1889.]

with which we have to deal-the wild independents of Tyary who provoke the Koords to attack them, and those wretchedly-poor people of Bohtan who dare not call their lives their own.

PROTECTION NEEDED.

Is it impossible to establish a protectorate for the Christians in Turkey in Asia, which, on the one hand, would prevent injustice to the Koords and, on the other, protect from them? We shall always be hindered and disturbed in our work until there is government of some sort. If there only were an American or Englishman in Constantinople who had the confidence of the government, and who would be accepted by Shimon and the Molaks as their representative, who at the outbreak of these troubles would be on the ground on short notice with proper government officers to deal out strict justice upon Nestorians and Koords alike, it would preserve the peace and take away the reproach of the missionary from among the Koords. It would also free the missionary from circumstances which continually tie his hands spiritually.

GOSPEL TELLING ON TYARY.

There is one hopeful sign, namely, the effect of the gospel upon these Tyariee, as seen in Lizan and Zerue, the men of which villages are by far the bravest of all Tyary. Our church members and our followers or friends oppose all injustice to the Koords. Molak Pettoo, of Lizan, one of the most influential men of Tyary, while not a member of our church, has been our friend from the days of Dr. Grant, and has been moulded by the spirit of the gospel. Yosef (Joseph), his son, is the leader of the men of Lizan and other villages in war. He is a sincere Christian and member of our church; so also Shimon, his licentiate, and Daniel, the chief adviser or agent of the Molak. The last two are our teachers, both good men.

These all, when necessary according to their judg

ment, go out and fight the Koords and burn their villages, and such expeditions are not rare, but they strongly oppose injustice or unprovoked attacks upon their enemies. This summer they refused to attend the council of the Molaks until the sheikh referred to should be repaid for the loss of his sheep. One must be on the ground and see the men to appreciate the effect of the gospel upon them. What the gospel has done for these it will do for the other parts of Tyary.

CHINA.

THE SECOND CHURCH PROSPERING.

261

PEKIN.

REV. D. C. McCoy:-I am glad to be able to write you some encouraging things of our work in this city, but especially of the Second Church, which is just now entering upon its third year. I believe not a communion has passed without the addition of one or more new members to its roll. The number added during the last twelve months is nineteen. The young pastor is proving himself the right man in the right place. The wisdom of the presbytery in setting him apart to this sacred office and placing him over this important trust is more than justified. His success is doing much to strengthen and make general the view that all our native churches should be under the care of native pastors. It was not until March, 1886, that the Second Church was organized. But God was preparing a man for the place, and the place for It was Mr. Hsu. He had been assisting me for the past twelve months in the boys' school, and had also alternated with me in preaching on the Sabbath, and in conducting the prayermeeting and other religious meetings during the week. In this way the little circle of believers became well acquainted with him and he with them. They saw that he would bring to his work a welltrained mind, a sound judgment and a devoted heart. On the very day that the church was organized they decided to ask him to be their stated supply for one year, promising to pay his entire salary, and making it larger than any of our native helpers had then received. They paid him promptly in monthly installments, and at the end of the year they were ready to give him a call to be their pastor. At the meeting of presbytery

the man.

which occurred soon after this, their call was placed in his hands. But his characteristic modesty made him shrink from so great a responsibility, and in a choice little speech before the pres

bytery he declined the call. The presbytery,

however, strongly urged its acceptance upon him, and he finally yielded.

PASTOR AND PEOPLE GROWING.

Mr. Hsu has now closed the first year of his pastorate. It has been a year not without trials both to him and to the little flock over which he has so faithfully watched, and for which he has so earnestly and lovingly worked. Both have grown by what they have been called to do and suffer.

1889.]

ber. We had also visits at the same time from agents of both the British and Foreign, and American Bible Societies. With each of them I made trips into the surrounding country, distributing gospels and tracts.

RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT.

I have just finished making out our reports for the last year, and they are in many respects very discouraging when compared with what we had hoped to accomplish; yet we are now in a much better condition for work in nearly every respect than we were at the same date last year. Mr. Jerimiassen is now at Nodoa, where he was detained by circumstances nearly all last year and where he carried on a very successful boardingschool, besides the hospital which chiefly taxed his energies. I am now expecting to go to him in a few days to examine some applicants for baptism and to dispense the Lord's Supper. The presence of Mrs. McCandliss with her husband here makes it comparatively easy for me to leave Mrs. Gilman, and I hope to take several exploring trips with Mr. Jerimiassen during the next year. Our field is so large and so well defined that the needs of the different parts oppress one who takes time properly to consider them, and we feel that we should as far as possible let our presence and our declaration of the truth witness for the Lord as widely as possible, not only here on this island, but on the peninsula of the mainland near here, which from the similarity of language to that of this island we have come to consider a part of our field. With this duty before us the work of instruction is now claiming our attention. The difference of language makes it necessary that we should instruct our own native preachers and assistants, and we greatly need help to enable us to take advantage of the openings which now freely present themselves. We shall hope and pray that you will be able to send a minister to us during this year.

