: •If you could reproduce in sionary Society are, on the whole, India and China a churcb exactly on cheered by a steady progress of their our pattern it would be to your dispar- work: 50, 60, or 70 baptisms in a month agement and not to your praise. There seems to be a very usual report for It. are bits of the Gospel which only the missionary. heathen can see, and which, in this atmosphere of smoke, we cannot behold. _co Her Majesty's Acting Consul- Find those out, brethren. Let forms of General at Seoul, in Korea, Mr. C. T. church life be native to the place. You, Gardner, has published a pamphlet exin all your judgments, must be inde- pressing his views on the question of pendent of us, and you must teach your • How to lessen the recurrence of anticonverts to be independent of you. Christian and anti-foreign riots in You must decrease that Christ the Mas- China. ' Among the causes of dislike ter may increase, and that you may which actuate some of the Chinese serve Him. Your work, so great, use- against Christianity he instances jeal. ful, successful, has opened t~e way for ousy at the superiority in intelligence work still greater, more useful, and and morality of the Christians. He more successful. Go on, not with the says: • The Christian education of the idea of mere continuance, but walking children of converts undoubtedly proby the cloud and fire, and then become duces greater intelligence and a higher to others a pillar of cloud and fire which moral tone than the Chinese non-Chris· will lead them.' "-Bombay Guardian. tian education; the consequence is that Christian Chinese are obtaining a suc- -" That world which assumes to it- cess in life far greater than non-Chrisself the appellation of civilized awakens tians of the same class. There is hardly to a realization of the fact that the a ·high official in the empire who bas genius of civilization has retraced a not one or two ChrIstians in his employ course back to the farthest East, and as confidential servants. These Christhat the Zeitgei8t has possessed even the tiaus are equally successful in obta.ining heathen of those lands. Japan has at clerical and other employ in Governone bound stepped into the ranks of ment and commercial offices, such as the civilized powers. England has by the Imperial Maritime Customs, Mining treaty explicitly recognized it as such. and Public Works, the China Mer- What else could be done? Japan has, chants' Steam Navigation Company, as It were, passed a public examination etc. "~Chureh Missionary InteZZigeneer. and demonstrated its fitness for admission into the company of civilized pow- -The Tibetan, published at Toronto ers. She has displayed her skill in war

EXTBACTB AND TRANSLA.TIONS

by the Tibetan Missionary Union, baa in consisted for the most part of serfs and the December number a full notice of slaves; few of the noble or wealthy be- "The New Acts of the Apostles," longed to them, as Paul attests. Chris- which it pronounces "pre·eminent tianity always found a firmer hoid in a among the books iBBued from the re- people in proportion as it took hold of ligious press during 1894,." "The vol- the poorer classes. The successes of ume is 80 replete and complete with all Boniface in Germany would not have that concerns the extension of God's been possible without the previous toil- kingdom on earth that we feel con- some activity of the Irish evangelists strained to recommend it to the careful addressed to the insignificant and weak, study of all who have the interests of and of such men as St. Severinus, who, that kingdom at heart. A handsomely from 4M on, was, amid the hostile colored map showing the extent of pre- storms of the Volkerwandm·ung, a help- vailing religions of the world and the ing, comforting messenger of Heaven progress of evangelization forms a valu- to the sorely harassed dwellers in the able supplement to the book, being the ancient Noricum along the Danube, and most complete thing of the kind ever at the foot of the Alps, and in no mean published. " measure alleviated their distress. He -The Harvelt Field (English Wes- was one of those figures that remain unleyan) has changed its place of publica- forgotten in the memory 01 a people betion to Mysore. Wherever published, cause they knew how to grave imperit is one of the wisest and most valu- ishably into the fugiti ve current of time able of missionary publications, and one the characters of self·denying love. So of the freest from partisanship. also to.day is Ohristian Frederick Schwartz (t1798) unforgotten in South -" Some weeks ago we alluded to India, who for fifteen whole months in the increasing number of well-lo-do· Tanjore fed daily before his dwelling Ohristian men and women who enter more than 11)00 persons (heathen, Mos- the mission field at their own expense. lems, Ohrlstians), and, among other We referred also to the increasing prac- deeds, delivered, by his intercession, tice of missionaries being supported by the city of Ouddalore from destruction. {ndivldual friends. Our editor has re- ..• We may well say : The measure of cently been the guest in London of Mr. the active benevolence which a mission Benjamin Broomhall, the General Secre- exercises is the measure of Its success. tary of the Ohina Inland Mission. In If missions ceased to account benevoregard to the two subjects above men- lence as the soul of their work, assuredtioned, Mr. Broomhall says that there ly their results would become a soundare 82 missionaries of the Ohina Inland ing brass and a tinkling cymbal. This Mission laboring at their own expense; fundamental tone and attitude of mis- 87 are supported entirely by friends, sions is under all circumstances a social and 16 are partly so supported. One factor of the first rank. In the measure friend supports five missionaries; three in which the individual missionary suppornwo each; and 39 support one shares in this temper, his activity will each. In two cases two friends support be lure in some way to result in an abiLl- one missionary between them. "-BtIfn,. ing blessing. The application of this 11(1,1/ (}u(1,rdi(1,1I.. principle to definite individual rda- -" Everywhere it appeal'll in hi.tory tions demands great wisdom. "-HERB that building from below upward hu I!IToSCH, in Der Mi88icn, Freund.

greater 8UCcess than the revel'll!. The way to the hearts of the great goes -" The year 11191) finds Nicaragua in through the hearts of the wretched. So undisturbed possession of what has for was it even at the time of the apostles. so many years been the territory of the The congregatioDi founded by them HOIklto Indians. A free nation, the

GENERAL HISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE. [Octobel'

majority of whom are Protestants, has from God the gifts needed for the crisis : now, contrary to its strongly expressed wise fearlessness and faithful endur- desire, been incorporated with its Ro· anee. Amid the waves of excit6ment man Catholic neighbor. This has hap· and anxiety, amid frequent disquieting pened in spite of the Treaty of Managua, rumors, amid arrests and acts of vio- which guarantees independence and lence, amid lawlessness and public inse- autonomy to the }Ioskito Indians sub- curity, amid the flight and emigration ject. to a limited and defined 80verelgnty of those around them, tbey have stood on the part of Nicatagua. The explana- like rocks, a comfort, a help, and a tion of the strange riddle Is the attl· strengthening of the faith of many.

tude of the United States In view of They have lived as they have prayed, American interests in the projected endeavoring, as far as consistent with Nicaraguan Canal. So it comes that the the Word of God, and teaching their most decisive word that has been spoken people to • submit themselves to every as to this incorporation of the reserve Is ordinance of man (yes, of their new Ro· Prellident Cleveland's message to Con- man Catholic rulers) for the Lord's sake, gress, January 3d, 1895. He accepts and to seek the peace of the place where the Nicaragnan representation of the they dwell.' Without cessation they circumstances which led to their, occu- have discharged all their regular offices pation, and supports the action of that as pastors and teachers as far as e'ver the rcpublic. The Moekito side of the ques- circumstances allowed. And when duty tion has never been heard. "-Periodical demanded. they have stood out boldly Accounts (Moravian). against the pride and unreasonableness – " Bound up as our mission has been of the conquerors, defenceless as they for nearly half a century with the best were, save for the might of the Spirit, welfare of this little seml.independent of truth, and of a good conscience."- country, we cannot but regard the Ibid. Nicaraguan occupation as a sore blow for Moskito. It will be many a day be· -The excellent Australian missionfore Bluefields and Magdala recover It. aryof the Brethren, Dr. James Ward, has been called home.

Several of their best citizens have gone, -We observe that De Vrije Kerk, of never to return, and their slowly revlv· Holland, describes the Parsees as fire· ing trade has to contend wIth the in· worshippers, and says that the cbief creased customs duties demanded by object of tbeir worship is the sun.

the new rulers. As ,to the cost of the They, however. emphatically deny the mission, whose maintenance in full effi· designation, declaring that they wor- clency is now doubly necessary, it:is ship God alone. They reverence all the plain that it will be very much higher elements as being the work of the good in the future than it has been in the God, and especially fire, but deny that past. "-Ibid. they identify it with God.

-" Not one of our missionaries has -The FJrije Kerk from time to time been touched ; not one has fled from his publishes valuable reprints on various post, though advised to do so by white missionary Bubjects, under the title of as well as colored neighbors; not one Zendingsrubriek. Among them have of them has sat for a single hour within been some excellent papers on medireval prison walls, though the intruding missionaries, drawn out with true Dutch • Spaniards' have shown them much thoroughness . distrust, and though varied calumnies have threatened to issue In violent meas- -The Abogado Ori8tiarw Ilu8trado ures of that kind. The brethren in very justly holds up to those Mexican Bluefields have had to bear the brunt of Catholics who will not give charity to this situation, and they have received anyone that cannot show a confessor·'s certificate the example of the present

ENGLISH NOTES

Pope, who is paying the expenses of a of the Bible.' "-RlJ1Jue au ltli,l1onI young Protestant art student in Roml', Oontemporainea.

saying th!lt his Protestantism has noth· -:-The Jesuit missions of Paraguay, ing to do with his profession. whIch fell ultimately into such unhappy -" As the hardest struggle of Paul's abuses of cupidity and tyranny that missionary life was with those who, Spain and Rome were obllged to pro- pretending that the heathen were not scribe them, have been succeeded J>y ripe for the Gospel, insisted on first missions of that simple, cheerful, bibll- making them Jews, so the missionaries cal kind which are not likely to need of our day are bound manfully to with· any proscription.

stand those who, under a similar pre· tence that the heathen need a special preparation, insist on making extraneous English Note8.

additions to the proper missionary com· BY JAMES DOUGLAS. mission."-Dr. F. M. ZAHN, in Allge· meine Mi8sions·Zeitach1-ij't. London Mi.Bionary Society-The I88a· -" The following official report, ad· mutti DiBtriet.-The Rev. W. R. Le dressed by the Chief Surveyor to the Quesne, who was recently entrusted President of the RepUblic of Paraguay, with the charge of this district, gives testifies to the results obtained by the an account of a visit lately paid to its South American Missionary Society three stations, Baduria, Goburdanga, among the Chaco Indians: and Bongong. At Bongong he found the society's agent cowed by a sense of " , Knowing the interest which your educational inferiority and unable to Excellency cherishes in the prosperity take the bold stand called for. At Go· of the Chaco Indians, I have the honor burdanga the outlook was equally de· to inform you that I have to-day reo pressing. Here some three or four yearl turned from an excursion into the inte· ago a convert of great promise had been rior, made for the delimitation of a ter· won, and after his baptism at Calcutta, ritory in which the S. A. M. S. desires had returned to his home. But since to establish a station. In traversing the then he has disappeared, whether as the country I have been struck with the se· result of foul play or not has never come curity which we can now enjoy in the to light. The ZemindarB are hostile to bosom of this tribe, thanks to the labors the missionary aim from mercenary and of the agents of the aforementioned oppressive reasons. What is needed to society. Six years ago, when I last withstand them is such a witness for traversed this country, I dared only Christ as adds to his faith courage. The venture into it accompanied by fifteen state of things in Badurla has not yet picked men armed to the teeth. We properJy entered the reaping stage. never dared to stray to any distance The good work has been carried on in from our camp; at night sentinels kept this place for many years, and there guard and we remained with our arms have been in the course of the years within reach. several baptisms, but the converts won have removed elsewhere, and there is as " , This time I made my survey with yet in Baduria no church at all. Thil Indian help and without fire-arms. At is trying to the workers, but out·door night we slept in full security, no mat· preaching and house·to-house visitation ter where we chanced to be ; instead of are maintained, as well as two schooll, avoiding the villages, as formerly, we one for boys and the other for girls. sought to encamp near them. . .. A missionary lady, a young unmarried Englishwoman, can traverse without Ohinese Oovenantera.-The Rev. J.

danger countrios absolutely unexplored, Sadler, of Amoy, has just made the dis- healing the sick and teaching the trutba covery that at Lohin there is a little

'788 GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE

company of men who, for seven or eight funds not available for the society's years, have entered into a covenant with general work, have amounted to £272,- all diligence to stir up each other to 000, thus exceeding by more than £20,- right conduct. They are known among 000 those of any former year. Cause the Christians as Covenanters. One of for praise Godward is due for the mani- these writes: "The most lamentable fest evidences of the working of His thing is that vested interests of the fam- Spirit all over the world which is great- ily hinder one in obeying Christianity· ly in excess of former years. The total and getting itf:l instruction. What is in number of adult converts this year is my heart cannot be written by the pen ; 4200. including 1500 in India, 1400 in but the doctrine does not despise those Africa, 650 in China. Among these are less instructed. The great thing is a many individual cases of deep interest, holy life. This is the essential. Now, including a notable band of prominent though I meet that which fetters me, men in the Punjab, of whom Dr. Clark stm my heart keeps on hoping. Please writes: .. Such splendid fellows, with pray for me, so that what we say to one gentle yet strong faces; it is an inspira- another may not be without effect. In tion to see them." We felt special in- this way my grief may be assuaged." terest in the sentence, "Among the B4ptist Mi88iona'1'1f Societll.-The Rev. Ainu there are now more than 400 H. Ross Phillips, who has just returned Christians." The remotest outpost of to the Congo, writes in B most cheerful this society is occupied by Edmund strain of the hearty welcome received Peck, the intrepid Bailor missionary, and the missionary prospects. .. The who bas been conveyed in a whaler, people," he says, .. came a long way on with a young companion, to Cumberthe road to meet us, and Saturdayeven- land Sound, in the polar regions, where ing they crowded the station and ex- the Eskimo have put up for them a litpressed very heartily how glad they tle tabernacle twenty feet long. made were to see us. For several days I had of whalebone and sealskins.

people coming in to sec me from other We,leyan Mis8iona'1'1f Societll.-We towns, bringing messages of welcome glean the following particulars from from those whom I had visited when the abstract and general summary of out in itineration in former years. . . . the operations of this society during the The decided increase in membership, past year: Circuits, 328 ; chapels, 2104 ; the ever.deepening interest in the Gos- missionaries and their assistants, 349 ; pel in the outlying towns, and the ear- other paid agents, as catechists, daynest appreciation of the New Testament school teachers, and interpreters, 2587 ; in their own language, to say nothing full and accredited church·members, of the wider-spread efforts of the native 40.994; scholars, 80,791. More than Church-all these convince me that half the missionaries are natives of the there is every reason to thank God and countries in which they are working, take courage." and no part of the work is more steadily G!&urch Mis8iona;ry Society.-From held in view than that which is directed the general review of the year we cull toward raising an Indian ministry in the following particulars: Within Benn India, a Chinese ministry in CWna, and years the total number of missionaries an African ministry in Africa. Evan- bas almost doubled. In 1888 the num- gelization, as the primary and central ber reported was 888; to-day It is 684 duty of the missionary, is kept ever -in both cases exclusive of wives. prominent, and the number of those en- Financially. too, the result has been in gaged in it increases year by year. The accordance with the forward movement work among the children comprehends of faith. During the past year the total a total of over 65,000 in Asia and Af- receipts, excluding gifts to special rica.. Ital!/.-In an address recently given Kottedankada, four years ago heathen, on the subject of Wesleyan missions In and now transformed into a Christian Italy, the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes re- community. At the present time the lated the following circumstance of agents of this society are preaching the which he was an eye-witness: "I went Gospel in 54 different languages in vari- to our church in Rome and haw Capel- ous parts of the globe.

lini addressing a hundred young sol- Ohina Inland Mi88i0n.-As instances dIers. fifty of whom were received into of Chinese brotherly love, the Rev. the fellowship of our church that night. James Meadows relates the two follow- Later in the evening, one of them, who ing incidents: .. At Hsinghien, while was going to America, gave an account we were there holding services for canof his history. He said he had come to didates for baptism, news came that "ne them nominally Catholic, but really of our very poor brethren in the counagnostic, but that Capellini had brought try had just been burned out of house him into that hall, and bit by bit the and home. One of our earnest preachlight had dawned on his mind. Now ers broke into prayer for him and his he was rejoicing in Christ, and he was wife and family, but was so affected going to be a minister for Christ." that he could not proceed, and straight- Pre&byterian Ohurch oj Englarul.- way $16 were subscribed, $11 of which Speaking on the subject of Formosa, the poor men and women assembled Mr. Campbell, missionary from that contributed 1 The Christian affection uland, described the work there as in a existing among these country people is hopeful and encouraging state. " The often thus manifested in most practical Church," he said, .. was well advised ways. A widow could not get her fields by Dr. Douglas thirty years ago, when reaped, as all her deceased husband'.

she turned her eyes to that rich country, friends were opposed to her being a wherein mission work was commenced Christian. The brethren in a neighbor- by Dr. Maxwell.•. _ One thing that ing village heard of this, and meeting was beyond all cavil and criticism was together, deputed certain of their num- that whereas thirty years ago the island ber at once to reap the harvest for her, was a spot of unbroken heathen dark- while the remainder kept watch I"

ness, there was now a large native church." Mr. Campbell further said THE KINGDOM. that at a recent conference held with a view to form a presbytery on that island, -" Which is tbe 'foreign nation' in two intelligent young men were chosen the thought of God 1" pertinently asked to be ordaIned as native pastors. a foreign miBBionary in a great audience recently. And it is more than likely Societyj01' the Propagation oj the Gos- that not one in that multitude was able pel.-This society, which .will in the to make reply. course of a few years close its second century of labor and prayer, has many – A recent writer notes that the visit signs of increase. Special attention is of a very disagreeable and unappreciacalled to the venture into Kashmir; to tive Afghan prince recently cost Engthe expansion of the Church in Assam land the sum of $250,000. This amount and the Transvaal; to the independence would pay for 250 men, good, faithful of the Malagasy in building their own and agreeable, who would return the churches and restoring those destroyed visit each by a year's missionary work. by a hurricane without thought of aid – Ob8e1"/!e1'.

from the mission; to the increasing -The Westminster Gazette says that hunger of the people in the Telegu the popularity of Spurgeon's sermons is country for the privileges of the the most amazing literary success of the Church; and, further, to the village of century. The number of sermoDll published is 2396, and the total number of come was £2,477,132, a decrease of volumes sold is nearly 100,000,000. nearly a quarter of a million compared They are kept in sheet form in a large with that of 1892. Of the decrease, cellar in Paternoster Square, in long £31,000 is in English contributions, lines of cupboards, so that a supply of £18,000 in Scotch; the decrease in any particular discourse can be got at American over £200,000, The contri- once. Four fifths of the supply have butions from England amonnted to £1,- been sold in the United Kingdom; the 159,888; from Scotland to £197,856 i remainder have gone to this country from America to £614,594.

and to Australia. -" When the history of the Protes- tant churches, at the end of the nine- -Not long ago two Americans, trav- teenth century, shall be written, two elling in Alaska, approached the Kus- facts will have to be related, contradickokwim district. They heard the na- tory in appearance, and yet equally true. tives everywhere talking about the The first .is the sterility of religious " Kilbuckamuks," and expected to thought, the strange disintegration of meet with some tribe hitherto unknown beliefs. Criticism has so analyzed, disto georraphers. Presently they reached sected, and discussed the objects to a Moravian station where they found the which it has been applied that the facts missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Kilbuck, and which were formerly the most certain, It trsnspired that the new" tribe" con· the facts on which our most sacred slsted of those who had surrendered hopes repose, have become, as it were, themselves to the infiuence of the Gos- volatilized in our hands, and even the truest believers ask t.hemselves in hours no.- pel, the name of their teachers being at- of anguish: .. Am I really sure of that tached to them by the surrounding tlvel.

-India, like Ohlna, Is to have its own which I believe 1" This is one fact, medical missionary journal. Each of and it is a sad one. But there is an- the following countries have medical other which is very consoling: it is the missionary magazines: Scotland, 1; development in our Protestant churches England, 2; America, S. Two others of a multitude of works which are the in England are largely devoted to thIs product of faith, works of mercy, of agency, and several missionary journals help, of reformation, of evangelization, devote space specially to medical mis- and among all these enterprises the most sions. admirable certainly is the work of mis- -In May, 1890, the General Confer- sions. It is certain that never since the ence of missionaries in Shanghai, repre- first days of Christianity has the Gospel senting 1296 Protestant missionarIes accomplished more rapid and more asthen in China, issued an urgent appeal tonishing conquests than in our own for 1000 more men for China within five epoch. Missions march with giant years. At the same time the women-of steps, so that we can already foresee the conference appealed for more wom- the moment when the good news shall en workers. Rev. C. F. Reid, of Shang- have been carried to the very ends of hai, for a committee appointed to report the earth, and when, in accordance with the results of the call, states that in the the word of our Lord, the times shall five years there have been sent out 481 be ripe for the end. "-.M. Jean Meyer.

male missionaries, 167 wives of mis- WOMAN'S WORK. sionaries, and 505 single women, mak- ing a total of 1153. -The Intelligencer has this to say -Dean Vahl has issued his mission- with reference to the Church Mission- ary statistics for 1898, relating to no ary Society: "In Jnne, 1887, there fewer than 381 societies engaged in mis- were-22 women on the roll. Since that sions to the heathen. The entire in- date, more thaD 200 names have been entered; and after deducting a few home and abroad such a noble reinforce,.

deaths and retirements, 192 remain, ment of women filled with His Spirit, which does not incJude those lately ac- it is our part, surely, to render Him un- cepted togo out this autumn. We have faltering praise."

41 in West and East Africa; 39 in -The last report (1895) of the Lon. Egypt, Palestine, and Persia; 35 in don School of Medicine for Women ex- India; 11 in Ceylon; 32 in China; 30 hibits in detail the high standing and in Japan; 4 in the North Pacific." work of its IItudents. A steadily in· But in addition, at the stations of the creaSing number of the graduates are same society no less than 214 other being appointed to responsible official women are at wOlk, sent out by socie- pOllitions in Great Britain and the coloties in close affiliation. nies-iluch as medical officer to the gen- -As a result of such remarkable eral post-office; examiner for the govfeminine consecration and activity, to ernment life assurance fund; queen's quote again from the same magazine: lecturer on physiology to the National •• It has been said C. M. S. is becoming Association of Nurses; lecturer to the a women's society. If this referred to Technical Instruction Board, London our home circles, the word ' becoming' County Council; assistant medical offiwould be inadequate, for there is noth- cer, St. Stephen's Hospital, Delhi; resiing new in the fact that women take a dent physician, Kama Hospital, Bomlivelier interest in all Christian work at bay; lady principal female department, home and abroad, including C. M. S., Ceylon Medical College; and resident than men do. From the earliest days physician, Lady Aitchison's Hospital of the society, or at all events since for Women, Lahore. Last, but not least, 1813, when local associations began to we may mention by name the acting be formed, the larger part of the work house surgeon at the Kama Hospital, of spreading information and raising Bombay, Rukhmabaf. This high-caste funds-other than the actual preaching young Indian woman, after successand speaking-has been done by wom- fully resisting, through the English en. But the remark no doubt refers to courts, an attempt to coerce her into the increase of women missionaries; fulfilling 8 marriage contract made for and we have even been asked' why we her during infancy, came to England neglect the. men'! Neglect the men! to study medicine; she passed satisfacwhy, we are always appealing for them. torily all her examinations and took the Thank God, their numbers .have in- triple qualifications of the Scotch colcreased more rapidly than ever before leges and the M.D. degree of Brussels. during these very eight years that have -New York Evening Post.

seen the accession of so many women to -A paper, by a German zenana mis· our ranks; and the idea that men are sionary, in the Allgemeine Hi88ions-Zeit.

hindered from coming forward because schrift, gives a vivid glimpse into the women come forward is opposed to life of women and girls in the Moham· plain facts, besides being an unreason- medan harems of North India. This able notion in itself. It might as well woman was in the habit of visiting the be said that the Church of England is houae of a 1tlohammedan saint. One of becoming a female Church, because the his daughters was a bright: lively girl, large majority of workers in most par- to whom the visits of the missionary ishes are women, and that the' dearth gave the greatest pleasure. She over- of curates' is due to the increase of whelmed the .. Doctor Miss Sahib" with lady district visitors and lady Sunday- questions about the beautiful world school teachers I Seriously, when it which she had never seen. Her great has pleased God of late years to add to desire was to visit the missionary's our armies of Christian workers both at house, and as, in spite of her father's salntship. her notions of right and etoriea and basement, and containing 24 wrong were very elementary, she sue· rooms, was secured. The outlay, In.

ceeded at last, by feigning a aerlou! ill· cluding rent. taxes, and repairs, for the ness, in moving her lather to send her use of this property will be about $120 to the mission hospital. She was filled per month. The house is now being ,.ail with delight at the pleasant tlower gar. rearranged to make it suitable for the den of the hospital, a Bight ,he ne'lJeT' work.

8een before. But her fraud was discove~ It is expected that during the com· ed, and the poor girl had to go back to Ing fall and winter 21i students will be her cage. And even such 111 Moham· in residence. The co-operative board· medanism. Ing rate has been fixed at $4 per week, YOUNG PEOPLE. ea"h student to help with the work. The home Is at 112 Loomis Street, near -One of the most remarkable phases Jackson Boulevard, and is conveniently of the development of the Y. M. C. A. located for students attending the medimovement has been the increase in the cal schools.

number and value of the association -The BrooklynTimea evidently be- buildings. In 1890 there were reported lieves heartily in "practical politics,"

205, valued at $8,352,910. In the Year but has no stomach at all for such prac- Book of 1895 there are reported 805, tical religion as the Endeavorersof that valued at $16,091,780•. The increase in city display in their activity in helping five years is thus 100 buildings, or to enforce the law closing saloons on nearly one every two weeks; the total Sunday. This perturbed sheet would valuation being, In round numbers, have thoae youthful saints " go back to doubled. This remarkable growth in- primitive Christianity," and let good dicates two things chielly-that; the as· citizenShip alone I sociation movement has permanency – Yes, it is even so. "That in fourand that it meets with favor on the part teen years a single society, formed withof business men.- Young Men', Era. out any Idea of the future before it, but -An ~nalysis of .the attendance at the bent on a local work, should increase to recent World's Student Conference, at more than 10,000, and spread world- Northfield, shows these facts: Number wide, embracing a membership of 2,500,- of institutions represented: State, 10 ; 000, and generate a high enthusiasm and deuominational, 24; medical, 10; pre· consecration in Christian work, is a phe· paratory schools, 23; scientific, 8; nomenon not to be passed by with in- agricultural, 2; training, 8; theologi- difference or a sneer."

cal, 4.; unclassified, 39. Total, 118. -This table tells what the Presbyte~ Number of students in attendance, 459 ; rian Endeavorers have been doing for other delegates, 41 ; speakers and work- foreign missions : ers, 37. Total, 536. Amount subscribed to intercollegiate work, $2400. The de- Year Ending Societies. Amount. nominations represented were as fol- $5,265 April 30, 1891…. .. ….. . 864 14,228 April 30, 1892.. ………. 864 lows: Presbyterians, 120; Congrega- April 80, 1898….. . . . …. 1,269 24,808 tionalists, 89; Methodists, 76; Bap- April 30, 1894………… 1,856 29,244 tists, 78; Friends, 17; Reformed, 13; April 80, 1895………. ,. ~,487 38,161 Lutherans, 13; Episcopalians, 12; Total tor Aye year………….. '" ..S106,706 Christians, '1; no denomination speci- Increase of societies in four years, fied, 56. Total, 485. 2078 i average increase per year, 518, or -Chicago contains a home for young about Ii new societies for each day. men and women who have volunteered They are now supporting 45 missionafor the foreign field as medical misslona· ries.

ries. Last May a large tlat of three -The wide reach of the Endeavor

movement is Hown ia the fact that The first year the income reached but there is in Los Angeles a Chinese society 8187.62, with which only GO were sent of 15 boys and girls who aupport a na- into the country for two weeks. Since tive helper in China; one in Atlanta, then it has grown to near $80,000, with Ga., supports a free dispensary and a over 15,000 beneficiaries. In all about Bible training class and cultivates dOlV· $328,000 have been donated to this fund, ers for distribution among the sick and and almost 270,000 have been afforded aged. The society on board the Ohalrle8- an outing, one half for a aingle day and ton is planning for a seamen's mission half for a fortnight. with a reading-room and temporary home at NaillSaki, Japan. -The Christian Alliance, at its recent meeting lit Old Orchard, Me., raised -The societies in Cleveland have $72,000 for foreign missions. One memundertaken to set up about a score of ber gave land in California worth .10,- fountains or drinking-placeS in conven- 000, which rllpresented the savings of ient localities, and for the comfort of years, and a like spirit was shown by both man and beast, not omitting the others. Within a year this society has dogs even. lost 10 of its missionaries by death. The number now in the field or at home UNITED STATES. on furlough is 240, while 40 more are under appointment and about to take -General Carl Schurz is bearing a their departure. hand in home missionary effort in New York City by preaching righteousness -Rev. A. McLean, Secretary of the and sound sense to his brother Germans Christian (Disciple) Mission Board, hIlS in the current Parkhurst-Roosevelt sailed on a world tour to last a year, and campaign. He tells his fellow-Tcutons to include a visit to all the fields of that that they cannot afford to act as though society. they were the slaves of beer or the servants of the brewers in the controversy -During the last four yeara there over the enforcement of the excise laws. have been erected in the city of Chicago Also that they can .. get along better 41 new Methodist mission churches, without the opening of saloons on Sun- valued at nearly $500,000. Of these, days than without clean streets, a 81 have become self supporting. This plentiful supply of good water, good work has been accomplished through schools, public security, effective Bani- the efforts of the City Missioaary and tary arrangements, and the like, all the Church Extension Society. days of the week," IlS would be the case if Tammany government were re- -The Presbyterians can tell of " our stored. Quoth he: .. We should not twentieth church among the Sioux. " overlook the relative importance of this and other public interests, and espe- -To all appearance the American cially we should not make interests of Indian, like Dickens's little Jo, is fated more general importance dependent on evermore to be moving on. Even New this one thing." Metl&kahtla, which William Duncan, after being thrust out of .British Colum- -A recent I~pe~nt has an article bia, founded on Annette Island, Aluka, on the summer charities in New York has been invaded by a wild rush of City which traces them back to their miners, and his much·affiicted flock may beginning in 1878, when George F. be compelled again to abandon their Williams, of the Time8, was deeply homes. moved by hearing five ragged urchins in the City Hall Park say: II Let's play EUROPE. that we're in the country." The Tribune Fresh Air Fund dates from 1887. Great BritaiD.-At one of the recent meet.ings of the London Hissionary So- ciety, Dr. Wardlaw Thompson, the sec-

GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLI!'IENCE

retary, announced that since its com· work is done. Nine missionary socie- mencement the society has received ties share in this, and are represented £5,500,000 ($27,500,000) in contributions by 18 physicians, of whom 5 are natives.

