jintrion iltoinjttrian.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1867
RESIGNATION OF MR. BARNES.
Rev. Albert Barnes, yielding to the urgent re
presentations of his physicians, presented his resig
nation as pastor of the First Church of this city,
on Sabbath morning last. However long this
event has been anticipated, its actual occurence
is a blow more painful than we can describe.
We defer what we have to say upon it to another
time.
We have to report two more Presbyteries
of the other branch, as reversing the record of
their Commissioners at Cincinnati, in favor of Re
union : Schuyler (Illinois) and Long Island,
making five in all which have taken this course.
Crawfordsville Presbytery, which was divided. in
its Assembly, now votes against the Committee's
plan. Peoria, W. Lexington and Missouri River
vote no, and New Albany votes yea, as before.
CALLS.—Rev. M. L. P. Thompson, D. D.,
has received and accepted a call to the Pres
byterian Church of Jamestown, and is to be
installed there on the second Tuesday of
November.
Rev. C. H. A. Bulkley has received a Call
to the Presbyterian church of Le Roy.
REV. JOHN M. KREBS, D. D., 35 years
Pastor of Rutger's St. Church, New York,
died at H o'clock A. M., on Sept. 30th. He
was Chairman of the re-union committee of
the other branch.
IT is stated that Rev. Dr. Spring assisted
Rev. Dr. Tyng in the services of St. George's
P. E. Church, on Sunday Sept. 29th. Dr.
Spring appeared in the church with a black
gown on, and said the closing prayers at the
request of the rector.
TOE PRESBYTERY OF WILMINOTON.—The
Wilmington Presbytery held its semi-annual meet
ing at Felton, Kent county, Delaware, Sept. 17,
and was opened with a sermon by Rev . . Edward
Webb, of Glasgow. Rev. Chas. Holloway was
dismissed to the Cortland Presbytery. M . r..John
P. McLear, elder of Hanover street Church was
made the Presbytery's Standing Committee on
Sabbath schools, and the committee was directed
to call a general convention of Sabbath-school su
perintendents and teachers at Middletown in No
vember next. The Church at Felton being with
out a session by the death of its only remaining
elder, the Presbytery through a committee re
ceived eight persons by certificate into its mem
bership, ordered an election of elders, and ap
pointed a time and made arrangements for an
early administration of the Lord's Supper. A
committee was appointed with powers to organ
ize a Church at Lincoln. On the afternoon of
Wednesday addresses were made on the subject
of " The Lay Power in our Churches," by
Messrs. Allman, Webb, Allison and Severance;
on Foreign Missions by Mr. Webb ; and on
Home Missions by Mr. Gaylord. The next sta
ted meeting on the third Tuesday of April, was
appointed to be held at Port Penn. The
order of exercises to be—opening sermon by Dr.
Patton ; Wednesday morning, addresses on " Sys
tematic Beneficence," by Messrs. Webb, Aikman
and Matthews; afternoon, addresses on " Family
Religion," by Messrs. Shaw, Patton and Crowell;
Thursday morning, addresses on Sabbath-schools,
by Messrs. Webb, Schofield, Gaylord and Emer
son.
FROM OUR CHICAGO CORRESPONDENT.
DEAR AMERICAN: The Presbytery of Chica
go convened on Monday evening last, at the
Westminster Church in this city, for the purpose
of installing Rev. David Swing over said Church.
The sermon usual to this 'service . was delivered
by Rev. J. A. Larimore, of the Seventh; the
charge to the pastor by Rev. Arthur Swazey, Cl
wonder some ipstitution does not • do itself the
honor of attaching the " semi-lunars" to this'
name), of the Third, and the charge to the peo
ple by the former pastor, Rev. E. A. Pierce, of
the Calvary Churoh of this city. -The charge to
the new pastor was a model of its kind' in thought,
in expression, and manner, though-somewhat
lengthy. The office of the "Prophetes7, under
the New Testament dispensation was analyzed
and illustrated, and the qualifications and, work
of the prophet admirably set forth and enforced.
And I may add that it ig exemplified each Lord's
Day in the pulpit so well filled by this esteemed
brother.
