CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND SOCIAL PROGRESS.

THE work of Dr. Dennis, the full title of which is given in the note below,1 has already been commended to our readers with the suggestion that a more extended notice might be looked for when the second volume should come from the press. Learning that the concluding volume will not be issued for some months to come, we will no longer delay to refer again to the great value of this new contribution to the literature of missions. We do not hesitate to say that among all the numerous and excellent volumes for a missionary library that have appeared within recent years, this book may of right claim the first place. It is a book to enlarge the thought and deepen the convictions of every intelligent reader by its thorough treatment of matters that lie at the basis of all Christian missions.

Dr. Dennis does not treat specifically of the spiritual side of missionary work, although recognizing clearly the fact that such spiritual work for the redemption of individual souls is fundamental. But the inquiry relates to society, to mankind in their social relations. It is argued justly that Christianity is a social agency, and that if it be from God it must aim to transform society, subduing its evils and bringing men not only into right personal relations with God but also into brotherly and helpful relations with each other, so that human wellbeing shall be advanced and a kingdom, which may properly be called a kingdom of God, shall be brought in upon the earth. "To save the world" means not merely to save the individuals in the world, but the society which is made up of these individuals. This renovation of the whole social order should be the aim, and towards this end a religion which is truly divine must contribute.

Preparatory to the inquiry whether Christianity stands this test of its divinity, our author asks as to what has been and is the condition of mankind. What are the elements tending to the elevation or degradation of humanity; in a word, what forces are there which may be expected to coöperate for the renovation of social order, so that there shall be established on earth a kingdom of righteousness and peace? To this inquiry he addresses himself with great thoroughness. First of all, he considers "The social evils of the non-Christian world." More than one half of this first volume is devoted to a portrayal of the condition of individuals and society in pagan and Mohammedan lands. There is no failure to recognize the good to be found in these lands, and no blindness in reference to the evils existing in Christendom, yet the long and sad tale of human sins and woes, of man's inhumanity to man, with no practical amelioration resulting from education or civilization or legislation or commerce or the ethnic religions, all lead to the inevitable conclusion that there is no hope for social progress except through a supernatural intervention - the coming of a divine agency to accomplish what men have failed to bring about.

The two sections of the first volume on the evils of the non-Christian world, depicted under seven groups, and the ineffectual remedies found in society apart from the gospel, are commended especially to those who have any doubts as to

1 Christian Missions and Social Progress: A Sociological Study of Foreign Missions. By Rev. James S. Dennis, D.D., Author of "Foreign Missions after a Century." In two volumes. Vol. I. New York: Fleming H. Revell Co.

Euphrates College, Harpoot. Girls' Seminary, burned by Turks and Kurds, 1895. Euphrates College, Harpoot, Turkey. Group of pupils in the Girls' Department, 1890AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL WORK IN TURKEY (A. B. C. F. M.)

[From "Christian Missions and Social Progress." Copyright, 1897, by Fleming H. Revell Co.]

the need of Christian missions to the unevangelized. If the members of our churches would ponder the facts here set forth they would never again raise the question whether it is the duty of the Christian world to give the gospel to the heathen.

The chapter on "Christianity the Social Hope of the Nations" is admirable, yet we could wish that the scope of the work had allowed of ampler treatment. The evidence that the gospel is fitted to redeem society is so clear, and the illustrations of the marvelous transformation it has made in the life of communities and nations are so varied and multitudinous, that we wish more of them could have been given. But enough are given to prove the point. When we were told, a few years ago, that a method had been discovered for moving the cars upon our street railways by electricity, it was not necessary before believing the statement to wait until we saw, what we see to-day, thousands on thousands of cars in all sections of the land propelled by this occult agency. It ought to have been enough to convince us in that earlier day had we seen a few cars, a dozen or a score, in which under varying conditions that motive power accomplished what was said of it. It ought to be enough to assure us now that the gospel of Christ is able to renew society and bring in the kingdom of God on earth, when we see it transforming those communities where it has been truly embraced. What this gospel has done in scores of cases furnishes sufficient evidence of what it can do throughout the world. What it will do will depend upon the fidelity with which the Christian Church applies the sovereign remedy it holds in its keeping for the renovation of human society.

But we must refer our readers to the full argument and the admirable marshaling of facts in the volume before us, confident that they will rise from its study with a new and profound impression concerning both the needs of the unevangelized world and the adequacy of the gospel to promote social progress and to bring in the kingdom of righteousness and truth upon the earth.

We ought to refer to the many beautiful cuts with which the book is adorned, presenting to the eye some of the prominent features of missionary work in foreign lands. The two plates given with this article have been kindly loaned us by the publishers, the Fleming H. Revell Co., and we are specially glad to give them inasmuch as they illustrate what foreign missions have accomplished through the educational work of our own American Board.