lit home, and that nearly another mill- -Rev_ S. M. Zwemer, of Busrah, has ion had been contributed in the field by an article in the IntelZigencer entitled Christian friends, and especially by na- " There Is Much RulJbish," with refertive ChrIstians. In commenting upon ence to the Koran, to divers lives of this fact, he exclaimed," Why, we the prophet, and to Mohammedanism could buy six ironclads with that in general as a religion. And the text money, and in five years they would be of the article fully justifies the title_ obsolete. The first vote for the present French expedition to :lHadagascar was -Rev. R. M. Cole, secretary of the more than £2,000,000. They will spend Bitlis mission station of the American on that expedition more than all the Lon- Board, tells of their regret on the death don Missionary Society has spent for the of Rev. G. C. Knapp, who died of apoconversion and transformation of mul- plexy March 12th, after prolonged prostitudes during the century. Expendi- tration. He entered this mission fleJd tUfe on missions is the most economical in 1855 and continued in charge till channel for spending money, and yields 1890, when he was succeeded by his son, the largest return." As the ample re- George Perkins Knapp. He met with turn for such cost, 95,000 Malagasy are great opposition in his early days in the now members of the churches, with . field from the Gregorian Church. He nearly 500,000 under Christian instruc- lived to so win their esteem that they tion, While about 100,000 have cntered tendered burial for his body in their own church, which was, however, deinto the life of the redeemed above. clined. Mr. Cole says: <. The Lord -The medical auxiliary of the Church gives us this cheer of late, that the old Missionary Society gives this as a sum· Church people, who in early times permary of work accomplished: 29 fully secuted Protestants, even latterly lookqualified medical missionaries; 4846 in- ing askance, as if our only business in patients in the mission hospitals last the land might be to transmute Aryear, and 373,355 out-patients. The menians into noxious Protestants, now auxiliary proposes this year to relieve turn toward us as genuine Christians, the society's general funds entirely of having deep sympathy for abused huthe medical expenses of the missions, manity, so that our congregations and other than the personal allowances of schools are much increased of late. the missionaries and the cost of new Partly from this and partly from high buildIngs; to defray, that is, no less esteem of our aged associate a throng than £4000. of some two thousand crowded our -When recently Mr Wigram, so church and yard at the funeral, three long secretary of the Church Mission- leading priests, with their select singers ary Society, sent in his resignation, he and all the paraphernalia of a burial of enclosed in the letter a gift of £1000, their highest grade, taking prominent with which to start the fund for the part in the services at their own re- new Calcutta Divinity School, as "a quest. "

thank-offering for mercies and privi- India.-A live American Brahman leges enjoyed during upward of four- has been discovered, believed to be the teen years as honorable clerical secre- first of the gemt8 (may his tribe not intary." creaae) presiding at a shrine in the ASIA.. depths of the Himalayas. It is enough to know his name, which is Charles Islam.-In Palestine are to be found William De Rousette. He leads a her- no less than 14 stations where medIcal mit's life and one approaching to the asceticism of the average fakir. He and all, both young and old, some with becomes known to fame through an in- one eye, and some with the remains of terview lately published in the Phila- two, and some with terrific squints, and delphia Ti'TMII. baring their heads, proceeded to form a circle, with their hostess in the centre. -A calculation appears in the Indian Then all, with one accord, continued to Ohurch Quarterlv which figures it out shriek piteously for the space of two that, at the present rate of progress, at hours, while they beat their thighs and the end of four hundred years it will temples alternately with both hands. be found that Christianity has made ad- This is the customary mode of public vances in India equal to those made in mourning, though usually practised Europe during the first four centuries. only on the death of a husband or a son. A woman, to show her excessive -Rev. F. L. Neeld, in charge of the grief, will frequently go on day after Bareilly Methodist Theological Semi- day for a month, inflicting blows on her nary, India, reports that that institu- temples in the manner described till tion now has: Seniors, 22; middle blood flows and severe inflammation is class, 23; juniors, 30-total, 75. He excited in the eyes, accompanied by inemphasizes the necessity of training a tolerable headache. And now follows native ministry on the field. ulceration of the cornea, followed, after months of suffering, by cicatrices and -F. J. Martin gives this well-nigh opacities, and frequently as not by cata· incredible story of the lengths to which ract and all but total blindness. And Hindu women carry their" grief." He all this for the sake of, not genuine lays of the sex: II As a rule, one eye is grief, but for the sake of making an imgone, or both are red, bleared and tear· pression of mourning on the neighbors. ful; the eyelashes have turned inward And though aU the neighbors know it and have scratched the cornea till it is is sheer hypocrisy, yet each and all will, opaque and nearly sightless and past in her turn, do the same thing, iDlbginhealing; or a cataract has formed in ing she is imposing on the rest." one or both the eyes. On inquiring the cause of all this, the usual reply is that China.-Miss Ford, of the Canadian she has lost a son, and has cried till she Methodist Mission, gives this bit of obhas literally cried her eyes out. It is servation and experience: "One has to always a son, sometimes a husband: learn to have the Easter joy in the but a daughter-I never heard of a heart, and not depend on outward cirwoman crying seriously for the loss of cumstances out here, where • on every a daughter. In the present case, how- high hill and under every green tree' ever, the patient I was called to see, are shrines, pagodas and images. For both eyes had been sacrificed for neither a few days past we have been noticing son nor husband, but, by way of vari· an image very different from any seen ety, for a buffalo. Gurmukh Singh in- before, and wondered what it was. formed me that he had lost a valuable This morning Mr. Cady asked the wife buftalo for which he had paid the ex- of the boat-owner, who explained that travagant sum of seven times twenty there are a great many devils around rupees, and that his wife had been in- the section of country we are just passconsolable ever since. The women of ing through; so these images are more the neighborhood would come in to re- numerous than in other parts; and at mind her of her loss, exaggerate it as regular intervals a rooster is sacrificed far as possible, and finally their advice to them, after which process the idol was that she should cry about it as long has knowledge of the devils, and proand loud as possible. In fact, in the tects against them. These devils are discharge of this duty they were pre- mimy of them spirits of people who pared to assist her. So the dames of Mrs. Gurmukh's acquaintance came, one h&ve committed suicide, and are waiting Chinese idolatry and superstition. In around to torment those who troubled consequence of this the mission W81 al- them while they were on this earth." most given uP. but just when things -A story is told by Rev. Hr. Adams, looked darkest a ray of light shone of the American Baptist Mission in Cen· which has steadily increased. In 1861 tral Chlna,ot a Mr. Tsen, formerly a 3 men came out from idolatry and dewealthy merchant, but who, ruined by clared themselves followers of Christ. oplum·smoking, became a low fortune· and to-day in that one province there teller. He came afterward under the are no lesa than SO,OOO converts to Chrilinfluence of the Gospel and burned his tianity, 12.000 of whom are connected magical books and BOught· to reform. with the mission of the Church Mis- The sufferings he endured while seek- sionary Society. This society has at ing to break off the habit were intense, present 10 ordained Chinese clergymen, but Wf'J.·e borne patiently. Thetempta- 170 churches. 120 catechists or lay readtion to seek relief by returning to the ers, 110 Christian schoolmasters who use of the drug was such as few could have charge of as many schools. and a have resisted, but he would not yield large number of trained Bible women though he died. And die he did, stead- carrying on effective work among the fastly refusing to yield again t<' the women of the province.

seductions of the drug which had blight- Korea.-A private letter from Rev. ed his life. T. H. Yun, dated Seoul, says: ., The -Rev. Mr. Ament writes: "As to government is now more firmly settled China, people may talk of great internal than some months ago. The Japanese reform and a general renovation of the influence Is strong ;it makes for prog- government, but there Is no evidence of ress. and therefore for good. On my any change at present. Personally I first returning to Korea. I was appoint- expect no reforms except under compul- ed private secretary of the prime minis- sion. No sledge-hammer blows from ter. A few weeks ago I was promoted without will break the hold of this em- to the position of vice-minister of edu- pire on the past; but the little plant cation. I thank the Church and the truth, working from within, will do this friends in the South. who made it possi· some day. If there is any growth in ble for me to get such a position, and I China I am afraid it will be more in the shall try to make my fidelity and con- line of military enlargement and a de- 'scientiousness show that a Christian is sire to get even with Japan. The war not one who forgets his own country.

has utterly failed to arouse the nation; as he is often charged out here with in fact, the nation as a nation knows doing. I am the only outspoken Chris- nothing about the war. and no lesson tian in the Korean Government."

can be taught the officials before the -Mrs. Underwood writes in Wompeople are instructed. The growth an's Work for Woman of A II Baby's must be from the lower strata upward. Visit to the King," as follows: I II as it has been in all lands. Hence I went to the palace yesterday. taking look for a patient continuance in the little Horace with me. who had a fine usual lines of work, being assured that time of it. The palace ladies caught our first duty Is to sow the gospel broad- him up in their arms and fairly ran with cast and let the truth do its own perfect him into the presence chamber. The work." king and queen and prince hugged and -Rev. Llewellyn Lloyd, of the kissed him. exclaiming how beautiful Church M.issionary Society, says that he was and how pretty his hands. The for nearly eleven years missionaries king had him lifted into a chair and labored in Foochow Ilnd its neighbor- . ~hen got down on the floor on his knees hood without one single convert from in front of him and talked to him, pet· ting and caressing him. The queen than ever before for the conquest of took him in her arms in a motherly this kingdom for Christ. grasp, smoothing his hair and saying anxiously, 'His head is too hot.' They " The war and attendant alarms have ordered about four quarts of Korean in no way interfered with the wondercandy, as many nuts and about a hun- ful prosperity God has granted the work dred oranges, and had them sent home in Korea. In faith, hope, and charity, for him. The queen also gave him an· n eincerity, steadfastness, and patience, other of tIle pretty little embroidered the Korean Christians are a constant bags full of beech nuts, which means source of joy and gratitude to God, to 'long life and happiness.' When we the missionaries. The Korean Chris. came away the palace ladies whirled tlana are distinguished by simplicity of him off, and about tifty of them got faith in God, and patience, endurance around him. petting and caressing him. of aspersion, both by the heathen na· I could not get near the child. The king tive and the unsympathetic foreign. himself put on his hat and coat and er. We need reinforcements. The mis· buttoned it up for him, kneeling on the sionarles spend many an anxious hour floor in front of him." because they are not forthroming ; the native Church goes half shepherded be· -The Korean boy at tirst sight can cause of the lack ; the highest authori· easily be mistaken for a school-girl Gut ties in the land ~y, 'Send us more of doors without her hat. His hair is teachers (missionaries).' " parted in the middle and hangs in a heavy braid down his back. When he , AFRICA. is married, his hair is twisted in a topknot on the crown of his head and adds -There is considerable perturbation much to his dignity. You may see a among the French authorities in AI· boy with his hair querIed on top of hi!! geria, owing to the work of the North head making mud pies by the road- Africa Mission, which Is chiefly carried side, and feel sure that here, at least, is on by English young ladies. The gen· an exception to the custom, but on in· eral council of the department of COI1quiry you learn that he is a married stantlne has addressed a note on the man. He enjoys his sport none the less subject of the supreme authority, in for the dignity of his topknot. which it states that the safety of Algeria is menaced by the work of the English -Rev. George Heber ~Tones writes Methodists (sic). .. The English danger from Chemulpo, Korea, June 10th, becomes from day to day more serious 1895: "Just one year ago to·day the in Algeria, as its agents become more tirst Japanese troops landed in Chemul· numerous. The Methodists and the solpo, to begin their astonishing campaign diers of the Salvation Army work under against China. What changes a year the guise of benevolence and charity, has witnessed I China is tOOay a beg- and thus attract the natives. They dis· gar among the nations, with few tribute money, clothes, medicines, Ara· friends, and a sad prospect of internal bic books (among others, translations of dissension, rebellion, and anarohy, and the Bible), and in appearance they only the certain prospect of being stripped occupy themselves with proselytism; of some of her territories by foreign but in reality a vast net of espionage is powers. Korea has reaped great benefit being drawn around us, and a propafrom all the changes of the year, and ganda of disaffection among our native especially the infant Church of Christ, subjects Is being carried on." The which has rode safely and steadily the council, therefore, petitions the Mlnl8try waves. We have reached a position of the Interior to put an end to these where we can Btrike mightier blows manmuvres.-.Re1JU8 deB Miuio1l8 (Jon. temporainu. -The New York Sun, in an editorial speaks specially of one of them who ia on climatic conditions and health in Ar- now the leading man among the Zulu rica, gives the following data: "In preachers, saying, " When r first came British India the annual death-rate to Umzumbe this man was a naked, among Europeans in the early part of scrofulous, hard boy, with a dirty sheep- this century was 84 to the 1000; but in skin thrown over his shoulders. We 1890 it was reduced to 16 to the 1000. cured him of his scrofula; then the So in the Dutch East Indies, the Euro- Lord cured him of his sin·sick heart, pean death-rate has been reduced from and to·day he stands up among our 170·to the 1000 in 1828 to 16-much leM churches as Dr. Storrs stands among than the native death-rate, which in 1892 your churches-a lsader of men."

was 23 to the 1000. In the basin of the -Sir Gilbert Carter, Royal Governor C.:>ngo the death·rate among white men of the British colony of Lagos, has rein 1893 was 70 to the 1000, but this em- cently given some interesting figures braced many mere adventurers and respecting the extent of the gin and rurn campaigners deprived of the comforts traffic on the west coast of Africa for and conveniences of life. In Leopold- tbe year 1893. The colony of Lagos, ville and Boma, white settlements, where with a population of 85,000 souls, imgood homes are available and fair sani- ported $450,000 worth of ardent spirits tary conditions, the death-rate is but 32 -more than $5 worth to each inhabto the 1000." itant I The Gold Coast, a British col- -In June, 1869, the missionary Ram· ony with a popUlation of 1,500,000, im- seyer, of the Basle Missionary Society, ported gin and rum to the value of was dragged as a prisoner into Abetifi, about $500,000. Sierra Leone, another then a city of Ashantee, with his wife British colony, with a population of and child. They spent three days in a 180,000, imported liquors to the value miserable hut, with their feet in chains. of $100,000.

Human sacrifices were then common in -At the recent annual meeting in Abetifi, which was under the tyrannical Londonof the Native Races and Liquor rule of the Ashantee chieftains. To- Traffic United Committee, Sir George day, in the same streets, under the same Goldie, Governor of the Royal Niger shady trees, instead of the bloody exe- Company, stated that in the Niger reo cutioner going his rounds, a Christian gion 1,100,000 gallons of spirits were congregation gathers together every imported in 1892,1,'700,000 in 1893, and Sunday, followed by a troop of Sunday about 2,000,000 in 1894. He said: scholars. Christian hymns, such as .. There is ample evidence of this extra " Who will be Christ's soldier 1" ring liquor finding its way to the Mohamjoyfully through the streets of Abetifi. medans of the interior, whose nominal The people come out of their houses, religion is no barrier against drunkenthe chieftain is invited ; he comes with ness. " Furthermore, this royal govhis suite and listens to the joyful tid· ernor said that after sixteen years of ings of salvation. And it is not in experience in administration :n Africa, vain; many have become the disciples he was prepared to affirm " that if steps of Jesus. Many even dare to tell their were not taken to prohibit the liquor fellow·countrymen in the streets what trade, a state of things would be brought joy and peace they have found in Him. about that would lead to the total aban- Who would have dreamed of this donment of the country." twenty-five years ago ?-.t1Ugemeine Mis- 8ions-Zeitaehrift· -Dr. J. E. Hine gives a ghast- I.Y account of a witch.burning near -Mr. Bridgman, of Umzumbe, in Unangu. The" boys" came and re- writing of the five Zulu preachers who ported. that a witch was being burned have been raised up under his care, alive at a place two miles from the sta· tion. He was incredulous, but went to young fellows from Borneo, Sumatra, see. "When I got a little nearer," he Java, Celebes, and New Guinea are says, "a sudden whiff as of burning eagerly studying the Scriptures in the flesh made me suspicious that the story Malay language, under the tutorship of might ,be true, and a little farther on I a German scholar and hisnativecoadju. saw it was. The body (of a woman I tors. Looking into the faces of those was told) .was lying on a heap of ashes, two men from Dutch New Guinea, of face downward, with the charred re- those converted Bataks from Sumatra, mains of the skull and hands projecting how his heart was moved by the from the end, and fastened to a small thought that the Gospel had brought tree, the feet apparently having been together here in this Christian semfastened to another tree behind. All inary the descendants of cannibals, the flesh on face and arms had been de- east and west, and of savages of all this stroyed, but the body was still burning, Asiatic archipelago I The Bataks on frizzling and spitting in the flames-a the west coast of Sumatra have furhorrible sight, such as I never thought nished 100 missionaries already for the to see in my life." army of our King.

-J. E. Burdett Meakin has told in ISLANDS OF THE SEA. the London Ohri8tian a most remark- able story of the rise and spread of tllC -The seamy side of the work of the kingdom in a portion of Java. Fifty Gospel in Madagascar is seen in the years ago the son of a Russian colonist persistence with which the converts and a Javanese woman was converted still cling to slavery. In particular the by a dream that he was called to evan- English Friends are urgent in seasollj gelize the nations, and forthwith set and out of season to end this" relic of about the task and continued, though barbarism," but hitherto with slight sharp persecution befell. Later the effect. The Malagasy conscience is dull Dutch Reformed Church came to his at this point, and strong feeling is aid, and now a Christian settlement of stirred by exhortations to let the op· 2500 is found with 1000 besides in out- pressed go free. stations, 725 children in school, a kin- dergarten, hospital, etc.

-The Methodists have been at work in Singapore for ten years, and are able -Dr. Schreiber writes thus of the to report substantial progress. Rev. W. success with which the Rhenish So- F. Oldham has a school, with an average ciety is meeting in one portion of the attendance of over 500. In 1880 only Sumatra field: "When we began our 10 natives were connected with the mis· work six years ago in the almost entire· sion, and these were Tamils from South ly Mohammedan district of Padang India; but by the end of the next year Bolak, a Dutch official of high position, 31 adult Chinese were members of the who was friendly to our work, assured church, and now the number has in- us that it was a most foolish step, that creased to more than 200, with the addi-' we could not accomplish anything in tion of 80 Tamils and 30 Malays and the Padang Bolak, we were too late Malay-speaking Chinese. there, since Islam had already occupied the whole region. This was the uni· -The late J. L. Phillips, M.D., versalopinion at that time about work wrote to the Sunday-&lwo~ Timea of a among the Mohammedans in Sumatra.

visit to a seminary for the Dutch and But we did not allow ourselves to be German missions of Malaysia, at Depok, discouraged : the work already done by south of Batavia. Here 40 bright a capable native missionary, Marcus, gave us good ground for hope, and a – -New Guinea has a missionary col- zealous and experienced missionary, lege well started with buildings, stu- Irle, took possession of the field with a dents, etc. W. G. Lawes writes of it : cheerful courage. And what has been .. In aU the work that has been done we the result? Missionary Irle, who works have had the ready help of a number of with a nati ve preacher and /) teachers at natives from the surrounding villages. one central and 4 out·stations, an- Every piece of timber used in our buildnounces in his last report that he has ings has been carried up from the coast baptized 350 persons, and haa no less (two miles) on men's IIhoulders. We than 500 preparing for baptism, among cannot always get help wben we want them a large number of Important chiefs. it ; but the people have been TOry good Earnest requests for teachers are con- and willing. Of course we have had to stantly coming from new districts; even pay them for their services, but the rate formerly fanatical Mohammedans have of wages is not high, and as waist-cloths turned to tbe Gospel; and from several and shirts are most in demand, we thus villages the Mohammedan mollahs have help the people in their efforts to get already retired in confusion because the ell!ternals of civilization. I ought, they see that they have nothing more perhaps, to explain more fully our purto hope; and the impression is becom- pose in establishing the college. The ing general that, over a great part of name may appear mi6leading, and yet the country, Islam is breaking up." it.ls the best for the object we have in view-viz., to train and fit young men -The friendly attitude of many gov- to be _teachers of Christ to their counernment officials toward missionary trymen. Before we receive a candidate, work is a feature of the time. Tho work we must have evidence that he is a sinin New Guinea, whore tho London Mis- cere Christian, and then he must be able sionary Society has no less than 114 na- to read in his o~ language. That is tive teachers and 57 students, has re- all. The minds of the most advanced ceived marked commendation from Sir are only just opening, and the time has William Macgregor, the governor of not yet come when any, except a very the British portion of the island, who select few, will acquire ,knowledge eays, .. Several years' work of the Lon- from books." don Missionary Society has greatly changed the habits of the Lese tribe. A -At the missionary devotional meetbrief glance at the work done by the ing of the Jamaica English Baptist London Missionary Society from Maiva Mil!lBionary Society, attended by memto Carama was considered to reflect the bers of the Baptist, Congregational, greatest credit on Rev. James Chalmers. Moravian. and Presbyterian denomina- Under the firm discipline practised at tions, an addre88 of much spiritual pow- Dobu in the schools and services estab- er was delivered by Rev. D. J. East, lished there very extraordinary progress who has had fifty-seven years of minis- terial service. His reminiscences of has been made. Rev. Mr. Abel is en- misaion work in the West Indies, where he has labored for forty years, were of couragin« some of the young men in his district to form Industrial settle- a atfrring character. He emphasized menta tor the cultf"ation of cotton and such-like commodities. an attempt that the fact that the Baptist churches in duerv" enry enooura,emant the 10"- Jamaica lon, ago became self-llupporternmlnt can give to it." It is only ing, and are now contrlbutin, 8. larie twenty years since the missionaries sum every year tor home and fonilgn landed among these cannibals. and took missionary work. MOlt ot the conpossession of thofr island ill the llama ot JUUI.-TM OlvrUtian. tributora give over a dollar each, thouih they receive lC&uty wage&.

The Missionary Review of the World — October 1891

'722 THE COMING AGE OF MISSIONS

MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.

VOL.,XIV. No.lO.-OldSeries.–OCTOBER.–VOL. IV. No.lO.-Nc'W Series.

THE COMING AGE OF MISSIONS.

[EDITORIAL, A. '1'. P.] We stand on the threshold of a new century of missionary enterprise. The time is coming when the Church of God will look: back to the present age of missions as we now look back to the feeble beginnings of a century ago, with astonishment and shame that believers in Christ could ever have stood on so Iowa plane in respect to their debt and duty to the lost.

We now marvel that William Carey should have met persistent and even malignant opposition from professed ministers of Christ, and even from brethren of his own denomination, in his scheme for a world's evangelization ; and that for ten years his own enthusiasm and consecration should have been so nearly stifled by the atmosphere of indiffereFlce and resistance which he was compelled to breathe. We read with surprise the assaults of the Reverend Sydney Smith; we see him sharpening most keenly the arrows in the quiver of his wit, to shoot into that" nest of consecrated cobblers" whom he meant to " rout out" by the sting and smart of his unsanctified ridicule; we hear him, with a sarcasm and irony that verge on profanity and blasphemy, mockingly portraying the heroism that lcd holy mcn and women, of whom the world was not worthy, to seek a home amid cannibal savages; hinting that they might, at least, furnish for travellers, stopping at thol'le " hospitable shores," a "slice of cold missionary." We read with amazement the speech of Charles Marsh in the House of Commons, remonstrating against the sending of missionarics to India, lest thcy should disturb thoso beneficent systems of religion and morals devised by Providence for the welfare of the people of Hindniltan ; and we rccall with even greater surprise the arguments of an orthodox ecclesiastic in the Houso of Lords, who undertook to demonstrate that the command of Christ did not apply to the evangelization of India! We cannot understand now a condition of things a hundred years ago, when there was scarce a missionary soeiety in Protestant Christendom, and when the Church of God doubted if it did not deny the obligation to go into all the world with the Gospel witness to all nations; when scarce a thousand pounds a year were Bpent upon all the missions of the Reformed churches, and a mere pioneer band of workers, mostly Moravians, made up the entire mission force; when there were no missionary periodicals j when the" Monthly Concert" was but eight years old j when no entrance had been made into Japan, China, Siam, Africa, Burmah, Papal lands, or Mohammedan territory, and when there was so little interest in foreign missions that the task seemed hopeless of making even a beginning.

We are far ahead of the starting point of a century ago. We have left away behind Widow Wallis's little parlor at Kettering, with its dozen humble Baptists and their dozen pounds sterling j and great Exeter Hall is too small for the monster meetings of one society, and the Crystal Palace has been talked of for the great anniversaries. But we are far from the goal, the reasonable goal, toward which we should promptly press; and if we grow in grace and knowledge as we ought, no goal that is now in sight will satisfy us j it would only become a new starting-point for a new goal, as yet too far off to be visible now.

We have been long meditating upon the coming age of missions, and looking forward hopefnlly to see in the immediate future some radical changes made in the methods of prosecuting missions j and, at risk of seeming visionary, chimerical, or even fanatical, we boldly outline on these pages some of the features which we believe we discern in the future prosecution of a world's evangelization. Once more we write large that word ENTERPRISE as the true motto of the Church of Christ. The world ought not to put us to shame in manifesting more zeal for that which perishes than we do for the unfading crown and heritage. Obviously, if we are to make any approach to the ideal age of missions, all real radical advance must begin with the individual disciple. We can never convert or consecrate people in the mass j souls come one by one into the kingdom, never two at a birth j and so also is it that saints climb to loftier heights. When every true believer regards himself as one with his Lord in the enterprise of missions j when he seeks to inform himself thoroughly and constantly of the needs of the world and the progress of the work j when he follows for himself the great campaign, notes the strategic points and the position of the forces j when he studies to keep tra~k of the world-wide field as he would trace day by day the movements of his country's forces in an enemy's territory-then the first granite block will be laid for the coming structure of a thoroughly organized work for God. The ignorance that prevails begets indifference as its natural offspring. Yherever there is true piety, knowledge will kindle zeal.

Then we need individual and systematic prayer for missions j definite prayer that has alio individual objects, that takes up one field at a time and one missionary at a time, and intelligently pleads with God for that field and work and worker. We knew a devout reader of the Missionary Herald who was wont to make every p'articular missionary thus a subject of prayer by name, and who read that nohle record of events that he might follow the development of each laborer's work by intelligent supplication. Nothing gives the China Inland Mission more strength and heroism than the knowledge of its hundreds of workers that, each week in the mission rooms, every scattered member of that great band is remembered by name in prayer, and with mention of any circumstances that specially environ him or her.

From such intelligence and prayerfulness in the individual every other result which is needful will naturally develop. The man that knows the field, and prays for the workman, is the man that will find hiB alms going out as his prayers go up. It will be natural to give and to give systemati- cally, liberally, and proportionately, when mind and heart unite to unloose purse-strings. And so will come family life pervaded with the missionary spirit. Children will be begotten for God, and suck in missionary mIlk, and learn missionary prayers, and talk the dialect of missions; the divine alphabet will be among their first lessons, and self-denial for Christ and souls will be among their earliest habits. We shall have consecrated cradles, family altars with fires kindled from above, family boards where simple diet displaces extravagant luxuries, and family life where the spirit of missions is cultivated for Christ's sake and in Christ's name.

And so, likewise, must we have a new church life when the individual and family life is renewed and quickened. It will be easy to give, and . pray, and send laborerll forth, and go forth ourselves, when the training that begins at the cradle, and gets iti true bent even before birth in a con- secrated parentage, prepares the church-member for co-operation in missions.

But in this editorial it is our desire to hint at least a few directions in which church enterpri&e may push the work of missions. Looking back- ward and then forward, it would seem that now, on the eve of William Carey's centennial, we might expect greater things from God and attempt greater things for God than even Carey dared expect or attempt. Worldly enterprise combines" dash" and" push," and on a bold scale of daring ven- ture undertakes colossal schemes for worldly profits. Why should not the Church take a risk, if such it be, and venture somewhat for her Lord?

1. If we discern rightly, the coming church will be essentially a mis- sionary church distinctively, educating its membership to intelligent and systematic participation in the work of witnessing to all men. To give and to pray will be as much a part of church life as to go to church meetings or the Lord's table. No member will be in good standing who takes no part in this loyal obedience to Christ's last command.

2. Every church, in the coming age of missions, will have a distinct field to culti~ate abroad as well as at home, and a double pastorate, a minister or missionary on the foreign field as well as for the home church, &nd the support of both provided for as equally a part of the financial administration of the church. It would not be surprising if there should be an apportionment of missionaries to each church on the basis of its numerical and financial ability, so that for every fixed number of members a missionary should be sent forth. It will then be reckoned, a reproach to any church to have three hundred communicants without at least one laborer representing them abroad. We have long believed that a living link between the home church and the foreign field is an essential condition of true missionary zeal. It brings the two closer together, and supplies a bond of mutual sympathy; and so far is it from diminishing interest in the general work, it rather increases it. In our own pastoral experience we have found that to have a missionary supported by a church in a particular station makes every other missionary and his work dearer, and helps the whole cause. But we look in the coming age of missions to see the churches united in great enterprises for God.

1. For example, why should there not be a grand Society for Regions Beyond, representing all denominations, whose office would be to explore new territory, to apportion laborers to unoccupied fields, to act as a eommittee on comity, and interpose to prevent friction, overlapping of work, and clashing between societies and workmen ~ 2. Why not a Pioneer Bureau, to receive and guide newly arriving missionaries, instruct them in the peculiarities of climate, local diseases and their preventives and remedies, and, in brief, prepare wurkers for intelligent occupation of new fields, and so prevent needless waste of life, and hundreds of serious blunders ~ 3. We look for a great .Education and Sustentation scheme, which shall provide for the training and support of missionary candidatel, and which shall provide for a part of their training on the field. As it is, no doubt time and strength are wasted in part in the curriculum of study. There ig a general preparation which the college and seminary can give; but there is a specific preparation only to be had on the field itself; and some of the wisest missionaries have said that if the latter half of the candidates' training could be had where he is to labor, under control of resident missionaries, they could secure greater fitness for the work to be done.

4. We see no reason why there might not be a Millsionm'Y Transportation Society, owned and supported by the Church, to transport without cost missionaries and supplies, and become a means of mutual communication, as well as to furnish passage for workers who need rest. If Pastor Harms's poor people at Hermannsburgh could build the Candace to carry their workers to the field, cannot the whole Church provide transport for its mission band?

5. Why might we not have a great Society for Christian Literature, providing not only Bibles, tracts, and religious books, but setting up pnnting presses wherever needed, and supplying in the vernacular the needed helps to popular education ¥ 6. We look, in the coming age, to see godly women representing the (Jh~rch upon our great Boards of Missions, partly for the infusion of their counsel and spirit into the work, and partly for the quickening of their own interest in the general prosecution of missons by a personal participation in its conduct. At present we have women working on their own boards, but in separation. 'Vill not the time come when there will be no separatc women's boards, but instead a union of men and women in the adminiRln.ttion of the whole work Y 7. We look lor a more thorough trial of missionary colonization as a means of evangelization; iamilieli going in a group, representatives of arts and trades establishing a Christian community in the midst of papal, pagan, and Moslem communities for mutual encouragement, protection, and co- operation; where the main business shall be proclaiming the Gospel, but where, as with Paul, the trade shall be the means of support.

8. Volunteer missions will form a feature of the coming missionary age. ' Men and women will go at their own cost to labor for a longer or shorter time in the field in co-operation with the missionaries, assisting in estab- lishing 8('hools, dispensaries, hospitals, preaching stations, and printing presses, and giving personal aid and comfort so far as they may, gathering facts and receiving inspiration from personal contact with the work and workers; and then returning to give intelligent, sympathetic aid in the support and advocacy of the enterprises of the foreign mission field.

9. We look for systematic and practical co-operation between all denomi- nations on mission fields, the elimination of unnecessary doctrinal and ecclesiastical differences and peculiaritieli, the avoidance of all needless waste, whether of men or money, and the presentation of a united front before the great mallses of unsaved souls, as another of the features of a greater missionary epoch, if it shall ever come.

These are some of the features of that nobler and more consecrated church activity in behalf of a dying race for which we look and hope in the near future. vie can see no reason why every evangelical church should not regularly IlIlpport at least one preacher, teacher, or evangelist on the foreign field ; and include in current annual outlay the estimate of the cost of the support of such worker, thus having a local field outside of the home church, and a living link with the great body of the unevangelized. We can see no reason why there should not be an accepted basis of apportionments and proportionments; every church upon a certain basis, agreed to as equitable, appointing one man or woman to go to the field, who shall be morally bound either to go or to furnish a substitute. The Church thus becomes a recruiting office, and drafts for ,the Master new soldiers to serve in the army. VIre see no reason why denominations should not act in concert to promote great common ends, and save all the needle8s outlay now involved in separate action and adminiBtration. While not jealous for any particlllar modo or plan, w feel very deeply 80licitous to see the spirit of holy and consecrated enterprise infused into all our missionary work; to seo the Church .taking up the causo of the Master as though there were faith in His leadership and confidence in the ultimate triumph of the Gospel. This result, we again affirm, with unalterable confidence, can be reached only by a searching self-scrutiny and a devout and most prayerful fellowship with Him whose we aro and whom we serve. The world waitS and He waits for a new spirit of thorough surrender to His will, and for a new epoch of enterprise in missions. How long shall this waiting of ages be in vain ~ THE FAITH ELEMENT IN MISSIONS.

BY A. J. GORDON, D.D.

This subject, so admirably treated in a recent article in this REVIEW, may' be worthy of still further consideration. No doubt the work of the Gospel in foreign lands is exposed to the same danger as that work at home -the danger of becoming mechanical and perfunctory. One of the most alarming symptoms of our nineteenth century Christianity is the secular symptom-the tendency to substitute other forces for the original motive- power of the Church, the ever-present Holy Spirit. Faith is the coupling by which we become attached to this Divine motor, and unless we are abso_ lutely sure of our spiritual connections, we cannot be certain of our spiritual successes. We accept the sentiment which the editor of this REVIEW quotes from the Bishop of Ripon: that" the story of Modern Missions is a con- tinuation of the Acts of the Apostles, with all its essential supernaturalism." But there could have been no Acts of the "Apostles without the faith of the apostles j it was because they wrought in God by the IIoly Ghost, that as they went forth and preached everywhere the Lord worked with them j and since what gave them pOW1lr can stiII give us power, therefore we urge more faith.

As to men.-Where can we get the missionaries to occupy the fields now white to the harvest ~ We find but one direction in Scripture con- cerning this question, " Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest." The choice and commis- sioning of His evangelists the Lord has reserved entirely to Himself. Woe to the Church if she shall rashly undertake the enterprise of manufacturing missionaries either by her sacerdotal or by her educational machinery. Mere hand-made ministers, thrust forth from under the fingers of the bishop, and mere school-made ministers, fashioned by the training of the college, are alike inadequate for executing the great commission.

Without the call of God vain is the culture or the consecration of man. Unless, therefore, we can be assured that the Holy Spi1'it is really 1'ecruiting, the Students' Volunteer Movement may prove injurious. We strongly believe in this movement j but the very enthusiasm and magnitude of it constitute such a call to prayer as has not till lately been heard-prayer to the great Head of the Church that none shall be suffered to go without His appointment. Would it be rash to say that the deficiency of missionaries is due most of all to the deficiency of prayer in the Church, that the Lord will send forth laborers ~ And not only the deficiency of missionaries, but the maladjustment of the ministry to the needs of the world. The same constituency which has seven thousand ordained missionaries on the foreign field has a hundred and twenty-seven thousand ordained m£nisters on the home field. While many a labOler in CLina and India has a parish of millions or hundreds of thousands, three or four pastorR are often found in a single little New England village, jostling and elbowing one another in their attempt to do a work which is only sufficient for oue. All this indicates but too clearly that the" Shepherd and Bishop of souls" is not haying sole direction of the diocese of the world. 'What humiliation and prayer to God this unhappy state of things calls for! Certainly, if the Saviour bids us pray that the Lord will thrust forth laborers, He binds Himself by this very injunetion to send laborers and to place them where He would have them.

