Did space allow, Jessore, containing 4,217 towns and villages, with one Missionary and five Christian helpers; Rungpore, containing 4,206 towns and villages, with one Missionary and four Christian helpers; Rajshahye containing 4,228 towns and villages with one Missionary and 7 Christian helpers, and other examples might be indicated in detail. In closing let me add that besides these feebly occupied districts, there are other great and populous districts, without a single preacher of the Gospel. Malda contains half a million of people, but has no Missionary; Bogra has half a million, but no Missionary; Pubna has nearly a million people, living in 2,792 towns and villages, but there is no Missionary. These three districts, containing two millions of people, are but samples of many vast populous unworked districts throughout India; let this, however, be noted, here are three districts containing two millions of people, within a day's journey of Calcutta, in which no Church in all Christendom has a single Missionary. When a Missionary states these facts he sometimes feels himself to be like one crying in the wilderness: but if the fewness of the labourers in this great harvest field be proclaimed to the Churches by this Conference, then the voice may sound like a shout from the field of battle: it may be the trumpet call, to which a great army of Christian men and women shall respond. Districts altogether destitute. tokens. THE REV. W. HOOPER, C. M. S., Allahabad, in addressing the Encouraging meeting, said it would be easy for him to give information on Missionary work and Missionary enterprise, if wanted. But he would not do so now here. He would mention, however, some results that had come under his personal knowledge. He missed one-now gone to his rest-who had been a bigoted Brahmin, but a conscientious pundit who had become no common Christian. Last year he baptized a young Hindu who became converted by seeing a sentence in Hindi over their Mission School, and coming in, he was subsequently baptized, giving up a lucrative position. Only a week ago, on Christmas-day, the speaker said he baptized a Persian-a native of Shiraz-who was gaining a living in Allahabad by teaching gentlemen, and was not long ago a bigoted Sufi. Again in Allahabad he had baptized another pundit, who became convinced of Christian truth, but after a lengthened period of enquiry. He further mentioned the case of a native who was high up in the service, an Assistant Commissioner in the North-West, and how he was brought to Christ; also of another, who was a good Sanscrit scholar, and was brought to Christian truth by comparing the Shasters with the Bible. This man was almost a hopeless case at first. He was carried away by the Arya Somaj -a semi-political movement, full of false propositions and theories, which he joined. But he came to see the utter absurdity of the construction they put upon the Veda. He eventually called a meeting at the town hall of the place where he lived, where everybody knew him, and publicly made known his determina Need of Church. tion to be a Christian and renounce the Arya Somaj. The speaker last mentioned the case of Mr. Bateman, a Missionary of Lahore, who was much beloved, and who was lying ill of typhoid fever. There was, humanly speaking, no hope of his recovery, but he was literally prayed back into life by the Native Christians. He then spoke of the growth of the Native Church, espe. cially during the last decade, and mentioned what a member of the Civil Service in the Punjab lately told him. This gentleman was riding along the road, when a reis overtook him and said, "Tell your Missionaries not to despair. There is something taking place they know nothing about. The whole ground is undermined, and sooner than they expect, all will become Christians." After a hymn was sung, Mr. K. C. BANERJEA, of Calcutta, addressed the meeting. He said they must all have been thankful for the figures given by Mr. Payne. The work was going forward, and the Lord meant it to go forward. After some advice on this point, he referred to the policy of Missions. He said the Missionaries need to prove living epistles as well as union in the speaking epistles; they should show they loved the people. A little improvement in another point would go far to further their policy-that was to unite the divisions in the Christian Church. These divisions were stumbling-blocks in the way of usefulness, which should be removed. They also needed a strong Native agency to propagate the Gospel in this country. If only they realized all this, the Native Christians were destined to become a power in this country. No one would more rejoice than himself, to see a united Native Church in India, and in that joy he felt assured all Missionaries would participate. The Karen At the conclusion of Mr. Banerjea's address, the LieutenantGovernor left, General Sir H. Ramsay taking the chair. Dr. CUSHING, A.B.M., Rangoon, was the next speaker. He gave a short history of the rise and progress of the Mission in Burmah. He referred to converts among the Karens, giving some notable examples. One man had been a robber and a murderer, and subsequently became a sincere and useful preacher not only in the mountains of Tavoy, but in Pegu before its occupation by the English. The Karen Mission had a well graded system of schools; there were both jungle schools and town schools. They had also endeavoured to develop self-support in Native churches, and had been successful in many places. In Bassein there was not a single pastor receiving foreign pay; not a single school that was not supporting its own teacher. Another pleasant feature connected with these churches was the development of Missions and Missionary churches in Burmah. Speaking of Upper Burmah, he said they meant to occupy it yet. He was in Mandalay on a mission the very day of the first massacre. had been kindly received by the Prime Minister, and believed they would then have obtained a footing there, had it not been He for the massacres which took place, lasting for three days, and which were followed by the exodus of the English inhabitants. work at home. home THE REV. J. M. REID, Senior Secretary of the Missionary Society of the M. E. Church, New York, said:-The Church at home has most important relations to the Church in the Mission fields. I am one of the Secretaries of the youngest of the great Missionary organizations of the United States. I am here as an observer and learner, feeling almost unworthy to speak in this assembly of men and women who are doing the real work of Missions. Need of the It is mine to busy myself from year to year with affairs that are largely secular, and to many it might seem that I could have but little sympathy with these noble workers before me, or that my words could impart any inspiration to this great convention. I concede my humble relation. I am like the lad behind the screen who works the bellows for the organ, and it is for you to transmute this into melodies and harmonies almost divine. It may seem mere wind that we furnish from home, but without it, where would be the music? We are one