Mr. Swing is a recent acquisition to our ranks
from the Q. S. body. May they send' us many
more of the same order ! During the , few months
he has filled the pulpit now his own, he has ga
thered around hiM, in addition to those already
worshipping there,.a fine and intellectual con
gregation of persons whom his brilliant talents
as a preacher Irave attracted to, him. Were this
church more eligibly situated, it could not fail to
speedily outgrow its present accommodations.
CHICAGO, Sept. 27, 1867
NORTH-WEST
THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1867.
The American Board.
ANNUAL MEETING AT BUFFALO.
This venerable organization commenced its Annual
Meeting in Buffalo, on Tuesday, Sept. 24th, at three
o'clock, P. M.
First Day.—Tuesday.
At the hour appointed, a goodly number of the
members of the Board and of the friends of Missions,
were already in attendance at the place of meeting—
the North Church, and the President, Rev. Mark
Hopkins, D.D., of William's-College, promptly called
the,meeting to order. The session was opened with
prayer by the venerable Dr. Aiken, of Cleveland,
Ohio, and Rev. W. M. Cheever, of Terre Haute, Ind.,
was appointed Assistant Recording Secretary, The
Minutes of the last meeting were read by Rev. Jno.
0. Means, the Recording Secretary, after which Dr.
Walter Clarke, Heacock and others, were appointed
a Committee of Arrangements.
At this point Secretary Treat moved that a Com
mittee be appointed to nominate the various standing
Committees, fifteen in all. These Committees have
generally been appointed by the President, which
makes his duties very arduous at the commencement
of the meeting. The President preferred that this
service should be performed by others, or that the
appointment of these working Committees 'should be
by the Board itself. The motion prevailed, without
objection. Rev. Dr. Holbrook, T. P. Handy, Esq . .,
and Rev. C. P: Bush, D.D., were appointed such nomi
nating Committee.
Secretary Treat next presented an abstract of the
Report of the Prudential Committee in the Home
Department.
Nine corporate members have died since the last
annual meeting, to wit: Jeremiah Day, D D., LL D.,
Rev. Sylvester Holmes, Joel Hawes,. D. D, William
Jenks, D. D., Hon. Charles W. Rockwell, Hon. John
Aiken, William H. Brown, Esq., Rev. Thornton A.
Mills, Lewis H. Delarie, Esq. Thirty persons have
been engaged 'in the "missionary - work-, for the first
time, within the past year, including four children of
missionaries ; and twenty-one have re-entered upon
the service after visiting this country for a season.
The income of the year has been as follows: From do
nations, $350,672.08; from legacies, $74,428.44; from
other sources, $l2, 784.25; making a total of $437,
884.77. There was a balance in favor of the treasury,
September Ist, 1866, of $6,206.97; now there is a
balance against it of $4,432.34.
A blessing was invoked by the Rev. Dr. Wisner,
of Ithaca, at the conclusion of which N. G. Clark,
D. D., read the report of a general survey of the
Foreign Field,
from which we condense the following:
Seven members of the missionary circle have been
called to rest from their labors; two of the fathers
after long and successful labor. Dr. Goodell, Mr.
Emerson, Miss Crawford, Mr. Walker, at Diarbekir ;
Mr. Giles, of Cesarea; Mrs. Adams, of Aintab ; and
Harding, of Sholapoor, in the Mahratta Mission.
For the same cause, in a great measure, aggravated
by the lack of reinforcements in past years; a larger
number than usual have been obliged to return home.
In the Eastern Turkey Mission, but three families re
main out of nine reported there a year ago. A net
addition of twenty-four, however, is reported to the
working force in the, field- during the past year, and
eight or ten others are expected to go out within a
few weeks. Eleven new churches have been organized,
twenty-two native pastors settled, and the force of na
tive laborers enlarged from eight hundred and fifteen
to nine hundred and twenty-eight. The additions to
the various churches amount to I,467—nearly a half
more than during. the previous year. The Hawaiian
Christians build their own churches, support their na
tive ministry, and their entire educational system, with
the exception of a single female boarding school, and
have their own foreign mission to the Marquesas Is
lands, besides co-operating with-the Board in its work
in Micronesia. In Eastern Turkey, one half of the
entire expense of carrying on the work in the fifty
four villages and cities connected with the Kharpoot
Station, aside from the salaries of the missionaries and
the partial support of the seminaries, is met by the
native Christians. In the Central and Western Tur
key Missions alike spirit is being developed with like
happy results. A self-supporting church, with its own
native pastor, marks a new era in the history of the
Ceylon Mission. Three new boarding schools have
been established the present year, nine single ladies
have been sent out. Two are to engage in direct mis
sionary labor, going from house to house, gathering
women and children about them as they can to tell
them the story of Christ.