Here then is a large demand for faith j not only in asking, but equally in recelvmg. The same Scripture which enjoins us to ask, reveals the ascended Lord as bestowing. "When He ascended on high . . . He gave so.ne apostles, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and some teachers." But what a fine spiritual discernment it requires to recognize His gifts when He has sent them! Natural sagacity and business prudence are not sufficient here. "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the hcart." It requires a very diseriminating faith to read the Divine credentials of applicants for service. vVe have often thought that the history of rejeeted missionary candidates would make a most interesting book j not lcss interesting than the history of rejected manuscripts, out of some of which such literary fortunes have been made. A venerable secretary opened this subject slightly at a recent conference, touching on it just sufficiently to remind us that some of the most eminent and successful laborers on the foreign field were at the outset refused a commission by their boards. It is a historical fact that William Milne was denied an appointment as a missionary, and was !lent out to China only as a servant to Dr. Morrison, asking that he might be a hewer of wood and a drawer of water, if only he could reach his longed-for field. And yet Milne, from being a servant, became such a master-missionary that history speaks of him as .. that excellent man, whose talents were surprising, whose labors were incessant, whose whole life was devoted to his Saviour." We could mention several missionaries of the very first rank in our day whose experience has been similar-rejected once, twice, or thrice before getting their appointment. Nowhere is the discernment of lin cnlightened faith more demanded than in the examination of candidates. The prayer, "Lord, send forth laborers into Thy vineyard," needs to be supplemented by another; "Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show us which of these Thou hast chosen." In this important decision there is great danger that the physician's certificate may outweigh the Master's credential, and the college diploma outrank the Spirit's call. Experience proves that the decisive qualific'!ltion is not to be found in cultul'e or in the absence of culture j in physical health or the absence of physical health j in great natural talents or in the absence of great natural talents. Probably the truest criterion is in the deep, serious, unshaken conviction of a Divine eall in the heart of the candidate himself. With such conviction the most unprepossessing applieants have often proved mighty under God as missionaries of the cross; without it those of the highest talent and culturc have proved a failure. Who can deny, then, that it is a real test of faith, whether one can recognize God's gifts to the Church when they are bestowed ~ Businesll sagacity may discern the marks of sound common sense j culture may discern the marks of sound learning. But with both these eyes wide open, one may be unable to recognize a missionary whom God has sent, unless there be also the vision of an anointed faith. We remember a candidate who came before a certain board five years ago, confessing that he had neither academic nor theological training, but requesting that he might occupy some subordinate place, if only he could satisfy his deep sense of duty by going to the foreign field. When asked what qualification he had in the absence of those above-named, he replied that of one thing he was sure, that he had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It must be confessed that this last remark was deemed by some an evidence of eccentricity, which rather damaged than helped his case. By the closest squeeze, however, he was passed. He is now in charge of an important station, and such a missionary that during the first four months of the present year he reported three thousand converts baptized at his station. Such instances should admonish us to join prayerfulness to discretion and faith to prudence, lest haply we be fonnd rejecting those whom God has ~hosen.

As to money.-Thc problem whieh so taxes and tries our missionary boards-that of getting the money to support the work-may have a relation to faith of which we have little thought.

Christ is the Chief Bishop, who appoints the missionary evangelists and pastors j is He the Chief Treasurer, who supplies the missionary funds ~ Practically there is a very wide difference of opinion upon this point. " And Prudence sat over against the treasury watching the expenditures, to see that Faith did not overdraw her account, " would fairly state the financial method of many missionary committees. "Faith in the work of preaching the Gospel, indeed j but in administering the missionary exchequer, sound business principles if you please!" So have we often heard it ; and we do not dispute the wisdom of the saying.

TIut here we are conducting the King's busiuess, let it be remembered; and iu its transactions are no over-drafts of faith ever allowable ~ May the promises of God never be taken as collateral in this business ~ Is the Lord's Rervant forbidden to hypothecate the bonds of the everlasting covenant as a security for a missionary contract when he has no funds in the hank ~ The enterprise of missions is peculiarly the Lord's work, and as such has guarantors and guarantees back of any human. He who says, ., All power is gh'en unto Me in heaven and in earth; go ye, therefore, and teach all nations," by the very act of sending us binds Himself to support us. Rev. John Wilkinson, who as a missionary to the Jews has" purchased to himself a good degree and great boldness in the faith," states it thus: "If we allow the Lori! to do what He pleases with us and by us we shall get the greates~ blessing and He will get the greatest glory, and He will bear all the expenses of His own work. If a master send a servant to a shop for a shilling's worth of anything, he makes hiIr!self responsible for the shilling; and shall it be thought for a moment that God will not pay for all the work He acknowledges as His 1" If, then, we are assured that the Head of the Church has committed a certain piece of evangelizing to us, is it presumption for us to draw on Him at sight for the funds to accomplish it ?

We are not dealing here with a sentimental theory, but with a most practical question. Is a missionary board justified in enlarging its work to the extent of many thousands of dollars when it has not the money, either in hand or in sight, for meeting the added expense? Sound commercial prudence would answer most emphatically, "No! determine the Elxtent of your business by the amount of your capital." But desiring the opinion of experts on the question, we consult a few eminent spiritual financiers to get their opinion: Pastor Fliedner, of Kaiserwerth, gives us an inventory of his vast workorphanage, seminary, deaconess' house, asylum, etc.-and when we ask how he manages to support it all, his answer is, " We live by grace; and the gracious Lord of the heavenly treasury knows how to furnish us every year with so many under-treasurers of every rank and age that to the question, , Have you ever wanted?' we must joyfully answer, ' Never.' "

Pastor Gossner single-handed scnt into the field 144 missionaries; including thc wives of those married, 200. Besides providing outfit and passage, he had never less than twenty missionaries depending directly on him for support. How did he raise the necessary funds ¥ Read his life and learn. The answer can be best given in a ~entence from the funeral address spoken over his open grave: " He prayed up the walls of an hospital and the hearts of the nurses; he prayed mission stations into being, and missionaries into faith : he prayed open the hearts of the rich and gold from the most distant lands."

Pastor Harms and his single church of poor peasants at Hermannsbnrg did a foreign missionary work almost equal to that of any of our largest societies, sending out and supporting 357 missionaries in "thirty years. We read the story with astonishment, and ask again, " And how did you get the money for all this 1" His reply tells us only that the Divine draft, " My God shall supply all your needs, according to His riches in glory," was promptly cashed whenever presented. It is so artless, the way in which he jots down his busine~s transactions with the Lord. " Last year," he writes in 1858, "I needed for the mission 15,000 crowns, and the Lord gave me that and 60 over. This year I needed double, and the Lord has given me double and 140 over." "I needed," and" my God shall supply all your need /" No mention of what he had as a basis for his enlarged undertaking, but only of what he mUlt have, making that the schedule of his expectation from God.

These noble lives constitute a kind of latter· day exposition of those memorable words, " When I Rent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything 1 And they said, Nothing" (Luke 22 : 35). "But remember," we hear some one say, "that our missionary boards are not operating under the commission in Matt. 10, with its command to provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in the purse, to heal the sick, and cast out demons. Very true. Nevertheless, there is a lesson for us in that Scripture, and there is instruction to be gained from these histories just cited. In the missionary enterprise let our prudence at least be "mixed with faith." Tax the .churches more, but trust God a hundred times more. Carey's maxim is right in the logical order of its clauses: " Attcmpt great things for God, expect great things from God."

We believe that when God, by a clear providence, opens some" wide and effectual door" before a missionary society, it is not presumption to enter it, though there be not a penny in the treasury for meeting the expenses. It is sad to think how easily we shelve great missionary demands which come before us with the concession that they are reasonable, but with the conclusion that they are not practicable. We hear that call of the Shanghai Conference of 1890 for 1000 men and women immediately for China; the importunate request of Dr. Clough for 25 men and $50,000 at once, that the nnsurpassed opportunity in the Telugu land may be embraced; the stirring appeal of Bishop Thoburn, made at Northfield and elsewhere, for a mighty lift on his field in India, that the present emergency may be met; and we cheer the missionaries for the heroism of their demand without blushing, as we ought, for our cowardice in counting those demands impossible. The paradox, Verum est quia impossibile, which Tertullian uttered concerning doctrine, it is time for us boldly to apply to action, saying, "It is practicable because it is impossible ;" for uuder the dispensation of the Spirit ollr ability is no longer the measure of our responsibility. " The things which are impossible with men are possible with God," and therefore possible for us who haye been united to God through faith. Since the Holy Ghost has been given, it is not snfficient for the servant to say to his Master, "I am doing as well as I can," for now he is bound to do better than he can. Should a New York merchant summon his commercial agent in Boston to come to him as quickly as possible, would he be satisfied if that agent were to arrive at the end of a week, footsore and weary from walking the entire distance, with the excuse, " I came as quickly as I could?" ·With swift steamer or lightning express at his disposal, were he not bound to come more quickly than he could? And so with the power of Chlist as our resource, and His riches in glory at! our endowment, we are called upon to undertake what we have neither the strength nor the funds of ourselyes to accomplish. The enterprise of evangelizing the world is peculiarly the Lord's. Therefore in the crisis of missions which is upon us, is it not time that we cease to layout God's work according to our ability, and begin to layout God's work according to God's ability?

The one consideration that the Lord is rich, and that in the work of the world's redemption He has taken us iuto partnership with Himself, so affects the missionary problem, that what were the height of folly in secular business may be the height of faith in Divine business.

We have watched with the deepest interest an experiment of enlargement which came under our own observation. A missionary treasury taxed to the utmost for years to meet. the demands upon it was assessed at one stroke an extra $50,000 annually for a new work which the providence of God seemed to enjoin. Seven years have passed since the un· dertaking, and yet the treasury has kept just as full through all this period, notwithstanding the extra draft, as during the seven years previous. Certainly this outcome does not seem like a Divine admonition not to do 80 again j but rather like a loud invitation to repeat the experiment upon the first new call. And now, when the bugle is sounding for an advance along the entire line, we do well to mark the significance of such experiments.· Our Lord does not say, " Be it unto you according to your funds," but, "Be it unto you according to your faith." If He sees that we trust Him for large missionary undertakings, He will trust us with large missionary remittances. If, on the contrary, we demand great things of God as a condition of attempting great things for God, we shall be disappointed; for that is not believing, but bargaining. "Said I not nnto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God f' (John 11 : 40.) Shall we reverse this ord.er, and believe only according as we have seen the glory of God ~ If so, He will give us little credit for our faith. Most significantly is it written, " Many believed on His name because they saw the miracles which He did j but Jesus did not believe in them" (John 2 : 23, vd. Greek).

As to methotls.-Tn the naturalistic drift which is now sweeping the Chnrch into its current, we cannot emphasize too strongly the supernatural elements in the work of missions. If the preaching of the Gospel shall make a powerful impression upon the heathen, it will not be by what is human in it, but by what is superhuman. There has been no change of method since the day of Pentecost. The Gospel is still to be preached " with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven;" and the Lord is pledged still to work with His servants, " confirming the Word with signs following." Therefore all supernatural phenomena appearing in connection with the missionary's work should be emphasized, not ignored. There are few minds so stupid that they do not reason from effect to cause. If the effects attending missionary effort are only such as can be traced to natural causes, the mind is very likely to rest in such causes without being carried further. Teaching, doctoring, civilizing, mechanical and agricultural training are all good, and not to be depreciated in connection with missions to the heathen. But the evidential value of such works is very slight, unless acc6mpanied with miracles of regeneration and wonders of moral transformation.

Of this question of the supernatural in connection with evangelical labors among the heathen, we have space to speak only of a single phase-viz., the one about which thete has recently been considerable discussion in missionary magazines.

The late Professor Christlieb, of Bonn, in hill powerful chapter on miracles, after defending their perpetuity and present possibility, says: " The work of missions is outwardly, at least, more extended than it ever was before. In this region, therefore. according to our former rule, miracles should not be entirely wanting. Nor are they. We cannot, t.herefore, fully admit the proposition that no more miracles are performed in our day. In the history of modern missions we find many wonderful occurrences which unmistakably remind us of the apostolic age. In both periods there are similar hinderances to be overcome in the heathen world, and similar palpable confirmations of the WORD are needed to convince the dull sense of men. We may, therefore, expect miracles in this case." * He then cites many instances from missionary history in confirmation of this view, especially instances of bodily healing in answer to the prayer of faith.

Is there anything in this paragraph of Professor Christlieb which is worthy of our consideration ~ Hostility to his view is sufficiently pronounced at the present time not only in such conservative and guarded criticisms as those of Professor Tyndale on the Prayer Cure, but especially in the severe animadversions of some high evangelicals upon the same point, whose motto seems to be, " Allopathy or homreopathy. as you like, but no theopathy. " "Palpable confirmations of the Word are needed to convince the dull sense of the heathen." It is the palpable confirmations that are most direct and obvious. Something must be done to persuade the heathen of the beneficent character of Christianity, as well as mnch said. Hence medical missions, hORpitals, surgery, nursing. Blessed and true servants of Christ are they who go forth to the heathen with snch ministrie(! as these. If only as they are bestowed npon the hlind, and the lame, and the leprous, they do not take their eyes from Christ, and fix them upon human benefactors or benefactions. At home or abroad this is the difficulty with all secular helps to Christianity.

An eminent missionary lady in Burmah recently gave us the following chapter from her experience. In one of her tourR she came upon a village where the cholera was raging. Having with her a quantity of the famous antidote, Perry Davis's Pain Killer, she went from house to house administering the remedy to the lick ones, and left a number of bottles to be Ilsed after she had gone. Returning to the village some months after, the missionary was met by the head man of the town, who cheered and delighted her by this intelligence, " Teacher, we have come over to your side; the medicine did us so much good that we have accepted your God.' , Overjoyed at this news, she was conducted tc the house of her informant, who, opening a room, showed her the pain-killer bottles solemnly arranged in a row upon a shelf, and before them the whole company immediately … Modern Doubt aud Christian Belief," p. 332. prostrated themselves in worship. This apotheosis of mustard and pepper does not move us violently to denounce the nse of all medicine as tending to idolatry. W 0 believe that all the help possible should be derived from medicinal remedies. But the instances are numerous enough in which medicine can go no further, and the doctors surrender the case with the confession that they can do no more. In such instances God no doubt often interposes in answer to believing intercession and restores the sufferer. Here is the peculiar sphere of the prayer of faith for the sick, in which, we boldly say, the healing ministry of Jesus Christ should not be despised. For now it is possible, since the hand of man bas failed, tbat tbe hand of tbe Lord should be recognized, and glory won for ilis name. Missionaries are naturally shy of revealing their experiences in this field, if they bave snch, owing to the opprobrium attaching to so-called "faith-healing." But the writer, from the fact of his views on this subject being known, has had the honor to be much confided in by missionaries, especially those of the China Inland Society, who have made successful use of intercession for the sick. Their testimony as to the impression of supernatural cures upon the heathen is very strong.

May the writer be allowed to give two illustrations out of many from his own experience! An opium-eater of the most desperate stamp came into Mr. Moody'S evangelistic meetings in Boston in the spring of 1877. His case was one of long standing, in which the coils of habit had closed about him tighter and tighter each year, every medical help, every human remedy having utterly failed. None present will forget his pitiful cry as he rose up in the meeting, and begged to know if there was any hope for him in Christ. Prayer was offered in his behalf, and he was led to accept Jesus as his Saviour and Healer. He came the next day with the glad tidings that his appetite was gone. Mr. Moody, knowing how much more powerful is experience than assertion for proving that Christ is " mighty to saye," put this man upon the platform night after night, to tell the story of his healing. It was "a palpable confirmation of the Word," not to be gainsaid, and the effect was irresistible upon the great audiences who listened.

The other case was almost identical. A stranger, rising up at a revival meeting in our own church, the marks upon his person confirming the testimonyof his lips, confessed that he was a long suffering victim of the opium habit, who bad spent all his living upon physicians, and was nothing bettered but rather made worse. Here also, upon the offering of prayer and the surrender of the sufferer to Christ, the cure was instantaneous-at least, so t.he patient has al ways claimed. Fifteen and ten years have passed since these respective experiences. The men on whom the cures were wrought are exemplary members of the church, with whom we have maintained a conRtant acquaintance, and they solemnly testify that from the moment of tllCir appeal to the Great Physician they have been absolutely delivered from their former plague.

MISSIONS THE TRUE PRAYER·GAUGE

Now in a great missionary field like China, where the victims of the opium habit are numbered by millions, why should not such demonstrations of the risen Saviour's healing power be frequently witnessed ~ And why should the testimony of such occurrences to the supernatural character of our Gospel be ruled out of court by evangelical Christians ~ We have given this one line of illustration of the faith element in mis. sions for a purpose. Is it not possible that the Lord, in self-defence, may be reyiving His supernatural working in the Church ~ When, in modern times, has there been such a widespread tendency among Christian scholars to eliminate the supernatural from Christianity as now ~ A few more conquests of advanced thought, and God will have been abolished from His Word and from His work. We do not speak unadvisedly. In the doctrine of inspiration, in the doctrme of miracles, in the doctrine of prayer, in the doctrine of prophecy, in the doctrine of regeneration, and in the doctrine of resurrection, how, more and more, in the teaching of the learned, is the Divine element minimized, and these transactions reduced to natural processes! The tendency is so quiet as to be ignored by easygoing optimists; but it is so unquestionable as to occa..ion serious alarm among thoughtful observers. If it shall be so that the doctrine of the supernatural shall cease to have a home among high scholars, then, as has been the case constantly in the history of the Church, it will find a domicile among the unsophisticated and simple-hearted Christians, who, because they know no better than to believe the vVord of God, will make bold to pray for rain in time of drought, to pray for healing in the time of sickness, and to pray for regeneration in time of ruin. And because our de- 8upernaturalized Christianity is likely to be transferred to the foreign field, there is so much the more reason why missionaries who hold to the simple Gospel should appreciate and emphasize the Divine phenomena of our holy religion.

MISSIONS THE TRUE PRAYER-GAUGE.

BY REV. CHAUNCEY T. EDWARDS, COUDERSPORT, PA.

" I do desire to say. gravely and earnestly, tltat my missionary life has been successful so far as 1 have been prayerful, and non·,uccessful so far as . I have been lax in prayerfulness." -A Missionary of the American Board.

" Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee." This is a true missionary incident. The friends of the paralytic were, in fact, missionaries. The best .r thing they could do for him was to bring him to esus, and the faith which led them to do this be(ame instrumental in his saving and healing. Just so the Church's best work for the world is intercession, and the Church's best years have always been years of prayer. As the Gospel more and more affects politics and all progress, the eye of faith can trace in everything the influence of prayer. From the breaking down of the East India Company to the founding of the Congo Free State-two events that enlisted the mightiest intellects and interests of this generation-the spirit of gracious supplications, it is hardly too much to say, has been more plainly the ruling power than in any other thirty years of history.

That rare little book, " The Still Hour"-which is, perhaps, the richest work of its lamented author, Professor Austin Phelps-quotes a letter of Sir Fowell Buxton's on a parliamentary vote important to West India emancipation: " ·What led to that division? If ever there was a subject which occupied our prayers, it was this. Do you remember how we desired that God would give me His Spirit in that emergency j how we quoted the promise, , He that lacketh wisdom, let him ask it of the Lord, and it shall be given him j , and how I kept open that passage in the Old Testament, in which it is said, ' We have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do j but our eyes are upon Thee '-the Spirit of the Lord replying, 'Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's'? If you want to see the passage, open my Bible j it will turn of itself to the place. I sincerely believe that prayer was the cause of tkat division j and I am confirmed in this by knowing that we by no means calculated on the effect. The course we took appeared to be right, and we followed it blindly."

To be sure, these are not testimonies of missionaries, but they are none the less missionary, and all the weightier as being from outsiders.

Mission work brings out the fact that many more events are answers to prayer than we commonly believe. For instance, an English missionary (Rev. James Main, quoted in the Foreign Missionary, January, 1884) thus describes the look of a Chinese audience: " When I used, at home, to speak of ' the heathen,' I meant by the word men who had never heard the Gospel. The look in the faces of the Chinese crowd made me realize for the first time that it meant mnch more than this. In consequence of their not hearing it they have lost all capacity for understanding it. That look made mil feel that to the heathen the Gospel is not only a new, a strange sound, but that it is an unintelligible sound, and that every conversion will be a miracle. " If we believe thus, we may be ready to head the column of converts in mission reports, Answers to Prayer; for every convert is a Samuel (1 Sam. 1 : 27), a paralytic who has been carried by true friends into the presence of Jesus.

1. Dr. A. J. Gordon's remarkable book, " The Twofold Life," is full of testimonies to the power of prayer. Passing by the witness he quotes of Christmas Evans and W. C. Burns and Jonathan Edwards and a host of others, let us hear him tell (p. 37) of David Brainerd: "Brainerd had many seasons of this uncommon renewing of his spiritual life through prayer and fasting; and, in summing them up, President Edwards records this noteworthy conclusion: 'Among all the many days he spent in secret prayer and fasting, of which he gives an account in his diary, there is scarcely an instance of 01'1,6 which was not either attended or soon followed with apparent success, and a remarkable blessing in special influences and consolations of God's Spirit, and very often before the day was ended.' .And we may add yet more. The record of these fastings and prayers of Brainerd, and of the power of God which followed, written only for himself, but wisely published by Edwards after his death, has brought rich blessing to the world. William Carey read it on his shoemaker's bench, and asked, 'If God can do such things among the .Indians of America, why not among the pagans of India ~' Henry Martyn, the thoughtful student in Cambridge, England, read it, and was moved by it to consecrate his life to missionary service in the East. Edward Payson pondered it, and when twenty-two years of age wrote in his diary, 'In reading Mr. Brainerd's life, I seemed to feel a most earnest desire after some portion of his spirit.' Considering the vast results which have followed the labors of these servants of God, who shall say that Brainerd has not wrought more since his death than in his life ~ And who, looking at the great sum total, can question whether or not it is profitable for one to wait upon the Lord with prayer and fastin~ and intercession for the renewal of his spiritUal strength ~"

II. At the London Missionary Conference it was told that Toronto Methodist women had a weekly prayer-meoting, where a record was kept of special petitions and their answers; and, said the speaker, Mrs. Blackstock, "I am afraid that some of you would be astonished to find how many answers to prayer are recorded in that book." vVhat associations connect with the name of the China Inland Mission but those that belong to the glory shadowing the mercy-seat!

The story of the recent experiences of the Church Missionary Society of England is well known: "Its first Day of Intercession was appointed for December, 1872. The day was spent in prayer offered distinctly and definitely for more ruen." It was followed by more offers for service than it had ever received. In the five years following" it sent ont 112 men, whereas in the five years preceding 1873 it had sent out but 51." In 1880 special prayer was offered for money, for which there was great need. In a few months $135,000 was raised" to wipe off the deficit; and this was followed by $150,000 specially contributed for extension, as well as by other special gifts and a substantial advance in the ordinary income." In the latter part of 1884 men were sorely needed, and a day was appointed to pray for them. The previous evening Mr. Wigram was summoned to Cambridge" to sec a number of graduates and undergraduates who desired to dedicate themselves to the Lord's work abroad." More than a hundred university men met him, and he returned to the prayer-meeting next day to prove to his colleagues the promise, " Before they call, I will answer."

III. If this is true at home, much more, or at least more plainly, is it true in heathendom, where" night brings out the stars." If a topical index were wanted for that lively little monthly, Brazilian Missions, it could almost be found in Paul's phrase, "the Word of. God and prayer :"

for the stories that fill it belong to one or other of these closely lelated topics. This is largely true of the great missionary magazines whose view is wider and more varied.

In the week of prayer in 1887 native Christians in Campanha (Brazil) are I:Ipecially earnest in praying for the rapid progress of the Gospel. Be- fore the week is out the fanatical town of Canna Verde, eighty miles away, sends for a preacher; and the article (in the first uumber of Brazilian Missions) telling of it is headed" A Whole Village Becoming Protestant."

In 1872 missionaries and English residents in Yokohama and the very few interested Japanese kept the week of prayer with great solemnity.

English and American sea captains who were present wrote, "The prayers of these Japanese take the heart out of us." As the result the first native church was organized March 10th, 1872, the beginning of Japan's marvel- lous Christian history. * Who has not read the" White Fields of France"? Every record of the MeAll Mission cannot help showing how the work is all in answer to prayer, and so pervaded by the spirit of prayer that the converts at once form the same habit; witness the pathetic testimony t of that Lyons woman, seventy-five years old, and no longer able to work, who said she prayed God" 80 much, so violently, and without ceasing that He would cause her to be received into the hospital for aged persons, that He an- swered her."

IV. It is part of the blessed simplicity of Christian life in heathen lands that everything, little and large, is made a matter of prayer. In the last of November, 1887, a Brazilian boy presented by his brother anxious re- quest for admission to the Sao Paulo Presbyterian School the following term. No money was available, and the missionaries could only exhort all parties interested, to believing prayer. "Day before yesterday (January lIth)," says Brazilian Missions, "came a letter dated November 21st, from a Christian lady, who, unsolicited, sends $200 to ' support a student'

in our schools. " I A Presbyterian missionary, Miss Thiede, writes from a village in India:t "I trust the Lord will allow me to build a school-house and a house for the catechist, though I have no means for them. He kindly enabled me to build a small house which shall accommodate the missionary when he visits this station, but will now be a shelter for me. . . . The ~ord wonderfully helped me, though I had to pray most earnestly for everything-for workmen, for wood, for bricks, for money. I got it all !"

The very next letter in the same magazine is from Miss Edith Blunt, who writes: " A few new doors have been opened to me in direct answer to * Foreign Missionary, Sept., 1885. t American McAli Record, Oct., 1888.

~ To Winnan'8 Workfor Woman, Oct., 1886., prayer; that is, while going toward my field of labor I have asked the dear Lord to take me to some house where they have never heard the truth, or where He would want me to go; and invariably a pressing invitation has come, and the vVord has been sung and expounded. "

At the May anniversary of the China Inland Mission, in 1883, Dr. Mackcnzie told how he and his colleague, Bryson, prayed day after day for two months fqr a hospital in Tient~in; and then, by means of a remarkable cure wrought through prayer by skill for the wife of the Viceroy, Li Hung Chang, that statesman was led to offer a temple and an income for the now successful hospital.

At the annual meeting of the American Board in New York (1889), Secretary Alden presented a paper on the place of prayer in mission work; a paper which for varied interest and suggestiveness is remarkable even in missionary literature. It includes the testimony of twenty-six missionaries as to their experience in this matter. The words quoted at the beginning of this article are from one letter. Another, writing of all sorts of work in Constantinople, adds, " But the point I wish to emphasize is thi8-it is my sincere conviction that opposition was overcome and the fruits of labor bestowed in answer to prayer-persevering prayer-offered in faith by the ladies of the executive committee in Boston, and by our constituents in New Britain and New Haven." Another writes of apparently fruitless prayer for revival offered in the Doshisha (Dr. Neesima' s school in Kyoto) from the week of prayer to the middle of March, when the praying band had decreased to half a dozen. Then" on Sabbath, March 16th, 1883, in the afternoon and evening, an invisible influence struck the school. None of the teachers knew of it till next morning. But of about 150 young men then in the school, very few closed their eyes in sleep that night. Almost every room was filled with men crying to God for mercy."

V. Let us turn to" darkest England." Not milch is said in public of the work of the late John Ashworth and his" Chapel for the Destitute" in his town of Rochdale, Lancashll'e. Yet his" Strange Tales from Humble Life" have been circulated by the million, and for simple, heart-reaching power are hardly excelled among the records of Almighty grace. The characters with whom he dealt may be imagined from the fact that a drunken, dirty fellow, who had been persuaded by his wife to attend the chapel, began swearing at her for bringing him to such a place, for" all the scamps in the country were collected together, and it was a disgrace for anyone to be seen among them !" ""Ve could as soon have thought of old Nick going to chapel, as Niff," was said of the villain who became the subject of the story" Niff and his Dogs." Drunkards and rogues, the despairing and the destitute, infidel and invalid, men, women and children were reached and brought into marvellous light.

Says the biography, " Mr. Ashworth commenced the work with a firm conviction that God would open up his way, and send pecuniary help to [.ny amount or aIly extent that might be required, withot+t either ilnniversary sermons or public collections. He belip,ved in answers to prayer, and had good reason for so doing j and to him it was at all times in his arduous undertakings a great source of strength and comfort to know that hundreds throughout the land were daily remembering him and the Chapel for the Destitute in their petitions at the throne of grace. The very thought of it gave him joy j and for sixteen years, without any solicitation on his part from any human being, the necessary funds have been supplied. " The prayer of faith, rather than the disbursing of fundi, was the power and characteristic of all his work. It is the atmosphere, tho spirit of all his" Strange Tales." In the prefatory note he writes, ., I am a tradesman, and make no prett<nsions to literary ability. If He whom I desire to serve condescend to use me as a medium of good to others, my earnest wish will be realized. To Him my prayer has been, ' Hold Thou my right hand.' "

One of these tracts is entitled" A Wonder j or, the Two Old Men i" and this is the story of it: "An old man of eighty-three, only twelve months a pardoned sinner, earnestly, and in the best way he could, urging an old man of eighty-five to trust in Christ, is such a wondC!' as falls to the lot of few to witness. Here knelt two men whose lives had been one long course of open iniquity, producing untold misery, sorrow, and suffering in their families, and, probably, by their example and precept, having been tho direct cause of many going down to the regions of despair. Yet these two have fonnd mercy and forgiveness! 'Ve repeat, It is a Wonder /" Not many months afterward Mr. Ashworth was the means of saving the older man from the home and th;l dread of the pauper-the workhouse. " When the old man saw the money paid down, and heard my promise to find him another home, he lifted up his head and gazed in my face with a look of inexpressible thankfulness. He wept like a child. exclaiming, 'God has done it! God has done it! He yeard me pray et neet, and sent yo to help me awt 0' me tronble. He's done more nor I expected i aw'l praise Him as long as aw live! ' "

It would be hard to say how many such records of answered prayer are to be found in Mr. Ashworth's writings. In none are they more frequent or striking than in the testimony of six pauper invalids, of whom he says (" My Sick Frier,ds"), " I leave them with a conviction that though they have unitedly been in pain, affliction, and helplessness for one hundred and sixty-five years, yet they are among the happiest creatures in this world. They may go down to their graves in silence, but they have taught a lesson to thousands i and that lesson is, that IIeaven's brightest beams can pierce the darkest cloud."

VI. In a region in England, missionary enough to be the diucese of Bishop Selwyn, the Christian genius known as Sister Dora lived her devoted life. Not more nurse than missionary, not less heroic than any other missionary, through fourteen years she kept her consecration unbroken, her chcerfqlnesR qndaunteq, her strong will alwals ~entle! her faith always tri· umphant by personal communion with her Lord_ Of all the saintly biography with which the Church has been enriched in the last ninety years, no life is more fascinating, none more redolent of the heavenly" vials full of odors" than the life of this hospital nurse in the" black country." Says her biograpber, " She spoke unreservedly to ber householu upon the absolute necessity of constant private prayer, and expressed openly her own strong conviction that no blessing could attend the hospital unless those who worked in it fulfilled their duty in this respect. It was literally true that she never touched a wound without lifting up her heart to the Giver of all virtue, and asking that healing might be conveyed by her means. . . . The striking feature of her prayers was the strong faith which animated them. . . ' At night, when the ward was quiet, she might often be scen kneeling by the bed of some . • . sufferer." Once she undertook to save a young fellow's mangled right arm when amputation had been pronounced necessary to save the patient's life, but when amputation mcant paupeIism to his family. Night and day for three weeks the case was in a suspense that was terrible. But she saved the arm; and the surgeon, who had been in no good humor over the case, but" without whose leave, be it remembered, she could not have done this, . . . brought the rest of the hospital staff' to show them what. might be done,' as he said." '" IIow I prayed over that arm!' she used to say afterward." "Vhat wonder the man went by the name of " Sister's arm."

Lnther draws a beautiful parallel between Paul's entreaty with Philemon for Onesimus and Christ's intercession with the Father for us, adding, " For we are all IIis Onesimi, to my thinking." The great Missionary " who went about doing good" is the great Intercessor; and from Pentecost down He has stamped that characteristic on His work. If a man believes himself Christ's Onesimus, he will have no doubts about prayer in His name. If one prayer ill answered, every prayer must be. Whether we can trace the answer or not is of small importance. If, however (and this with reference to the controversy suggested by the title of this paper), we can historically connect the providence of God, and the promise of God, and the prayer to God, who can reasonably doubt THE POWER OF GOD IN ANSWER TO PRAYER?

" 'Tis the fire that will burn wha+ thou canst not pass over, 'Tis the lightning that breaks away all bars to love, 'Tis a sunbeam, the secret of God to discover, 'Tis the wing David prayed for-the wing of the Dove."

THE following letter cannot fail to interest sincere and prayerful disciples: DEAR DR. PIERSON: I thank you very earnestly for your words in the March number of the MISSIONARY REVIEW concerning prayer. You seem to feel your way into II world wl1erein manl hav~ b~e~ trying to enter.

PROPOSAL FOR A PRAYER UNION

When I was in the north of England ag deputation for our London Missiouary Society, pleading the claims of China (with which I have been connected for twenty-five years), consultation and prayer were carried on in a friend's house up till midnight, and a written agreement was entered into to pray God to raise up one hundred of the best missionaries for our society. Since then ProfeRsor Armitage, along with other leading ministers, has been led from on high to bring out a solemn appeal for consecration and personal service; and there is a great spirit of waiting on God concerning this matter. You will thw; see that the point I now wish to submit to .you is not one which I dare approach lightly. A leader in one of our largest London churches lays down very solemnly this position: that any amount of good preaching is insufficient unless there be some definite action taken. I venture now to plead for a part of your REVIEW definitely devoted to forming and encouraging a prayer union, so that any of God's people, upon whose hearts it is laid to pray very specially for any great public matter concerning His kingdom, might have an opportunity of stating their case, giving their reasons, encouraging each other in a conquering faith, waiting for and recording answers j and, in general, dealing with God in a direct and definite manner. Your editorial wisdom wou!d direct how far it would be well to go into particulars.

