since that time, it does not give any proper statement of the present extension of the gospel in that land. The author is at special pains to notice the criticism of European residents in Japan on missionaries, and explains the reason of that opposition to Christian missions which exists so extensively in all heathen lands where Europeans and Americans are resident. The cause of the opposition is this: the gospel which the missionaries preach and their virtuous conduct condemn the manner in which many of the other residents live among the heathen. In some chapters Mr. Maclay presents some account of the character of the institutions of the people before the opening of the country by American diplomacy; and what changes have come from western lands since that time, with some discussion in regard to some problems yet unsolved. Persons seeking information on any of these subjects will find much of it in this book. The illustrations are all accurate representations of native life or architecture. Many of the best of the Japanese have come to understand that it is Christianity which makes men honest. In the establishment of a national bank they employed some of their own people who had been educated merely in western science. But they were too intelligent; they appropriated the funds of the institution. They had knowledge, but not "moral principle." In this predicament one of the bank officers, with great candor and solicitude, came and explained the situation to one of the missionaries. He frankly admitted that he did not believe in any religion whatsoever. But," said he, "your religion does something that our religions cannot do: it makes men honest. Now we wish our employes at the bank to be carefully instructed in these principles, so that they may learn to discharge their duties with scrupulous integrity." Pp. 216, 217. They have seen that Christian women have something which their women, educated even in western science, have not, and they are now engaging Christian women to teach their girls' schools, in order that their women may come to have those excellences which only Christianity can impart to them. They see that their young men with mere secular education are without integrity, and hence a recent telegram from the Japanese government asks that twelve Christian young men may be sent out to teach in their schools. May not Americans learn a lesson from this Japanese experience, viz., that it is only education, conducted under the sanction of the Christian religion, that will secure to us as a people men and women of scrupulous integrity and moral excellence? YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN. In a rural church, a sweet child of three years was baptized, whose father and greatgrandfather were elders. As the latter, distributing the bread of the communion, withdrew from the family pew, the little voice spoke, and with most touching tenderness, "Some for Nina, grandpa !" Was that not the voice of a child of the covenant claiming her place in its privileges? The Hebrew child was present at and partook of the passover. Why is the Christian child excluded from the Christian passover? I wish all Christian parents would bring their children to the family pew with even greater love than to the family table on Thanksgiving day or Christmas. Too few of them are present at the communion. If there they would have opportunity to ask, "What mean ye by this service?" and would receive the lessons and impressions of the hour. They would see that their apparent exclusion is but a wise and tender discipline to guard against presumption and to aid and encourage that spirituality required in them that would worthily partake of the Lord's Supper. The writer received impressions at such seasons, in very early childhood, which the world, the flesh and the devil have never been able to efface. Let us feed the lambs-the little lambs. J. G. MINISTERS AND THE CENTENARY FUND. We gladly insert the following from the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Permanent Committee of Arrangements for the one-hundredth General Assembly: By direction of the last General Assembly the Centennial Executive Committee is concentrating its energies on the raising of the one million dollars for the relief fund. There is not a minister in the Presbyterian Church who has any guarantee that he may not himself and his family be brought into such strait that a little help from this fund would be a great relief. It is a pertinent question, therefore, what these ministers will do for the fund themselves. A New Jersey pastor with no large salary writes to ask the question "Could not the