J. HUDSON TAYLOR, 8, Pyrland Road, London, N. Directors B. BROOMHALL, Secretary. CHARLES T. FISHE, Assistant Secretary. Office of Mission :-4, PYRLAND ROAD, MILDMAY, LONDON, N. Honorary Auditors :-Messrs. THEODORE JONES, HILL, and VELLACOTT, I, Finsbury Circus, London. All donations to be addressed to Richard Harris Hill, Hon. Sec., at 2, Pyrland Road, London, N. Post Office Orders to be made payable at the General Post Office. It is suggested that, for greater safety, Postal Orders should, when practicable, be used for small sums. Donors will greatly oblige by saying how they should be addressed, whether as Mrs., Miss, Rev., Mr., or Esq. In the case of a donation, or part of it, being intended as a contribution towards the support of a Missionary or native helper, or for any particular branch of the work, it is requested that this may be stated very clearly; and any sums of money sent for transmission to a Missionary, and not intended as a donation to the Mission towards the support of the receiver, should be clearly indicated as for transmission only. DONATIONS RECEIVED DURING OCTOBER, 1885. S. d. Oct No. of Rec. 6 6 I о O 10 O 0 15 2 9969 0 15 9970 O 10 £ S. d. Oct. No. of Rec £ S. d. Oct. No. of Rec. £ s. d Oct. No. of Rec. £ s. d. Brot. ford. 112 13 3 Brot. ford.637 7 2 7. 9960 5 39 O 10 O O 7 6 14. 10010 10099 0 28. 10101 10102 10103 I O I 32 I 7 10050 70 C 10106 5 10068 2 10 о 10114 10069 Card, ford. £112 13 3 Card. ford. £637 7 2 Card. ford. 1081 4 8 Card. ford. £1389 7 11 The following articles, kindly sent for sale, are also acknowledged with many thanks :— October 9th (72) Mrs. P., pearl neckJace, brooch and earrings, 2 pairs gold earrings; (73) R. E., for outfits, silver necklace. -October 10th (74) Anon., gold ring with pearls; Anon., set gold studs and sleeve links.- October 12th (75) Ealing, gold ring with pearls-October 13th (76) Phil. iv. 9; 12 Indian silver bangles-October 14th (77) The Misses G., gold-mounted hair bracelet, coins, and sundries; (78) Mrs. G., lady's gold watch and chain, silver vinaigrette, gold trinkets and key-October 26th (79) Anon. at Conference Hall, Mildmay, coral necklace. -October 29th (80) Haggai ii. 8, silver locket and chain, 2 silver teaspoons, 2 silver coins, gold ring jewelled, gold ring with turquoises, small silver locket, part of gold do. HE following appeal, issued at Mr. Moody's Convention, Northfield, is a cause for praise to God, and yet a very solemn message to every believing reader. Will the Master say of each of us that we have done what we could--all we could to carry out His parting command to preach the Gospel to every creature? "To fellow-believers of every name scattered through the world, greeting: Assembled in the name of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, with one accord in one place, we have continued for ten days in prayer and supplication, communing with one another about the common salvation, the blessed hope, and the duty of witnessing to a lost world. T was near to our place of meeting that in 1747, at Northampton, Mass., Jonathan Edwards sent forth his trumpet peal calling upon disciples everywhere to unite in prayer for an effusion of the Spirit upon the whole habitable globe. That summons to prayer marked a new epoch in the Church of God. Praying bands began to gather in this and other lands. Mighty revivals of religion followed; immorality and infidelity were wonderfully checked; and, after more than 1500 years of apathy and lethargy, the spirit of missions was reawakened. In 1792, the monthly concert was begun, and the first missionary society formed in England. In 1793, William Carey, the pioneer missionary, sailed for India. Since then over 100 missionary boards have been organised, and probably not less than 100,000 missionaries DECEMBER, 1885. including women, have gone forth into the harvest field. The pillar has moved before these humble followers, and the two-leaved gates have opened before them until the whole world is accessible. The ports and portals of Pagan, Moslem, and even Papal lands are now unsealed, and the last of the hermit. nations welcomes the missionary. Results of missionary labour in the Hawaiian and Fiji islands, in Madagascar, in Japan, probably have no parallel even in apostolic days, while even Pentecost is surpassed by the ingathering of 10,000 converts in one station in India within sixty days in the year 1868. The missionary bands had scarce compassed the walls and sounded the Gospel trumpet, when these walls fell, and we have but to march straight on and take possession of Satan's strongholds. "God has thus in answer to prayer opened the door of access to the nations. Out of the pillar there came once more a voice: 'Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.' And yet the Church of Christ is slow to move in response to the providence of God. Nearly 800,000,000 