But, for the sake of an illustration, let me refer to the opium traffic. At the present time throughout England the hearts of God's people ar& being moved as perhaps never before, so that the will of God may be thoroughly known and carried out. It is believed that if the Christian conscience were once thoroughly aroused, it would prove to be such a power as no government could resist. The first important matter is to spread information, and, as a matter of fact, information has been widely spread. But gain seems too much for godliness, and the flesh too much for the Spirit, so that individual and national sin, according to many, cannot be put away. In fact, there is, in some minds, a complete despair. Surely if " the regions beyond, of prayer," once became a part of common Chris· tian life, there would be such a keen sensitiveness to God's touch that the opium victims would startle men's minds j fearful prejudices against the Gospel, created by the traffic, would bring us down in humiliation, and the fact that a shadow between God and His people exists, would rouse to such concern as would give no rest till the evil was put away. Such a matter might well be a subject for definite believing prayer. Christians are, perhaps, a feebJe folk in regard to "orldly power, but this may drive them the more earnestly to seek God.

Some who are of little usc otherwise may at least prove the power of prayer. God can use tools of the poorest nature to spread abroad impressions of what is right.

This matter is one which may possihly receive more attention in China. The same request has heen made so' that missionaries and native converts may. be united in this hallowed bond. The more such ideas can gain

MOHAMMED AND MOlIAMMEDANISM

ground, the more help we shall have against the materialism of the age; and there may be some very great matters cODcerniDg God's will which may become clear as we agree to pray about them-e.g., how far mission- ary work !Should be evangelistic, missionaries only settling down as far as is really necessary; and whether fixed salaries are wise or unwise, etc.

The proofs of prayer given in the China Inland Mission and in the move- ments of the C. M. S., which began in prayer at Keswick, might be more definitely known than they are; also the proof of God's hearing prayer in the progress of woman's work, of which the foreign secretary of the L. M. S.

lately made a striking utterance at the monthly meeting for prayer held at the mission house. Yours faithfully, LONDON, April 7, 189l. J. SADLER.

MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM.

BY REV. HENRY RICE, MADRAS, INDIA.

For the last twelve hundred years or more that struggle between the East and West which has ever been the centre of all history has takeu the special form of a struggle between Christendom and Islam. There is not a nation in Europe or Asia which has not had its share iu the great conflict. The struggle still goes on. The more we feel the prominent palt which the struggle between Christendom and Islam has borne, and is bearing, in the general history of the world, the more deeply we feel the importance of a right understanding of Mohammedan history. In considering the life of Mohammed and the effects of Mohammedanism, one cannot help touching on questions which are theological. Through the whole history, both of the man and the nation, the religious element underlies everything. Mohammed was a conqueror and a ruler, but he was such only because he declared himself to be a divinely commissioned prophet. His immediate followers founded the vastest empire that the world ever saw, which, though it soon split asunder, has maintained a theoretical unity ever since. But that empire was not, strictly speaking, the dominion of a nation or of a dynasty, but of a religious sect with which the acquisition of political power was a religious principle. In the Mohammedan system there is no room for national distinctions; religious belief stands in the place of nationality. Every fellow-believer is a fellow-countryman. There is no dis~inction between Church and State. In Islam the Church comes first in fact and in idea; the State is simply the Church in its unavoidable temporal relations. In every Mohammedan country the whole civil and social fabric rests on the groundwork of a divine law once revealed. In everything the spiritual element comes first, and the temporal element is a mere appendage.

The primary faet, then, to be ob~erved is that Mohammed was a man who founded a temporal dominion, but who grounded his temporal domin- ion solely upon his claim to be a divinely commissioned teacher of religion. He taught a doctrine; he founded a sect; and the proselytes of that sect went forth, in the name of their new faith, to conquer the world. Every Moslem was, as his first duty, a missionary; but he was an armed missionary. In this the religion of Mohammed forms a marked contrast to the two religious systems which had gone before it. Judaism proclaims itself as the divinely given code of a single nation, a system which does not refuse proselytes, but does not seek them. Christianity proclaims itself as a divinely given system of faith and morals, addressed to all mankind, content to make its way among mankind by moral forces alone, leaving the governments of the world as it finds them. Mohammedanism also proclaims itself as a divinely given system of faith and morals addressed to all mankind, but to be enforced by the sword. It is a system which, in its perfect theory, would require all mankind to be members of one political society. Each, again, of these three great monotheistic religions has its written revelation. Herein consists one of the most marked distinctions between the three. The Mohammedan accepts nothing as of divine authority except the personal utterallces of his prophet, taken down in his lifetime. With the Jew and the Christian the actnal discourses of Moses and of Christ form only a portion of the writings which he accepts as the sacred books of his faith. As to the main facts of Mohammed's life there is no reason to detail them, for they are well known. But we think there can be no doubt as to his sincerity, and as to the honesty of his fait1:l in the truth of his own mission during the early stages of his career. It is impossible to conceive any motive, except faith in his own missior , which conld have borne him up through the contempt and persecntion whlCh he underwent as long as he abode at Mecca. The mere fact of his lapse, followed as it was by his recantation, seems decidedly in favor of his sincerity. It is the act of a man, believing in himself and in what he taught, but whose faith failed him for a season in a moment of temptation. But his mere belief in his own mission would not prove that mission to be divine; it wonld not cven prove the work which he undertook to be a work tending to the good of mankind. That the early teaching of Mohammed, in the days of his first preaching at Mecca, was directly for the good of the men of that time and place there can be no doubt. His moral and religious teaching was imperfect, but it was a measureless advance on anything which his hearers had heard before. Whatever Mohammed may have been to the world at large, to the men of Mecca of his own time he was one who spake of righteousncls, temperance, and judgment to come, one who taught in the midst of debasing idolatry that there is one God, and none other than He. Every man who at this stage accepted the teaching of Mohammed was at once raised to a higher level in the scale of moral and religious beings. The strivings of heart which led Mohammed, in the face of 8corn and persecution, to preach to an idolatrous city the truth and unity of God could never have risen from any low personal motive. We may even venture to say th!it it Was a move- ment from God Himself.

One of the most difficult thillgs is to find out the exact amount 01 knowledge of Christianity which Mohammed had at any time of his career. It is certain that while still at Mecca he Was oil frielldly terms with thll Christian King of Abyssinia; and it was in his domilliolls that his early fol. lowers sought shelter from persecution. Some means were, therefore, clearly open to him of gaining a knowledge of what Christianity really was j but it seems likely that he never came across the genuine text of the New 'Testameut or its genuine teaching in any shape. The one Christian doctrine he seems to have thoroughly grasped is that of the miraculous birth of Christ. But on all other points Mohammed's notions of Christianity seem to have been of the vaguest kind. His ideas of the life of Christ are borrowed from the stories of the Apocryphal gospels, and he emphatically denies the reality of the crucifixion. When he confounded the Angel Gabriel with the Holy Ghost, and represented Christians as looking on the Mother of Christ as a person of the Trinity, he must surely have misconceived what Christianity was even in its corruptest form. We cannot wonder that. he cast away such doctrines as these with indignation, nor that he confounded the Christian doctrine of the Divine sonship with the idolatrous belief in the danghters and other satellites of God which it was his special mission to overthrow. We cannot blame Mohammed for rejecting Christianity in the shape in which it seems to have appeared in his eyes j but we cannot acquit him of blame for rejecting Christianity through not taking pains to find out what it really was. If this neglect was owing to spiritual pride, to an overweening confidence in himself. as not only a divinely commissioned, but an absolutely infallible teacher, we may see in this failure to seek after the truth with all his heart and with all his strength tne Drst step in a downward career. The flight to Medina was the beg~nning of Mohammedanism as part of the history of the world j but it was aho the beginning of a distinct fall in the personal character of its founder. The preacher of righteousness now appealed to the sword. Had he not done so, it may be that his religion would have died out. But, looking at the man's own moral being. from the moment of his appeal to the sword he fell away from the righteousness of his earlier days. lie stooped from the rank of a religious teacher to the rank of one of the ordinary powers of the world. He put on the character of a statesman and a warrior j he exposed himself to the temptations which beset either character, and he learned to practise the baser as well as the nobler arts of both. IIis policy was now of the earth, ~arthy; in becoming a ruler and a warrior he became a man of craft and of blood.

One aspect of the prophet's life we cannot pass over without notice. What Fronde says of Henry VIlt is yet more truly to be said of Mohammed, that he ought to have lived in a world from which women were shut out. It is useless to defend the sexual laxity of Mohammed by saying that he was neither better nor worse than the usual morality of his age andl country. The preacher of a religious reform ought to rise above·the usuali morality of his age and country j and Mohammed, at one time of his life" showed that he could rise above it. The youth of Mohammed, according: to all evidence, was a youth of temperance and chastity, and not a breathl of scandal rested on his married life passed during twenty years with Ii woman old enough to be his mother. The manners of his country allowed both polygamy and concubinage j but no rival, whether wife or slave, ever disturbed the declining years of Kha<!ijah. A man who had so long lived a chaste life could surely have prolonged the effort, if only for the sake of keeping up his own dignity a~d consistency of character, and should not have proclaimed for himself exemptions from the laws which he laid down for others. Yet in Mohammed's relations to women we cannot but see a distinct fall, both from the standard of the Gospel and from the standard of his own early life. One of the oldest charges against Mohammed is that he promised his followers a paradise of sensual delights. Nowhere is the contrast between the Gospel and the Koran more strongly marked than in the veil which the Gospel throws over all details as to the next world, when compared with the minuteness with which the Koran dwells on its, rewards and punishments. And this charge of holding out sensual promises; to his disciples is one that cannot be' got over except by the startling apologetics of certain Mnssulman doctors, who assert that the" houris" of Paradise are to be taken figuratively.

We hold, then, that Mohammed, from the beginning to the end of his career, was honestly convinced of the truth of his own mission, but that he gradually fell away through not taking due pains to find out the real nature of the Christian revelation. When the first downward step had been taken, the other steps of the downward course were easy. The prophet of truth and righteousness, the assertor of the unity of God against the idols of the Kaaha, sank to the level of an earthly conqueror, extending the bounds of his dominion by the sword. He died while waging war to force his own imperfect system on those who, amid all the corruptions of Christianity of those days, still held truths which he had rejected and blasphemed. The real charge against Mohammed is that, after the Gospel had! been given to man, he fell back on the theology and morality of the Law. The effects of his life and teaching on the world at large have been in close analogy to his own personal career. In his own age and country he was the greatest of reformers. He founded a na~ion, and gave that nation a religion and a jurisprudence which were an immense advance on anything it had as yet accepted. He swept away idolatry j he enforced the practice of a purer morality ; he lightened the yoke of the slave ; he even raised the condition of the weaker sex. If he had done nothing else than remove the frightful practice of burying female children alive, he would not have lived in vain in his own time and nation. But when his system passed the borders of the land in which it was so great a reform, it became the greatest of curses to mankind. The main cause which has made the Mohammedan religion a blighting influence on every land where it has been preached is that it is an imperfect system standing in the way of one more perfect. Islam has in it just enough of good to hinder the reception of greater good. When Mohammedanism is preached to a tribe of savage heathen, its acceptance is in itself an unmixed blessing. But it is a blessing which cuts off almost all hope of the reception of a greater blessing. The heathen, in his utter darkness, is far more likely to accept the faith of Christ than the Mohammedan in his state of semi-enlightenment. In all lands wherfl Islam has been preached it has regulated and mitigated many of the evils of the earlier systems; but in doing so it has established them forever. The New Testament nowhere forli>ids slavery; it can hardly be said to contain any direct prohibition of polygamy. Preached as the Gospel was to subjects of the Roman Empire, among whom frightful licentiousness was rife, but among whom legal polygamy was unheard of, there was no need to enlarge on the subject. The principles of Christian purity would of themselves, without any direct precept, hinder polygamy from beeoming the law of any Christian land. But Islam,by the very fact of restraining and regulating the license of its own native land, has made polygamy and its attendant evils the abiding law of every Mohammedan people. As Professor Fairbairn has well said, " A religion that does not purify the home cannot regenerate the race; one that depraves the home is certain to deprave humanity. Motherhood is to be sacred if manhood is to be honorable. Spoil the wife of sanctity, and for the man the sanctities of life have perished." The Gospel nowhere forbids slavery; but it lays down precepts whose spirit is inconsistent with slavery, anll which have, after a long struggle, succeeded in rooting out slavery from all European and from most Christian lands. But Islam, by the very fact of enforcing justice and mercy for the slave, has perpetuated the existence of slavery among all its disciples. Christianity, by giving no civil precepts, has remained capable of adapting itself to every form of government and every state of society. But Islam, by attaching the civil power to its religious head, has condemned all Mohammedan nations to abiding despotism; and by enjr)ining the toleration of the unbeliever on certain fixed conditions, it hinders the e~tab­ lishment of religious equality in any land where it is dominant. "Christianity waged no direct war against these social evils of antiquity, but it killed them much more effectually by breathing into the conscience of the world truths which made their continuance impossible. It girdled the tree and left it to die. Change the climate, and you change the vegetation. "

Let it be granted that, in all heathen aI?-d even in some Christian lands, Islam in its first and best days appeared as a reform. Still it is a reform which has stifled all other reforms. It is a reform which has chained down every nation which has accepted it to a certain stage of moral and political growth. As such, this system of imperfect truth must ever be the greatest hindrance in the way of more perfect truth. Because Islam comes nearer

THE ARMENIAN PROTES'],ANT ORPHANAGE OF BROOSSA

to Christianity than any other false system, for that very reason it is, above nil other false systems, pre-eminently anti-Christian. "It has reformed and lifted savage tribes; it has depraved and barbarized civilized nations. At the root of its fairest culture a worm has ever lived that has caused its blossoms soon to wither and die. Were Mohammed the hope of man, then his state "rere hopeless; before him could only be retrogression, tyranny, and despair." The life of every great Mohammedan nation has died away. ·Wherever Mohammedanism has come into contact and conflict with Christi:m civilization it has succumbed. It is incapable of progress beyond a certain point. It has lost the" dew of its youth," and is destined to wane before advancing light and growing knowledge. In India we may look forward to the time when the bigotry and fanaticism of its sixty millions of Mohammedans will melt away before the warmth and genial influence of Christianity.

TIlE ARMENIAN PROTESTANT ORPH.A.NAGE OF -BROOSSA, IN ASIA MINOR, TUl~KEY.

BY M. BAGHDASARIAN, SECRETARY OF THE PROTESTANT ORPHANAGE.

Asia Minor is the fairest portion of Turkey, and one of the finest countries of the world. It is a peninsula, and is bounded on the north by the Black Sea, on the south by the Mediterranean, on the west by the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmora, and the Dardanelles, on the east by Armenia and Koordistan.

The country is very mountainous, and many rivers pass through the most picturesque valleys, flowing into the Black Sea as well as the Mediterranean. The soil is very fertile, and produces every kind of vegetables. fruits, and corn. Asia Minor is considered the or(~hard of Constantinople.

The prcsent condition of this vast country stands in frightful contrast to its great and glorious past. It was once the seat of riches and learning, and some wonderful events in secular and church history happened here. The still remaining ruins of the ancient cities of Nicea, where the Nicene Creed was composed in the year A.D. 321), and of the seven churches testify of the splendor and wealth of its former inhabitants. Desolations, storms, and terrible judgments of God have, however, converted that dear country into a great wilderness.

The population of Asia Minor consists chiefly of Turks, Armenians, Greeks, and Jews. The Turks are the most unchangeable people of the world. Their habits, customs, dresses, manners, character, ideas, and aspirations are almost the same as they were centuries ago. when their ancestors came to conquer the country. They always think of a general massacre of all Christians existing in Turkey, and blame their fathers for not having accomplished it in the early era of the empire, while nobody would have interfered with their destructive work. The Armenians are a people spoken of very often in the Bible. They have a glorious past recorded in the history of the ancient world and nations, and belong to the first Oriental Christian Churcll, which is, un- fortunately, fallen to decay, and represents now but a very low form of Chris- tianity, being entirely deprived of the influence of the evangelical prin- ciples of the Gospel. Pomp, ceremony, and priestcraft support the religion, which exerts very little influence over the daily lives of the people, and can afford little or no comfort, in their experiences of privation, suffer- ings, and toi!. But they are good farmers, prosperous merchants, and able professional men, and have a great future. Being very religious, and having always an open heart for the Truth, the Armenians accepted with great pleasure the Gospel when it was sent to them in the beginning of the present century from the Christians of the New World. My father, Bagh- dasar Russian, of Bithynia, was one of those Armenians who at once converted themselves to the Protestant faith, and leaving everything, like the apostles, on they went as the first Armenian missionaries, preaching the Gospel in the towns and villages of Asia Minor and Armenia, and establishing the first Armenian evangelical churches, and that, of course, amid great and continual persecutions and sufferings.

" By their fruits ye shall know them" is the divine criterion given us to be used whet we jndge those who profess the true faith of the Gospel j and, guided by that principle, you can judge of the Armenian Protestants of Turkey. When we adopted a scriptural creed, it would have been ground for a serious imputation against the sincerity of our Christian profession had we looked with indifference on the many objects around us that -called for active self·denial and the persevering labor of Christian love and .charity. But such was not the case; and among the fruits of the Reformation in Turkey will, no doubt, be reckoned the Armenian Evangelical Charity Mission of Broossa.

Broossa is an ancient city and the capital of Asia Minor, only a round ihundred miles from Constantinople, nestling at the foot of snow-capped lIount Olympus. Its population is about 80,000, of whom 20,000 are Armenians, GOOO Greeks, 4000 Jews, and the remainder Turks.

It has passed through many political changes, and has been nearly destroyed at various times by fire and earthquake; but it has survived all these disasters, and is, with its fine climate, hot and cold springs, large Oriental bazaars and beautiful marble tombs of the sultans who resided there from 1825 nntil the capture of Constantinople, one of the most important cities of the East.

During 1874-75 Asia Minor was the scene of a terrible famine, caused by a long continued drought, and many thousands of peoplo starved to death. When the calamity was at its height, the city of Broossa was filled with refugees j and seeing the terrible condition of the little children who {)ame to the city in search of food, the heart of the writer's brother, Gregory Baghdnsarian, who then was professor in a seminary at BrooBsa, was moved to gather in these poor little orphan children; and this was the beginning of the Armenian Evangelical Charity Mission at Broossa. A HQme for Orphan and Destitute Children was at once established, and hundreds of poor children who had beeu bereft of horne and parents have lbeen since received in its sheltering arms, and trained for Christ and useful IJii.ves. Later on a boarding and day school, too, were added to this institution.

The Tnrkish Government recognized this Armenian Evangelical Orphan Asylum, with its educational branches, and sanctioned it by granting the usual Rukhsatname-permit-in which tbe title" Dar-ush-Shefakai Sharikiye"-Oriental Charitable Institution-is attached to it.

A committee composed of Protestant brethren, with the resident American missionary keeping the treasnry, is, ever since its establishment, ,duly guiding this good work. The late B.ev. Sandford Hichardson was the ;first treasurer of the orphanage; and in his last statement he says, ,. You ·can say to your friends that we regard the ~rphanage as eminently Chris- ;tian, and auxiliary to our evangelical work."

The Broossa Orphauage is now fifteen years old; it has been established °iby entirely voluntary contributions, the first donation of $300 being gen- ,erously granted by the late Rev. Adolf Sarasin, of Basel, in Switzerland. :Later on a few German and Swiss prominent clergymen and editors, the Basel Mission Society, and the London Turkish Missions' Aid Society have ,espoused the cause of the Broossa Orphanage, and recognizing it as a neces- :sary 'and usefnl institution in the East, recommended it warmly to the sympathy and support of the benevolent throughout the world, and helping hands were stretched toward us to carry out the work. More than six hundred children, coming from fifty different parts and places of Turkey, and belonging to different religions and nationalities, have been admitted into the orphanage during the last fifteen years, and many others passed through tha boarding and day schools, enjoying a strictly evangelical education.

The Broossa Orphanage was often inspected and illl'estigated by competent hodies, one of which was composed of the Revs. T. W. Brown, D.D., Secretary of the Turkish Missions' Aid Society of London, Alexander Thom- :son, D. D., agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society of Constantinople, :and Joseph Greene, D. D., one of the veteran missionaries of the American Board in Turkey, and two Armenian Protestant pastors of Constantinople. 'They were much pleased with what they saw, and gave a long report, in 'which they say, " We have great pleasure in bearing our testimony to the perfect discipline of the schools, and to the thoroughly intellectual training, both in general knowledge and in Divine truth. Mr. and Mrs. Baghdasarian seem, indeed, to have succeeded to no smail extent in attaining their high ideal of so conducting the orphanage as to render it a pure and happy Christian home." Another official inspection took place last year, in September, when the Twenty-fifth Annual Assembly of the Evangelical Pas- .

tors of the Bithynian U uian W&s held in Broossa. In th4;)i. statement they say, "We have carefully inspected the whole establishment, and are much pleased with the order and th'l excellent training of the children. We with fuJI confidence say that the whole orgal)-ization of the institution serves one distinct purpose, which is to impart to the children the love of God and the truths of His salvation."

Charity is an indi8pensable branch of the grand work of the Christian Church and her mission in the wide, wide world. The Roman Catholic Church uuderstallds this well, and domg accordingly, their mission is very successful and prosperous in the East. Actually, they possess in Turkey, comprising Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor, Armenia, and Koordistan, 12 hospitals with dispensaries treating yearly 100,000 people, 30 orphan abylums and other charitable institutions, fiO boarding and as many day schools, with 20,000 pupils belonging to all nationalities and religions of Turkey.

The Gospel is to he preached to all creatures, but especially to the poor, because they need it the most, hear its good tidings gladly, and accept willingly the com.fort and consolation it offers them through Jcsus Christ, the only Saviour of the world_ Though there are so many colleges, high schools, and seminaries in Turkey under the care of the American Doard, yct in and for the whole of Asia Minor it is the Broossa Orphanage as a Protestant charitable institution that receives homeless and destitute children irrespective of creed and nationality j and we could admit hundreds of them at once if we could only feed and dress them; but we at present are hardly in. a position to care for those who are already under our shelter, for whose sake the writer is in America, endeavoring to awaken the sympathies of the philanthropists and the benevolent Christians of the New IVorld in 1>eha1f of our charity mission in Asia :Minor j and in case that my humble " voice from Mount Olympus" would reach some noble hearts to move them in our aid, we intend to erect a large chapel in the orphanage, and to establish a small hospital with dispensary, as we most indispensably need these three things, which will, no doubt, be a means of great blessings to the country. We are convinced that no more effective means can be employed for the extension of the Redeemer's blessed kingdom and the temporal and spiritual welfare of the vast population of Asia Minor than the establishment of such charitable institutions. Only Christian, active, energetic, and sacrificing love will be able to conquer the hearts of the people, making good all their damages and healing all the cvils occasioned by misgovernment and oppression.

We need to conceive of mlSlllOns as pre-eminently God's work; and, therefore, as ours only because it is God's, and we are HIS co-workers, permitted to share with Him in this supreme privilege. The power and energy are, therefore, not human. but Divinc, and in any and every cxigency we have only to appeal to Him, take new courage, and gather new confidence, and take steps, never baokward, but always forward, for God never calls a r(!trellt.-[En. ]

THE WHITE FIELDS

THE WHITE FIELDR.

BY A. WOODRUFF, ESQ., FOREIGN SUNDAY-SCHOOL ASSOCIATION, BROOlrLYN, N. Y.

A look at them retrospectively and pruspectively, through the'medium of the Sunday-school movement of the nineteenth century, presents gratify- ing signs of promise to the intelligent beholder.

All along the line of history, from the time when the churches of Asia Minor received St. John's admonit.ion, to that of the introduction of the Hobert Raikes period, near the beginning of the nineteenth century, there was a rising and falling, an ebbing and flowing, of spiritual life and pros- perity, answering to the faithfulness or unfaithfulness with which the youth of nations have been tanght in the truthR of revealed religion. The Sun- day-scllool ml)vement has lifted the pall of unbelief that hnng heavily over the English.speaking nations at the commencement of this century, and although recent awakenings have begotten a religious liberty that has given birth to countless religious organizations, each one of them will, if we are faithful to the teaching of the inspired record, prove a strengthening timber in the one Divine edifice.

It will be the aim of this article to describe the methods by whieh the Foreign Sunday- school Association seeks to reenkindle these spiritual fires, faintly glimmering from previous centuries, and in our own times so rapidly spreading as a ground of future hope; /lnd, to show their fitness, to prevent relapses, and assure a near future and one more permanent and enduring than any that has gone before.

The Foreign Sunday-school Association is a growth, not a formation; an influence more than an organization; a power rather than an instrument. The interested inquirer who accepts these definitions desires to know, then, by just what means it accomplishes results.

It may not be easy to exactly separate influences so subtle as the spiritual fruits of religious education and labor, and we may not be able to say just what has been accomplished in the past twelve months; but we can tell what has been done in connection with it and as a part of it ; what results are transient and belonging to the past, and what, are promising to be permanent for the future. How to bring revealed truth into sanctifying contact with the masses of mankind, especially children, is the question of questions, and will continue to be such until the stream of time shall be lost in the ocean of eternity.

The field is boundles~ and ready for reaping; and the reapers, whom we will call letter-writers, must be indefinitely multiplied until the ground is covered. Our association comprises about forty-would that we eonld say four hundred 1-of these workers, and divides them into four parts or groups, each of which takes a quarter for investigation. This investigation is aided by mi~sionary reports, travellers' letters, magazines, colporteurs, 13ible agents, streams of commerce, etc., and by it they are enabled to dis. cover somehow and somewhere an indefinite number who will accept from strangers a friendly greeting, and respond to their letters if written in the ,spirit of the Master who· commands, "Go ye to every creature."

Once a week one of these committees meets to report how their letters 'or IDessllges have been received, and to prepare again others, with small gifts and helps, hoping always for better and better success, the results showing generally that the seed has fallen upon good ground.

Once a month the four committees meet to show to each other the aggregate of results, and vote supplies as they are recommended by the different committees. It is not our purpose to establish schools that shall be called our schools in the sense of depending permanently upon us for support; we seek rather to lead the Christians living in those countries to engage in Sunday-school work.

We try to have the schools as rapidly as possible pass even beyond self-support, and become themselves propagating centres of religious influence, The help we give looks forward to that goal.

As a slight illustration of this correspondence, we subjoin the following extracts from two or three letters received from Austria, China, and Madagascar: Pastor Daniel Nespoe, of Nesslau, Moravia, Austria, writes as follows: " I am glad to tell you about my Sunday-school, for one likes to speak and write about that which he loves. I will give you the lights and the shadows, the advantages and the needs. " We can show but little spiritual life. Rome, the dark power, exercises everywhere a dreadful influence. If it should be Letter in our parish, the Sunday-scho,o,I must help us. About twenty years ago I saw that in our scattered parishes only a well-o,rganized Sunday-schoo,l could help us ;and bring an inner spiritual life in our families, and so into, our congregation; therefore I did not delay, after I knew the benefits of the Sunday- :scho,o), and foundlld first a Sunday-school in Nesslau; to-day we have 6 schools in our parish, with 21 teachers and 325 scholars. " In all our Sunday-schools not only children attend, but all grown-up youths and maidens; in short, all sons and daughters, without distinction of age. They go to Sunday-school until they are married, and the sons come after they have served their threc years in the army. All our Sunday·schools are held in the afternoon between two and four o'clock, and are everywhere well attended; in some the parents come with the children~ and listen attentively as the 'Vord of Life is explained by the teacher$, We use the International Lessons in all our schools. But now I will' .101~ you of the needs of our Sunday-schools. First, we have so few whole :Bibl!~ f. we need more. . . . Then we need hymn-books-the poorest chi~d Q,ugh,t to, have one. One of the chief needs of the Sunday-schoo,l is that the necessary means are lacking for me to visit each of the six Sunday-schools at least once a month; to be present at the instruction, to incite the children" 1.e ~a.t:~l),ts~ al.ld tei«hers ~hm:ns~)ves, and impart the neceRsar.y adv~c~ and instruction. Can you help us in any way ~ Pray do; but, above all, I ask you to pray to the Lord, our true Saviour, for our congregations in Moravia and Bohemia, and bear also our Sunday-schools on praying hearts. "

The Rev. William Key, of the China Inland Mission, in the province of Shansi, north China, thus writes: " When your letter came we were at one of our out-stations, of which we have six. You will be pleased to know that the Lord is blessing our labors, and we have had the joy this year of baptizing twenty-nine con- verts. I am sure your' Sunday-school Guide and Hymn-Book' would be II great help in the out-station work. In a new district like this, that has only been opened four years, the teaching of the converts partakes more or less of the Sunday-school line of things.

"Here at this station we have II Sunday-school, where, as a rule, we have about a dozen men. My wife has a class with the women, in a separate room, at the same time.

" Although our scholars are men and women, we ha"e to treat them in much the same way as home children. We get them to repeat hymns and verses of Scripture, and then tell them some simple Gospel story.

" Here in China, as at home, we find the Gospel is ' the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.' r know casefl where the bare 'Vord has been blessed in leading souls into the light. " At S–, one of our most promising stations, the leading elder, who is to be made pastor shortly, was converted through reading the Gospel of Mark. He was then a. Buddhist priest in a temple!

.. I would ask your prayers for the work of this dist!ict, especially for the native workers, that they may be all taught of God, and thus be able to teach others."

Mis~ Mary T. Bliss, of Faravohitra, Antananarivo, Madagascar, recently wrote the following letter: " I am interested in your society, and I should think it may do a good work in stirrirg people up to realize the great importance of Sunday-school work in all its branches.

" When I first came here fourteen and a half years ago there was only one Sunday-school in Antananarivo; it was held in a central place, and children from all parts of the city were welcome. I do not quite know why, at that time, there was not a Sunday-school in connection with each church; perhaps it was felt to be scarcely necessary, as, of course, Scripture forms the basis of much of the teaching in our mission schools, and so many Bible classes are held dtuing the week, some by ladies for women or children only, others by gentlemen for men and youths, or for any who choose to attend.

"Then another difficulty in those days arose from the fact that there were so few Malagasy suitable to superintend and carryon such a work ; the missionary gentlemen have to be away in the country preaching, their wives are often prevented by family reasons from undertakiug Sunday work, and the single ladies were very few at that time. About ten years ago though the churches were suddenly roused to take an interest in Sunday-school work, and one by one they formed their own schools, 80 that now each of the ten city churches connected with our society has its own school, and, I believe, all the .suburban churches and those of the nearer villages also. Then away in the country districts, schools (no doubt many of them very small and feeble) might be counted by the score; and even in far-away military stations and out-posts, Christian commanders, or governors, or their officers form Sunday-schools and do what they can for the families of their followers and the heatben tribes around them.

"Quite recently I heard from an officer who was formerly one of the best teachers in the' school I superintend, and he tells me that they have succeeded in gathering together four hundred Lakalana children from the thoroughly heathen tribes surrounding their military post on the southwest coast. Again, I am to-day sending off a parcel of testaments and hymnbooks to help in the work being done by a young friend who was also connected with me in Sunday-school work here, but a year or two ago he llad to accompany his father, who was appointed as governor, to a place in the northeast. They at once began Christian work, and built II church at the cost of $700 ; but, unfortunately, it has lately been destroyed by fire. I mention all these facts to show you how this work is spreading in Madagascar. We formed a Sunday-school Union a few years ago, but the Malagasy never seemed to care for it, so it has gradually died II natural death. We were premature, I fancy, though we hoped it would have strengthened the schools.

" Two or three of the schools here are held in the afternoon, but most of them immediately after the morning service, lasting from an llOur to an hour and a half. Primary classes properly conducted are unknown here; little children are among the scholars, but I fear the teaching is beyond them as a rule. For one thing, we have no pictures or anything to make the teaching attractive to them, and we have no suitable teachers; the little ones are obliged to be left to the native teachers, and they do not understand the art of instructing the little creatures. Few of our schools have more than one European to help them, and the large majority not even that one; so, you see, we are crippled, however good our intentions may be. I often wish I could turn my attention to the' tinies,' but then I have to teach their mothers and grandmothers, who think themselves above being taught by any but the missionary. Our school is exceptionally favored though in the kind of teachers we have, many of them having been edncated in our L. M. S. College; they are men of good family and position, too: one tbe Foreign Secretary, another the Minister of Educas tion, and three others members of the Cabinet.

" I see you ask for the number of Sunday-schools we have here, but I think you will understand that I cannot answer the question. As to methods of working, they are of thc most simple kind. I fancy most schools have two adult classes, one for men and one for women, and the children are divided into classes according to their number and the teachers available. The session opens with singing, reading, and prayer; then about half an hour is allowed for the teaching, and afterward all are assembled and questioned on the lesson taught, and a short address is given. Outline lesson helps are published, monthly magazine-Good Words-and are pretty generally used, I think, except in the distant places. Lesson helps for translation and Scripture pictures especially would be most valuable to us if your society can give any assistance in this way. I should not ask for them, only you request a statement of our needs.

"In conclusion, may I ask your prayers for our work here ~ We so long for a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all churches and schools here; and sometimes we think our prayers are to be answered, for among the young people especially there has been a decided work going on during thc last two years or so.

"I shall be very glad of any hints and suggestious as to the better management of our schools."

To quote from Rev. Dr. R. S. Storrs, in his speech in behalf of our society at the reccnt State Sunday-school Convention in Brooklyn: "A Sunday-school is an eminently practical institution; it is not ornamental, it is not formal, it i& a working instrument for the purpose of teaching Christian truth, and to inspire Christian usefulness." And again, " It is not altogether for the direct benefit conferred upon others, but partly for the reflex influence upon those who perform the work, for we always gain by giving; and where we are sending good influences upon others, they come with redoubled influence upon our own hearts, so that we desire to send the Sunday-school into foreign lands where it is not."

In this connection a member of our society writes: " We have urged these Christians to start mission schools wherever a place could be found to hold one; and the idea has been so carried out that it is no longer an experiment. "

" From year to year the importance of this kind of Gospel work among the children has grown on the part of our correspondents all over the world; their letters have bronght accounts again and again of whole families brought to Christ through the influence of a child, who first learned of Him at Sunday-school."