ministers themselves contribute to this fund to the amount of one per cent. of their annual salary? The poorest of us could do that, surely, without much difficulty." Another pastor, on one of the large salaries, to whom this suggestion was communicated replied, "Certainly the ministry ought to contribute, and if those who earn the small salaries contribute one per cent. those on the larger salaries ought to contribute two or three or five per cent. of their salaries. It is much less sacrifice for a man on a five-thousand-dollar salary to contribute five per cent. than for a man on a one-thousand-dollar salary to contribute one per cent. I will make my contribution to the fund at least five per cent. of my salary." This suggestion is respectfully submitted to the brethren. So far no opposition to the suggestion has been developed. The real danger is not from opposition, but from Presbyterian ministerial inertia. The elders seem quite ready to take hold; but, as one of the most prominent elders said, "We cannot work it without the leadership of the pastors. We can help, but if the pastors will not lead, the thing will not go." Why should any minister who will not even give his people the information needed to guide them in their contributions, nor a chance to contribute, ever complain of ministerial neglect? Why should such persons, who will not assist the common cause of their brethren, ever ask the church through its ministers or boards to aid them or their people? GEORGE P. HAYS. We have had the pleasure of examining the Missionary Calendar for 1888, published by the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, 1334 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, and are glad to recommend it to our readers as a neat and pleasant substitute for Christmas cards. The appropriate quotations on the successive pages will be a daily stimulus to Christian earnestness; and the names of our missionaries will be a daily reminder to offer the prayer for them and their work which they are so constantly asking of Christians at home. The calendars are sold for twenty-five cents, and will be sent by mail to any address for thirty cents. The article on "Jesuitism in Mexico," which will be found in our Foreign Mission department, page 85, will be read with intense interest by thoughtful Americans everywhere. Peril to civil and religious liberty in Mexico means peril to our liberty in the United States, just as surely and just as obviously as cholera in Mexico would mean cholera coming to the United States. But we cannot keep this disease out by quarantine. We must cure the patients here and in Mexico. There is only one medicine which is efficacious for this. It is the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. GLEANINGS AT HOME AND ABROAD. The Indian Female Evangelist, one of our London exchanges, thus illustrates the influence which a Christian woman can exert by simply being "true to her colors :" A Mohammedan gentleman, resident at one time in London, had yielded to his wife's earnest desire to cross the sea and join him; but in writing to give her permission, he said it was on condition that she travelled with a missionary lady! Again, a Hindu gentleman, in conversation with a zenana missionary, expressed his opinion. that she would get invited into many more houses if she did not always take her Bible. She replied, "Suppose that I, believing this book to contain the good news of the one and only way of life, were to go among those whom I consider to be lost and helpless for want of it, and not make known to them what I hold to be the truth, what would you think of me?" Looking thoughtful for a moment, he answered, people." Not long since a mining company brought to Alaska some donkeys. One of the boys, who had been reading in school about rabbits having long ears, wanted to know if the donkeys were Boston rabbits." About a year ago the Sitka school was supplied with a pair of mules. One evening the superintendent sent a new boy to the barn with the mules. Soon the boy returned and asked if he should "take their clothes off," referring to the harness. A number of new children have this summer been received into the mission schools. Boys and girls who a few months ago were sitting on the ground in rags and filth, with their faces blackened with fish-oil and char coal, are now in school, clean, well dressed, and upon occasion singing with all their heart and voice "Sing them over again to me, To cure the present deplorable social lawlessness, we must restore a needed general religious teaching to our public schools. If anything is sure in this world, it is