Gaboon ldission.—Our brethren have barely been
able to hold their own this year.
Zulus.—The past year has witnessed
. greater reli
gious interest than ever before, and a more general
desire for religious instruction.
Greece.—Dr. King:has .lust returned to the scene of
his former labors.
Western Asia.—Large accessions have been made to
the Christian community; larger audiences have ga
thered to hear the gospel—in one instance eighteen
hundred to attend a concert. of prayer. At one ata
don there hav,e been eighty addditions to the churches,
at another forty. In Western Turkey, the proinise of
last year is being ftilfilled. The work among the Bul
garians has reached .a point requiring a large rein
forcement. From Constantinople, during the year,
more than thirty thousand copies of the Scriptures
have been•distriblited, till Dr. West, of Sivas, finds
the Scriptures in most of the Armenian- houses to
which he is &tiled, and the Bible is taking its proper
place in thousands of homes. In Eastern Turkey, a
few little churches of yesterday, -with a membership of
less than five hundred, besides the charge of their own
religious and educational institutions, have under
taken the support of seven young men, with their fa
milies, at the Theological Seminary in Kharpoot, to
labor, when ready, amid the mountaineers of Koordis
tan. After paying to the -government and their land
lords eleven twentieths of all their income, these
Christians pledge one-tenth of the remainder to Christ.
Six ordained missionaries and one missionary physi
cian, with their wives, and four single ladies, have
been sent .out during the year to reinforce the five
missions of Western Asia. Three of the single ladies
have gone as teachers.
lifahrattas.—The mission has suffered greatly from
the ill health of its members; and for want of rein
forcement. One new missionary has just gone out ;
and one has been obliged to return. The 23 little
churches report-an addition of 38 members ' • total, 620.
Madura.-The famine and the cholera have sadly
interrupted our 'abbrs. Many of the native Chris
tians have died. One new church has been organized,
but the addition of eighty-four members to the
churches but little more than covers the losses of the
year.
Ceylon.—Reliable indications of a great change are
now given in the happy establishment of a self-sup
porting church, with its own native pastor, at Batti
cotta. -
China.—The way is now open, as never before, for
the amplest missionary labors. Peculiar circum
stances have seemed to make it necessary to discon
tinue the mission in Canton. -'Other societies can
more conveniently carry on the work at that point;
while abundant opportunity is open in Foo-Chow and
North China. There seems to be no limit to the cir
culation of the Scriptures and other Christian books,
but the inadequate supply.
Sandwich Islands.—Seven new pastors have been or
dained, making the present number 27, and 785 addi
tions have been made to the churches, making the
whole number 18,174—nearly_orte ciflhe entire
population, exclusive . ot.the Enmaniati and the Re
formed Catholics.' Their for the year
were $27, 129.„ The..:eiroulation of -20,000 copies of
the entire Pdhlelqind - 36,000 ;New Testaments during
the last thirty years; places the work here on a Bible
basis.
American Indians.—The efforts of the Board have
been continued, but with no special encouragement.
Bt ICHARY
Missions.
Number of Missions 18
" Stations ..104
" Out Stations 482
Laborers Employed.
Number of Ordained Missionaries, (6
being Physicians,) . 148
Physicians not ordained 7
" Other Male 'Assistants 6
" Female Assistants 176
Whole number of laborers sent from this
country ... 836 •
Number of Native pastors 84
" Native Preachers and Cate
chistg 272
" School Teachers 349
" Other Native Helpers 228-928
Whole number of laborers connected with
the Missions —1264
The Press.
Pages printed, as far as rep0rted...............23,611,860
The Churches.