"These schools are held in many places in private houses, and are under the superintendence of a colporteur or Bible-reader, in some cases under that of hard-working miners; and in some they are carried on by ladies." In the past year, by diligent inspection of the ground, earnest co-operation and ceaseless letter-writing, we have received 80me six or seven hundred letters from correspondents scattered in different parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and Mexico.

Our association has assisted in organiz!!!.g and sustaining Sundav.schools in many conntries, and distributed 180,000 Sunday-school papers in differ- ent languages, and over 45,000 books for Sunday-school libraries.

During the past ten years we have translated and published" Christie's Old Organ," by Mrs. Walton, in some fifteen different languagcs, and " Saved at Sea," by the same author, in nearly as many. while such books as" Tip Lewis and His Lamp,"· ': Alone in London," and" A Candle Lighted hy the ·Lord," etc., have each been translated and printed in one or more foreign languages, making altogether an aggregate of 45,000 volumes.

We have had such frequent. reports of blessing through the reading of these books and papers that we are convinced that the money spent in their publication has been most wisely expended. Sunday. school statistics of 1889 show in continental lands, in Asia, Africa, Mexico, South America, and the West Indies, about 20,000 Sunday-schools, with between 70,000 and 80,000 teachers, and over 1,300,000 scholars.

If we add to these figures a percentage for the ten years left to this century, the year 2000 will dawn with a world sprinkled with Sunday-schools, giving cheerful promise of coming triumph, and a shout of harvest home!

As it has been successfully contended, the Sunday~8chool has been the spring of all this lay activity, this activity which has made possible the gigantic mil!.sionary movement which characterizes the times in which we live; and is it not clear that in this movement around us there is signified a permanency that has not pertain.ed to any that has gone before.

But although we point to 18,000,000 of English-speaking people as the force now gathered in this department of labor alone, to say nothing about those that are marshalling in outside fields, we wish to point to an element of power in it which no previous pp.riod of the world's history has even surveyed, much less enumerated.

Stupendous as these movements are, the last half of this century has given birth to a sign of the times which as a star of hope already begins to shine brightly above and around the whole spiritual horizon.

Wherevcr we turn our eye of faith, it is woman who dissipates the darkness still remaining, and sheds no flickering light upon the future of our race. Modestly unpretending, but nobly strong, her banner points steadily forward to the day when the promise shall be fulfillcd that all shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest.

In her lies a source of strength which, when united with missionary assistance at home and abroad, forbids the sceptic to doubt that there is a consummation at hand and almost in sight which assures that our harvest shall not be uncertain or endlessly distant. Not uncertain if our cherished institution shall retain the characteristics which a hundred years have given it, and an its lost spiritual life be revived with a Heaven-in8pired ardor; not distant if the churches continue to send forth the right leaders in a genuine spiritual crusade to rescue the sacred soil from the deadly pollutioll '. of sin, unbelief, and death.

SUMMAS MEEKHA OF MOSUL

[The preceding article was written to follow another, " Sunday-school and Lay Work in the Nineteenth Century," printed in the REVIEW, December, 1888, page 910. We regret that the publication of this was so long delayed, that it borrows little light from the former article.-ED.] SHEMMAS MEEKHA OF MOSUL.

BY REV. T. LAURIE, PROVIDENCE, R. I.

If the tree is known by its fruit, then we may learn the value of missions from the character of their converts. It has been the privilege of the writer to enjoy the acquaintance of a number of the converts in western Asia, Tannoos el Haddad and Rahil Ata in Beiriit, Pastor Apisoghom and Der Vartaness in Constantinople, and others elsewhere, but with none was he brought into such intimate relations as with Shemmas (Deacon) Meekha of MOBUL Yonan, a Jacobite millwright of tllat city, had a son born to him in 1816, and when the plague carried off nearly 40,000 victims there in 1828, Meekha, the son, recovered from it to find that the same disease had made him fatherless. He sought relief from the burden of his sins through faflting and confession to the priest, but with such small success that he was led to study the truth for himself. This was not so easy,' for at sixteen years of age he could not read; and when he sought to learn, his associates mocked him, quoting the proverb, " Baad rna sar shab, yereed yikra el kelab" (" After he grew up he wanted to read"). Yet he got the son of a priest to teach him the Syriac alphabet, and after his day's work was done, spelled out by lamplight a tolerable knowledge of ancient Syriac, while thus blindly groping after truth. God sent to Mosul Rev. Joseph Matthew, an evangelical graduate of the college at Cottayam, in southern India, on his way to Mardin to be ordained as bishop, and from him Meekha received such help in the Syriac that he was soon able to interpret his friend's sermons in that language into the vernacular. Dr. Grant was sent at the same time to Mosul, and aided both Meekha and the bishop after his ordination as Mutran (Metropolitan) Athanasius. Meekha was teacher of Arabic to Rev. A. K. Hinsdale, and was as earnest in learning the English as he had been in mastering the old Syriac ; so that when, after the death of-Mr. Hinsdale, he became the teacher of Arabic to the 'writer, he was able to derive a good deal of help from the English library of the mission.

One Sabbath, as we sat alone in the upper room conversing of Christ and redemption, he moved his seat nearer and nearer, till, grasping my hand, he said eagerly, " Do come with me and repeat these good words to my people, and I will interpret them, for they never heard truth like that !" It was delightful to see his Christ· like interest in the good of others. The result was a Bible class every week in that same upper room, where numbers were brought in by him to hear the truth that he enjoyed so much. If from that class came several members of the little church formed November 3d, 1851, it was through the loving labor of him who knew so well how to set it before those who had been brought up under the same influences that had moulded him till then.

May 26th, 1844, the lesson was the close of Matt. 12 : 46-50, and as he said, "How would Christ be grieved to-day to see you turning from Him to other intercessors. He would ask you, Did you think that I did not love you, or that I could think more of my mother than of you when you come to Me for salvation ~ Did Mary die for you, or the saints give their life fQr your redemption ~ Why, then, do you doubt my love, or bold back from the welcome with which I long to receive yOll~" the class swayed like a field of grain before the wind, and even gray-haired men were in tears.

Some charged him with introducing schism into an ancient church, be- cause he preached the truth, and offered to double his wages if he left the service of the mission j and when afterward we increased those wages a lit- tle, his voice choked as he asked if we doubted his devotion to the Gospel.

It was a great sorrow to him that our mission was withdrawn from Mosul in 1844, but 8till his lamp shone brightly at home, and his letters witnessed for Christ as far as Aleppo and Beirut. From the first he was the leader in the little church j and when the Assyrian Mission was also broken up in 1860, the church was able to stand alone through the grace of God so manifest in him. 'fhe Papists have made the most strenuous efforts to crush it out. All that money, French political power, splendid church edifices and pretentious schools could do has been done to drive out the truth from Mosul, but the little church stands like a rock through the firm scriptural faith of this one man. Two at least of the hymns in the Arabic hymn-book published by the Syrian Mission are from his pen, and he left among his papers an unfinished Syriac MS., whether a translation of Bun- yan's "Pilgrim's Progress" or an original work of the same sort, I am unable to say.

Re had long been in feeble health, and suffered from the great heat of Mosul, which rises in July to 117° in the shade. One needs to keep this fact in mind as he reads in one of his letters, " Pray that God wonld keep me from sloth, and make me perfect in His service. I long to impart to . others that knowledge of an atoning Saviolir which God has given me. How can I describe the greatness of my obligation for this grace! I grieve to see so many without Christ. Pray that I may have grace to instruct and they to believe j and yet, should I bring the whole world to Him, that would be the work of His power and grace, not mine. Of Him and to Rim be glory forever."

In another letter he says, "I think I know something of that sweet word of John, there is no fear in love j and I know that nothing can

1891.J 'fHE :BRAVE MOUNTAIN GIRL

separate me from His love. I try to lead men to Christ. Some aprrove my words, but yield no fruit, yet I hope that if the grain of wheat fall into the ground and die it will not remain alone."

These last words he once repeated to the writer after one of our repeated bereavements in MOBul, half afraid to renew grief, and yet longing to console.

He wrought at his old trade till the gift of a set of watchmaker's tools from Mrs. Thomas A. Davis, widow of it former mayor of Boston, enabled him to change to that business, for which he harl such an aptitude that after cleaning an old brass clock for another, and I think without knowing that such a thing existed, he made a wooden one for himself, and so prospered in his new calling that he was known in his last days as Meekha el saati (the watchmaker) and no longer as Meekha el nakkar (the millwright), his former occupation. This fact sheds light on the origin of our family names in all languages.

-He became constantly more feeble, till he peacefully fell asleep June 14th, 1881, and the church, deprived of its living leader, insisted that he should be buried in the church building that they might be constantly reminded of the Gospel he taught them while alive, though he would never consent to be pastor of the church. He left a widow and nine children, several of whom are church-members. One of his six sons is a manufacturer of watches in French Switzerland, and another is in the same eity with the writer, while two are in the old shop in Mosu:.

Rev. D. W. Marsh, D.D., who belonged to the Assyrian Mission, writes of Meekha, "His mind was clear, with splendid acuteness and strength, and was very receptive of truth. He was a thinker rather than an actor j but by unswerving probity among a most dishonest people, Christ-like gentleness among violent men, and steadfast loyalty to Christ and truth, he bore testimony for God."

It will be a long, long time before the memory of his intelligent and consistent piety ceases to be a mighty power for good in all that region. .

THE BRAVE MOUNTAIN GIRL.

Rev. John C. Mechlin, Salmas, Persia, writes concerning Mrs. J. N. Wright, of whose death our readers have heard: " At one time a missiop.ary party had been into the heart of the moun- tains of Koordistan, and returning, had brought with them several families of their helpers and several boys and girls who were coming down to the- plain to attend school. Among this n~m her was Shushan Oshannah, the – daughter of one of the mountain kashas (or pastors). Somewhere on the way down to the plain the muleteers made a plot to plunder the party. The time came, the signal was given, and the people, finding that they were unable to defend themselves, fled and hid bebind the rocks, leaving their baggage to tbe tender mercies of tbe muleteers. But they did not all flee. One brave mountain girl stood by tbe mi!'sionary, and did not quail before tbose wild, rude men. She stood ber ground; she shamed them; she argued with them; she pleaded with tbem until they gave up tbeir plan to rob and leave the party tbat they had promised to carry safely to the plain. Gradually the rest of the party came forth from their hiding-places, and in course of time went on their way. But the courage of that brave mountain girl had saved the party from robberJand perhaps from much suffering. And when we realize the rudeness and wildness and lawlessness of those people, we can then understand how much bravery it required to meet them and to thwart tbeir wills.

"Her bravery and beauty made ber famous among the mountain people, and a nepbew of the Nestorian patriarch asked for ber for his wife. She refused, as she was afraid to trust berself in the hands of such a lawless man. She did. not love the man, and that was reason enough for her; but they brought such pressure to bear on the parents that they were compelled to flee to Persia for safety. Their flight being made known, forty horsemen pursued them to the Turkish frontier. But they made good their escape, and reached Oroomiah in safety. But the danger and the trouble connected with this offer of marriage broke down that wonderful nerve, and she was never so brave as in her girlhood days.

" In Oroomiah she met kind friends, and was also at one time a teacher in the Tabriz school.

"Iu December, 1885; she was married to Rev. J. N. Wright, of Salmas, Persia. She was a loyal, devoted wife, and tried with all her soul to fill her difficult position. She bad just returned from her first visit to America (less than seven months), and she had, seemingly, a brigbt, happy future before ber.

"But one black eloud was hovering over her. Why she had such a fear none ever knew; but she was full of fear for the life of her husband. She felt that some one wanted to kill him. No attempt was ever made, and we know no reason why she was so afraid. But many a time, when some stranger came to see Mr. Vright, she would enter the room, lest some harm would come to Mr. Wright. It was with this same purpose that she was in the room at the time when she. was so brutally assaulted. She feared the boy whom Mr. Wright had dismissed would take revenge on him for his dismissal. But she was the object of his hatred and of his revelige, though she had done him no harm, nor had she personally rebuked him for his sin. Mr. Wright did that. Mrs. Wright only rebuked the sin-abetting woman, and she fired the wrath of the boy against Mrs. Wright.

" After Mrs. Wright's return from America, the rumors of approaching cholera reached us, and it was remarkable the depressing effect that it had . on her. She seemed to see in that disease some great evil for her.

" She was frequently speaking of the precautions necessary to ward off

1891.J EXTRACTS FROM LETTER FROM HASSAN BOTAN

such a disease. She told several of her friends, and also her husoand, that ,he would not live until another winter came. She did not know how this death would come, but she believed she would die erelong. Her great fear was death from cholera, but she never dreamed of such an awful death as was in store for her. And when she was struck down by the murderous knife, she then felt that she would not recover. This presentiment came many weeks before her death, and she firmly believed that her days were few.

" Several times she had said to near friends, ' How nice it would be to die at the age of thirty-three, the age at which Christ died! I do not want to live past that time.' She had expressed herself in similar manner to her husband some time before her death. She said she loved her home and her children, and did not want to leave them; but still it would be so nice to die at the same age at which her Saviour died. And, strange to say, she was in her thirty-third year when she died. The Lord had need of her, and called her home."

TRACTS FROM LETTER FROM HASSAN BOTAN.

BY REV. F. G. COAN, TURKEY.

There is certainly enough in the ignorance, cruelty, poverty, and wickedness of this people to call for faith-an unbounded faith in the power of God and His Gospel that can reach even such as these. If there is a needy field in the world it is here. The power of Rome has been supreme here for centuries, but it is on the wane. Even this people cannot always be duped, and they long for something better.

One thing that impresses one out he·re is the collapse of the Government. It has lost its hold and forfeited all right to its privileges.

The country is a fine one, with splendid resources; Persia is poor in comparison. The mountains are well wooded and fnll of coal, silver, and iron.

At times one feels that if once he got out of here nothing would ever indnce him to come in again, and again is ashamed of such a thought, and feels as if he mnst cast in his lot with these wretched creatures, and could never leave them groping without a ray of hope save in the blessed Gospe.

We are never idle. Crowds are always here for medicine or from curiosity, and at morning and evening prayers. Alexander, who seems greatly changed, usually gets a crowd about him at noon and preache8. Individuals can always be seen and a seed sown. Then there is the visiting of the sick.

Of one thing I am certain : any labor e~pended here is going to give fully as good a return as in Oroomiah. Josip, son of Malip Pettoo, in Tiyari, who is true blue, and a splendid specimen of a man every way, is a

7G2 '1'WEN'ry "EARS OF REPUBUCMHSM tN FRANCE

Christian; and Berkhoo in Dihi and Hannoo in Botan are Christians who would honor any church, men of deep piety and consecration. Alexander has been, in regard to cholera, as abject a coward and great a fool as one could find-perfectly terror·stricken when the word is mentioned. He came near" lighting out" the other day when he heard a man was sick in Hassan. Well, Hannoo, who is a splendid fellow, got hold of him (after all we could say that was like water spilled on a goose's back), and in an hour had so impressed him that he came smiling to the tent and said he was ready now to die, and had no more fear. Poor fellow! when he-Hannoo -came in Wednesday night, bareheaded and barefooted, black and blue with the cruel beating he had received at the hands of the ruffian Roords, and with arms and feet swollen with their tight bands, it broke me all up. " Why," he said, " it is nothing j wasn't it au' for Christ 1" He sat there and preached to those Roords, who were there to slay, in such a way as would melt a heart of stone. I don't wonder Sherroo said, " You had better pray, Hannoo." He did pray, and, when through, the robbers slunk off and left them. W ell, you can see what material there is here j can we refuse them the Gospel ~ Dr. Wishard may go as far as Vau or return to Mardin and take up Arabic, but he has given up Oroomiah. It is now eight months since he has slept in a bed or sat down with ladies; and I don't wonder he is ready to settle down. It has been a great pleasure as well as of great benefit to be associated with him.

TWENTY YEARS OF REPUBLICANISM IN FRANCE.-Rev. J. C. Bracq, from Paris, now at Philadelphia, in his address, in New York, February 16th, said: "We suffer from being seen by you through English eyes. It is practically impossible for Englishmen to understand us, and fairly represent our condition and prospects. Then we suffer from misrepresentations through that syndicate known as the Associated Press. Amerieans have been told that the hybrid republic is a failure, that we have shown fickleness, incapacity, and corruption. Look at the facts calmly. You will see that the work of the Republic has been constructive and beneficent j first, of organization, prosecuted in face of foreign jealousy and clerical opposition. The civil and military service was reorganized, forts built, arsenals filled with the best materials j a navy only second to England j territory doubled through colonial extension j 7500 miles of railway and 10,000 of canals constructed; art, science, agriculture, and education extended j common schools furnished with better buildings and teachers, the expenditure raised from 24,000,000 to 140,000,000 francs, ·and illiteracy reduced from one thirteenth to one twentieth j higher schools and universities enlarged, and women put nearly on apar with men; sociological questions considered, and not a little accomplished in the better housing of the poor, in political equality, and in establishing the freedom of the press. We have had to contend against the earnest and honest opposition of Legitimists, who hold to the divine right of kingly rule j Orleanists, or constitutional monarchy, and Imperialists of Jerome and Victor Bonaparte types. Those who lived formerly on court favors have opposed us. Specially we have had to contend with the clerical party, demanding privilege, while the Republic advocated equality. Ignorant friars who had taught in schools after old, traditionary methods, were angry when required to submit to examinations the same as other teachers. Crucifixes, pictures, prayers, and Romish worship were no longer tolerated. As here to· day, so there, the cry of " godless schools" was raised. There is really more of the ethical element there than in American schools. Over-zealous nuns were removed from hospitals. The Romanists have compared their condition to that of the Christians under Nero. Opposition against the government increased. After a little General Boulanger came to the front and waxed bold in his attacks. His groundless calumnies at last were exploded, and his unprincipled associates exposed. The success of the Exposition showed that France was not powerless. The vindication of the ministry restored quietness, and France, for the fifth time in nineteen years, expressed confidence in the Republic. Some monarchists, and eveI]. priests, became moderate republicans, convinced that this form of government had a permanency and value. Carnot is a noble, patriotic man, and Madame C. an excellent woman.

" France has passed through a more radical change the past two decades than did England in the seventeenth century. It now has a government , of the people, by the people, for the people.' Woe to them who stem its tide ! We have made mistakes. We have shown unwisdom, at times, in finance. We had 20,OQO,000,000 of francs debt after the Pru8sian war. Six weeks ago, when a new loan was called for, the people were ready to take si xteen times the amount. We see real estate depreciate, so does England and New England. The virgin soil of Western wheat fields floods ns with products at cheaper rates than we can fix. The phylloxera has devastated our vineyards and· enemies have said it was a scourge for our sins. Is it a fair generalization ~ " France tires of abstract discussions which crowd aside practical, urgent needs. The Monarchists have had three factions in parliament. Moreover, the common people did not understand the real significance of the political abuse ventilated freely in the press, which before had been gagged. They are learning that' thief' in popular and political parlance is not the same word.

" Our great danger now is that of materialistic infidelity and its legitimate outcome, not from Roman Catholic democracy-a contradiction in terms. There is improvement in thought. Students are no longer Vo"Itaire followers. The McAIl Mission and similar agencies more carefully guarded than mission work here are reaching the creedless and churchless. Christianity will be the salvation of France."

EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS

EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FORELGN PERIODICALS.

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

-At a meeting in London, reported in the Anti- Opium News, Donald Matheson, Esq., president of" The Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade," remarked: "As regards China, the opium vice seems to have settled upon the vitals of the people, and it will be most difficult to break it off. A great authority has stated that if this goes on for fifty years the empire will be in ruins. As the Chinese emigrate largely, wherever they go-in the straits about Singapore and in the South Sea Islands -they carry the vice. According to a recent issue of L'Eglise Libre, of Paris, the French colony of Tahiti has become infected, and the ravages have been terrible both there and in the Marquesas Islands. There have been various edicts forbidding the trade, but smuggling is only too easy, and the natives seem unable to resist the deadly influence of the drug. The French Government, however, has now absolutely prohibited the introduction of opium. Surely we will not allow France to put England to shame 1"

-" A recent census of church attendance in Aberdeen showed that there were present at the morning services in the city 26,785, being over 1000 less than the attendances on a similar occasion thirteen years ago, although the population has meantime grown from 95,000 Ito 122,000."- The Ohristian.

– " The Irish Presbyterian Church is now in a very satisfactory condition. It has 558 congregations, with 81,716 families and 102,725 communicants. It has also 1008 Sabbath-schools, with 8909 teachers and 103,255 scholars." -The Ohristian.

-The Ohurch Missionary Intelligencer for June says: "Was the hundred and third psalm the right passage of Scripture with which to open the annual meeting of 1891? One might easily have thought the fortysixth or fifty-sixth more suitable. Many grave anxieties had marked the year to be reviewed that day; and we have by no means come to an end of them yet. But there is nothing like the anniversary to put things in their right places. In the preparation of the report, in the arrangement of the speakers, the work as a whole, at home and abroad, has to be considered and its progress set forth ; and then our controversies and perplexities are seen in their true proportions. They are not small, nor light, nor unimportant; but other things are seen to be larger and weightier and more important. We can conceive of a friend coming to Exeter Hall on May 5th, 1891, full of thoughts about a certain bishop and the sources of his income, and wondering what could induce Mr. Fenn to choose Psalm one hundred and three at this particular moment j and we can imagine him listening to the report and the speeches until he is constrained to cry, , Yes, that is the right psalm-" Bless the Lord, 0 my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name !" , " It is seventeen years since that psalm was read at the anniversary. The immediate cause of its being then chosen was, as in the present year, an unprecedentedly favorable financial account. But there were other special causes for thankfulness. Henry Wright had been a year and a half in office, and his ardent spirit had already set the society's feet upon the path of development and extension. ' The coming year,' said the annual report of 1873-74, , presents three special directions for expansion-Japan, Northwest America, and Ea~t Africa' -all three of them fields that had specially enlisted Mr. Wright's Rympathies. It is worth while comparing those three missions in 1873-74 and 1890-91. At the end of 1873 we had three missionaries in Japan, two of them just arrived j three missionaries in East Africa, two of them just arrived j and seven in the Northwest American territories just referred to-i.e., beyond the province of Manitoba-thir- teen in all j and now we have in the same fields ninety-seven missionaries. The expenditure in those fields was then about £6000 a year; it is now over £30,000 a year. Again. in that same report, the committee' rejoiced to announce' that eighteen missionary candidates had been accepted. In the past year the number has been eighty. Of the eighteen, six were University graduates, and the committee' could not refrain from express- ing their deep thankfulness to Almighty God for that indication of increasing interest in missionary work in the universities.' In the past year the university graduates accepted have numbered twenty-four. Then, if one glances over the pages of the detailed reports on the missions for 1873, one is struck by the absence of name after name which now enlists all our sympathies. No Frere Town j no Chagga, or Mwapwa, or Usambiro; no Uganda; no Cairo, or Jaffa, or Gaza, or Baghdad; no Calcutta or Allahabad Divinity School j no Gond Mission j no Bheel Mission; no Beluch Mission; no Sukkur or Quetta j no K wan-tung, or Fuh-ning, or Chu-ki ; no Fuh-chow or Ning-po College j no Osaka, or Fukuoka, or Tokushima, or Tokio, or Hakodate j no Ainu Mission j no Blackfoot Mission; no Eskimo Mission j no Hydah Mission j no Kwaguth Mission; one medical mis8ionary in Kashmir and one in China j no Christian sisters laboring in East Africa or Palestine or Japan. Truly if the one hundred and third psalm was suitable in 1874, how much more in 1891 1"

Yet" we feel that our gratitude is due to the Archbishop of Canterbury for taking occasion, in his speech on the 5th of May, to remind us how little we had to boast of. The spirit which had dictated the thankful language of the report, and had led to ihe choice of psalm oue hundred and three for reading, was, it is true, not one of vain-glory, but of heartfelt gratitude for mercies felt to be nndeseryed. But still the archbishop did well to remind us that although the 230 missionaries of 1874 had grown to be 440 now, they ought to be a great many more. 'I am thankful,' he said, 'to that meeting which lifted up its voice and said suddenly, Youmust send out a thousand more.' The moral of the report, he reminded us, was not, What a splendid game we have played! but, Follow up, or you will not win the goal."

As to the controversy which has lately agitated the society, the Intelligencer says: " Now to us it seems that if ever stress was laid upon trifles in controversy, it is laid upon them in a recent document entitled the Primary Charge of a Certain Bi8hop in the East, and that if ever sound principles were being contended for, they are being contended for by the Church Missionary Society in the country to which that charge calls attention. Bnt yet, even in a controversy like that, and still more in the minor differences that arise from time to time among onrselveR, we do need to stand, as it were, upon Olivet and watch the ascending Lord, and fix our eyes ou His returning, which, as the archbishop. says, ' will come some time, and may come any time,' and thus to put ourselves into the right attitude for judging what are absolutely essentials and what are relatively trifles. The Archbishop of Canterbury is not the only one among us who i~ conscious of ' a sharp pang going through him' when he reads of Chinamen observing that Christians abuse one au other, and saying, ' We can do that without becoming Christians.' . . . The archbishop gave the society not only his own presence and countenance j he brought with him an unexpected visitor, the Bishop of Minnesota. We imagine that this was Bishop Whipple's first appearance at the C. M. S. anniversary j but the greeting he received told him of the honor in which we English churchmen hold the' Apostle of the Indians,' as our president termed him. "

EAST INDIES.

–Periodical A.ccounts for June introduces the valuable testimony of Mrs. Bishop (formerly Miss Bird), given publicly in London, to the value of the Moravian work in Tibet. She records her earnest conviction that on no account should any thought be entertained of giving it up because of present apparent paucity of results.

"Leaving Kashmir, Mrs. Bishop went eastward into Ladak or Little Tibet. Hcre she found Mr. and Mrs. Redslob and Dr. and Mrs. Marx at Leh, the capital. She pitched her tent in the mission compound, spent the nights in it, and by day enjoyed the hospitality of our missionarieR. We do not wonder that their letters tell us that to them her visit was an intellectual and spiritual treat. They showed her everything connected with their work-the church, the little hospital, which is the centre of Dr. Marx's mission work, the large school for boys, and the small one for girls.

"Mrs. Bishop spoke very appreciatively of Samuel, one of the most advanced of the Christians. He is a man of noble birth, who has suffered much for his adherence to Christianity. His ancestral castle near Leh was razed to the ground. By all manner of inducements he has been tempted to renounce his faith, but remains firm. 'I do not know anyone anywhere,' said Mrs. Bishop, 'who follows the Lord Jesus more devotedly than Samuel.' She described the converts in general as ' quality, if not quantity.' Owing to the pains taken by the missionaries to instruct them in the Scriptures, they show a striking enlightenment. They are able to reason with and confute Buddhist adversaries, who bring all manner of objections to their faith. The)! are still a semi-nomad people, but in winter they settle in their houses near the mission compound, and have the advantage of seeing the simple, godly lives of the missionaries.

" No gulf of caste, or wealth, or luxurious living divides these from their converts. She said the missionaries' wives are saintly ladies whose godly example the Tibetan women see and follow. Noting their high tone of spirituality, she asked the missionaries how, seeing they were so cut off from Christian privileges and so surrounded by the evils of Buddhist heathenism, they maintained their spiritual life. They answered that they founel it necessary to spend an unusual amount of time in the reading of God's Word and in prayer. To the question how they managed to be so cheerful and hopeful, though seeing so little tangible result of forty years' sowing in tears, Mr. Heyde of Kyelang replied in similar terms to his colleagues at Leh: 'Weare where the Lord has placed us, and it is all right, and that keeps us cheerful.'

" From Leh Mrs. Bishop accompanied Brother Redslob into Nubra, a mountainous country to the north, through which the NuLra and the Shayok rivers flow down to the Indus. Crossing the Dega Pass, 18,000 feet high, the two travellers descended 5000 feet iuto a lofty, populous valley, full of villages along the banks of the streams. Here and there along the steep sides of the valleys almost inaccessible rocks are crowned by monasteries. These are Buddhist, of course, for the whole of Nubra is Buddhist. Mrs. Bishop had ample opportunity of observing how re- spected and beloved was her travelling companion. Both in the villages and in the monasteries they were warmly received j in the latter, indeed, their welcome was often deafening j for the lamas would go to the top of the highest towcr and blow their six-foot silver horns, which can be heard three miles off. So noisy in its heartiness was their reception, that they had occasionally to request a cessation. EI'erywhere, as is the invariable custom on such tours, tracts and portions of Holy Scripture were given to the people. While crossing the broad Shayok, Mrs. Bishop made painful experience of the perils which attend ~hese journeys. Her horse fell, and she was not only plunged into deep water, bu~ had a rib broken. She attended to the injury herself, and did not even let her companion know its extent. .

"Between Leh and Kyelang she travelled over the de~ert plateau of Rupchu with only one or two attendants. Though the region is traversed by wild Tartar nomads, she was not afraid, for she bore a letter of intro- duction from Brother Redslob, and its fame preceded her. For his sake she had the wildest welcome. Now and then horsemen would come dash- ing up to inquire about their friend. How is he? When is he coming?

His name seemed a talisman far and wide ; and Mrs. Bishop had ample proof of the influence exerted over a large area by our missionaries, and of the respect and love borne to them by the people.

" Truthful, hospitable, independent, kindly and helpful, these Tibetans are, next to the Japanese, the most pleasant people Mrs. Bishop has trav- elled among. But pleasant as they may be, their morals are so terribly corrupt that nothing but the cross of Christ can sweeten the auominably bitter fountain of their life. Like her friends the missionaries, she longs for the time when the welcome and the love accorded to them and to her for their sake shall extend to their message, and to the Master and Lord whom they are serving in those Buddhist lands.

" She found Kyelang an oasis in a moral desert. She briefly described the missionary compound, with its friendly church, mission-house, its guest chamber, surgery, library, and the printing-room, whose little primitive lithographic press is always hard at work sending forth the Scriptures as fast as they can be translated. A tract on sin, a very necessary subject for a Buddhist population, was passing through the press during her visit.

In summer the converts are away during the week, high up the mountain slope, 13,000 feet above the sea, attending to their agricultural and pastoral pursuits j for the winter they come down to their houses near the mission compound.

"She was present at the Tibetan service. It was attended by about forty people, some Christians, some heathen, and she noted with approval the loud responses and the hearty singing. She found she was able to fol- low the liturgical parts of the service in the English Moravian hymn-book.

Even at Kyelang it is still sowing-time. There are not many Christians yet. A Buddhist abbot remarked to Brother Heyde, • I will tell you what you have done here j you have given Buddhism a resurrection. ' So it is ; all religion had almost died out j but the coming of the Christians has stirred up even the Buddhists to zeal. Brother Heyde considers this a hopeful sign.

.. In conclusion, Mrs. Bishop pleaded warmly that there might be no thought of giving up the mission, which, she said, was one of the noblest she had seen. It may be expensive, but the expense is warrantable. The results are indeed at present apparently small i but she shared the faith that this work of hope would yet bear abundant fruit. As already stated, there is an encouraging side. The converts gained are' quality, if not quantity. ' The language has been acquired; both the learned and the colloquial Tibetan are now doing service for Christ. The written Word has preceded the spoken Word on the highways of Central Asia, and when Chinese Tihet is opened to foreigners, as assuredly it will be some day, the Moravian Mission is ready with all appliances to enter in the name of the Lord. "

-Mr. Shawe, on his way to the mission, passed through ~rinagar, the capital of Kashmir. He thus describes it: " We entered the city at sunset, the best possible time for seeing what has been termed the Venice of Asia. The last rays of the sun glancing 011 the picturesque houses, with their windows of lattice-work and many-colored balconies, and on the silver and gilt roofs of mosques and palaces; the heavy wooden bridges j the river itself covered with boats of all sorts j the throngs of people in their brilliant cloaks and white turbans engaged in eager conversation or noisy bargaining-ail this formed a scene of dazzling brilliancy, which made a lasting impression on me. "

-The Sailors' Magazine for July reports from Karachi (at the mouth of the Indus) through Mr. D. A. Lukey : "The ~eamen's Rest in Karachi is situated near the quay, and is only about five minutes' walk from the steamship landing. The building erected this year is in dimensions 80 feet in length, 22 feet wide, with an eight-foot veranda all round. The building site was gi'en by the Karachi Port Trust, and the building paid for by public subscriptions, costing about 3000 rupees. The Rest has been newly furnished with 55 new arm-chairs, six round tables, two long tables, three new hanging lamps, also new organ and new furniture for the supcrintendent's apartments. Bishop THOBURN came to Karachi and formally opened the new Rest in March.

" Already llIany evidences for good have been witnessed from time to time, and very many testimonies of the saving grace of God could be mentioned. One night a sailor came into the meeting, and by his manner showed that he was unaccustomed to such gatherings. He, however, took a seat, and not long after tears were seen falling down his cheeks j his heart had been touched into tenderness by the Word of God. This sailor repented of his sin that evening, and gave his heart to God. He became a leader among his comrades on board 8hip, and taught them the best he could the way of salvation. On his return to England he gave himself up entirely to the work of the Lord, and is now leading men to Christ. Every sailor conve~ted removes a stumblihg-block out of the way of the heathen."

-The Rev. Arthur W. Prautch, American missionary in Bombay, says, as quoted in Devastation of India's Millions: "It has been remarked to me by strangers, 'How very quiet many native children are!' Yes, they are very quiet j but what will the harvest be ~ Of course these drugged European aud native children will grow up with an awful craving for opium and stimulants, and will soon make shipwreck of life. "

-The Annual Report of the Malayalan Mission, Trevandrum District, Travancore (S. W. India), connected with the London Missionary Society, says: "One Brahman lady said, 'The Brahmans also will become Christians; the time for that is approaching.' "

The report considers at length in an appendix the question of the recent republication of an antiquated prohibition against the erection of churches near native shrines. It remarks that scarcely a site could be found in the kingdom which might not be forbidden on that ground. If the Maha- rajah perseveres we should suppose it probable that the intervention of the imperial government will be ultimately invoked. The right of a native prince to favor his own religion will never be disputed, but his right to persecute the religion of the empress is not likely to be long allowed.