in the work and in the grand result. My being here is a new departure, never before has an officer filling my place been in India; I rejoice in my pri. vilege, and now that I am here, I feel more than ever the importance of repeating such visits. Our Church has I think ceased to regard with disfavour or suspicion the returned Missionary. We Communion welcome him when worn with toil and weakened by disease he between the comes to his native land for rest and recuperation. But we churches and welcome him also when his bodily needs do not require this; after years of toil we wish him to come home for his soul's health, missionaries. that he may feel the throbbings and pulsations of the great heart of the Church at home,and gather faith and courage for a new campaign in the field. So I believe the officer administering at home needs to come into the field and learn how the Churches and workers there feel and act. Once the Missionaries were sent out with most minute instructions, now we send them out with only such obligations as any minister has assumed, and we commit the assignments to work and all details of the Missions entirely to themselves. It is needless to say we are gratified with the result. Now that I have seen India I am more confident than ever that it will yet be a Christian land. The number of native preachers and members, the introduction of woman's work, the advance of the press, the establishment of Sunday schools, the spread of other schools, and the founding of Colleges and Theological and Medical Schools, all of which appear before this Convention in a new aspect, and some of them for the first time, all these are indicative of a new and still more prosperous era for Christianity in India. We are entrusting the Church here with The Indian these great responsibilities, because we desire them finally to assume them entirely. We want an Indian Church. Not that I anticipate one solidified Native Church, or the figment of Keshab Chunder Sen of a National Church for India. Indian Christians the Church will not be uniform. will think for themselves and differ among themselves, and those who think alike will crystallize together. Yet they will be oneone as the sea with numerous waves-one as the firmament with many stars-one army, marching to the same victory, but that army divided into regiments each with its own device and banner. It is ours, brethren, to work each in his own sphere, doing as well as he can till God in the ripeness of some future period will give us this great empire for our Master. God will, when all is ready, suddenly crown us with this joy. Christ was promised, but how long was it before He came, and in the end how unexpectedly the Star of Bethlehem appeared in the sky. In my own country how long the abolition of slavery was hopelessly agitated; but when all was ready, God simply put a pen in the hand of Abraham Lincoln and bade him write liberty for the millions. The Bible indicates a latter day of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost,-the Church will be ready in the day of Divine power, and then will come a victory so complete that the whole world shall be the Lord's Resolution. Population of Hindus. We send you herewith a copy of a Resolution unanimously passed by the Decennial Missionary Conference, which recently met in Calcutta. The Conference was attended by about 470 persons, chiefly men and women engaged in Missionary work in India, Burmah, and Ceylon. It was the largest gathering of Missionaries ever yet held; and it was in a most marked degree characterised by the spirit of brotherly love, hopefulness, and confidence in our work, and of strong faith in the great Christian verities in which all Evangelical Christians are agreed. The Resolution is as follows:-[See page 387.] In connection with this Resolution, we would call to the following facts: : your attention 1. The population of India is fully 250,000,000,-seven times as large as that of the United Kingdom, and five times as large as that of the United States. 2. Of this number nearly 190 millions may be considered as Hindus in religion, worshipping lords many and gods many, deities who in many cases are incarnations of lust and wickedness. Hinduism has its philosophy for the thoughtful, and its popular religion for the masses; it is cemented by the system of caste into a compact whole; and it thus presents a most formidable obstacle to the spread of the Gospel. 3 About 50,000,000 of the people of India are Maho- Mahomedans. medans-a far larger number than own the sway of the Sultan or any other Mahomedan potentate. In all lands the Mahomedans are amongst the most bigoted religionists with whom we have to deal; and in India the converts from Islam have been fewer than from other religions. Yet there have been many Moslems who have felt the converting power of God's grace; and in a country like India, under Christian rule, Missionaries have special advantages which are not enjoyed in Mahomedan countries. The Mahomedans, having so many points in common with Christians, appear to have a special claim on us; and yet but few Missionaries in India prepare themselves specially for labour among them. It is very desirable that more men should be sent out for this special work. tribes. 4. The rest of the population is mainly aboriginal, living partly Aboriginal on the hills and partly on the plains. Those on the hills are divided into many tribes, speaking different languages, and having their own religions, except where they have become Hinduised. These tribes offer less resistance to the Gospel than the Hindus and Mahomedans; a large number of them have been gathered into the fold of Christ; and these often develop a higher type of Christian manliness and earnestness than converts from the plains. The people of aboriginal origin who live on the plains have become for the most part Hinduised, but they have less of pride and bigotry to oppose the Gospel than those of pure Aryan descent. Hence a large proportion of the converts in India have been gained from this class. 5. The English language is spreading at a rapid rate in India, particularly in large centres; and a yearly increasing number of the people, of special importance owing to their education and social position, are accessible to evangelistic effort in English even more readily than in the vernacular. Spread of the English language. of India. 6. A large number of totally distinct languages are spoken in Languages India. Hence a considerable amount of Christian talent and energy has to be employed in the translation and revision of the Scriptures and the preparation of religious tracts and books in these various dialects. 7. In Burmah and Ceylon the Missionaries have special diffi- Buddhism. culties in the Buddhism which prevails in those countries. It is a system of religion which, perhaps more than any other, deadens the religious sensibilities of the people, and renders them very slow to appreciate the blessings of the Gospel. On the other hand, the Karens and other non-Buddhistic tribes in Burmah have been amongst the most ready to welcome the message of salvation. |