Number of Churches, (including all at -
the Hawaiian Islands,).... 205
" Church members, (do. do.)
so far as rep0rted...........25,602
Added during the year, (do. d 0.)... 1,467
_Educational Department.
No.. Training and Theological Schools... 16
No. other Boarding 16
4 4 Free Schools, (omitting those •
at. Hawaiian 151and5)....... 459
No. Puils in Free Schools, (omitting
those at Hawaiian Islands)... —......12,564 •
No. Pupils in Training and Theological •
Schools 483
No. Pupils in Boarding Schools. 567
Whole number of Pupils
.* l3, 624
The Sermon.
This was preached on Tuesday evening, by Rev.
J. P. Thompson, D. D.,
of New York. The house
was' crowded; so as to be uncomfortable, and many
were standing around the doors, unable to get in or
to hear. President Brown, of Hamilton College, read
the Scriptures, and offered prayer. The text was
John i. Him was life, and the life was the
light of men. The sermon was an hour and a quarter
long ; was considered very abld; was analytical, logi
cal, and profound; but was almost too elaborate for
the highest popular effect.
Second Day.
The meeting commenced at 8f o'clock, the first
hour being spent in devotional exercises, led by Rev.
W. W. Patton, D. - D., of Chicago. At 9f o'clock the
business of the day began. Prayer was offered by
Rev. Dr. Patton, of New Haven. The Treasurer's
Report was read and referred to the appropriate
Committee.
Missionaries Children.
Secretary Wood read a paper on the condition of
the children of missionaries, giving a history of what
had been done by the Board since its organization,
and made a statement of the rules in force now, and
also made many valuable suggestions in regard to
the best method of educating the children. The sub
ject of providing for the support,of the aged missio
naries and widows and children of those deceased,
was discussed. A Missionary Home was spoken of.
A special fund was suggested on some of the plans
which have, from time to time, been discussed by
the Board for the support of superannuated and disa
bled missionaries, and for the education of - the chil
dren.
He reviewed the arguments in favor of a relief fund.
The, sympathy for the 'missionary is subsiding, and
larger annual apprppr4tions,roust be made to meet
the difficulties; the applications for assistance are
not now adequately met, and in the third place it is
most painful for the missionaries to receive and use
for their support whit has been given for the
heathen.
The objections to a permanent fund were, that be
yond what is needful for a basis of credit, money
should not be held by'a religious society, as it would
become the occasion of alienations and -strife; and
the disbursement would have a tendency towards
Onions. The character of the claimants could not
be discovered so well. The missionaries themselves
have a strong interest in opposing a special fund, be
cause its influence would be to sever the ties of con
sanguinity; and the missionaries were in no poorer
condition than many ministers in our own country.
Dr. Wood moved that the matter be referred to a
special committee, to be appointed by the Chair.
Rev. Drs. Wisner and Patton (of New Haven,)
and Gen. Williams opposed the proposition of creat
ing a separate fund.
President Chapin, of Beloit College, thought that
possibly the facts obtained might be reported pri
vately to-persons known to be interested in the cause
and the needed provision made.
This paper was referred to a special oomnaittee,
consisting of the following gentlemen: Ex-Gov. W.
A. Buckingham, Rev. Drs. Chickering and Sweetzer,
Rev. J. W. Dulles, Wm. H. Jessup Wm. Ailing, and
Horace Stillman, Esqs., who subsequently reported
in part, and were continued, with the addition of
five other names, Hons. H. W. Taylor, Wm. Strong,
Wm. Haile, and John B. Page, to consider the mat
ter and report more fully at the meeting next year.
The Claims of China.
These were presented in following strong and
compact paper by Secretary Treat:
The Prudential •Comniittee are constrained to ask
the attention of the Board to a
.country which makes
a stronger appeal to its sympathies than any other.
Of the five great missionary fields, four "are are re
ceiving a culture in some measure• proportionate to
their wants. But the land which lies farthest from us
as we turn to the east, and nearest to us.as we turn to
the west, is comparatively misapplied. With one half
of the pagan world, it has scarcely one fifteenth of the
missionary force.