certain that there can be no reliable and restraining obedience to human law when there has been no preceding inculcation of a reverence for and an obedience to the divine law; and there can be no such general reverence and obedience to the divine law without an abiding sense of moral obligation to God, the author of the divine law. Interior. MINISTERIAL NECROLOGY. ATTERBURY, JOHN GUEST-born, Baltimore, Md., February 7, 1811; graduated, Yale College, 1831; lawyer, New York city, 1833-43; Union Theological Seminary, N. Y., 1843-44; ordained, Detroit Presbytery, July 23, 1845; pastor, Flint, Mich., 1845-51, New Albany, Ind., 1851-66; secretary, Presbyterian Education Committee (N. S.), New York city, 1867-70; pastor, Calvary Church, Detroit, Mich., 1872-74; evangelist, Detroit, Mich., 1874-87. Published occasional sermons. Married Miss Catharine I. Larned, Detroit, Mich., September 1, 1840, who survives with six children. Received degree of D.D., Marietta College, 1863. Died of enlarge ment of the liver, Detroit, Mich., August 24, 1887. BAIER, LEO-born, Dürrheim, Baden, Germany, April 11, 1845; graduated, Westminster College, Mo., 1866; Princeton Theological Seminary, 1867-68; stated supply, Glasgow, Mo., 1868-69, Hannibal, Mo., 1869-71; pres. Hannibal College, 1871-77; stated supply, Shelbina, Mo., 1874-78; pres. St. John's College, Little Rock, Ark., 1878-81; stated supply, Seavey Springs, Ark., 1881-87; editor Minnesota Journal of Education, Minneapolis, Minn., 1887. Died at the latter place, July, 1887. Published Lectures on Education. Married, Brunswick, Mo., June 15, 1869, to Miss Mary A. Smith; Minneapolis, Minn., Nov. 17, 1884, to Miss Florence C. Nichols. Four children survive. BRODHEAD, AUGUSTUS-born, Milford, Pa., May 13, 1831; graduated, Union College, 1855, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1858; ordained, evangelist, Hudson Presbytery, May 4, 1858; foreign missionary, Mainpuri, India, 1859-62, Furrukhabad, 1863-67, Allahabad, 1868-76; prof. Church History in Theological Seminary, Allahabad, 1872-76; impaired health, 1878; stated supply, Roseville, N. J., 1879-80; pastor, First Church, Bridgeton, N. J., 1881-87; died of disease of the heart, Toronto, Canada, August 29, 1887. Received degree of D.D., Western University of Pennsylvania, 1872. Published in Hindi many religious treatises, and edited, 1872-75, The Christian Treasury, at Allahabad, India. Dr. Brodhead married Miss Emily Cumming, of Princeton, N. J., July 15, 1858, who survives with two sons. DAYTON, BENJAMIN BONNEY-born, Lima, N. Y., April 5, 1854; graduated, Rochester University, 1873, Auburn Theological Seminary, 1876; ordained, Syracuse Presbytery, June 27, 1876; pastor, Amboy, N. Y., 1876-87; died of disease of the heart, on steamship Etruria, Atlantic Ocean, August 9, 1887. Married Miss J. Anna Hay, Amboy, N. Y., December 3, 1878, who survives with two children. DE WITT, ABRAHAM-born, Greenwich, N. J., December 2, 1798; graduated, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1832; ordained, evangelist, Newark Presbytery, October 3, 1832; stated supply, Great Bend, Pa., 1832-33; pastor, Lewes, Cool Spring and Indian River, Del., 1834-38; teacher, Princeton, N. J., 1839-40; pastor, Rock Church, Cecil county, Md., 1840-55; residing at Fair Hill, Md., 1855–87, where he died, October 23, 1887. Married September 27, 1832, Miss Anna Terhune, of Princeton, N. J. Two children survive. GOLDSMITH, ANDREW DAVID-born, Toronto, Canada, July 6, 1850; Lane Theological Seminary, 1878-80; ordained, New Albany Presbytery, July 18, 1880; pastor, Vevay, Ind., 1880-81; pastor, Felicity, O., 1882-84; pastor, Fredericktown, O., 1884-87; died of consumption, Fredericktown, July 7, 1887. Married at Hanover, Ind., December 23, 1879, to Miss L. C. Brandt, who survives with four children. MACCONNELL, JOHN STARK-born, West Deer township, Allegheny county, Pa., August 12, 1833; graduated, Franklin College, O., 1858, U. P. Theological Seminary, Allegheny, 1862; ordained, Cleveland Presbytery, 1862; stated supply, U. P. Churches, Cleveland, O., 1862-66, Chicago, Ill., 1867-68; pastor, Presbyterian churches, Pontiac, Ill., 1868-73, Emsworth, Pa., 1873-77, 39th St. Church, Pittsburgh, Pa., 187787. Married Miss Clara J. Shields, Cape May City, N. J., March 31, 1881, who survives with two children. Died of nervous prostration, Cranford, N. J., October 29, 1887. PITKIN, CALEB JOHNSON-born, Milford, Conn., December 4, 1812; graduated, Western Reserve College, O., 1836, Western Reserve Theological Department, 1839; ordained, Trumbull Presbytery, February, 1843; pastor or stated supply of the following churches: in