-The Missionary Intelligencer for June continues Sir Bartle Frere's article on the adaptation of Christianity to all forms of civilization. We quote the following: "You have in India a great civilized population, four times as numerous as that of Christian America, as numerous as all the populations of Europe, excluding Russia. They are quite as advanced in all the arts of social life-I may say they are more advanced-than were the populations of Europe in the time of our grandfathers, before the great French Revolution and the outburst of modern mechanical invention. They have practically had nothing to do with Christianity till within the last half century. But every other religion in the 'world is there, and has been long represented on the grandest scale-idolatries more varied than the popular superstitions of Greece or Rome; a full third of all the Mohammedans in the world, and every form of esoteric religion, philosophies, mysterious and secret creeds without end.

" How does Christianity fare in the face of all these powers of the air? Is it forced to give way? Is it silent-inoperative? Is it powerless, or put to shame?

" I speak simply as to matters of experience and observation, and not of opinion; just as a Roman prefect might have reported to Trajan or the Antonines; and I assure you that, whatever you may be told to the contrary, the tcaching of Chrililtianity among 160,000,000 of civilized, industrious Hindus and Mohammedans in India is effecting changes, moral, social, and political, which for extent and rapidity of effect are far more extraordinary than anything you or your fathers have witnessed in modern Europe. Presented for the first· time to most of the teeming Indian communities within the memory of men yet alive-preached by only a few scores of Europeans, who, with rare exceptions, had not previously been remarkable among their own people in Europe for intellectual power or culth'ation, who had little of worldly power or sagacity, and none of the worldly motives which usually carry men onward to success-Christianity has, nevertheless, in the course of fifty years, made its way to every part of the vast mass of Indian civilized humanity, and is now an active, operative, aggressive power in every branch of social and political life on that continent.

" We hear continually of the ambition and rapacity of Russia; but we are apt to forget that there is a power urging Russia on to subjugate and civilize her barbarous neighbors which is more potent and more persistent than worldly ambition or cupidity, and that is the religious duty of Christianizing and civilizing. Anyone who, in estimating the forces of Russian aggressive movement, left out of view the impulse derived from religious convictions among the leaders of national thonght-that it was a national religious duty to extend to all barbarians around them the blessings of being within the pale of the Russian Church-would leave out of calculation the most energetic element of the motive power. This notion of doing good to the conquered is, moreover, an element not traceable among the motives of Assyrians, Romans, Saracens, or other conquering non-Christian nations.

" We are not now arguing an abstract question of right or wrong. The d(lsire of con~uest is probablr one of the most powerful 311q universal o~ human instincts. 'Vhat we are now considering is how this universal instinct is modified by peculiarities of religion; and what I wish you to note is, that in the case of our own nation and of the Russian-two of the great conquering Christian nations of modern days-considerations of which we can distinctly trace the origin to ChTisti~n morality add greatly to the effective force of the natural instinct, while they elevate and humanize it in a manner of which no trace is to be found in the action of the great conquering nations of other ages and creeds."

INDIA.

-The Marathi Mission laments that, just as cheering prospects for the work are opening, there comes (as reluctantly given as received) an order for heavy retrenclment, for a reduction of 25,433 rupees below indispensable necessities. " Our hearts are saddened as we look upon the fields white for the han'est, while we are not able to thrust in the sickle, and to listen to calls from every quarter to which we are in nowise able to respond. Will not the friends of mission work in India help us in this emergency? Donations, large or small, will be thankfully received by any member of the mission."

-It will be remembered that in the High Court of Travancore judgment has been given in behalf of Mar Dionysius as metropolitan of the Syrian Church against Mar Athanasius, who has considerable sympathy with Protestantism. The two majority judges are Brahmans; the minority judge is " Mr. Ormsby, a European barrister and a doctor of laws, possessing many years' experieDce as an appellate judge in Travancore." He seems, as a Christian, more likely to have an interior sense of the case than his colleagues, nnless, indeed, his Protestantism may have been thought to incline him to the Athanasian side. The .Madras Christian College Magazine thinks that the majority decision has a rhetorical warmth which hardly speaks well for its impartiality. Perhaps, however, it is only the difference of national temperament.

-It appears that all the Hindus have not been included in the opposition to the bill raising the age of consent to twelve years. Two or three enthusiastic meetings of natives have given emphatic approbation to it.

-The Indian Witness of April 11th, speaking of Manipur, says: " The political development of the Indian Empire has not yet altogether passed out of the period of upheavals, submersions, and catastrophes. V{e are hardly established in what geologists would call the tertiary period, and affairs have not yet become so stratified and settled that we may rest entirely free from fear that some unexpected rift in the surface formation may set free a flow of lava from the subterranean sea that will bury all the moral, intellectual, and political deposits of the nineteenth century."

The comforting reverse, "The native Christians of India are so increasing in number that they begin to feel each other's presence," of which it gives various examples.

– " Delhi itself is," remarks the Calwer Missionsblatt, " a striking in- stance of the desperate reaction of heathenism in India." Many such sad- dening experiences probably await us in the immediate fnture. " The lion is stung at last," says a Hindu. "If he did not feel your darts he would still lie dormant." On the other hand. a fakir alld saint near pelhi have pecll baptize~! .. …. . -The Canadian Baptist brethren among the Telugus mean work. They lay upon the conscience of their home churches the immediate duty of sending out 52 men, and lady missionaries as the work demands. They also ask if Canadian Baptists cannot raise $2.50 a member, seeing that the so much poorer Moravians raise $7 a member. Those provoking Moravians! It is plain that we shall either have to massacre them or imitate them.

-The North India Methodist Episcopal Conference reports for the last year 980 full memb(Jrs added, 2935 probationers, 1256 adult, 1051 infant baptisms, 28,400 Sunday scholars-au increase over the previous year of 3367.

-During the Baptist Quarterly Meeting of December, 1890, at Ongole, Teluguland, 363 were baptized. At the final Sunday meeting 1671 were baptized.

– " Of every six infants in the world, one is born in India; of every six orphan girls, one is wandering in India; of every six widows, one iii mourning in India; of every six men that die, one is passing into eternity from India. Think of it, and give India a part in your prayers. "-Children's World (C!. M. S.).

-All the Irish Presbyterian missionaries in India have thus far been university men, drawing a salary of £350 each. Now (says the F. C. J£onthly) it is proposed to begin the" Jungle Mission, " employing lay agents paid something more than £117 each.

-The Missionary Record (U. P.) for May has a communication from Rajputana: "The Pr lsbytery on Thursday spent a long time in considering the basis of union for the proposed United Presbyterian Church of India. A large number of Presbyterian missions are at work in India, and there has been a growing feeling at home and here that the churches created by them should be united into a comprehensive whole. The difficulty lies, not so much in differences among themselves, as in the tremendous size of the country and the great variety of languages in use among its 250,000,000 of inhabitants. Presbyterians are to be found from the extreme north to the remotest sonth, and how they are to be united into one well-nigh passes the wit of man. The proposals of our Presbytery are practicable, and remove 80me of the greatest difficulties which the scheme of the Presbyterian Alliance creates. It was decided to recommend the formation of four great Presbyterian churches-for Bombay, Madras, Bengal, and North India respectively-between which there might be a federal union. • . . We should belong to the North Indian Church, and should have, among others, as sister presbyteries, the American Presbyterians of the Punjab and Northwest Provinces, the Canadians of Central India, and the Ohurch of Scotland working among the Santals."

-The Rev. T. It. Waltenberg, in the C. M. Intelligencer for May, describes a movement in Madras, whose object is " the preaching of the gospel of Islam and the conversion of Hindus, and, if possible, Christians, to the faith of Mohammed. The young men who go out preaching are, on the whole, very friendly toward us, and try to live lives-at any rate, aa far as we can see them-akin to those of Christians. They are free fro~ the prejudices of the old-fashioned Mohammedans, and practically preach a Mohammeda~ism w~ic4 is uearer Ohristianity thiltll. was preay"~q by their co-religionists heretofore. To say the least, the sword has been cast aside for the word, though not the Word of God. They claim to be at one with the Unitarians of America and England." It must be, then, that they explain away the sensual paradise of the Koran.

-The Rev. Ernest Droese, quoted in the Ohurch Missionary Gleaner, says: "If the missionary dwells on the love of God as seen in the Atonement of Christ, the Moslem will listen with an expression of cuntempt, and his features will seem to say, , Nonsense! blasphemy!' the Hindu with a sceptical smile, as if to say, ' Who will believe that ~ There is no such love to be found, either with man or God.' But the hill man will listen with awe, as if he were about to exclaim, ' What do I hear ~ 0 God ! is it thus that Thou lovest man ~ , "

-The Indian Witness says: " We hope to see the day when the ordinary' Mission Report' wiU be an extinct form of literature, found only in museums or on the shelves of archreological societies. But that day has not yet dawned; and since it is still the fate of unfortunate missionaries to prepare annual reports, we commend the Report of the American Marathi Mission for 1890 as a model worthy of imitation. The report gives that broad, general, and well.arranged presentation of the work which meets the requirements of the statistician, while it is not wanting in detailed accounts, showing the various processes by which the mission docs its work. . . . The most encouraging item in the report is that which shows that the rate of increase is rapidly rising. The report laments the necessity for retrenchment, occasioned by reduction in appropriations from America. But less money sometimes means more work done and of a better quality.

" The mission occupies six districts in the Bombay Presidency. There are 113 out-stations, in which 323 native agents are at work. The entire Christian community numbers 3826 ; there are 134 Sunday-schools having 4836 scholars, 2865 of whom are non-Christian. The mission began its work in 1813.

"The Marathi Mission is one in that bright circle of missions with which what is commonly caIled ' The American Board' has encircled the world. When the religious history of the nineteenth century is written, the sacrifices and achievements of this great societv will form one of the brightest chapters in the record. "

M·ISCELLANEOUS.

-Rev. De Lacey Wardlaw reports from Brazil, with just satisfaction, that most of those clauses of the new constitution persecuting the Catholics, and especiaIly the priesthood, against which he had energetically protested, have been struck out.

-The Oanadian Church Magazine remarks that the Good Friday offerings are now very largely devoted to the work of evangelizing the Jews, " That they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites."

-The Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention complains that, for the year ending April 30th, 1891, it has received from the churches $33,000 less than its disb.usements~ and $76,955.96 less than i~s. lleeds, -The Christian states that six Swedish officers of the Salvation Army have been detailed to work among our Scandinavians.

-The Rev. William Howell, commissioned by the S. P. G., has labored for eleven years at Sabu, Borneo. The number of baptized persons has increased from 70 to 790.

-Mr. Ziock, Moravian mlsslOnary in Mosquitoland, was lately visited by an Indian named Kaila, of a neighboring tribe, on the Kruta River in Honduras, noted, even among the heathen, for their singularly evil characters, especially as poisoners. Kaila declared that Divine visions had warned him to solicit the preaching of the Gospel, under the threat that if the people did not give up their evil ways the whole country should be laid waste. Mr. Ziock sent Christian companions back with him, but the people refused to hear him, and repaired to one of their profligate funeral wakes. Raila followed them, but being driven away by jeers, retired with words of warning. The lightning falling on the house, scattered the guests and consumed the building. Soon after a vast tidal wave swept the whole coast, and blotting out Kaila's village, destroyed every place in it except his own. The fame of this Divine visitation, it is hoped, may result in wide opportunities of evangelization.

– " Being very tired, I went up to my room about a quarter past nine; and, as Thimann tells me, the conversation turned upon me, and he remarked that I was very happy in this work. 'Yes,' replied our Jewish infidel host, 'I have noticed that he is a happy man, and that all pious Christians are happy. 1 wish I could believe and be so.' "-Mr. S. VIL- KINSON, lJantzig, Service for the King.

– " One day the officials of the Canadian Government summoned the Indian chiefs, David Landon among them, to meet on Sunday for business. David replied, ' No ; the Head Chief in heaven says no, and so do 1. ' "~ Children' 8 World (0• .M. S.).

-The New York Sailors' Home, 190 Cherry Street, belonging to the American Seamen's Friend Society, has had, during the forty-nine years of itl existence, 115,443 boarders, and during the past year 1364. During the past year the society has published 56,400 copies of the Sailors' Magazine, and 118,200 copies of the Lifeboat for Sunday-schools. The seventeenth annual presentation to the cadets of the Naval Academy took place on Sunday, June 1st, 1890. In a class of thirty-four men, twenty-five chose the Bible out of the four volumes submitted to them. Of Mr. R. W. Ropes, president of the society, who died October lOth, 1890, it is said: "He Was simple in his habits, wise and generous in his benevolence, sincere in his faith, useful as an officer in the Church and in several charitable organizations. As the president of this society he was punctual, earnest, and faithful, always showing a deep interest in its work."

-" Much has been done of late for the intellectual and spiritual improvement of the men on our naval vessels. Twenty years ago the library of a man-of-war consisted of a Bible, a prayer-book, an almanac, a dictionary, . and one or two works on navigation. Now many of our ships have a library of a thousand or more books. Libraries of 300 books have been ordered for each of the new vessels now in process of construction."

'1'74 tNTERNATtONAL nEl'ARTMENT

II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.

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

Lapses in Mission Lands. lJ. T. G.] Once Christian always Christian ease. Some of the people blamed him seems to be a foregone conclusion in for doing a good deal of harm in this the minds of many people about com· way, saying they still believe in such munities converted from heathenism. things.

They do not bear in mind that human Another case is given of a youth of nature essentially tends toward the eighteen years of age, son of an elder in moral and religious attitude which we the Church. from whom were recentl'y mean by heathenism. Away on the taken sections of bamboo filled with frontier, in the sparse settlements of the charcoal of certain leaves, used formerly wilderness, or in the worse atmosphere to bewitch young women for the pur- of the mining or lumberman's camp, we pose of seduction, and he was using know how those sharing the heritage of them for a similar purpose. A recur- centuries of Christian influences find it renee of hef1then dancing and singing difficult to maintain spiritual life, and among young men who never knew real how frequently, as communities as well heathenism also has become prevalent.

as units, they lapse into superstitious Reviewing all this, the missionary beliefs or outright disbeliefs. What says:" It seems quite evident to me wonder, then, if there should be an ag- that each generation of these natives is gravation of this tendency in native born with a strong heathenish tendency, Christian communities who have a her- and it needs wise dealing to counteract itage of uncounted centuries of supersti- this, and instruct them in the principles tion and low morals in their veins. But of the Bible." Some of the missions this is not enough reckoned with, as an in India have found their native Chris- essential part of the foreign mission tians secretly obstrving the heathen work. Even when peoples fire convert- ritual of marriage, and also prematurely ed, they will long have need to be kept marrying their daughters. The very in touch with the most vitalized Chris- heart and soul of Hinduism is in this tians of the home lands. They cannot child-marriage custom. The Baptist be left to isolation. They must not be Mission in Delhi hf1s had the discourag- abandoned. The brain and heart of ing experience of seeing a large part of these Christian communities may, for a their convert~ of recent years. who have hundred years to come, be in the been baptized from the Chumar (leath- churches of the Christian lands whence er-workers) caste,lapse into heathenism.

the Gospel was sent to them. The work The whole body, a thousand or more, of caring for these native communities have been lpd away by a wily ascetic, is not one that can be finished as a con· who first induced them to merely in- tract job. dulge in some innocent observances Take two illustrations. The New without giving up their Christianity.

Hebrides islands have seen Gospel tri- When he had gained influence over them umphs, and have long been recognized he led them back to Hinduism. The as Christian. But the old sediment of Society for the Propagation of the Gos- heathenism is not easily got quit of. pel had a similar experience the year An illustration is given in the Free before. ,Cases of individual defection Church of Scotland Annual Report of a of a prominent character have elsewhere man who died last year, who had pro- stirred whole communities of late in fessed Christiani.ty for several years. It India.

was found afterward that he had reo Turning from this to "Greenland's tained three sacred stones wherewith to icy mountains," the Moravian missiona- raise storms, make rain, and bring dis. ries are depressed with the condition of things among a people who" have borne form of organization, its establishment the name of Christian for more than a of missions, the extension and conduct- hundred years." They say that the ing of its operations, its preservation Greenlanders live ~he old thoughtless, from dangers which were often im~i­ thriftless life, thinking only of the pres· nent and great, Ilnd to be in its pres~nt ent, while the" distrust so deeply root· circumstances an(l prospects, eminently ed in their nature sometimes makes a child of Divine Providence.

them look on Christianity itself in the Very interesting is the stor.yof the light of a European importation whose way in which young men were led to adoption on their part tends to the ad- consecrate themselves to personal work vantage of the foreigners living in their for the heathen, and seek guidance and land." They are not so conscientious as help in the enterprise; the steps were they formerly were. The seal fisheries taken for giving them that which they have greatly failed them. Sealing de- sought; great encouragement came from veloped robust character. Fishing is responses to appeals that were made; their substitute, and European luxuries the churches were stirred as by a breath have come in. They grow indolent. from heaven when the first missionaries They arc obliged to wander far from and their heroic young wives were sent home to gain a livelihood; but this seat- forth; Mrs. Norris, of Salem, made her tercd and even isolated condition does contribution of $30,000 to the founding not foster their spiritual training, ann. of foreign missions, and the opposition the missional'ies' influence is more diffi- to a charter of incorporation for the cult to maintain. The people lapse in Board was finally overcome in the Massa- moral qualities. The men are less care- chusetts legislature.

ful about maintaining their families and The form of constitution given to the aiding relatives. They fall into distress Board was providentially the best th[t and increasing dependence of missionary could have been adopted in the circum- assistance. They will not all remain stances of its origin. It is, by its char- Christian under present conditions. ter, a self.perpetuating corporation (now They will lap3c. It may require more of 241 members), and thus possessed of wisdom than has yet been evolved to great stability; but, dependent upon keep them from becoming paupers or the contributors to its funds for all its pagans. means of action, it is amenable to pub- Thus much have we written to call at- lic sentiment, which finds expression tention to the fact that the most intelli- not only in contributions and the press, gent and vital Christianity of the world but also in the public meetings of the will not have got quit of the responsi- Board, in which thousands of honorary bility of leadership and supervision for members constituted by donations have generations among peoples who have all rights of discussion, making proposi· only half a century or so of Christian tions, acting on committ(les, etc., equal· inherited tendencies and appetences in their make.up. The very methods of the Eighth Annual }leeting of t.he International earning a livelihood among a semi- Missionary Union. The plan of the Union nomadio people are against their deyel_ meetings inclndes one historical or other exopment in civilization and Christian position of some of t!w general missionary culture. societies. The first was that of Dr. Mudge on the Methodist Episcopal 1IIissionary Society.

Notes on the American Board.* The second was by Rcv. J. Hamilton Taylor, treating of the Jioravian Missions. They were BY REV. GEORGE w. WOOD, D.D., GENESEO, presente d t.o the rcoders of the REVIEW in 188V, 1890. This is therefore the third in the series. N. Y. Ve arc sorry to be OJJigcd to omit some points of the able opening of the sketch, as pre- 1. The history of the American Board sented by one who, besides being long in active shows it to have been in its origin,_ its service abroad, was for eighteen years one of the * This paper was presented and read before secretaries of the Society. Iy with corporate members. The annual speech, nowhere else surpassed, is oftell meetings lasting through three days, de- heard on its platform j and the spiritual voted exclusively to the interests of the atmosphere was frequently such as for- Board and of foreign missions, and held merly to have given rise to the saying in different parts of the country, have that "no place or occasion takes one been ror many years usually the most quite so near to heaven as an annual largely attended of religious or benevo. meeting of the American Board." Marlent assemblies in our land, and most vellously has it been guided and guarded successful in arousing enthusiasm. Itis in times of great public excitement, believed that no decision has ever been and steadily, amid all drawbacks and voted by the corporate members that was changes, it has been carried forward in not in harmony with the feeling of the an ever advancing work. large majority of honorary members and friends of the Board present at the meet· Eleven years after its formation the ing, and also throughout the country. first corresponding secretary, describing the sending forth of the first missiona- The executive administration is com· ries, when eight or ten thousand dollars mitted to a Prudential Committee of ten were needed within a fortnight, and but or eleven members, partly carefully se- five hundred were in hand, pictured the lected clergymen, but more than one perplexity of the new Prudential Comhalf consisting of eminent laymen. mittee in that day of small things, and These serve without pay (except from their resolution, after hesitancy, to go the Head of the Church), devoting sev- forward trusting in God, and added: eral hours to a regular weekly meeting " Upon the principle then adopted-of (on Tuesday at 3 o'clock P.M.), and often following as Providence leads-trusting to to occasional meetings, giving careful the same sovereign Providence, with assiduconsideration to all matters coming up ous attention to the proper means for the now from missions in all parts of the needed supplies, have the operiltions of world, as presented by secretaries, the the Board ever since been conducted." treasurer, and the editor, who are pres· From this princi~e the Board and its ent, but without a vote. The pressure executive administration have never deupon them is often very onerous, but is parted; and wonderfully has it been cheerfully borne. When, from want of justified in so doing. means to meet the exigencies of the missions, it is needful to make special ap- 2. Omitting other references to provipeals for aid to the treasury, it is their dences of far-reaching significance, let privilege, often grandly exemplified, to me invite attention to the Divine leaderset an example of large personal offer- ship in the choice of fields for its misings. What wisdom is required in deal- sions. The first missionaries were sent ing with questions at home affecting the in the directions to which the Spirit of work abroad, and the many that arise in God in their hearts drew them, and an the foreign fields, only those intimately unseeing hand by new events guided acquainted with the missionary work them. In the first decade the special can duly appreciate. If a missionary or responsibility of American Christians other person feels aggrieved by any for evangelization of the aborigines of action or non-action of the Prudential our own continent was practically ac- Committee, he can take an appeal to the knowledged. The conversion to Christ Board, which elects the committel' and of Obookiah and three other waifs who executive officers at its annual meetings, had drifted from the Hawaiian group to and reviews their action. The reports this country was a call from heaven to made to these meetings, and special care for the lowest condition of humanpapers read to them, embody discus- ity as found in the beautiful islands of sions of missionary principles and prob- the Pacific. Marvellous were the effects lems of the highest value. Eloquent of missionary exhibition of the Gospel of love there. Naked, brutish, warring, pagan savages were reached and elevat- favored with high qualities of character ed into peaceful, decent, orderly, read- in the first missionaries and the directing Christian communities; thus dem- ing agency at home. Of its distinonstrating the moral unity of the human guished foreign secretary at that date, race, and that barbarians are not to be the venerable senior secretary of the Christianized by a method of previous Church Missionary Society in England, civilization, but are most easily civilized Henry Venn, said to me in London in through an awakening of their moral 1863. " To no other human source am I nature by the power which is found indebted for so Illany valuable suggesalone in the Gospel given to them. The tions in respect to missions as to your picture of such moral and social trans- secretary, Dr. Anderson." The latter formations as were wrought not only was indeed not at all points infallible; against greatest difficulties from the but what other name is there in the natives, but also from opposition and history of modern missions to place vices of ungodly agents of foreign com- above his as an adept in the science of merce, fascinated many Christians, who missions and a leader in conducting became supporters of these missionary them? The missionaries of this Board, efforts while they were less interested in being the earliest, also set a standard other missions. In this way important for others, so that American foreign help was brought to the general mission- missionary character in general comary treasury that would not have been mands throughout the world the highreadily given if sought only for the work est confidence and respect for its energy, undertaken in fields which yielded less purity, and practicalness, as, in the striking results, and these gained at a words of the late Earl of Shaftesbury much greater cost. But other classes of often repeated by him, " a marvellous mind had a special interest in the his- combination of piety and common toric and Bible lands of the East, and sense." in a conflict of the Gospel with the mightier forces of ancient compacted 4. By the system of mission organizasystems of false religions which reign tions which has been wrought out, unity, over the vast populations of a heathen, stability, and safety are in a high de- Mohammedan, corrupt Christian and gree secured, with freedom of personal Jewish civilization. Thus step by step action under its proper responsibility the Board was led on by a wisdom not to associates in the field and the direct. its own, and sustained in its diversified ing power at home which furnishes the work of blessing among barbarous tribes means for needful approved expenditure of Indians on this continent, savages of of money appropriations; and by keep- Polynesia, Micronesia, and Africa; in ing in view the spiritual aim as supreme, the missions beyond sea since trans- and harmonizing as far as possible differred to other missionary agencies, and ferent views in regard to methods of the widely extended and gloriously suc- gaining it, the missions of this Board cessful system of operations which it is have a high repute for wisdom and sucnow carrying on in 80utheastern Eu- cess in their plans of evangelization_ rope, Asia Minor, and ancient Assyria; Aiming so to deal with native agencies in India, China, and Japan; in Austria as to develop self-support, self-governand Spain and Mexico; and which it ment, and self-propagation in the Chrishas enlarged in Africa and Oceanica_ tianity which they seek to establish, they are among the foremost in the ex- 3. In the development of its missions hibit which they make of attainment in it has providentially been given to the this regard. The Board does not admit American Board to take the lead among an obligation resting on it itself to American organizations in grappling carry the Gospel to all dwellers in the with difficult questions of missionary fields to which it conveys the light of policy. In doing this it was singularly Divine truth; it recognizes time as an essential element, and fields for occupa- Girls on the two shores of the Bosphorus ; (the Presbyterian inRtitutions at Beirut tion at home and abroad by native con- and in Persia); the Central College at verts as an indispensa.ble factor in the Aintab, und the one for girls at Marash, solution of the great missionary prob- in the Central Turkey Mission; Eulem. Hence the Board has urged on its phrates College and the Mardin School missionaries the ordination of native in Eastern Turkey; Anatolia College pastors, and arrangements to draw in ancient Pontus ; the Samokov School churches formed at chief centres of in Bulgaria; the College at Honolulu in population into active evangelistic the Pacific; the Doshisha in Japan; operations as early and widely as possi- the Jaffna College in Ceylon, and the ble. Thus in concert with the Hawaiian high schools or call eges for both sexes Board it extends its operations over the in all tl,e missions, and at nearly every North Pacific; and we have the pleasing station occupied by resident American spectacle of lately Christianized savages mlsslOllaries. It is now settled that by giving nearly $1,000,000, of which al- the preaching of the Gospel in the vermost $200,000 has been directly for for· nacular languages, and by Christian eign missions; and who have sent more schools and colleges adapted to the peothan seventy. five of their church·mem- ples and the times, is the world to be bers as foreign missionary laborers saved. among other peoples who are such as they themselves or their fathers were. 6. When, in 1857, the Reformed In other missions the same principle is (Dutch) Church, and in 1870 the New exemplified to the great benefit of the School Presbyterians withdrew from the churches adopting it, even when very American Board, they declared it to be weak. from no dissatisfaction, but under a constraining sense of duty for the greater 5. Discussions and experience have advancement of the cause for which the brought nearer to each other some who Board exists. In mutual love and conwere once far apart in their judgment as fidence a partition of missions and to the place to be assigned to education property in them was made. In estiamong missionary agencies. It has been mating results of the work of the Board, abundantly proved that while merely account should not be overlooked of the secular education' awakens mind and Amoy Mission in China and the Arcot overthrows confidence in false religions, in India, belonging to the Reformed it fails to reform morals, and generally Church; of the West Afric~n, the Syria makes infidels, not Christians. Left and Persia, and several North Ameridestitute of education, a Christian com- can Indian missions transferred to the munity is unstable, always in danger of Presbyterian Board; the Indian misfalling into grievous error, and with too sions, from which the American Board little power of influence for good. There withdrew in the Southwest, now cared is need of common schools for all, and for by the Southern Presbyterian of higher schools for limited numbers; Church, and the Dakota Mission, which but these all thoroughly Christian, and, the American Missionary Association as far as possible, at native cost. The received in exchange forits field in West church, the school-house, and the col- Africa. lege must be seen together in their true order and proportion. The press m'lst 7. The achievements of the missions find and create readers. The Bible and of the Board, in the value of results ale.n intellect – awakening and guiding ready attained, and especially in the re- Christian literature must go into all lations of these to the future, who can habitations. Hence have grown out of adequately set forth? Twenty.five unthe missionary enterprise the Bible written lauguages reduced to writing; Rouse on the Golden Horn; 'Robert the Word of God and a considerable College and the American College for Christian literature given in these to barbarous tribes; and the same, and ennobling motives and action, which far more, in the tongues spoken and read transcends in value all the cost of carry- by the great nations-Mohammedan, ing it on. The. gain in its gifts back to pagan, and nominally Christian, for the its supporters and to the home interests evangelization of which its missionaries of our own land is too various to be labor; the influence of 33,000 communi- here specified, and exceeds any measure cant members in 360 churches, and more thl1t can be made of it. ths.n 100,000 attendants worshipping statedly at about 1200 preaching places 8. The history of the American Board, (exclusive of Hawaiian churches and as of all missionary organizations, is a congregations, which would add several continual proof that growth is the law thousands more), and of a missionary of life, and that, as in the family. in- force of 195 men and 313 women in the crease necessitates augmentation of ex- 22 missions, occupying 1116 stations penditure, while further progress brings and out – stations, co – operating with help. Thus while the total expenditure whom is a nati ve force more than four last year was $762,946, the sum of native and a half times this number, and em- contributions for all purposes is report- bracing 694 native pastors and preach- ed as $117,494. The receipts from all ers ; the value of the educational sys- sources enabled the treasurer at the an- tem, which includes 82 training and nual meeting to announce a balance in theological schools, in which 4325 young hand of $848.44. men recei ve instruction, besides colleges mentioned above not under the care of When comes the need, then comes, in the Board; girls' high schools, 52 in answer to the cry of God's people, the . number, enrolling 3218 pupils; common providential supply. A mark of prog- schools numbering 930, and having 34,- ress is seen in this, that wh'3reas in 500 pupils, making a total of 43,000 per- years gone by a legacy of $60,000 was sons under Christian instruction (not followed the next year by a large falling including additional thousands in the off in receipts, lately a $1,000,000 be- Hawaiian Islands) ; the worth to human- quest, wisely appropriated, has stimu- ity, science, material interests of society, lated to increase of contributions from and the kingdum of God throughout the the churches, and a second one from world of this agency of Divine power another wealthy friend, which has yield- and grace for blessing to the world ed over $600,000, is producing the same abroad and at home, is beyond the com· effect. Embarrassment from an en- prehension of a finite mind. The Ely larged work now ceasing to have this volume on " Science and Missions," by Apecial source of support, and the de- Dr. Laurie, is a rich treasury of illustra- mands of success, appeal urgently at the tive facts; the pages of the Journal of present moment for a new standard of the American Oriental Society frequently general giving, which. it is hoped will be present striking evidence; the annual adopted. reports of the Board, the Missionary Herald, Life and Light, and other publi- The gratifying advance which signal- cations, are filled wHh instructive and izes this epoch in missions is due large. thrilling narrations; special presenta- ly to the remarkable uprising of women tions, like those of Dr. Andrew P. Pel1- in their behalf. Of the income of the boJy, in extended magazine articles, and Jast repOl'ted year more than $169,000 speeches of Drs. Mark Hopki:ns and was given to mission work for women R. S. Storrs have exhibited wHh sur- by the three Women's Boards auxiliary passlllg eloquence the indebtedness of to the American Board. The new con- our age to the missionary enterprise in secration of women in all forms of ser- especial connection with this Board, for vice in which they can be useful to the high ideals of character and impulse to cause of foreign missions, and home evangelization as well, is a peculiarity and wonder of this, the new missionary age. Is it not one of the brightest. signs of promise for the speedy triumph man with ample means, who might of the kingdom of Christ in all the have lived comfortably at' home, moved earth? by the inspiration received from the life One other point must not be passed of Henry Martyn (God's leagues are unnoticed. It is the providential as- linked), without companionship or hu- signment to the constituency of the man support, he plunges among fanatio American Board and to American Pres- Arabs to lift high the banner of the byterians of the greatest, most difficult, Cross, till by sunstroke, which came and, in some aspects, most glorious of more like the kiss of God than His curse, missionary achievements to be accom- the banner falls from the dying hands plished-the conquest to Christ of the which had borne it through forty years wide domain which is under the present of apostolic ministry. It falls a chal- political domination of the Moslem. lenge to all Christendom to take it up Why is this? Is it because in the Con- and carry it farther, till placed where gregational and Presbyterian American this great leader would have chosen to traits of character are found those which plant it. We pause for breath in this can wait as well as work, can hope kodak glimpse at so splendid and so '.mder disappointment, patiently endure 'saintly II career. We must, however, and persevere under heaviest discour- admit the following from the Punjab agement, conciliate and win when open lIfission News: attack would be madness, and by weak- " His is a memorial that will not per- ness can be made strong? God knows. ish, for the heart holds on to it as well But how great is the honor, how mo- as the mind; his is an example that mentous the responsibility, which are cannot cease to stimulate, for it makes put upon those who have been thus se- its appeal to what in men is highest and most enduring; his a friendship lected! based on foundations and bound with cords which last forever; and his a work that must go on, and in which all Christians must bear a part till the re- Bishop Thomas Valpy French. [.T. T. G.1 turning Master Himself proclaim it fin- ished. He was a teacher as ready to Bishop French died at Muscat on learn from his pupils as to instruct June 14th, 1891. That consecrates them; a general now strenuously fight- afresh the Arabian peninsula to Christ. ing in the dusty ranks, now beckoning Following the Keith Falconer alabaster the whole Church forward to scenes and box, it lends an aroma to the east shore deeds of arduous heroism; a man whose firm convictions left the widest Christian of the Red Sea sympathies unchecked; a bishop who . "More fragrant than Arabia sacrificed, magnified not himself but his office, yet never abated his loving interest in And all her spicy dcserts in a flame. " Christian work and in workers on lines Bishop French was born the first day not identical with his own; a Highof the year 1825 in an English rectory. Churchman in the truest sense of the word, he kept clear himself, and strove Educated at Rugby side by side with to keep others clear, of Romanizing and Sir Richard Temple; gaining honors sacerdotal entanglements. His preachthere, and later at Oxford University; ing was of the Head of the Church, whom founding a missionary college at Agra, he adored, not of the body of the Church, which he loved. The Church, in the India; heroically defending native Chris- • Punjab at any rate, can never forget tians during the Sepoy rebellion ; found- him."

ing a frontier mission at Dera, and then a divinity college at Lahore; and agli.in, Fifty Years a Missionary Secretary.

in 1877, founding the bishopric of La- -The Society for Promoting Female hore ; remaining Bishop of the Punjab Education in the East in England is the for ten years; resigning this position, oldest organized society for carrying on while beloved and never more effective, work among the women of the Orient.

an old man at sixty-six years of age, a It commenced its work in India as early liB 1834, and its work now extends to province of Satsuma, compelled the Ceylon, Japan, Straits Settlements, South Koreans to make the china and to inlind West Africa, the Levan~, Egypt, the struct the Japanese in its manufacture. Holy Land, Turkey in Europe and Asia. Thus it is to-day-electric lights and Miss Webb, the corresponding secre- telegraph, foreign ships and war tactics tary of the society, has given fifty con- foreign postal and school systems for~ secutive years to the work; and we be- eign dress and wines are readily adopt- lieve this is an event for which there is ed. And the world looks across the no parallel in any society. Wisely has water in amazement" and exclaims 'Be- hold, a miracle! A nation is ch~nged she administered its affairs, giving al- in the twinkling of an eye from a state most II lifelong devotion to the blessed of semi-barbarism to the full splendor work of helping to uplift the women of of civilization! ' the world. She has seen wonderful "But the nation has not changed. changes. From a few gathered in the New clothes don't make a new man. schools at first, she can now look at II Social life is just as impure, the mar. multitude of 20,000 gathered in the riage laws as loose, passions as unvarious schools, with a multitude hav- bridled, and their beautiful etiquette ing gone out, etc. covers as many sins as of yore. The The society is celebrating this her whitening of the outside of the sepulfiftieth anniversary by presenting her chre does not prove that it is not full of with a token of their personal regard, dead men's bones and all uncleanness. and also making special effort to in- No longer do the people ook on the crease the society's funds by raising a adopted things as foreign. They have worthy jubilee offering. become Japanese. They are an intelli- MRS. J. T. GRACEY. gent and keen-sighted people. Love Is Japan Fickle ?-Miss Susan A. Searle furnishes, at our request, the fol- of country is strong in them, and, lowing ,. Few facts about Japan" : readily recognizing what will benefit " During the last thirty years no one country has been so ceaselessly under Japan, they adopt it. Just as quick to the public eye as has Japan. And yet very few people understand the Japan- see what will weaken her, they will have ese. The first Mikado ascended the throne 660 years before Christ, and from none of it. This is the reaBon that the that time to this there has remained an unbroken succession, though what may , treaty revision' has been so unsuccessbe called the war of the roses threatened at one time to break the direct line. ful. The people understand that the Never has Japan been conquered. Never has any nation so nearly obliterated basis on which foreign nations mean to Christianity within her borders as did Japan 200 years ago. Catherine de revise is pure selfishness, and they will Medici. in the fearful massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve, signally failed as not consent to become the prey of forcompared with them. eign avarice. In the seventeenth cen- "Quick to see the advantages that would accrue to them, they employed, tury, when Romanism was introduced in A.D. 287, Korean teachers to instruct them in Chinese literature anc11anguage, by the Jesuits, it found a ready hearing, and to-day Chinese is the classical language of the people. From Korea also and gained many friends. Notunaga, they learned the use of the potter's wheel. The art of making Satsuma the greatest of the Japanese lporrodps~ ware is a lost art in Korea, because when favored them. They were given the Japanese conquered Korea they brought all who understood the art to erty at Kioto. At one time in Nagasaki ~a.pan, and, .plantin~ a colonr ill. the there was not a heathen temple. AI.

ready the eyes of the Jesuits gleamed exultingly as in imagination they SIIW these beautiful islands under the con- trol of the Roman See. But the dream was never realized. Seeing the danger, those in authority so quickly quenched the fire and so effectually removed the traces of it that to all outward appear- ance it were as though it had never bcen. Do you censure Japan?