If we look at the empire of China as a whole, we
find it, with one exception, the largest which has ever
existed. Its position, moreover, is singularly felici
tous. Lying on the eastern slope of the great plateau
of Central Asia, and for this reason ever looking to
ward the Pacific, it has resources of inconceivable di.
versity and richness. Embracing, as it does, thirty
eight-degrees of latitude and seventy-four degrees o 1
longitude, occupying every conceivable altitude from
the sea-line to the-snow-line, its•soil has yielded for
ages whatever is needful, whether for the comfort or
luxury of man. On the other hand, with a single
river, that bears upon its bosom the commerce of one
hundred and seventy ; with a canal, finished
before the birth of Columbus, and yet twice as long as
the one which some of us have crossed so frequently on
our way hither ; with a coast-line thousands of miles
in length,—it has advantages for traffic with other
lands almost without a parallel.
.„
It was to be expected that such a country would
teem with rational life. But the reality has trans
cended the boldest thought of earlier times. A recent
work of high authority makes the population Of the
empire 500,000,000. The common estimate for China
Proper, as it is called, is 400,000,000; so that a coun
try smaller than the United States is to be counted ten
times as populous.
It becomes a question of the gravest import, "What
is the spiritual condition of these hundreds of mil
lions?" Dwelling among these highlands and low
lands, looking out upon this peerless sea, surrounded
by 'the amplest proofs of an infinite and loving pre
sence,- and lieaxing such' constant calls to every noble
and reverent thing,—surely' they -ought , to have
reached the highest style of human excellence. What
is the fact?:..
. . - .
Development there has been, in certain directions,
surprising deyelopment; and we discover also a strange
tenacity of life. Before the founding of Rome, prior
to the first monarchs of Israel, China had attained to
the dignity of a settled State; not, indeed, with its
present greatness, but with all the germs of that great
ness. Not only has she grown as the other States have
grown—that which shortened other histories has
lengthened hers. " She has spread," says Medhurst,
" not by conquering, but by being conquered." And
there has been, moreover, something higher and
nobler than barbaric force. Long ago there was
steady, patient industry—attested, for example, by the
Great Wall, hoary through the lapse of twenty centu
ries, but to-day the mightiest defensive structure in
the world; a rare capacity for organization—attested
by its marvellous system of government; an open eye
for the phenomena of nature—hence the mariner's
compass; wonderful aptitude for useful discovery—
hence the art of printing, gunpowder, porcelain, known
first to the Orient, and then loaned, to the Occident.
In the days of Alfred the Great, this remote country,
in mere civilization, took precedence of all others.
And much further back, when the old Britons were
simply unclad savages, "the very plebians of China
were clad in silks."
But this civilization has always been heathen civi
lization. Upon the entire edifice, from top-stone to
foundation-stone, we must write, "Alienated from the
life of God." In truth we might also affirm that in
the first chapter of Romans, the Apostle to the Gen
tiles as God's seer, had these hundreds of millions di
rectly before him. No sun-picture of yesterday is
truer to the life. It is for such , people, so sinful, so
needy, that the Prudential Committee ask the gospel
of Christ.
[We have space only for three of Mr. Treat's argu
ments for China addressed to American Christians.]
8. China has become our western neighbor. When we
first turned to the farthest Orient, as a possible field
for our efforts, we were obliged to look across the en
tire eastern continent. The land of Sinim was to us
the "Ultima Thule." But no sooner did it begin to
surrender its policy of isolation than our relations to
it-began to change; as if God had sealed up its gates
till we should be ready to enter them. Five years
from the treaty of Nanking, China was ours. At that
date, however, San Francisco was farther from - us
practically than Canton; and hence the iron track
crossed - the Isthmus of Panama eight years later,
making the time to the Golden. Gate only three weeks,
But there remained still a longer - voyage to China, and
few ships were sailing thither. Hence it has come to
pass, since we met at Pittsfield, one year ago, that a
line of steamers had undertaken to bridge the Great
Sea; and a missionary brother, who left-New York on
the 10th of August, is now, we may hope, drawing
near to the land of his adoption. In a very short, time
we shall hear of unresting railway trains passing from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, and then a single month
will take a reinforcement from Massachusetts Bay to
Shanghai. Who can fail to interpret this rapid march
of events? Surely, the God of missions has brought
this empire, so populous, so idolatrous, nearer and
nearer, that we may accept the field which He has as
signed to us.