THE PUBLICATION DEPARTMENT OF THE WESTERN TURKEY

MISSION.

BY REV. H. O. DWIGHT, LL.D., CONSTANTINOPLE.

THE Bible House at Constantinople stands in the old city, or Stamboul, not far from the Golden Horn. The front rooms of the upper story are occupied by the Publication Department of the Western Turkey Mission. The windows of these rooms command a magnificent view of the Golden Horn, the lower Bosphorus, with Scutari and the Asiatic shore beyond, and of Galata and Pera on the hills beyond the Golden Horn.

The British and American Bible Societies, whose agencies are also established

in the Bible House, print the Bible in various attractive editions and in various different languages, and sell it in all parts of the empire. Several of the versions of Scripture now published by the Bible Societies were made by the oldest and most learned of the missionaries, some of whom have gone to their rest. But the Mission Publication Department to-day has a well-defined and wide field of labor in preparing and printing books other than the Bible. Any books which will prepare people to read the Bible, will help them to understand it, and will incite them to put its principles in practice, including tracts and schoolbooks, fall within the field of this kindly purpose. Such books the Publication Department publishes in Armenian and Turkish, for sale in the remotest towns and villages in the Turkish empire. It also publishes, for subscribers in all parts of Turkey and in various other countries, newspapers in these languages, which,

A QUESTION IN TRANSLATION IN THE PUBLICATION DEPARTMENT.

besides giving the news of the day and other matters of purely secular interest, make it a point to help people to understand the kind of life required by the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Commonly three or four missionaries are engaged at Constantinople in this work for all parts of Turkey. Each missionary ordinarily supervises printing in one particular language; for a mortal can hardly do his best if he has to change his thoughts and his words from one language to another several times a day. Yet each of these missionaries is pretty sure to know a good deal of three or four or even half a dozen other languages besides English. Associated with them in their work are several educated Armenians of literary ability who know several languages apiece, and who give their whole time to translating, to reading over manuscripts offered for publication, and to correcting the proof sheets of the

books and papers which are in the press. Some people have made the remark rather pettishly of these workers, "They never pay attention to social life or holidays, but tie themselves to this work day after day." It is not quite true that these workers take no holidays nor have social intercourse with others. Still they know the important effects which their work may produce, and they give their whole minds to its accomplishment.

The library of the Publication Department is an interesting place to visit. It contains the tools with which the publishing work is done. You will find there, as a matter of course, encyclopedias and histories and dictionaries and grammars of all sorts of languages used in the regions of Western Asia. You will find ponderous theological works in Latin and Greek as well as in English, and commentaries ancient and modern on the Bible, and theological works of each of the Christian churches existing in Turkey, besides the Koran, and commentaries upon it, and works of Mohammedan theology. One curious but useful book in this library is Walton's Polyglot Bible, in several huge folio volumes, which contains in parallel columns half a dozen ancient versions of the Bible.

The books published by the people of a century or two ago seem to have taken size in proportion to the solemnity of their contents. The first missionaries to Turkey had to learn Turkish through the Latin dictionaries in three enormous folio volumes, or through the French in volumes almost as unwieldy. One of the works which the Publication Department has done is the publication of a fine dictionary of Turkish in the English and in reasonably moderate size. The great Turkish dictionary of Arabic in three folio volumes is one of the curiosities of the library to strangers. The curious thing about this book is the arrangement of words under the roots, and in an alphabetical system that requires one to look for a word under the last letter instead of under the first letter of the root. Supposing that our dictionaries followed the same rule, if you wished to find such a word as "unlovely," for instance, you would have to look for it under the letter V, because the letter V is the last letter of the root. It is to Western minds a rather cumbersome way of finding a word. But then the work is enlivened by the stories which one finds in the dictionary at every turn, inserted to illustrate the origin or the use of words. For this reason a dictionary may be quite interesting reading, for as the Turk said, "If you do not find the sugar which you seek, you find honey which is quite as good."

One of the quaint old books of this library is a copy of the works of Clement of Rome, printed in Latin at Cologne in 1569. A particular value attaches to this copy of the book because it once belonged to Dr. Leonard Hoare, one of the first presidents of Harvard College, whose name is written on the title-page. Dr. Hoare's name is crossed out, however, evidently because the book passed to his successor, Dr. Increase Mather. Dr. Mather's name can be seen twice, once with the date 1676, when he came into possession of the book. Several valuable manuscripts in ancient Armenian are in this library. The work of illuminating this book was done 200 years ago, and it is as brilliant as if it had been done yesterday. This book is a translation of a series of meditations for anchorites written by Evagrius, a learned Constantinopolitan divine of the fourth century. It is bound in heavy leather, and the bookbinder, in order to provide