., But it is an uneasy hour. The crisis is upon them. About three fourths of the people are Buddhists, and the priests are trying to strengthen themselves."

The American Board Mission in Japan.-Miss Abbie M. Colby, of Japan, kindly favors us with the following about the Japan MissioD: of the A. B. Q. F. 1:,[. i " Probably no mission has called more Japanese call it the best meeting ever loudly for re-enforcement than this. held. Certainly it was the best one of And because of this earnest appeal, it recent years. was felt best to be exact in the require- ments. A paper was prepared by the 0< , During the meeting It serious ques- chairman of the Mission Committee on tion about raising $GOO came up. Sev- the kind of new missionaries needed. eral plans were proposed_ Among the It reads: • The main requirements of a delegates present was a 74 inch man in candidate for work in Japan are (1) his stocking feet, " the tallest ChristiRn spirituality; consecration to the point in Japan," who led a movement to raise of self-sacrifice_ (2) Ability to get along the money on the spot; and in thirty minutes $528 had been obtained. It is with a sensitive and patriotic people. hoped the rest will be given by some This means willing to help, and not who were not present. This represents anxious to be bosses; no forf'igner can much self-sacrifice.' drive the Japanese. (3) Intellectual strength. Of course health and com- " I have also had news from the anmon sense are of prime importance. nual meeting of the Women's Mission- ary Society, held in Osaka, in the Y_ M. " 'In some respects foreign work C. A. building, which holds about 2000. grows harder in Japan each year; and This was well filled. The women wastthereforeforeign missionary service here, ed no time, two or three starting to pray to be economical, should be immediate.' at once." 1 have a report of this year's annual meeting of the native Congregational Church The Rev. Wellington J. White, misin Japan, extracts from which will be, sionary, of Canton, China, was killed by perhaps, interesting: accident at Elmira, N. Y., July 27th_ " 'In addition to the business sessions, Rev. Mr. White, Mrs. White, their intensely interesting meetings of various three daughters, a little girl friend of kinds were held-one theatre meeting the children, and a nurse girl, were ridand two private sessions of the workers, ing in a carriage in Elmira, N_ Y. While Japanese and foreigners, to tell each crossing the Erie Railroad an express other how to work more efficiently. train struck the carriage, instantly kill- Great plainness of speech marked these talks, but all in the best of spirit. Those ing Brother White and the oldest daughmissionaries who display the most sacri- ter, Lillian, the little friend, and also fice, especially in touring, and who live the nurse girl. Mrs. White was SIIPmost like the Japanese, were held up by name as models. posed to be fatally injured, but is still alive, with a bare possibility of recovery. " 'A few of the points elaborated The two girls, aged three and seven, are were: We ought to have more faith in our talents as God-given. We should doing well. We have no words for our give ourselves to men as well as to God. own feelings, much Jess to voice the gen- Preach the simple Gospel; not envy eral wave of grief that this event has scholars, nor be abashed before them. caused to swell over this land and other Keep out of debt. Keep in the spirit of prayer. Let there be greater frank. lands. ness between missionaries and Japan- All those who were at the last annual ese. Let the missionaries do only those kinds or that kind of work which each meeting of the International Missionary can do best. Some evangelists (Japanese) are too lazy. Be a magnet. Let us Union will recall the ability with which have individuality based not on one's ],fr. and Mrs. White contributed to it. own wisdom, but on allegiance to Christ. Let us evangelists (Japanese) who re- Cheery, practical, consecrated. they lent ceive $10 salary a month live on one an inspiration by their personal preshalf that amount, and give the other half to the work. Then ask the mis- ence and their platform power. Little sionaries to make further sacrifices in thought Wflg there that these gladdening order to get nearer the people. Work and helpful ones were so soon to enter with, as well as for the poorest. Bring your baggage to my house and stop with into a cloud-even the cloud bright me when you come to my city. I,et the with the presence of the Lord_ living God into your hearts. Keep your faces turned heavenward. From the secular press we Jearn that Mr. White was forty-one years of age, a " 'Prayers were earnest, speaking, forcible and practicable. The spirit all aon o~ A1?ne. White, chief of the Eri(j ~4rough Was moat e~cellellt~ Some Bridge builders. He was graduated at Holy Virgin, Queen of Apostles, and Amherst College and Union Theological Succor of Christians." The brief has Seminary. Tho New York Tribune said: been fcrwarded to Brussels, accom.

"Mr. White and his family had been punied by a special letter from Leo XIII.

home on a year's vacation from their. to the King of the Belgians, couched in work in China. nnd W81·e about to re- terms of the warmest affection and adturn for another period of ten years. miration. They had had httle rest during the year, as both were in great clemand all over the country to leeture upon mission work, and they became unusually popular in their line of lectures. Mrs. White was an -That is a very true remark in the especially interesting talker, and bad ad- Seventy-fifth Annual Report of the dressed churches, Sunday schools, mis- American Bible Society that "the resion bands. and other societies as far west as Minneapolis, all through New Eng- ports of this society present a most im- land, and in Maryland and Washington. pressive history of missions. We have She made her lectures brilliant with anecdotes and personal experience~, and tried to find time and space for a proper never in a single instance posed as a review of this grand society's work, and martyr to seclusion in the mission field. to express our congratulations on the She and her husband had made them- occasion of its diamond anniversary. It selves masters of the Cantonese dialect, works so quietly, with such dignity, and were especially fitted to do prac- avoids all sensational presentation of tical Christian work among the Chinese.

They had had several tempting offers to itself, that its vast enterprises do not remain in the United States, but Mrs. become as popularly known as they de- White said, , Our hearts and souls are serve to be. There lies before us the Gospels in the language of the Sheetswa, committed to tbe missionary field, and we must go back.' "

They were to sail for China from San which they have just completed, trans- Francisco September 10th. lated by Rev. B. F. Ousley, of the American Board Mission in ED.st Cen- tral Africa, a language never written be- -The Rev. Dr. John Inglis is dead! fore 1885, allied to the Zulu, but with Who that knows what missionary work peculiarities of its own. This will open means will not be sadly intere~ted? the evangel by text to some 200,000 or Thirty-three years "In the New Heb- more of people in tbe Dark Continent."

rides /" What a fascinating book, the -Mission work among the boys of story of his life, as told in a volume London is being carried on by the bearing the title we have emphasized. Rugby School Mission. It takes the The Free Church of Scotland has a roll form of furnishing homes and institutes of grand missionary names, but that of for these boys. The field of activity is John Ingli~ shines with a lu~tre all its mainly in the west London district. own.

-In spite of the breezy discussions -And now, 10 ! the Congo Free State of the past year, and the omens of evil has been "consecrated to the, blessed which many discern, foretokening great- Virgin Mary." This is done to rescue er contentions, it has been a good year the millions of AfricD. "from the dark- for Presbyterian foreign missions. The ness and superstitions of paganism." grand total of the gifts of the Church This is the way the papal brief reads: for this cause stands at $942,690.64, the .. It is in response to the petitions of largest sum ever given for foreign mis- eminent Belgian Catholics, both clerical sions in any year since the reunion of and lay, that the Pope has taken the the churches. The various organiza"

step now announced, by whi~h his holi- tions of the women of the churches con- ness places the entire State of the Congo tributed $336,224.78, more than one !.luder the special pr~tectiou of the Most third of the whole sum.

EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS

III.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.

The following letter is from a beloTed These men go out three Sundays in friend, who accompanied Dr. Gordon every month and preach in surrounding and myself in the brief tour of missions villages, where there are either Chris- in Great Britain in 1888. Her ad- tians or inquirers, so that there are eight dresses, so simple, unaffected, childlike, services held each Lord's day in villages moved the great audiences everywhere distant from three to fifteen miles.

with unique power. Though not meant These preachers willingly give their for publication, we cannot withhold this time, and are often out three days at a charming letter from our readers. time. I pay their travelling expenses.

C. I. M., WENCHOW, CHINA, Jan. 20, We meet once a month, when they re- 1891. port and change districts. The Lord is blessing their labors.

My DEAR DR. PIERSON : It has been on We have just suffered a heavy loss in my heart for a long time to write to the death of one of our most earnest and you, and only pressure of work has pre- faithful evangelists. He came in from vented; for I have often thought of you his district last Thursday suffering with and dear Mrs. Pierson, and have follow· bronchitis. He would not rest until his ed you in your tour of 1889-90 through son had gone off to take his place, say.

my native land with much interest, and ing that, as there were many who were was often reminded of that blessed and calling out for the Gospel, some one remarkable missionary tour which we must take it to them. The son, who is made together in 1888. one of our unpaid local preachers, had Alas! how much has happened since gone but a few hours when he said to then-that little company scattered and his youngest son, ,. The Lord is calling divided. One, my dear husband, rest- me home. I see heaven open; oh, so ing from his labors, and now in the lovely! You have not been earnest presence of the Lord; another, Rev. enough; you must be warmer-hearted, James Scott, of Impolwene, witnessing and live n.earer to God." He then said, for the Lord in South Africa; you and " Sing a hymn;" and as they ended the Dr. Gordon continuing your labors on hymn he quietly breathed his last, only behalf of missions; while I am here, one day after his return from his sta- trying, however feebly, to do the will of tion. We mourn his loss, for it is to my God. such men that we owe in large measure The past year has been one of many the prosperity of the work. We can do trials. So much of persecution, sick- but little compared to them; and if we ness, and death has surrounded us that are only permitted to train one such at times the heart seemed almost faint, worker for the Lord, our life would not and one was often tempted to think the be in vain.

road too long and the burden too heavy. A few weeks ago we had our preach- And yet the Lord was ever nigh and ers' quarterly meeting; and as I looked ready to help in every hour of need, so upon the twelve native preachers pres- that when troubles pressed, one had but ent, only four of whom were paid, and to lean the harder to find out how strong two of those supported by the natives He is. "Not one good thing hath failed themselves, my heart welled up in praise of all which He hath promised." to God as I thought of now and the day During the past year we have made when we first entered this city. Then steady but slow progress, for many new not a soul had heard of the God who doors have been opened to the Gospel; made them.

and I hflve been able to form a band of In one district about forty miles from seven unpaid local preachers, who have here a number of bright, earnest lads ~l,~red so~e of t4ese oven doors, l1~vEl bEletl COBVer~ed~ a~il, ~t has b!le~ laid upon our hearts to try and do some- they naturally look to me for guidance.

thing to fit them for future service. We The church is under the care of a native took the matter to the Lord and asked pastor, who was brought up in our boys'

Him to provide the needed funds for school years ago, and is a very earnest, their support. He has sent the answer godly man.

in l gift which enables us to begin with' Yours very sincerely, five boys. Our pll>n is to give them two GRACE STOTT.

years' education and Bible training, and then let them return to their homes and It is true, undoubtedly, that the Hindu their farm worK, and, while earning converts to Christ have as yet come their own living during the week, preach almost entirely from the humbler and in the villages on Sundays. Miss Bards· micl.dle classes, so to ~peak. But, as we ley, who accompanied me to China last contrast the two Brahman's prayers that year, will take up this branch of the we here present, we can perceive eyiwork, while Miss Whitford, another dence that the Christian spirit has beyoung sister who accompanied me, takes come, in a measure, pervasive of the entire charge of the girls' school. We moral atmosphere, even of the highest stj.J.I keep up th(, uumber to twenty. five, caste. and for everyone who is married out, there are three or four applications to The Brahmans have been in the habit fill her place. of offering the first prayer of the two for ages: "May humanity fare well! We have a small home for poor old May the lords of the earth rule the same olind Christians. There are ten at pres. in the ways of justice. May Brahmans ent, besidelil two old widows; and duro and cows ever prosper. Mayall relig. ing this cold weather one feels very ions become bappy. May the rains fall grateful to be permitted to help these in· season. May the earth be fruitful. POM of the flock. May th~ country be without troubles. May Brahmans be without fear." There is a good work going on at a place twelve miles from here.' One of The second short but remarkable our Christians, a silversmith by trade, prayer was offered by a well-known who was once an opium smoker. opened orthodox but liberal-minded Hindu on a shop there last year. Wherever he an occasion when he was about to degoes he must preach; and as his own liver a lecture on Marriage Reform in a shop was a small one, he rented a place Christian church: "Our Father, we be. at his own charges, where he conld seech thee to teach us the truth, to help preach on Sundays. He does all the us to love and wor!!hip the truth, and preaching himself. and now there are to walk according to the truth, for Thou about thirty persons who attend regu- art the truth. " larly. This man has been very much used of God in opening up work in sev- -By way of in81igurating the eff?r~ eral places, and spares neither himself nor his means. which has been resolved upon to raIse A good deal pf my time during the $500 ~0e0n0teansarav special fHud to celebrate last three months has been spent in vil. the of the English Baptist lage work, where we have had many op. Missionary S(~ciety, the treasurer of the portunities of spreading the Gospel. At society, Mr. V,'. R. Rickett, ~f Lond?n, has just intimated his intentIOn to give $25,000.

one place, where we spent a week, there -In 1890 there were 494 American are six or seven families seeking after M E foreign missionaries who had the truth. Indeed, we find it difficult ~apdolo~Syetoa~ftuettshferooWfmowmthhaoenmc'sh1nF2ro2crhea~ergseninMintihsteshieoUnenamirty– to enter all the open doors. Society. These show an lllcreas~ of 86 American missionaries and aSSIstants, Will you ask disciples to pray that milch wisdom may be given to me? or nearly thirty per cent. There is no male missionary here, and

THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS

IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.

BY J. T. GRACEY, D.D.

Persia, Arabia, Turkey, Mohammedanism, and the Greek Church.

These words stand for what an infini- west and the borders of the Tigris val.

tude of facts relating to the history of ley, to the remote frontiers of Afghan- the human race, as well as to the istan and Beloochistan. The surface is chances and changes which have be- largely a plateau with high mountain fallen the kingdom of God upon earth! ranges, but the southern portion is a And, taken together, they are fairly plain, and upon the southeast is a large representative of all the events which expanse of desert. The population is have transpired in Bible lands not only, heterogeneous, exhibiting thc effects left but, with an exception or two, of those behind by the multitude of masters, but connected with the course of all the the bulk is composed of Turks, Persian great empires of antiquity. And to Mongols, and Arabs about the Persian think that over all the vast area they Gulf, besides Koords, Armenians, Nes- cover, for long centuries the Cross as a torians, Jews, etc. Nearly 2,000,000 are symbol has been supplanted by the wandering tribes. Of courqe Islam is crescent! the ruling religious force, but some PEIRSIA. 70,000 nominal Christians are found.

In order to kindle our interest it is The Nestorians, in particular, gathered only necessary to recall that this is the about Lake Oroomiah, are a feeble rem- land of Cyrus and Darius, of Ahasuerus nant of a church which once numbered (Xerxes?) and Esther, and of Susa, millions, and with wonderful zeal car.

Persepolis and Ecbatana, and that the ried the Gospel throughout Central Asia early inhabitants were of Aryan stock, and to India and China. But there fol- and so in origin related to the Greeks lowed degenerate days, as well as perse- and Romans. Zoroaster and the fire- cution from the Moslems, by which they worshippers were Persians, and the were well nigh annihilated.

Wise Men who came to worship the in- As far back as 1742 the Moravians fant Saviour, while Parthians, Medes, sought, though in vain, to carry into and Elamites were present in Jerusalem Persia the light of evangelical truth. In to behold the wonders of Pentecost. 1811 the sainted Henry Martyn pene- This people rose to fame when Cyrus trated the country from India, bearing captured Babylon, and his successors his Persian translation of the New Testa- pushed their conquests to the lEgean ment, but died within a year. In 1834 and beyond; but in later days it was the American Board opened a mission their hard lot to be subjected in succes- among the Nestorians which, since 1870, sion to the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Sel- has been in Presbyterian hands, and has jukian Turks, Mongols, Tartars, Af- grown to 6 stations, 65 out-stations, 55 ghans, and Ottomans. The ruling Shah missionari'ls, of whom 20 are ordained, feels the touch of modern ideas, gov- and 243 native helpers; 31 churches erns, for an Oriental, fairly well, and with 2267 members, 188 added last through a ministry on the European year; 283 schools with 3290 pupils.

model, and has introduced banks, gas, Upon this Persian mission $83,662 were telegraphs, street railways, etc. expended last year. In 1869 the Church His dominions cover ahout 700,000 Missionary Society sent Rev. R. Bruce square miles, and his subjects number to begin work, and now has Ispahan not far from 8,000,000. From the Cas- and Baghdad as main stations. The.

pian modern Persia extends to the Per- Propagation Society sent its agents to sian Gulf and the Arabian Sea, and from Persia in 1882. Within a half century Ararat as a bulwark at the extreme north· not less than 75,000 Bibles, or portions thereof, from the press of the American time within the scope of their opera.

Bible Society alone, have been distribut· tions was embraced the entire known ed. and in these 6 languages -Persian, world. Mohammed died in 632, and Turkish, Arabic, Syriac, Hebrew, and two years later Damascus fell; Alexan- Armenian. dria in 640 ; Persia the year after, with ARABIA. Baghdad in due season reaching the With this name are indissolubly linked zenith of its gloi'y under the Caliph Edom and Uz, Ophir and Sheba, the Haroun al Raschid (immortalized in the Wilderness of Wandering, eighty years " Arabian Nights," which, if Persian in of the life of Moses, and two years of literary origin, are intensely Arab in in- Paul's life; but most of all the region spiration and spirit), and by 711 Spain for which it stands holds the site of had become Saracen, to remain such Mecca and Medina, and gave birth to nearly 800 yeal's, or until delivered theFalsePropbetand his Book. Itsarea under Isabella. During those halcyon is some 1,200,000 square miles. and con- years the Arabs were among the fore.

stitutes a vast peninsula. extending into most in the civilized world for knowl- the Indian Ocean. After 4000 years of edge of medicine, mathematics, gram.

travel, trade, and warfare this land is mar, and rhetoric, and various useful but little known, and yet the fact is well arts, such as the tempering of steel.

established that it is not all a barren And hence it would seem to be a gross waste, as we are wont to think. About mistake to ascribe Ara.b dominion wholly 'one third of the surface lies upon three to the sword as a cause instead of. in sides next to the sea, and consists of a great part at least, to the wondrous plain varying in width from a few miles power of mind, of intellectual genius.

to one hundred, and then a long stretch As yet next to nothing has been ac- of mount1tin ranges which rise abruptly complished, or even been undertaken, from the coast side. Another third lies for the redemption of Arabia from the toward the southeast and is desert in- degrading thraldom of a false faith.

deed, with surface divided between The country is inaccessible, the climate drifting sands and rocks. But in the is torrid, and Oriental ideas and prac- centre and farther north is found a large tices with the lapse of the centuries be.

tract fairly well supplied with streams come strangely fixed and unsusceptible and fertile soil, and able to sustain to change. And besides, as everywhere, quite a population fixed and residing in so also here, the combination of truth villages and cities. Of the 8,500,000 or and error fashioned by Mohammed easily 9,000,000 inhabitants, not more than one gains a giant grip upon a certain quality fifth are nomad Bedouins. of mind and hea.rt which it is difficult Arabia made her capital impression exceedingly to shake off. Mr. and Mrs.

upon human history through the tre- Keith Falconer projected, under the mendous and unsurpassed and really auspices of the Scottish Free Church, a sublime enthusiasm and zeal and daunt. mission to South Arabia in 1885, and less vigor with which her sons took up two years later Aden was occupied by the teachings of their greatest repre- them with combined Bible and medical sentative, and in two or three genera- work, but a few months after he laid tions carried the Koran from the Atlan- down his life a sacrifice to his faith and tic to the Indus, and made an impres- zeal. Other toilers have followed since, sion so deep and so broad that after 1200 and the mission is maintained. A second years their language is spoken by 80,- undertaking in the same region was set 000,000, and the cry, Allah Akbar, is on foot in this country not long since echoed by one eighth of the earth's by Professor J. G. Lansing and others, population. Arab merchants penetrat- and tW() missionaries have been dis- ed to China and interior Africa, to the patched thither, and a third, by the Eng- Baltic and northern Siberia, and at one lish North Africa Mission, has begun labor for the Bedouins in the extreme Asiatio Turkey. Though themselves north, with Homs as a oentre. So, not stalwart Moslems, it has always been yet has" the gold of Sheba" been given their policy to tolerate other faiths, and to " Him," not yet have" the kings of not less than 13,500,000 in the empire Sheba and Seba" offered" gifts." are nominal Christians, and principally TURKEY members of the Greek and Armenian ohurohes.

brings us yet nearer to Bible lands What was sorrowfully said of Persia and themes, since it covers among the and Arabia must be repeated here, that rest Palestine, Phmnicia, Syria, Asia hitherto upon the Mohammedan part of Minor, and Babylonia, with ita Ur and the population but a slight impression Haran, and hence was the home of every has been made. For a follower of the patriarch, prophet, or apostle named in Prophet to abjure his faith, even yet, Holy Writ. It was nearly 700 years ago after all the reforms, is to sign his death.

that the Ottoman Turks began to make warrant; aud therefore missionary toil their prowess seriously felt in the oivil. has been expended almost entirely upon ized world ; in 1452 Constantinople fell the ohurches whioh name the name of before their vigorous assault; the olimax Jesus, but whose truth is so lamentably of their power had been reached when mixed with error, and whose religious under the walls of Vienna, in 1683, their praotice is so remote from the New hosts were utterly routed by John So. Testament standard. When these have . bieski. Ever sinoe the decline has oon· been reformed and their spiritual life· tinued, aooelerated in this oentury when thoroughly quickened a beUer chance Greeoe oonquered her independenoe, by will be found to catch the ear and win the results of the Crimean War, and the the heart of the Turks. The first mis.

various aohievements of diplomaoy and sionaries entered the Ottoman Empire arms in days more recent. There is a in 1823, when Goodell and Birrllanded larger and a lesser Turkey, and henoe at Beyrout under commission from the the boundaries are not easily defined Amerioan Board, and later followed with acouracy. Thus Tunis is a de- others to occupy Constantinople and pendent'yof the Porte; Egypt pays trib. western, central, and eastern Turkey.

ute; and though in Arabia a long, nar· Upon thisfieldthisSooietyexpended up· row strip lying upon the Red Sea is ward of $207,000 in 1890, and has gath- politioally Turkish, the vast interior ered to date 117 churches with 11,709 owns no outside ruler. Acoording to a members (1367 added last year), 46,000 medium estimate the Sultan is civil and adherents, 464 schools of all grades, with religious lord over about 1,500,000 20,226 under instruction. The native square miles, and a population of 35,. contributions have reached $43,474 an- 000,000. And these may be divided nually. The principal stations are 19, thus: Europe, 100,000 square miles with with 311 out·stations. The missionaries 10,000,000 inhabitants; Asia, 700,000 number 177, with 791 native helpers as square miles with something more than auxiliaries. In 1870 the Syrian field 20,000,000 inhabitants, and Africa (in_ oentring in Beyrout was transferred to cluding Egypt and Tunis), 600,000 the Presbyterians, and is now held by square miles and 6,500,1100 inhabitants. them at 20 points with a force of 3ll And this same monarch, whose magnifi. American and 205 native toilers. The cent seat is upon the Bosphorus, sways churohes are 26; the members, 1658 ; the the sceptre over a mixed multitude of additions last year, 103; schools, 130 ; jTurks. Greeks, Bulgarians, Armenians, soholars, 6214; native oontributions, Arabs, Roords, Ciroassians, SyJians, eto. $7658. The Beyrout printing.press is Of these the ruling race constitutes but a mighty instrumentality for the Gospel.

a minor fraction, numbering, say. about From it issued in 1890 in A.rabic and 1,500,000 in European and 4,500,000 in other languages 76,000 volumes and 23,. 746,000 pages, of which 14,217,000 were members of the human family who hold leaves of the word Of life. During the that" God is God, and Mohammed is year 31,000 copies of the Scriptures, his prophet. " complete or in parts, were distributed. In all Syria, with Palestine, some 30 The astonishing successes and vitality societies are engaged doing preaching, of the religion of the Koran may well be teaching, and hospital work at 150 deemed the scourge of God upon His points, with 200 missionaries and 600 people in the Oriental churches and native helpers. Palestine is largely left their successors ever since, in Asia and in the hands of British societies. in Europe, visited because they lost the spiritual power of the Gospel, and had MOHAMMEDANISM. but a name to live in Jesus Christ, be- cause they fell into such grievous follies The three countries which have passed and sins, suffering the pure Gospel to in rapid review, covering in the aggre- be 110 grossly defiled with doctrinal error gate an area about equal to that of the and heathenish practice, expending United States and containing about the their strength not upon the spread of same number of inhabitants are, of the kingdom to the ends of the earth, course, overwhelmingly Mohammedan. but in endless disputes and quarrels and But the spiritual domain of Islam is schisms among themselves. But though vastly larger both in territory and ad- thus far effort for the conversion of Mosherents. This form of faith, once ag- lems has been, upon the whole, quite gressive beyond precedent, is not yet by barren of rf'sults, yet genuine converany means effete or eTen in decrepi. sions haTe by no means been unknown. tude, but is still steadily enlarging its In India in particular and in Africa boundaries, especially within the Dark and even in Persia scores and hundreds Continent. The northern half is al- have heartily embraced Christianity, ready overrun, a territory 2000 X 3500 and in Turkey, too, a few have faced miles in extent. death for Jesus' sake. Christian schools contain thousands of Moslem children From the Straits of Gibraltar almost and youth who cannot but be largely to the mouth of the Kongo it holds the leavened by the truth. But probably Atlantic coast and upon the eastern side the Bible printed in languages which to Zanzibar, with centres of influence Mohammedans can read-the Arabic yet farther south in Mozambique and more than any other, their sacred even in Cape Colony. Thus over two speeoh, in which the Koran is given-is thirds of the periphery of Africa the the mightiest leTerage yet employed. Prophet of Arabia is re'l'erenced, and The preparation already made is so 70,000,0(10 appears to be a consenative manifold, so extensive, and so thorough estimate of the number of his followers that great things for the Gospel may any found dwelling between the Mediter- day occur within the realm of Islam. ranean and the equator. But Queen And for this grand consummation let us Victoria is monarch over more Moslems diligently labor and fervently pray. than the Sultan himself, since in her Indian Empire alone she has 50,000,000 ! THE GREEK CliUBCH, Add to these the hosts of others of the same faith in Siberia. Central Asia, called also the Eastern Church. This Afghanistan and Beloochistan, Western is defined to be the church of the coun- Ohina, the Malay Peninsula, and the tries which were formerly Greek-speakvast Indian Archipelago to farthest Java ing, or which were comprised in the -distant 1000 of longitude east of Mecca Greek, GrIDco-Roman, or Eastern Emand 1600 east of Cape Verde, the latter pire, as well as of the countries evangela vast stretch of almost 10,000 miles- ized from it, as the Russian; or the and a total of 200,000,000 is not too large Church. or group of local and national to name as denoting the sum of the churches. which accept the See of Con. stantinople as their ecclesiastical head, guages !tre spoken. The various" Chris. like the Armenian, etc. The full name tian" sects are full of bitterness and is "The Holy, Orthodox, Catholic, hate each toward the other, and are kept Apostolic, Oriental Church." Its begin- at peace only by Turkish force. The ning dates, at least potentially, from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is divided founding of Constantinople, in 326 A.D. off into several sections, and these are A rivalry soon sprang up between the parcelled out among the Copts, Greeks, two cities, and also naturally betw3en etc. their bishops. The breach was widened by differences of language, and more, by For many centuries the Armenians the division of the empire into the were either independent or, at least, a Western and Eastern. In due season distinct people, fixed within definite followed the Great Schism, and finally boundaries; but in 1604 they finally from Rome came the act of excommuni- lost, like the Jews before them and the cation. Poles in later times, their national ex- istence, and ever since have been scat- The differences of doctdne and prac- tered far and wide through all the lands tice existing between the Greek Church of the East. and its rival, the Roman, are fewer and less fundamental than the resemblances. One peculiar phase of Christian phil- The former rejects the idea of the Pope anthropy is exhibited at Aden by the as universal bishop; in Russia the state Keith Falconer Mission, in the fact that and the church are in closest union; last year not less than fifty African slaves the ofliciallanguage is Greek instead of were rescued by purchase from their Latin; the priests may marry, though Arab masters and adopted, and at a cost but once, and only upon bishops is celi- of £1650. bacy obligatory, and the people may receive the wine as well as the bread at The University of the Great Mosque the sacrament. But the ruling spirit is of EI Azar, in Cairo, i!l resorted to by substantially the same; the departures more than 10,000 Moslem students, not from the simplicity and purity of the only from Egypt and Turkey, but from Gospel are fully as many and as serious, Algeria and Morocco, the Soudan, Darlike worship of images, asceticism with foor and Zanzibar, Arabia, Persia, Turmonastic vows, the necessity of confes- kestan, India and Malaya. Nothing is sion and penance, and the dogma, ., No taught except the Koran and the literasalvation outside the Church." And lit- ture relating to it. tle prospect appears of its further sprClld except as Russian arms or diplomacy The number of adherents to the varimay extend the area ruled by the Czar. ous minor bodies in the Oriental Church is stated to be as follows: Armenians, The number of adherents of the 3,000,000; Abyssinians, 1,200,000; Nes· Greek Church is notfarfrom 85,000,000. torians, 300,000 ; Copts, 200,000 ; Jacob- Of these about 58,000,000 are found in ites, 300,000 ; Maronites, 200,00 the Russian Empire; in the Turkish Empire, 10,000,000, consisting of Greeks, -Among the most teIling speeches at Bulgarians, Armenians, Nestorians; in the late meeting of the Church Mission- Roumelia, Servia, etc., 6,000,000; the ary Society was that of the Episcopal United Greeks of Austria and Poland, Bishop of Minnesota, who said that he 4,000,000; the Church of Greece, 1,300,- was .. glad to notice that the report 000 ; Russian Dissenters, 1,000,000 ; and said not a word about the hardships of various smaller sects. miRsionaries. It is no harder to go to Africa to preach the glorious Gospel It is stated upon good authority that than to dig for gold." in Jerusalem over forty different lan-

GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELUGENCE. '791

V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.