4.' As China is destined to enrich us with het commerce,
it, becomes us, a Christian people, to enrich her with the
words of eternal life. The best which she can give she
will pour into our lap with ever-increasing profusion.
Be it Ours to say to her, "Silver and gold have we ;
and you shall receive them from us with no stinted
measure. But such things perish with the using.
Better than all else, we offer you treasure in heaven."
This were an interchange of values worthy of the
name which we bear,—carnal things received, spiritual
things given in return. It would do something, more
over, to repair the wrongs which the greed of wealth
has inflicted upon the Chinese. For hundreds of years
men have gone to their shores, eager for gain; but
too many have left for the dollars which they made,
the vices which were their shame.
5. In evangelizing China, we shall do much to raise
our country to the proper level of a Christian State. If
we compare the life of any consistent believer with
what may be called the life of any existent nation, the
contrast will fill our hearts,with sadness. What the
former wduld scorn fo do, the latter, perhaps, will
not scruple to do. Many an Englishman has blushed
for the opium war. Many an American has blushed
for the injustice done to the red man; and we hang
our heads to=day because the times of this costly
wrong-doing,still linger. Hence it should be our con
stant aim to bring the life of the State into harmony
with that of the individual, so that whatever dishonors
a man shall be impossible for a people. To effect this,
however, our churches need to be clothed with power
from on high. How shall they secure the blessing?
Let us suppose them to resolve, humbly, prayerfully:
"According to the ability which the Lord has given
us, we will send the gospel to China." It is an honest
purpose;
it is faithfnlly, kept. Every steamer that
crosses the Pacific is freighted in part with missiona
ries. Those who remain behind, account. themselves
simply home-partners ; and so their aims and their
hearts are always going forth to the common work.
Wherever the glad tidings are preached, therefore,
whether in the temples of Boodh, or the dwellings of
the poor, whether on the shore of the sea, or far back
among the mountains, they become the power of God
unto salvation. converts are multiplied as the drops
of the morning; and in the fulness of their young,
joyous . life, they turn to us and invoke the Divine be
nediction upon us. •
* * * * * * *
Mr. Treat moved the reference of the paper to a
special committee.
The motion was adopted, and the Chair named
the following gentlemen to serve upon the Com
mittee .
Dr. J. B. Condit, Hon. Wm. E. Dodge, Dr. Blod
gett, Rev. Dr. Russell, Hon. C. N. Olds, Rev. Dr. W.
I. Buddington, Rev. A. C. Adams.
This Committee subsequently made - the following
report:
In view of the facts embraced in this paper, and so
forcibly urged, the committee would call for the spe
cial consideration of the claims of China at this time,
and submit the following resolutions:
1. As China constitutes so large a part of the inhe
ritance given to Christ, there- is a peculiar obligation
on the Church to evangelize it, There is no good rea
son for directing out efforts chiefly to the little islands
that dot the ocean, or to small kingdoms with their
one hundred thousand or five hundred thousand inha
bitants. - While we are impelled to seek the salvation
of these by the great argument for missions, foundgd
on the cross and the command of Christ., this argu
ment presses upon us with augmented power in respect
to that land where four hundred - millions of souls wait
for the gospel.
2. The Character of the Chinese people gives special
interest to their claims. A barbarous people needs the
gospel as much as those who are civilized. It is
adapted to them, but we cannot help turning with
deep sympathy and strong hope to a land where in
tellect is working in the established forms of political
and educational organizations, yet destitute 'of'Chris
tianity. It is not our first work there to "teach, the
people to think." There is a mental capacity in large
portions of the people, developed and applied both in
literature and the arts. This civilization is indeed
"heathen," but it is ready for the infusion of Christi
anity to purify and direct its forces in a sound , reli
gious culture, so that this empire may become a
mighty power for the maintenance and propagation of
the gospel.