Ohio, North Bloomfield, 1843-50, 1853-56; Sandusky City, 1850-53; in Illinois, Winchester, 1856-59; Troy, 1859-63; Vandalia, 1863-65; Cerro Gordo, 186674; superintendent of schools, Pratt Co., Ill., 1874-78; honorably retired, Akron, O., and Vandalia, Ill., 1879-87; died of cancer of the stomach, Vandalia, Ill., May 19, 1887. Married Miss Elizabeth Bancroft, Granville, O., May 27, 1840; also Miss Flavia B. Clark, Woodburn, Ill., September 23, 1866. Four sons and two daughters survive. STOUTENBURGH, WILLIAM JACKSON-born, Macedonia, Pa., September 20, 1833; graduated, Williams College, 1858, Auburn Theological Seminary, 1859-60, Union Theological Seminary, 1861; ordained, Lyons Presbytery, September 17, 1861; New York City, 1861-64; pastor (Congregational), Allen's Grove, Wis., 1864-66; stated supply (Presbyterian) at Manitowoc, Wis., 186668, Tecumseh, Mich., 1868–74, Birmingham, Mich., 1874-76, Lapeer, Mich., 1876-79; evangelist, South Haven, Mich., 1879-80; stated supply, Wilmington, Ill., 1880-82, Afton, Iowa, 1882-84; editor Leader, Marlette, Mich., 1884-87; died of apoplexy, Marlette, Mich., September 23, 1887. WELLES, BENJAMIN-born, Wayne, N. Y., January 28, 1818; graduated, Union College, 1841, Auburn Theological Seminary, 1845; ordained, Pennsylvania Presbytery, November 2, 1847; stated supply, Wells and Columbia, Pa., 184753, Bristol, Ind., 1853-57, Litchfield and Concord, Mich., and Rural, Wis., 1857-71, Farmington, Minn., 1871-73; honorably retired, 1873-87; Perth Amboy, N. J., and Redwood Falls, Minn. Died at the latter place, June 23, 1887. Married Miss Mary E. Crowell, of Eddytown, N. Y., May 17, 1848, who survives with one son. HOME MISSIONS. $800,000. THE NEW YEAR-1888. Each year is ushered in with great demonstrations of joy, but there soon follows a period of inquiry as to what the new year shall be. Generally the new year is what we make it. Many of us will not see the end of the year; many will find themselves environed by new limitations, like sickness or other misfortunes, so that the year shall not be what we intended; but the proposition remains true, in a general sense, the new year will be very much what we make it. We do not inquire about the Christian life or Christian work generally. We are dealing with home missions. Let us inquire of ourselves-ministers, elders, churches, Sabbath-schools and women workers-what do we propose to make of this year for home missions? Our missionaries need sympathy and help. They need their salaries. They and their families may need clothing, books, food. They need above all the blessing of God on their labors. If God will but pour out his Spirit on their fields of labor as he has done the last two years, what a boon it will be! They need fellow laborers. Many of them are overburdened with work, and still more so by the work lying beyond which they cannot touch. What can we do about it? Let us see to it that the Board is furnished with material resources for their adequate support, and let us earnestly and continually pray for the Spirit's influence, creating great revivals all over the mission field. Then the year 1888, the centennial year, will be a blessed year in the annals of our church. BUT THREE MONTHS MORE. Though the calendar year is just begun, nine months, or three-quarters, of our fiscal year is already gone-it closes with the month of March. These nine months include the summer months, when our collections from the churches are very small. A great work lies before us the next three months, if we are to reach the $800,000 deemed necessary for our work during the year. The field grows and the work increases. A railroad president said a few days ago, "We have laid down a thousand miles of road this year." What an immigration, what a multitude of new towns, what a number of new missionaries, does such a statement involve! A great work for home missions is before us. Let us unite our forces and see that it is done. THE COMMITTEE OF ELDERS. The elders' committee appointed by the last General Assembly to assist this Board is hard at work. They are making an ap peal to all the pastors and stated supplies to select an early day to present the necessities and opportunities of the home missionary work to all their churches and congregations and solicit contributions to this Board. They are also calling on all their brother elders in the church, more than twenty thousand, to come to the aid of their pastors, if they have any, and to see that every church, however weak or small, shall have an opportunity to make an annual offering, at least, to the Board. This committee-old Sabbath-school superintendents, probably, |