of the human race are yet without the Gospel, vast districts are yet unoccupied. So few are the labourers that if equally dividing the responsibility each must care for at least 100,000 souls. And yet there is an abundance of men and women in the Church to give the Gospel to every living creature before this century closes. If but 10,000,000 out of 400,000,000 of nominal Christians would undertake such systematic labour as that each one of that number should in the course of the next fifteen years reach 100 other souls with the Gospel message, the whole present population of the globe would have heard the glad tidings by the year 1900! Our Lord's own words are, 'Go ye and disciple all nations.' This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.' Peter exhorts us both to look for and hasten the coming of the day of God. And what if our inactivity delays His coming? Christ is waiting to see of the travail of His soul, and we are impressed that two things are just now of great importance; first, the immediate occupation and evangelisation of the destitute districts of the world's population, and, second, a new effusion of the Spirit in answer to united prayer. "If at some great centre, like London or New York, a great council of evangelistic believers could meet to consider the wonder-working of God's providence and grace in mission-fields, and how fields that are unoccupied may be insured from any further neglect, and to arrange and adjust the work so as to prevent needless waste and friction among workmen, it might greatly further the glorious object of the world's evangelisation, and we earnestly commend the suggestion to the prayerful consideration of the various bodies of Christian believers and the various missionary organisations. What a spectacle it would present both to angels and to men, could believers of every name, forgetting all things in which they differ, meet by chosen representatives to enter systematically and harmoniously upon the work of sending forth labourers into every part of the world-field! "But, above all else, our immediate and imperative need is a new spirit of earnest and prevailing prayer. The first Pentecost covered ten days of united, continued supplication. Every subsequent advance may be divinely traced to believing prayer, and upon this must depend a new Pentecost. We therefore earnestly appeal to all disciples to join us in importunate and daily supplication for a new and mighty effusion of the Holy Spirit upon all ministers, missionaries, evangelists, pastors, teachers, and Christian workers, and upon the whole earth, that God would impart to all Christ's witnesses the tongues of fire, and melt hard hearts before the burning message. It is not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord that all true success must be secured; let us call upon God till He answereth by fire! What we are to do for the salvation of the lost must be done quickly, for the generation is passing away, and we with it. Obedient to our marching orders, let us go to all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, while from our very hearts we pray, Thy Kingdom come.' "Grace, mercy, and peace be with you all. Done in Convention at Northfield, Mass., Aug. 14, 1885." A Journey in Hu-nan. FROM MR. DORWARD. HA-SHI, June 5th.-I have lately returned from taking a short journey in Hu-nan, during the greater part of which I was accompanied by the converted Buddhist priest. I did not give him any wages, but only allowed him the proceeds of the books he sold. If he goes on to make progress, he may yet be able to render good service for the LORD JESUS. His is in some respects a peculiar case; he has never earned a living by business, and having been used to live the lazy life of a priest, he has not sufficient energy for it, although he has a good deal of ability. I am thinking of supplying him with books for a few months in order to see how he gets on. From Sha-shï I took a passage on a boat with Mr. Chang to Tsin-shï, and stayed there four days. We arrived on the LORD'S day morning, and we had meetings afternoon and evening in a room in the inn. There were six or seven outsiders at each meeting. I went about pretty freely, and the people took comparatively little notice of me. The boatman Ting, whose acquaintance I made the first time I visited Tsin-shi, comes about our two native brethren a good deal, and he would not hear of my leaving without having a meal at his house. I am sorry to say he has not yet come out boldly for the truth. He acknowledges that it is the fear of man that keeps him back, but I am afraid the truth has not yet laid hold of his heart. Pray for him. Since I left, the brethren have rented a house, and he acted as one of the middle men. At Tsin-shi the priest and I engaged a small boat, but after nine days we gave it up and travelled by land. We