This Board, with reliance on God, does now accept
the work which Providence throws upon it for the
evangelization of China. And your Committee, assured
of the abundant ability of the Churches; and of the fa
vorable response of the devoted young men,in our
Theological Seminary to the appeal that shall be made
to them, do recommend a speedy enlargement of the
missionary forces in that empire.
•
These resolutions were supported by - most earnest
and eloquent addresses from Rev. Drs. Condit, CoX,
Budington,4nd lien. W. B. Dodge,after which•they
were not only adopted by vote of the Board, but the
vast assembly present were called upon for ap expres
sion of opinion by rising. Almost every one in the
house stood, , thus concurring ri the decision of the
Board, and pledging themselves to aid in carryin o r ,
it into effect.
The following special paper was presented by
Secretary Clark, on
The Necessities of the Foreign Field.
*** * * *
The labor of detail, characteristic of the home work,
the carrying of the gospel into every household and
neighborhood, is not the work of the missionary, It
belongs to the native agency he shall train up; a ri d
the support of churches and schools, after they have
been once established, belongs not to us, but to the na
tive Christians. Our work is purely evangelistic.
Hence its economy of men and means ; hence, too, the
possibility of its early success. One man, upon the
average, throughout the whole foreign field, for a po
pulation of 100,000, is perhaps all we need, all that it
may be really desirable to have, for the best success
in training up independent, self-supporting churches
of Christ.. The Eastern Turkey mission ask for but
twelve men and a physician for a field of 160,000
square miles—four times the size of the State of New
York, with a population of from two and a half to
three millions, and say they would have no more if we
had a hundred to spare. The progress that is making
in that field, upon the faithful carrying out of this
principle, proves that they are right. To carry for..
ward this work upon the apostolic plan, requires, of
course, the best minds of .the Church, and offers them
the largest field for the exercise of all their powers.
The time of harvest has come. Hitherto, except at
the Hawaiian Islands, it has been a season of prepara
tion—of seed-sowing. The barriers which ages o f
false worship had reared, were to be thrown down;
the prejudices of the people were to be overcome by
practical illustrations of the power of the gospel, and
of the unselfish , aims of the missionaries. In the
mean time, explorations were to be made ; the best
centres of influence selected; native languages mas
tered.; the Scriptures given to the people in their own
tongue; a Christian literature created ; a knowledge
acquired of the manners and customs of different peo
ples, and the best methods of reaching them with the
gospel; also of the peculiarities of climate, and the
means necessary for the preservation of health, and
to secure proper comforts for,missionary families. All
this was to' be done, and in great measure has been
done. The skirmish ine has done its work—it is time
for the grand army to advance and take possession in
the name of its Great Leader.
The manifest blessing of God upon the labors of the
past year, in the establishment of new churches, in the
development of the native pastorate, in the larger ad
ditions than usualto the -native churches, in opening
newfields to the efforts of the missionary,—all call for
an enlargement of our operations, and promise the
richest returns. Yet the work has been sadly hindered
for want of men to follow up the advantages gained.
Station after station, won- by years of labor and the
sacrifice of many lives, has been given up. Almost
every mail brings us tidings of new openings for the
truthiof new and important centres that should at
once be_ occupied. Cheered as we have been by the
privilege of sending out thirty new laborers the past
year, they have gone to help carry on the work already
in hand; not a single new post is to be taken. The
most urgent necessity of the different fields only has
been met. Not a men for Micronesia, Africa, Ceylon,
Foochow, and only -one, a missionary physician, for
North China, where we would gladly send twenty each
year for the next dozen years.
Mr. Snow, in Micronesia, 'seven hundred miles
away from any Christian brother of his own race, in
the midst of a work already rich in results and of yet
richer- promise, as it spreads from island to island,
toils on alone. Our good -friends, Walker and Bush
nell, faint and weary, after more than twenty years of
patient.. watching and waiting, holding one of the
gateways to Central Africa, beg us to send men, white
or colored, as we can, to preach Christ to the multi
tudes within, who are ready to perish. Among the
Zulus the instructions of the missionaries are eagerly
sought in neighborhoods hitherto indifferent or op
posed; and the anxious inquiry is made, why the
white men across the : ocean do not come and tell them
of the way of salvation? Is it because they want to
keep heaven to themselves?
