anything that has been published. All those who are at work in extending a knowledge of missions have found it indispensable. It is now proposed to secure up to January 1, 1888, a still more complete presentation of missionary facts and statistics and a still broader and clearer consideration of the whole world-wide work of missions in all its bearings. Encyclopædias of missions have in numerous instances been attempted by means of correspondence, and the efforts have generally failed; but a tendays session of the united missionary societies of the world, now said to be nearly a hundred and fifty in number, is a living encyclopædia of itself. Reproduced by stenography and put in lasting form by the press, it will add immensely to the missionary intelligence of all who desire to know. Forty-eight British societies have united in the inauguration of this movement. Let not the churches of this country be behind.

The position of the Indians on the Cattaraugus and Allegany reservations in the state of New York is a little precarious. Many years ago New York ceded to Massachusetts all pre-emption rights of property to these reservations, reserving only the rights of governmental jurisdiction. Massachusetts subsequently sold this pre-emption right to the Ogden Land Company, the possessory right of Indians being still guaranteed to them so long as they should actually occupy the reservations. This posture of affairs has doubtless been of great benefit to the Senecas. The state has guarded their interests against the land company, while the company has served as a buffer against intrigue on the part of "land-grabbing rings" who might long since have manipulated the state politics for their dispossession. We see that the report of the United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs proposes that Congress take some measures to "extinguish the title" of the Ogden Land Company and thus open the way for land in severalty-a thing which the Indians do not desire. It is an interesting fact that the six nations, including the Oneidas in the

Green Bay settlement and the Mohawks and Cayugas in Canada and in the far West, now number one thousand more than at the close of the war of the Revolution.

Query If fifty years ago the Indians of New York had been prevailed on to accept land in severalty, would there now be found. 4000 within the bounds of the state, and would any considerable number of them now be in possession of farms, or would Erie county have on its hands a wretched horde of wronged and resentful paupers and vagabonds?

The more the cause of missions is blessed, the greater and more varied will the work become. We have spoken of the fact that excellent and eloquent missionary addresses are now made in all parts of the country by pastors; in some instances laymen have made telling appeals. It is certain that along these lines there must be a great increase of service. The work has not only outgrown secretaryships; it is fast outgrowing even the ministry. It is manifestly becoming, as it should in fact always have been, the work of the whole church, demanding the services of every man, woman and child who has heard the "Glad Tidings," and is by that fact made a debtor to Jew and Gentile.

Mrs. R. G. Wilder and her daughter, Miss Grace E. Wilder, sailed for India on November 26, under appointment of this Board. They go to reinforce the Kolhapur mission a mission founded by Mrs. Wilder and her husband, the late Rev. R. G. Wil der, in 1853. Mrs. Wilder bears the commission of the Board, but goes at her own charges to serve without salary. It is her purpose to devote the evening of her life to work among the women, a goodly number of whom were pupils in the boarding-school to which she gave so much of her time and energy during her missionary life in India. The prayers of God's people will follow both mother and daughter on their errand of love, and a cordial welcome will greet them when they reach their chosen field.

SUBJECTS FOR MONTHLY CONCERTS.

JANUARY.-General summary in connection with

week of prayer.

FEBRUARY.-China.

MARCH.-Mexico and Central America.

APRIL.-India.

MAY.-Siam and Laos.

JUNE.-Africa.

JULY.-Indians, Chinese and Japanese in America. AUGUST.-Papal Europe.

SEPTEMBER.-Japan and Korea.

OCTOBER.-Persia.

NOVEMBER.-South America.

DECEMBER.-Syria.

GENERAL SUMMARY.

Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it (Isa. 40: 3-5).

A SURVEY OF THE MISSIONS. REASONS FOR THANKSGIVING AND FOR PRAYER.

From the darkest corner of the earth tidings reach the Mission House which may well awaken thanksgiving. On the west coast of Africa, at the station on the Ogovi river, a region only recently added, as one might say, to the known world, there have been displays of divine grace in connection with the labors of our missionaries such as have never before been witnessed during our forty years of labor on that coast. Fully eighteen months ago the letters from our brethren there began to contain allusions to the increasing interest in religious truth manifested by the natives. This interest rapidly increased. Soon Mr. Good was writing of 160 added to the roll of their catechumens. The number has since been still further enlarged, until not less than 200 of the Galwas have become earnest inquirers, and many have been hope fully converted. Scorn, poverty, dangers on every side, await these poor Africans on the avowal of their faith; and yet Mr. Good

writes of more than a hundred and sixty who have "decided for Christ." Among these are many women. This is a new feature in religious affairs at Kangwe. It has for years been the lament of the missionaries at that place that so few women seemed to have been reached by the gospel message. Only four had been received to the church. The number of women among the inquirers, as mentioned in the last letters, was 63. This development of deep relig ious interest at Kangwe is the more remarkable for the reason that in no other place have the Roman Catholic priests opposed and reviled our missionaries more bitterly, or done so much to bewilder and frighten the natives. The Bible they have torn up before them with every sign of rage, and have threatened the people with the ill-will of the French powers, who rule the coast. The French officers themselves have not stopped with the closing of our schools because they were not conducted in the French language a language which neither missionaries nor natives could understand; they have subjected the few native preachers and helpers to all sorts of restrictions, hampering and annoying them. Yet the very spot where the difficulties a short time ago seemed most disheartening has been chosen as the scene of the most cheering proofs of the power of the Holy Ghost.

NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.

It is a pity to be obliged to say that our own government has adopted among our Indian missions the very policy of the French on the African coast. Our schools are ordered to be closed unless we will discard the vernacular; and yet many of these Indian schools are taught by Christian Indians, and neither teacher nor scholars understand any tongue but their own. In that tongue they have the entire Bible, translated for them, after the toil of years, by the missionaries; but it is the decree of the government at Washington that that Bible must not be heard in the schools, nor the children

taught to read it. "Nor will daily religious services (in Dakota) be allowed." This is the language of the United States Indian Inspector in closing mission schools on the Cheyenne river, October 26, 1887. The vernacular shall not be taught or used in the schools. And in what schools, pray? Why, in some instances in schools toward whose support the government does not contribute one dollar, but which are wholly the fruit of missionary labor, pursued, as among the Dakotas, for more than fifty patient years, schools first planted by missionaries who went into the wilderness among the savages three hundred miles beyond the last fort on the frontier, or the nearest United States bayonet which could be drawn for their defence. Among these savages they lived, endured their degradation, taught them honesty, peace and useful industries, created their written language, taught these barbarians to read it, threw into it useful school books and the whole word of God, sent out their converts to instruct others in the same tongue, gathered the children into schools, enlisted the hearts of American Christians in their support; and behold, now they are ordered from Washington to drop the tools which it has taken fifty years to fashion, and to close the schools. Why? Because in those schools the language of the Indians must to some extent be used, while it is thought in Washington that for Indians to hear their own language, even though it is the word of law-abiding teachers, the Ten Commandments and the gospel of Christ which they hear, prolongs their barbarism!

One of our missionaries writes, "The fall of 1887 finds us commencing another year's work, leaving the Dakota language entirely out of school. Neither Dakota Bible, hymn book nor primer is used. We use the English Bible; but out of fifteen children. only two understand what is read. Why is this change? Because the United States government has ordered it." It is true that to this particular school the government has extended some aid; and it might be granted that, although the school owes its existence far more to Christian benevolence than to

government funds, the Commissioner has a right to say that, if the Dakota language is not disused, the government will withdraw its aid. But this is not the threat which is employed. It is not: Drop your Dakota or lose our aid; it is: Drop your Dakota or United States soldiers will shut up your school. You shall not teach these children to read the Dakota Bible at their homes, either for themselves or for their parents' good, even though you pay all the bills yourselves. Meantime the representatives of nearly every missionary society in America and of the American Bible Society-men known throughout the land, who have studied the wants of the Indians all their lives-are patiently remonstrating with the government, laying their respectful appeals before officials in Washington again and again; but all in vain. With all dignity and urbanity these gentlemen are assured that nothing is further from the intentions of the department than to interfere with their missionary labors; not the least interference-only the agents and the troops are ordered to close the schools. "Instruction in the Dakota language will not be permitted. The rule applies to all schools on Indian reservations, whether they be government or mission schools." The language of the Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Indian agents is, "You are instructed to see that this rule is rigidly enforced in all schools upon the reservation under your charge. No mission school will be allowed upon the reservation which does not comply with this regulation." Under that compulsion the Christian schools among the Indians now suffer. Suspense, confusion, has been thrown into all our mission schools by the government's order. And that order still stands. Tyndal, dogged by the emissaries of the king of England, and dying as a martyr for his efforts to give Englishmen the Bible in their own tongue, in the midst of the flames put up the prayer, "Lord, open the king of England's eyes!" The churches in America might well offer the prayer, Lord, open the eyes of American officials, that at least they may not try to keep the Indian Bible from Indian schools!

We have never yet seen a missionary who was not in favor of teaching English freely to the Indian children and who was not actually teaching them English; but to say that the Indians shall learn nothing but English is something vastly different and very absurd. It is to decree that half the children and the entire adult Indian population shall travel to heaven by the road of the English language, or they shall never go there at all.

We lament the crippled and confused condition into which the school work among the Indians has been thrown, but we are thankful to be able to say that the preaching of the gospel among them, still carried on by those who know their language and are wise enough to use it, has been attended with the manifest blessing of God. Especially among the Dakotas spiritual fruits have been given, new churches organized, and delegations of Indians from camps. thirty and forty miles away are seen at the missionaries' dwellings, earnestly asking for

schools and teachers.

SYRIA.

The early part of the year found our mission in Syria involved in much anxiety on account of the restrictive policy pursued by the Turkish government toward our schools. Many had been closed, others threatened. with suppression; even the higher schools in such places as Sidon, Tripoli and Beirut were felt to be in danger. A thoroughly settled policy does not seem even yet to be fixed upon by the government; but it is a remarkable proof of the place these schools have won that not only the so-called Christian population, but the Moslems themselves, are drawn to them more and more. Steadily their numbers grow. The pupils now number 5344 in 121 schools.