sold a good many books, and throughout the journey I met with no unpleasantness from the people. Many of them would not believe that I was a foreigner. We left Tsin-shi on the 7th of May, and the first place we visited was Kiao-k'i, a small town only seventy li distant; but as the water had risen somewhat, and the wind as well as the current was against us, it occupied nearly two days to get there. We had not very good sales, and did not make a lengthened stay. On the evening of Saturday, May 9th, we reached Ganhsiang Hien. We spent the LORD'S day in quiet, but towards evening went on shore and preached to a crowd of people, and also gave away some sheet tracts. We spent Monday on the streets selling books. The priest is a native of this hien, and consequently he has a great many relatives and acquaintances here. I went with him and called at the house of some of them, and we had an opportunity of bearing a little testimony. On Tuesday we again went on the streets and sold books, but had not such good sales as the previous day. I had dinner with some of the priest's relatives. On Wednesday morning we left Gan-hsiang Hien, and in the afternoon reached a small town called San-cha-ho. This town has sprung into existence during the last ten years, and promises to have a considerable trade for its size, chiefly in grain. At present it has a population of about 200 families, but a few months ago nearly every house in the town was burnt down. On Thursday morning we again spent some time on shore selling books. About noon we left, but we had not travelled far when the wind, which was contrary, got very high, and we had a slight mishap with the boat. In the evening we decided that if we could make suitable arrangements we would leave the boat and travel, part of the way at least, by land. We were now at a small village called Ting-kang, and as the priest has some relatives here, he went on shore and arranged that we should take our luggage to their house, and spend the night. The next morning we both took a bundle of books on our backs and started for Hwa-iong Hien. After walking seven li, we stopped at a small village for breakfast, and sold a number of books. Fifteen li further we came to a larger village, and again sold a fair number of books. From here we travelled eight li, and came to a town called Nien-ü-hsü, and put up at an inn. The next day, being LORD'S day, we rested. One or two men in business in a shop opposite to the inn came across to have some talk with us, and one of them pressed me to go over to their shop, which we did, explaining the Gospel to those who were present. On Monday we went through the town and sold a good many books. As we were nearly out of books, we returned in the afternoon to Ting-kang for a further supply. We hoped to have left again on Tuesday, but it was raining heavily all day, and consequently we were unable to travel. We had some long conversations with a schoolmaster who has a small school in the front of the house. About noon I caught a chill, which made me feel rather poorly. I lost my appetite, and in the evening my whole body ached severely, so that I was afraid I was going to have an attack of ague, or some other illness. Happily, however, through the goodness of GOD, I was sufficiently well the next morning to warrant our again starting. We should have reached Hwa-iong Hien that evening, but it began to rain so very heavily that we had to stop. There was no village where we were, and no inns, and it was only after some little difficulty that the people at a farmhouse consented to put us up for the night. Our clothes were wet, but we made a fire with reeds (used as fuel) and dried them; and as beggars must take what they can get, we had to be satisfied with some straw spread on the clay floor in place of a bed. We had no bedding with which to cover ourselves, nor had the people any to give us, but we kept on our clothes, and a man in the house lent us his wadded gown to use as a coverlet, so that we passed the night with thankful hearts, and rose somewhat refreshed in the morning. I was told that during the last twenty years the physical aspect of the district through which we had been travelling has entirely altered. In former years much of it was covered with water, and formed several lakes, but now the district is rich with cultivated fields, which lie comparatively high, watered with a network of good large rivers. The bed of a river-formerly, perhaps, the only one in the district-is now dry, and in some parts cultivated as rice-fields; graves which were at one time on the surface are said to be now ten feet or more underground; and at one place we passed a square of green grass which is said to mark the site of a temple that some ten to twenty years ago stood on high ground, but year by year the surrounding district appears (by the courses of nature) |