While diplomats are digesting protocols and ulti
mata, and the armies of ambitious monarchs are wait
ing marching orders, the missionaries of the Board are
rapidly settling the Eastern question. Give them but
a few years more, and twenty more men to help them,
with the same divine favor. that has crowned these ef
forts for the last ten years, and they will hope to make
sure the evangelization of the Turkish Empire. But
no time is to be lost. The awakened interest in the
truth, the remarkable progress of the last few years,
the attempted reforms- in the Armenian Church, the
comparative freedom to labor now enjoyed, which the
great political changes impending may seriously in
terrupt, urge us to the most strenuous efforts while the
day lasts. With a just, view of the greatness of the
missionary work, and the opportunities now open to
them, Drs. Van Dyck, Jessup -and Riggs decline the
most important. positions in the Church at home, that,
they may accomplish a greater work for Christ among
the Arabs and the Armenians.
And what shall we say of India, now in process of
moral and religious disintegration? The vital forces
of Christianity must be thrown in to reorganize it in
the interest of the gospel. Its hoary systems of reli
gion and superstition, that have so long blinded the
mind and corrupted the heart, are giving way before
the light of truth. Twelve men are needed at (Mee to
work the fields left to. our exclusive occupation in In
dia 'and Ceylon. *. * * *
But the great field, and soon to be the nearest, is
China.. The way is open for the most extended labors.
Twelve years ago the number of converts scarcely
exCeeded the number of missionaries ; now it is twenty
to one, and rapidly increasing. Mr. Chapin writes of
crowds of more than two thousand persons gathering
abmit him on a recent preaching tour. Mr. Goodrich
preaches daily to large audiences a few miles from
Pekin. Mr. Gulick, from a pass in the Great Wall,
loOks out northward upon the rural population of
Mongolia, now accessible to the heralds of the cross.
Such is the field now waiting for the gospel, with its
four hundred millions of hiiman souls, supplied as yet
by missionaries of all evangelical denominations, at the
rate of one missionary to'four millions of people.
The Prudential Committee ask for eighteen new
missionaries, (including those now under appoint
ment,) and three missionary physicians, to reinforce
the stations already oCcupied; and for forty new mis
sionaries to occupy new and inviting fields,—sixty - on e
men, apostles all, for the proper carrying forward of
the work committed to their care.
This paper was referred to the Committee on the
Home Department, consisting of Rev. Drs. W.
Stearns, J. G. Atterbury, and Ray Palmer, with J.
Marshall Paul, M. D. Hon. H. P. Haven, John
Fisher and S. Lockwood Brown,koqs., who stilts&
quently reported recommending that the Secretaries
of the Board be instructed to visit our Theological
Seminaries and Colleges and call for men, not wait
ing for missionaries to offer.
Rev. S. J. Humphrey, of Chicago, spoke well on this
qeestion. There had been a great quickening at th e ,
West on the Subject of Missions. Five young men 0 1
the Theological Seminary at Chicago, had recently
been ordained at onelitte for: this purpose. lie knew
of thirty more at the West, in various stages of pre
paration for the, Missionary.work, He told a touching
story of the interest of a poor German woman in this
cause. She 'gave one silver dollar in change, which she had gathered by hard work, also a silver medal'
dated 1812, with Luther's motto on upon one fee;
"God is a strong tower ;." also three silver spoons, word!
about seven dollars. I( others
,would give in l ike
proportion ; there would be no want of funds for this
great work.
The venerable Dr. Wisneraf Ithaca, told of a younige
m
man who wanted to be a Mhisionary. His other nuehi
him promise -not to go so lengas she lived—she ee ,' l ,. s
not spare him. But her, life- was soon taken away. lo_
father then offered him a farm if he would stay of
home; He said twelve' sack farms could not turn hi:
fro))) 'his 'Purpose. HO' was ordained and went to O f
heathen. ',lf - otir , young. men generally had
spiritof ,conseerat.inn l there would be no want of .3 1, -
sionaries.
Dr lbr' oo • said it was not enough to
visit
Colleges and the Seminaries; there were not
're—
students'ants.
enough in them to meet the world's w