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

-The Anglican Communion embraces about 6000. The nation is responsible all Christians in full communion with for 105 tribes and fragments of tribes, the Church of England, and so is com· but in 17 only does it supply accommoposed of these parts: The Church of dations for all the children of school England proper, with its 38 biRhops and age; in 52 one half are stilI schoolless ; 24,090 other clergymen; the Protestant in 24 about 90 per cent are neglected; Episcopal Churoh of the United States, while in 16 no provision at all is made. 61 bishops and 38000lergymen ; Church of Ireland, 13 bishops and 1807 clergy. -The Young People'S Society of men; Church of England in Cllnada, Christian Endeavor is evidently, in its etc., 24 bishops and 1300 clergymen; origin and surprising growth, in the best Church of England in Asia, 13 bishops sense providential. It meets a spiritual and 713 clergymen; Church of England need widespread and deeply felt. It in Africa, 13 bishops and 350 clergy. numbers 16,274 local societies at the end men; Church of England in Australia, of 10 years, and a host of 1,008,980 21 bishops and 269 clergymen; Episco. members, a growth in" year of almost pal· Church in Scotland, 7 bishops lind 350,000 members and of 5261 organiza. 266 clergymen; scattered, 9 bishops and tions. No less than 30 evangelical de· 120 clergymen: a total in round num- nominations are represented in it ; the bers of 200 bishops and 32,600 clergy. Presbyterians havi.ng 4019 societies; tho men. Congregationalists. 3545 ; the Baptists, 2381 ; the Methodists, 2860 ; the Chris· -The Church of England must be set tians (Disciples), 801, and so on. Sodown as one abundantly blessed with cieties exist in almost every State and material resources. For, ·according to territory; 768 in British America, 120 retUl"llS recently presented to Parliament in England, 82 in Australia, 30 in India, by the ecclesiastical commissioners, the 12 in Turkey, and 7 in China; in all in aggregate income of the establishmAnt is foreign countries, 307. And, best of all, £5.753,557, or $28,767,785, of which from its members 82,500 last year joined nearly the whole is derived from endow· the churches represented. ments antedating the beginning of the eighteenth century. And to thIS must -According to these figures, Cape be added the enormous sums expended Colony is heathen and barbarian no in the construction and repair of longer. In size it is equal to some 5 churches, etc. The membership of this States like New York, and holds a popu· church cannot be far from 15,000,000, lation of about 1,500,000, of whom about and the gifts for foreign missions ap. 350,000 are Europeans. The Dutch Re· proximate to $3,000,000 annually. formed Church naturally leads in num· bers with a membership of 203,776 ; the -Though by no means so much as we Wesleyans follow next with 110,250 ; the could wish, Congre8s is doing something Church of England, with 79,126; the Insubstantial toward solving the Indian dependents, wit.h 39,829 ; Presbyterians, problem by ar::propriations for schools, 23,786 ; Moravians, 14,012 ; the Rhenish which have steadily grown from $20.000 Society, 13,159, and Roman Catholics, in 1877 to $1,842,770 in 1891. Of this 14,012. The total church-membership sum the contract schools (under the care is nearly 528,000. The mission stations of the churches) receive $570,000. In are 621, and the out·stations 1744. the government schools are found pro· vision for 17,000 childrAn, soon to be – The Chinese in America are not en· increased to 20;000, and in the others tirely forgotten as to their spiritual well being. In Boston, for example, as far back as 1876 a school was opened for the fourth time' for $100,000 to be paid their benefit, and the work has grown in five annual installments. until now 8 large ones are f(mna; in them at least 600 of the 1000 Chinamen . -General Booth lliakes the announce· receive instruction, and 50 have bll€n ment that he has already received $50,. received into the Boston churches. And OUO more than the $500,000 he asked for, then, in return, one school for 3 years and besides, has a pledge for $50,000 has given annually $125 to support a additional, and so is at liberty to begin mi~sionary in Hong.Kong ; and recently the execution of his colossal social.re· a special offering amounting to $114 was form scheme in behalf of the poor of the made to maintain a native preacher in cities of England. that same city. -The principal missiop.lI.ry work in -·The Wesleyan churches of England Palestine is done by the English Church have a membership of 424,303, and the Missionary Society, which has a Euro- Foreign Missionary Society, at the las; pean force consisting of 9 ordained, 3 annual meeting, reported expenditures lay, and 7 female missionaries. The last year of £132,885. Work is carried native clergy number 8, with a total of on in India, China, West Africa, the 72 lay helpers. The stations are Jerusa. Transvaal, British Honduras, the Ba· lem, Jaffa, Gaza, Nablous, Nazareth, hamas, as w!)ll as in Europe. The prin. and one east of the Jordan. The num. cipal stations are 363; out.stations, ber of baptized is 1428, of whom 455 are 1572 ; missionaries and assistants, 338 ; communicants. A little over 2000 pupils other paid agents, 2163; and unpaid are in the schools. The Society for agents, 4334. The chUl'ch.members are Promoting Christianity among the Jews 34,772 ; the probationers, 5250 ; and the also has stl/otions at Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Sunday.school scholars, 65,083. Safed, with a force of 4 ordained mis· sionaries and several assistants, about -·The Missionary Society of the 20 of whom are Christian Israelites. Primitive Methodist Church (England) reports an income of £11,099, and an -Friends of Italy will hear with de· expenditure of £10,477. Aside from light of the diffusion of the Scriptures this there was the special income of the in Rome. It is said that during the African fund, amounting to £3313, with first six months of 1'890, 21,000 copies an expenditure of £2263. The work of of the pUblications of the Bible Society the society is carried on entirely in Af. were sold in Rome and its environs. An rica in the Kaffraria Mission at Aliwal, especially encouraging circumstance is North. An increase of 150 members the introduction of the Bible into Ital· is reported. The Zambesi Mission had ian schools. Schools where other Ian. entailed considerable cost, and some guages are taught have, it is stated, reverses have had to be encountered; adopted the New Testament as a read· but the party sent out by the Board ing book. have croBsed the river, and are now en· gaged in real missionary work. -Offerings are asked by the Prot· estant Episcopal Church to sustain mis· -The Livingstonia Mission of the sions in 13 missionary jurisdictions and Scottish Free ChUl'ch (the first one 34 dioceses, also among the Indians and founded in Central Africa) dates from among the colored people in our land, 1875 ; and now, at the end of 15 years, as well as missions in China, Japan, about the three great lakes, Victoria, Africa, Hayti, and Greece; to pay the Tanganyika, and Nyassa, Protestant salaries of 16 bishops and stipends to chUl'ches alone. have 44 stations, 121 1000 missionary workers, and to support missionaries, and 1800 adult converts. schools, hospitals, and orphanages. The Free Church alone is expending Five hundred thollsand dollars are asked $20,000 annually, and this year asks for for this year. -The Presbyterian Church of Canada is held by 21 men and 31 women-52 in reports a membership' of 160,102, and all-with the aid of 68 ordained and 144 additions upon confession last year of unordained nati ve preachers -a total 10,128. The receipts for home missions force of 439. Of its 75 churches 18 are wer.e $142,000, and for foreign missions self·supporting, and in them are 41,841 $115,525, of which latter sum $40,000 members-an average of 550 and over- were from the woman's societies. In 6 of whom 6113 were received last year.

missions (New Hebrides, Honan, For- The principal stations are 14, and the mosa, Central India, Trinidad, and ou t·stations 534. In the 422 schools among the Indians in Western Canada) 5292 ara taught. Out of the depth of are found 31 ordained mIssionaries and their poverty the natives contributed 22 teachers; 9 women (in all 7 trained $1048.

for medical work), 2 ordained native -The Baptist Burman Mission will pastors, 52 native preachers, and nearly always be linked indissolubly with the 100 other native helpers-a total force name of Judson, and only God can say of 216. The churches are 65, with how much of its prosperity is the fruit 3950 members, and the schools 98, with of his prayers. and toils, and pains. It 3800 pupils. is composed of 21 stations and 614 out· -The Presbyterian Church (North) stations. The working force includes reports 12 missions in foreign lands, 134 missionaries (of whom 88 are worn· with 108 principal stations. The mis· 'en), and 530 native preachers (141 of sionaries number 598, of whom 348 are whom are ordained), a total of 763. Of women. These are assisted by 1228 na- the 542 churches the surprisingly large tives, 193 of these being ordained; and number of 44'7 are self.supporting, and thus a total force of 1826 is found. Of they have a membership of 29,666, 1976 churches there are 377, with 28,494 joining last year. The contributions members; and the additions last year were $48,499. The schools number were 2875. In the schools 27,813 pupils 466, and the scholars 12,250.

are instructed. The native contribu- -The Methodist Episcopal Church tions amount to $49,423. (South) expended last year upon its for.

-This same branch of the Presbyte- eign missions $219,940, which amount rian Church has in West Equatorial Af· was divided as follows: Mexico, $93,- rica what is known as the Gaboon and 676 ; Japan, $48,822 ; China, $46,056; 'Corisco Mission, extending along a and Brazil, $30,936. In these lands it coast line of 250 miles, and at one point sustains 76 missionaries, 26 of them into the interior 210 miles. Within this women, as well as 99 native preachers.

area are contained 7 stations and 15 out· The membership of the mission churches stations, a missionary force of 8 ordained is 4944.

and 4 unordained men, with an equal -The Churchman accounts for the number of women (24 in all), 7 native prominence of the work of the American preachers, and 17 other native helpers; Board in Japan by saying that Congre. 9 churches, 1147 members, 108 additions gational churches, with a membership last year, and 1158 children in Sunday. about equal to that of the Episcopal schools. The 7 day schools are much Church, send annually to foreign mis_ hindered by the civil authorities, who sion fields twice as much money as Epis. compel the exclusive use of French. copalians send to the foreign and do- mestic taken together. -·The American Baptist Mission to the Telugus can no longer properly be termed the Lone Star, but has become -In Utah there are 85 mission schools the bright and morning star among all in 78 different tOWIM!, employing 172 mISSIOns. In it the wonders of grace Christian teachers, and educating 6500 continually abound more and more, It pupils, three fourths of whom are from MOl'mon families, The Young People's $25,000,000, while the regular receipts Society of Christian Endeavor is repre- and expenditures of the l<lst five years sented in Utah by 23 organizations, have averaged not far from $700,000 a representing 750 members, of which 11 year, exclusive of native funds received are in Salt Lake City, containing 350 and expended in the field; 475 churches members. have been organized, into which have been received on confession of faith not – Of the 1,100,000 Lutheran communi- far from 110,000 souls. cants in the United States, about three fourths are Germans. The remainder –The Society for Promoting Female are Scandinavians, English, etc. In no Education in the East was formed in fewer than 12 languages do Lutheran 1852, and combines Zenana schools with pastors preach the Gospel in this coun- medical work. Its income has now try. The total number of ministers is reached $55,000 ; the number of Euro- 3692 ; .:Jhurches, 7948. pean agents is 70 ; the schools are 66 ; in them 4000 receive instruction, and in -There are 92 Chri8tian churches and 3 normal schools 130 more are trained chapels ,in the city of 'Tokio, Japan. The to teach. In 1889 there were 283 infirst one WaS erected only 25 years ago. patients and 18,782 attendances at the hospitals; and 932 were visited at their -This example of growth from a homes in part by 12 female physicians, small and "accidental" beginning made with 180 native workers, of whom a large in 1869 is not so very unsatisfactory. proportion are excellent Christian As far baok as that, in Madura, India, a nurses. city of 60,000, two lines of Zenana work were started-the educational and the British"Poreign Missions. By Rev. James medical-and at the close of 1889 there Johnston, Bolton, England. were found engaged in service at the ditferentstations, 40 Bible women; 1438 China Inland Mission.-In celebratnat,ive women under instruction; 3890 ing recpntly its twenty" fifth anniversary, houses had been visited during the year; the total force of missionaries and IIBSOand 71,929 persons had heard the Gos- ciates in Cbina on January 1st was repel message from these native Christian ported at 409, since augmented by 70 women. Thus we are beginning to real- more work.ers. From the time of the ize the import of that verse in the mission's inauguration, 4500 natives Psalms, .. The Lord gave the Word, and have been baptized and 93 mission stagreat was the company of the women tions opened, Last year the income who published it." amounted to £28,361. The beloved founder and director, the Rev. J. Hud- -During the 81 years that have Hon Taylor, is at present in China, elapsed since its organization, the where, says his deputy, the Rev, J. W. American Board has sent out 651 or- Stevenson, it is computed 900 large dained missionaries, 48 physicians un- cities are yet untouched by the heralds ordained, and 151 other missionary as- of faith. sistants-a total number of 850 men, During the same period it has sent out PrimitiTe Methodist Missionary 1233 women, of whom il91 were unmar- Society.-For its African Fund the ried-a total of men and women of 2083. year's income has been £3313, and the The force now in the field numbers 200 receipts for other branches of foreign men and 333 women distributed over 22 missions £11,099. The nobly conceived mission lields-4 in the Turkish Empire, Zambesi Mission undertaken by the 3 in British India, 4 in China, 2 in Japan, society is thus far crowned by the ar- 3 in Africa, and 4 in papal lands, The rival of the pioneers, who hope to begin receipts into the mission treasury from active operations in October next. donation~ and legacies aggregate about Moravian Missions.-By the rescue tive ordained missionaries, 1202 ; and of 1500 souls from heathenism in the native preachers, 4365. Church·mem.

conrse of the past year, the nnmber of bers are given at 67,797 ; native adher.

converts reaches nearly 90,000. The in. ents, 276,521 ; with 377 Sunday.schools come was £8866 in 1890. There are 135 having 22,881 scholars; also 1643 day stations of the missions in Greenland, schools, attended by 63,873 scholars.

Labrador, among the North American The year's income from the mission Indiang, in the West Indies, America, stations, including school fees, was South Africa, Australia, Northwest In· £22,433. A bright feature in the so- dia. Thibet, and Alaska; the congrega. ciety's record was the intelligence that tions numbering 87,263, of whom 40,000 its agen La preach the Gospel in no less are British subjects; of European and than 1200 Malagasy churches. In con- native missionaries, 355 are employed tn gratulatory language the Rev. R. Ward· the several fields. In 113 Sunday· law Thompson, foreign secretary, spoke schools are some 15,000 scholars, and in of the distinct growth of Christian charac.

the 235 day schools 20,629 children are ter seen in the converts, and likewise of under instruction. Four young Mora· the resolve of the directors to maintain to vian missionaries are on their way to the the uttermost of their power the stations newly established station on Lake occupied. Before the centenary of the Nyassa. society' B foundation in 1894 the directors hope to send out 100 additional mis· The London Missionary Society.- sionaries. In this wish they seem to At the annual meeting of the Ladies' have been anticipated by four promi.

Auxiliary for Foreign Missions the year's nent ministers in the younger ranks of receipt of £7293 was announced-an in- English Congregationalism issuing a crease of 2582 over the preceding year. missionary manifesto, in which th.. con.

The auxiliary has 39 lady agents, 19 of stituents of the society are entreated in whom are in India, 15 in China, 3 in earnest terms to dispatch 100 more Madagascar, and 2 in Samoa. Upward laborers into the harvest field without of 8000 scholars are taught in their 150 waiting for the guaranteed fuuds. This day and boarding schools. with which appeal, exhibiting a spirit of enterpris.

288 native agents, chiefly belonging to ing courage, ought to command prayer- India and China, are connected. The ful thought. To realize it, something entire school attendance in British India like £40,000 of an increase per annum was represented in 1888-89 by 2,901,160 will be necessary, which means thor.

girls snd 5,580,996 boys. A glorious ough.going liberality if the funds of ex· future was predicted for China by Miss isting institutions remain uninjured.

Mann, from Swatow, if the women of A telegram reporting the death of the that land could be won for the Master, Rev. James Gilmour, M.A., at Tientsin, in effecting which, women doctors and the devoted superintendent of the Mon· native Bible women were the principal golian Mission, has caused widespread need. regret. By his charming work " Among The ninety-seventh anniversary of the the Mongols" he was endeared to a large society has been held in Exeter Hall, section of the Christian public.

when it was stated that the year's in- come realized £114.293, an encouraging London Society for Promoting growth on the receipts of the preceding Christianity among the Jews.-It ap- year, though behind the current expendi- pears that the society has 130 agents, of ture by a sum of £14,597-a deficit whom 78 are Christian Israelites. The partly due to the rise in the value of silo stations are 38 in number; 6 being in ver in India, and a decrease in legacies. England,. 18 in Europe, 6 in Asia, and 8 The society's English missionaries num· in Africa. By the society's aid the Jews ber 159 ; female missionaries, 39; nil.· have the Scriptures in their own hand, together with a Hebrew translation of Baptist Missionary Society.-Markthe New Testament. It has circulated ed vigor has characterized the anni- 170,809 complete copies of the Old versary proceedings of this venerable Testament; 415,896 parts of the same, society. in spite of a debt of £10,500, and sold or given away 221,112 copies which stands against it. The honored of the New Testament. In the United secretary, the Rev. A. H. Baynes, is not Kingdom there are about 5000 Christian easily daunted. Lack of means rather Israelites. Last year's income was than of men is the regretted difficulty.

£36,768. The Rev. T. Lewis and R. D. Darby, of the Congo Mission, delivered thrilling British and Foreign Bible Society. addresses, illustrative of the power -No less than 4,000,000 copies of the which the Gospel is exercising over the Scriptures, whole or in part, were cir- tribes along the Upper Congo. United culated last year by the society-an in. preparations are being made for the crease of 130,000 over the year 1889. celebration of the society's centenary, Though the total income was £217,148, next year, which will doubtless bto sig- the expenditure exceeded it by £14,435. nalized by memorable gatherings. The Altogether the society has issued 95 ver· society's treasurer, Mr. W. R. Rickett, sions of the Scriptures and circulated of London, has just contributed £5000 120,000,000 copies in 300 languages. to open the subscriptions toward the On account of the enlarged openings for sum of £100,000 which the Baptists have the distribution of the Bible. a strong pledged themselves to raise. An in- endeavor is being made to improve the come of £7992 was received in 1890 for society's returns. the Ladies' Zenana Society, whose staff is shortly to be enlarged.

Church Missionary Society.-Never has this great organization had more The Wesleyan Missionary Society.

prosperity in all departments of its -In the mission districts occupied by operations than in the course of the past the society, the secretary says that the year, notwithstanding the occurrence joy of harvest is almost overpowered by of some vexed questions of mission- the loud calls for reapers. Reports of ary policy on the Niger and in Palestine. growth come from France, Germany, The Divine blessing reached a climax in and Austria. Ceylon afforded proof of the historic meeting.place in the Strand, aggressive Christianity, taking hold of London, in May last, on the occasion of thousands of the natives. From the Ind- the ninety·second anniversary. Over· ian field rose a note of sadness on ac- flowing audiences assembled. The year's count of limited resources, preventing income was £247,737, and the payments the missionaries grappling with the de- £239,208. Missionary achievements in mands for the message. South Central East and West Africa, Mid-China, South African missions had been much dis- India, the Punjab, and other fields were turbed by the rush to the gold.mining narrated in glowing terms by missiona- regions. Stations on the coaRt of West ries on furlough. As the writer hinted Africa were happily in a flourishing con_ in the June number of the MISSIONARY dition. Progress was announced in the REVIEW, Bishop Tucker is making a hur- Honduras district of Central America ried visit home from Uganda. A pub- lind in the Bahamas. The year's income lic reception has been accorded to him, was £122,072 against an expenditure of in which he graphically stated the obsta- £132,885, making a total debt with that cles in the way of direct progress in of 1889 of £19,377, mainly due to the Uganda, and spoke of the methods about increased cost of sustaining existing sta- to be pursued in extending the Master's tions. In an optimistic vein the chair- kingdom and glory throughout Mwan- man remarked on this discouraging ga's dominions. statement, that he preferred success, in face of a diminished income, to a large- the sixth annual report of this noble ly increased income coupled with barren organization every proof is afforded of missionary labors. The Rev. John Wal- the philanthropic aid, admirable manton, Senior Secretary of the Wesleyan agement, and progressiveness achieved Foreign Missionary Society, has just re- by its founder and controllers. The tired on a supernumerary grant, after a statistics are astonishing. In 1890 upworthy career of ministerial toil, half of ward of 411,691 women were treated by which was spent on distant shores. the lady staff, as compared with 280,694 in 1889. More surprising was the pro- Zenana Bible and Medical Mis- portional increase of in.patients in the sion.-The supporters, chiefly ladies, hospitals, represented by 8159 women, are rejoicing over a year of progress over against 3603 in the previous year. marked by total subscriptions amount- This is an unmistakable sign of the aping to £17,500, the largest sum received preciation in which the fund's endeavors since the formation of the society in are held by the native women. The 1852 : 260 missionaries and assistants medical staff consists of 13 lady doctors, (an increase of 16), 2120 Zenanas under 27 assistant surgeons, and 204 pupils at visitation (an increase of 740), 73 the various medical colleges and hosschools (an increase of 10), and 29 sta- pitals. It is strange to hear of a school tions. Pupils in the schools and Zena- of medicine having been opened for nas numbered 6034, having increased Hindu women to study anatomy and by some 1800. Bible women visited in kindred subjects. The charitable fund 939 villages (an increase of 534), and in in England has not commanded the as- 2789 houses, making 1600 of an addi- sistance which it demands, and, on the tion. There were 2 hospitals and 5 dis- other hand, the liberality of wealthy pensaries, with five lady doctors in at- Hindus requires to 'be cultivated in tendance. The in-patients for the year order to make so worthy an institution had been 326 (an increase of 43) ; out- a national blessing. patients, 6963 (an increase of 1300); and dispensary attendances, 22,056, Mission to Lepers in India.-In an showing an increase of 1274. At Ben. effective, economical, and devoted manares the foundation of a new hospital ner this British Society is extending had been laid (the gift of a lady), and its operations. It has in India over 20 another at Lucknow, as a memorial of centres of activity. It asks but £6 a Lord Kinnaird's mother. Miss Leitch year to support one leper, and £20 for has made an eloquent plea to British the same period to furnish a Christian ladies for more sacri fice, stating that if teacher to any of its asylums. The outthe natives of India are to hear the Gospel side cost of building a home is estimat- 'in the present generation, not less than ed at £:110. It is said that the lepers 5000 additional missionaries are needed, are touchingly susceptible to Gospel inwhich the society sustained by appeal- fluences, lind lately a Burmese mising for £30,000, that its income and work sionary remarked that their conversion might be doubled. The Misses Leitch, was the best means of propagating the recently accepted for service abroad by Gospel throughout India, inaf'mueh as the mission,have doubled their subscrip- the example of the patience under suftion of £200 this year. Of the 140,000,- ferings of the victims to leprosy every- 000 women and girls in India (according where producecl a strong impression. to the last census), only a very few have been reached by the missionaries of the The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.-Among crOSR. its special features during the past year, besides the splendid income, are the Lady Dufferin's Fund for Medical extensicn of the episcopate by the con- Aid to the Women of India.-From secration of the first Bishop of Chota India has resulted in the adoption of a Nagpur; the actual commencement of minute which recognizes the undoubted -the mission to New Guinea, and the value of educational institutions, in- Bishop of Bloemfontein's enterprising cluding the need of a visible connection operations in the enormous tract of between these and evangelistic labors. country opened up by the British South It further recommended that, in view of Africa Chartered Company. With the evangelical benefits not keeping pace eight bishops there are 660 ordained with those following the departments of missionaries on the society's lists. education, there was a loud call to give These embrace 127 natives, laboring in the former more time and energy than Asia, and 29 in Africa. At the various previously. A limited sum was voted missions were about 2300 lay teachers, for education, beyond which any funds 2600 students in the society's colleges, received were to be apportioned to evanand 38,000 children in the mission gelization. Both vernacular and medi. schools in Africa and Asia. At the cal mission work in India were reOf- 190th anniversary of the society, the ganized and extended in 1890. Bishop of Derry observed, in his sermon in St. Paul's Cathedral, that in British Very gratifying accounts were given India 40 years ago there were 113,000 of the six missionary colleges in India followers of Christ; some 20 years later and South Africa. At Lovedale and 318,000; and now over 2,000,000. At Blythswood, in Africa, the buildings this rate of progress, he surmised there were about to be enlarged. Free Church would be from 36,000,000 to 40,000,000 missions are being commenced in East Christians in India in 2091. Central A1:rica by the inauguration of a New Lovedale in the country, lying be- Anglo-Indian Temperance Associa- tween Mombasa and Victoria Nyanza, tion.-This vigorous agency, helpful in the funds for which are contributed by many phases of Hindu life, is better Scotch directors of the East African known in India than abroM. In the Company. The results of mission work last winter campaign above 100 meet- in 1390 show that 523 adults were bap. ings were addressed, attended by aggre- tized, oi whom 95 were in India, 229 in gate audiences numbering 200,000 per- Caffraria, 184. in Natal, 12 in Li.vingsons. It is rejoicing in the decreed stonia, and 3 in the New Hebrides, and abolition of the out-still system, the 173 admitted on profession. The chilclosing of 10,000 liquor shops in Mad- dren baptized were 731, and the candiras, and their diminution in the Pun- dates for baptism or full communion jab. The evils of the traffic in India numbered 1788. Students and scholars were lamentable and a great hindrance in the 6 colleges and 307 schools were to mission work. Connected with the returned at 22,131 ; of these, 1275 are association are 77 temperance societies, university undergraduates. There were 32 of these being officered by missiona- 26 stations and 198 branches, G895 naries. The young Indian gentlemen tive communicants, 67 ordained misstudying in the English universities are sionaries, of whom 52 were Scottish; 7 reported to be abstainers. licensed native preachers, 11 medical missionaries, 58 European professors The Free Church of Scotland's and teachers, and 439 native teachers; Foreign Missions.-Most encouraging 217 artisan catechists and Bible women, reports were presented to the Assembly making a total Christian agency of 799. in Edinburgh on the position of its mis- Probably the Free Church has no equal sions in Europe, the British colonies, in the number of missionaries which and foreign landlil, to the latter of which she supports or sends forth. The area our present referenco is confined. The and stations over which her flag is unstorm of a year past respecting the al- furled include India, with 7 principal leged failure of educational effort in and 75 branch stations; Kaffraria, with 9 principal -and 63 branch stations; but on this point Captain Lugard speaks Natal, with 3 principal and 24 branch loss hopefully_ He apprehends that the stations; Livingstonia, with the famous intrigues of the Roman Catholics for Bandawe headquarters, to which 23 court favor may provoke disturbances branches are attached; New Hebrides, eventually. For the safe navigation of with chief stations at Aneityum and the great lake, the committee of the Futuna, having 6 branches; Syria, with Church Missionary Society have dis- principal Etation at Shweir and 7 patched a steel boat. It is expected that branches; South Arabia, with the a larger craft will be sent on in a few Sheikh Othman station. In the course months.

of the past ten years the sum raised for A Loss to the Niger Mission.-News mission work outside the United King- to hand of the death of the Rev. J. A. dom has increased from £38,735 to £94,- Robinson, a co-leader with Mr. Grah_am 385 per annum-a bright index of the Wilmot Brooke, of the recently underconsecration of the Free Church to mis- taken mission to the Upper Niger and sionary obligations_ the Soudan, will be received with regret, Baptist Missions in China.-Dr. mote especially following the serious Glover, of Bristol, and the Rev. T. M. troubles in connection with this hazard- Morris, of Ipswich, have returned from ous enterprise. He lent much assisttheir miilsionsl'y tour through China. ance to' the Church Missionary Society They speak in glowing terms of the in their late Niger inquiry. For the character, magnitude, and success of tbo cause of Mohammedan missions in that work of missions in that empire, and part of Africa, Mr_ Robinson gave up a particularly of the flourishing Baptist brilliant career and a large income at centre at Shantung. Their appreciation home. His attainments as a Cambridge of the worth of missions had been graduate were unusually promising. heightened by the visit. Here and there His personality recalled the figure of were failures, which only had compara- that scholarly and saintly missionary, tive significance in face of the promis- the Rev. Marsham Argles, who died a ing outlook of Chinese missions. Dr. few years back in the service of the 0;- Glover urges the importance of occa- ford Mission to Calcutta. Mr. Robin_ sional visitations to the stations abroad son was a man of inexhaustible energy, for mutual encouragement. and yet of such modesty that it-was with difficulty he could be persnaded to ac- The Call to Uganda.-Gratifying cept the post of joint leader of the misresults are attending Bishop Tucker's sion.

flying visit to this country. The 40 Ngamiland.-Now that this large termen required for Uganda and interven- ritory is under British protection, a ing mission stations are forthcoming. fresh opening ill offered to missionary Gifts are as freely being made. With' enterprise. Since Moremi s death, last the aid of the missionaries the native November, the government of the coun- converts of Uganda may become as use- try has been in the hands of Dithapo, the ful in spreading the faith as the possi- chief headman, as a kind of regent, as- bilities of the country are illimitable. sisted by other headmen. His weak- The sacrifice of the lives of Hannington, ness and unpopularity have been detri- Parker, Mackay, Hunt, Dunn, and like mental to the interests of the Towana.

heroes is bringing forth fruit~not im- nation, in consequence of which the probably the story of the Madagascar natives have begun to lean on Mr.

-mission may be repeated on the shores Strombone, of the African and General of Victoria Nyanza. Bishop Tucker Exploring Company. He is an oracle states that the quarrels of the Protes- to the natives, who take no steps of im- tants and Catbolics have ceased to exist; portance without his counsel. Very shortly Techome, a youth of 16, will -There is no marked decline in the come to the throne. In character he is African slave trade, according to current shy and unprepossessing, though cred- blue books. It seems to be diverted ited wibh ability, and may possibly fill rather than reclutJed.

the position in a satisfactory manner. E very missionary tells us that no He is a half-brother to Moremi, being a peril that beset him was half so great Bon of Leshulatebe by Khama's sister. as the chilling influence of surrounding He is not a Christian, but, like Khama, heathendom. We should pray that in a strong teetotaler. For two or three that stifling atmosphere they may be years his reign will be subject to the kept in the fresh air of the influence of guardianship of Ditha{lo and the head- the presence and power and peace of men. The company alluded to, repre- tho Lord Jesus Christ.-Rev. H. G. sented by Messrs. Rtrombone, Hicks, Moule. and Nicolls, has obtained valuable con- cessions, and may not unlikely urge the Rev. Dr. Narayan Sheshadri, tho friends of missions to extend their in- famous East Indian convert and preach- fluence in that <uarter. In the vicinity er, whose turbaned head and imposing of Ngamiiand are the wild tribes of the presence in his native Indian dress Namagua._ Dltmara, Bakwena, and others. attracted so much notice in tho Evan- The company's agent, Mr, H. O. 'Buckle, gelical Alliance, etc., died on the Circas- is due in England. sia on July 21st, atsea, on the passage to Miscellaneous. – The North African Glasgow, and was buried at sea. Tho Mission funds are much below receipts loss of this man will be very keenly of the corresponding period last year.- felt in the missions in India. Dr. She- Grave charges of mismanagement have shadri was a very keen-minded Brahman been mad'e against the directors of the priest, who, when converted, became Baptist Congo Mi8sion.-It is contem- the founder of a community of native plated by the LOllllon Missionary So- Christians, and has done as efficient work ciety to dispense with their district .as any maninHindustan. Hehad such deputation agents. The society is sec- a command of English and. was so highonding a pri vate appeal for a re-enforce- ly educated thab both in his own eountry mento! 100 mi~sionaries.-TheRev. Sil- and in Great Britain and the United vester Whitehead, formerly of 'China, States he was among the most eloquent has been appointed a secretary of the of men.

Wesleyan Missionary Society.-Thrill- It is a highly creditable fact that the ing accounts have arrived of the extraor- contributions of the Methodist Episco- dinary hardships endured by the mis- pal Church for Home and Foreign Mis- sion party of the Primitive Methodists on sions have during the last ten years an- their journey across the Zambesi, and of nually increased about $50,000. This M. Coillard's timely SUllcor of the gallant is separate from the income of the little hand. Work has been initiated at Woman's Board. The increase over the station. Strange to say, this new the corresponding eight months of last missionary campaign is causing a revival year, to July 1st, is $124,000. There is of home missionary work.-Messrq. Har. little doubt but thatthe$1,250,000appor_ ris and White, of the mission to the tioned will be raised this year, and the Central S:Judan, have completed a pre- Woman's Society will add a quarter of liminary missionary trip on foot from a million or more for foreign missions !Tunis to Gabes, a rlistance of 200 miles. to that.

They write of the hospitality accorded Out of Debt- Let us Keep Out.-For to them by the Arabs; who are in great the second time in a quarter of a cenneed of the Gospel and medical skill. tnry-once in 1887 and now again in The two friends are at Tripoli making 1891-unlesB all signs fail, the Missional'rangoments for an early march inland. ary Society will be out of debt on No- vember 1st, 1891.