Rev. W. J. McKee, of Ningpo, writes as follows concerning a new experiment in chapel work:

Recently we have been trying a new plan, or rather resuscitating an old one. Our street chapels not being so well filled from day to day as formerly, the novelty having worn off, it has been thought wise to attempt more aggressive work and in a way to take the city of Ningpo by storm. The four

263

missions represented in this city, the Church Mission, English Methodist, American Baptist and our own, have agreed upon, and are carrying out, the following plan:

Each mission furnishes from one to three native preachers each day. One of the older missionaries is the leader of the band and is made responsible, for a week at a time, other missionaries, old and new, joining when they can. The band meets in one place according to a previously-arranged plan, but not in the same place every day. The place of meeting is generally one of the chapels. After prayer the preaching band takes its station in a vacant place near a thoroughfare, the presence of one or two foreigners draws a small crowd to begin with, and as the preaching goes on the crowd enlarges, but changes from time to time. The preachers take their turns preaching for a half hour or more each at a time. Sometimes a banner is carried bearing a text of Scripture upon which the preachers are to speak. Sometimes a hymn is sung and prayer offered, but these are not always for edification. Sometimes there are enough preachers to form two bands, and each band preaches in a different part of the city. In good weather there is no difficulty in getting good audiences and many listen with apparent interest, while some scoff and make sport of their fellows for listening to the "foreign doctrine." This is one method, but of course it will not serve as the only method of preaching the truth. Yet doubtless there are in this way some reached who might not otherwise be reached. And if it is of no benefit to others, it is to those who preach. It gives us more of the spirit of him who "when he saw the multitude, was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd."

Concerning the school work in Bangkok, Siam, Rev. J. A. Eakin writes:

The Sumray school, which was placed under my care by the mission at their last meeting, continues prosperous, and the teacher tells me that he thinks it will not be necessary to spend any money in support of it next term, as the patrons of the school will pay enough for tuition to provide for his salary, and all books and stationery are paid for as used. But the religious instruction given in the school has been in nowise diminished, but rather increased.

264

The religious feeling in our Christian high school is very encouraging. The boys are committing large parts of the Scripture to memory, and seem to enjoy the exercise. We have three Christian boys, and it would have done your heart good to hear one of them pray last night for the boys who are yet in heathenism, asking earnestly that those who have believed in Christ might have strength and wisdom to lead others to him. In a week or two we expect to open a day-school in a rented building near the place on the other side of the river which the mission has been trying to buy for a new station. Miss Stoaks will take charge of this school, and it will be made selfsupporting, so far as the current expenses are concerned, from the outset.

GUATEMALA.

SURROUNDING VILLAGES OPEN.

GUATEMALA CITY, June 6, 1889. REV. E. M. HAYMAKER:-About four weeks ago one of our members-or rather creyentes, for he is not a member yet-received an appointment from the Minister of Public Instruction as a teacher in the village of Santa Rosita, about three miles by a good road from the capital. On reaching Santa Rosita he began to make friends with the secretary, alcade and council, which was, of course, quite easy in view of the position he held, and soon brought the secretary to see one of the magic-lantern entertainments here in the capital. The result was, I was invited by the authorities of the place (unofficially, of course) to take the magic-lantern out and give them some entertainments. This I have been doing now for about five weeks. In the meantime the school teacher has proved an excellent propagandist and has worked hard for our cause, and I

[September.

have spent one or two evenings of every week in pastoral work there. More than thirty Bibles have been sold in the town. In due time a religious service was started, with some twenty in attendance. The padre has visited the place and roared against us, and the lines have gradually been drawn till now everybody knows that a choice must be made between us and "the Church," and that it is the padre who has forced the choice. The consequence of this has been that the attendance at the magiclantern entertainments has diminished from 250 to 150, while the attendance at the religious service has increased from twenty to forty, with new ones every night. The audience at present includes the secretary, the alcade, assistant alcade, town council entire (la municipalidad), the two school teachers (very important people in a village of that kind) and one of the principal landholders of the place. The movement being backed in this way by all the most influential people of the town, bids fair to be one of great results. Already the congregation is larger than our congregation in the capital, and the propagandist spirit of the teacher seems to have inspired all the rest with enthusiasm, and the town seems to be on fire. The fire has also spread to two neighboring villages, one of them very near to Santa Rosita, and people have begun to come from there to attend both the magic-lantern entertainments and the religious services, and the secretary himself takes his Bible and tracts under his arm and goes down to that village, and with them "searches the Scriptures" and proves to the people that these things are so. The other village is a little farther off, but the secretary there is very much interested and has invited me to take the lantern there and begin work among his people.