The mission press last year issued the unprecedented number of 33,284,675 pages. Of these, 19,331,759 were pages of Holy Scripture, in the printing and distribution of which the American and the British and Foreign Bible Society sustain the principal expenditure. All these translations and editions, however, are the work of our missionaries.

In its evangelistic work the mission has never had greater prosperity than in the last year. In no previous year have so many converts been added to the churches.

PERSIA.

From Persia come similar tidings. A year ago we were looking back on what had been the most prosperous year of the mission up to that time, 329 having been added to the church. The letters now reaching us awaken the expectation that a still greater growth will be found to have been given during the current mission year. The last completed report shows 115 schools in Persia. In Persia 115 Christian schools! with more than 2700 scholars. What a light in that dark, dark land! These schools culminate in the college at Oroomiah. Here are now found 90 students. The last letter from Dr. Shedd depicts the embarrassment of the mission at their inability to provide for more. Parents, he writes, are coming with their sons and pleading for their admission. An industrial department has been begun. Students are under instruction as hatters, shoemakers, carpenters, etc. In a land where such labor has been despised its dignity is taught. Independence of spirit is fostered among a people where want is ever impending, and where taxation, famine, poverty, invite to beggary. The standing of the Christian community is improved by the added dignity and skill of Christian workmen. Our brethren feel that a more manly tone of character, with more of vigor, courage, thrift, is promised by this new feature in their mission methods. They long for means to develop it more rapidly. It is a cause of apprehension in regard to the west Persia mission, that .. Holmes and Dr. Cochran are both compelled by failing health to leave the field for a time. No medical missionaries have stood by their brethren more bravely, or clung to their posts with more determination. The case of Dr. Holmes is the more immediately serious, but Dr. Cochran, after ten years of continuous service, is much enfeebled, and his widowed mother, who will return with him, comes home for a

little needed rest and change, after an absence, since her last furlough, of sixteen years.

Those of our friends who are preparing anything like a general survey of the mission field, for the January monthly concert, will find some comprehensive statements with reference to Persia, which may assist them, in the last October number of THE CHURCH.

INDIA.

The mission work in India continues to be very largely educational. Nearly 10,000 pupils are in the mission schools. The entire number of communicants in our missions is but a little beyond a thousand, 127 having been added in the last mission year. The field is a difficult one. The races among whom our brethren labor are acute, proud, inflexible, totally different from those of southern Hindostan. Its untaught millions are ruled by the superstitions of a thousand years, and, worse than all, bound fast by the cunning and iron chains of caste. No foe to Christian effort like this confronts Christianity in any other land. It is unique. It coils itself around all the wretched Hindu's life. Yet what is the result of mission work in India, and what can the watchman tell us of the night? India's leading minds already know that an idol "is nothing in the world." Their faith is honeycombed. There are many, many thousands in the land who are convinced of the truth of Christianity. But caste enchains them. To break caste is for them a living death. And yet that dreadful tyrant which enslaves India will be overthrown. Already there are signs of rebellion against its cruel laws. The revolution is sure to come-a revolution indeed; a revulsion it will be from the awful tyranny. The silent work of five hundred missionaries among the two hundred and fifty millions of Hindus is preparing for it. The unseen, divine power of the Holy Ghost attending God's own truth is preparing for it. The day must come which will see the breaking up of this vast and hoary system of social imprisonment and chains. The ice of the longest winter sometimes disappears in a night. In like manner-so the wisest observers are prophesying-caste shall give

way suddenly, and the masses of India be set free. In masses they have remained immovable. At that day in masses they will

move.

Let not us who stay at home discourage our already overburdened brethren there by perpetually and querulously alluding to their slight success. After all, who have done most for India, they or we? Is it not our failure-if any one will perversely call it failure-more than theirs? It is easy to criticise them. How much have we prayed for them? Is it brotherly, is it fair, to be casting in their teeth the small number of their actual communicants, as if that could be safely taken at any stage of mission labor as the sole index of their wisdom and their fidelity? By their immense literary labors, giving the entire Scriptures to India's many tongues, by the tens of thousands of youth whom they have taught in Christian truth, by the godly women whom they have. trained, by their own lives of Christian virtue, by their abounding labors under wasting tropical heats, by their fervent prayers and their lives at last laid down for India's sake, they have been preparing the way of the Lord in India; making straight in the desert a highway for our God. And the glory of the Lord shall yet be revealed in India, "and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

SIAM AND LAOS.

It will be instantly remembered by all students of missionary history how utterly hopeless a field Siam appeared for long years. The first missionaries could scarcely gain a place for the soles of their feet on the shore. Despotic and desperately hostile governors did their utmost to thrust back the hated foreigners. The few natives who first listened to them were imprisoned; others were cruelly tortured and killed. What a change! Every place is now open before our missionaries at their coming! During the past year they have been the recipients of the most conspicuous honors and favors from the king, the queen and the highest noblemen of the land. They may travel where they will, build where they will, teach, preach, organize openly their churches and