The runners with what is known in this country as the party machine sneer complacently at Sabbath-school politics, and assure us that saloon politics are unavoidable in a wicked world. But the facts are against them. There was never a great result achieved in our history which did not spring from Sabbath-school politics. America is the child of the Sabbathschool, not of the saloon. Our independence, the formation and preservation of the Union, and emancipation, were not the fruit of saloon or machine politics. They were the result of

honest conviction and of sincere moral effort and devotion. The saloon follows majorities, but the Sabbath-school makes majorities.-Illustrated Christian Weekly.

It does seem as if the world's greatest need was not a few illustrious preachers attracting crowds by the splendor of their gifts, but rather a multitude of common ones doing their work, according to their several ability, in all faithfulness and earnestness.-S. J. Niccolls.

We find this amusing story in the New Zealand Presbyterian, and give it to our readers because we think that they will find amusement in it and something more:

There is a story of the early days of the province that carries a moral. A minister had gone to an entirely new place to hold service. After the usual devotions, he gave out his text and began his sermon with a fine rhetorical swing somewhat as follows: "I suppose, my friends, I am the first minister who has preached here since Adam left the garden of Eden." Then he paused and his eyes rested with questioning interest on a man seated in the far corner of the room. Of course he did not expect an answer to his question. It was just his way of toeing the line for a grand effort. The man in the corner, however, did not view the matter in that light. He got heated and fidgety, tried hard to break the spell of that "glittering eye," but could not, and at last exclaimed, "I don't know sir; ask Sandy Dickson, he's an older settler than I am."

We do not know what moral the editor had in mind for New Zealand readers, but among other things it reminds us of a reply once made by the late Dr. Fewsmith to the question, "What do you think about preAdamite men?" Dr. Fewsmith said, he was too busy with the question, what can be done for the post-Adamite men, to have any time for the other question.

The forty-third report of the Ladies' Association for the Christian Education of Jewish Females contains interesting accounts of the girls' schools carried on at each of our Jewish mission stations. For Smyrna, Miss Menzies reports an attendance of 140 girls, of whom 120 are Jewesses-English, Spanish, German, Greek and French being the languages of the scholars. For Salonica, Miss Helen Walker reports an attendance of 160, of whom

154 are Jewesses, the school languages being French, English, German and Spanish. For Alexandria, Miss Kirkpatrick, with whom Miss Calder is associated, reports 140 girls, of whom 76 are Jewesses-the languages being Italian, Greek, Arabic, French and English. For Constantinople, Miss Bennett reports 168 girls, all Jewesses, the mother tongue of the children being Judæa-Spanish. At Beyrout, Mrs. Staiger reports 65 girls, 57 of whom are Jewesses, who are taught in Arabic, French and English. At all the stations the teachers are on friendly terms with the parents and visit the children at their homes. We need not say that the New Testament lesson is the most important. lesson each day in all the schools, while the best of our church hymns are sung at opening of school also. No one can read this report without seeing what a power of Christian influence these earnest and devoted ladies are bringing to bear upon the lives of these young Jewesses, and through them upon their homes. We wish there were a branch of this association, as well as of the kindred association for foreign missions, in every parish. Friends interested may obtain a copy of this report from Miss Tawse, 11 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh.— Church of Scotland Mission Record.

As a result of a religious revival in Richmond, Va., it is stated that the liquor sellers. have lost thirty per cent. of their custom. This suggests that a good way to fight the saloons is to convert their customers to Christ. A better way still is so to train the children in home and Sabbath-school that they will never become saloon customers. However the vote goes today, or whatever the politicians do, we can still work in these two ways. And if the Church and all Christians were faithful in this work of winning souls and training the young, the foundations of anti-temperance majorities would soon be swept away. Make the voters true Christian men, train up the boys to scorn bribery and shun the touch of intemperance,. and it will be easy to enact and enforce laws against the drink crime.-Cumberland Presbyterian.

The six millions of blacks in the southern states remain, and will long remain, one of the