Host Bibliographic Record for Boundwith Item Barcode 38888111979823 and Others

missioned Mr. Gordon Birlew to labor with this people while he is pursuing his studies in the Juarez theological school. With money advanced on rent account material was purchased, and the Mexicans set to work under Mr. Birlew's direction, with the result of securing a building of sun-dried brick, that has a flat roof, board floor, glazed windows, two hanging lamps, and ten long benches that will seat over sixty people. It stands on leased land, for which a ground rent of but one dollar per month will be paid.

"Two weeks ago the service of dedication was held, shared by two foreign missionaries and the native pastors of the two Mexican Methodist churches in the city. Both of these extended a most cordial welcome to the new enterprise, which furnishes a 'home' for the wanderers

and a new centre of beneficent influence. The same kind of Christian work is needed on both sides of the Rio Grande; and it is beautiful to see the 'Home' and 'Foreign' boards helping one another to do this in perfect harmony."

Notes from the Wide Field.

CHINA.

THE SECTS OF CHINA. The Chronicle of the London Society for December contains a note from Rev. Jonathan Lees, of Tientsin, in reference specially to the Mi-mi sect, in which he expresses some thoughts in regard to the origin of these organizations. They are known to be widespread and often to be very objectionable. The government seeks to suppress them and lives in constant fear of them. Some favorable impressions that Mr. Lees expresses concerning them will be a surprise to many: My impression is that they are in their essential nature religious - blind goings out of the heart toward the unknown God and the unseen heaven. It seems to be agreed (so far as I can learn) that the origin of all is a common one, and that the various names are simply those which have from time to time been adopted to escape persecution. They speak of the sect having arisen about the second century B.C. I fancy that few of them really know much about it. All sorts of odd fragments of the great national faiths seem jumbled together in their liturgies. But there does not seem to be any image-worship in their present ritual. Amid the almost utterly unintelligible mystical formula they repeat are names which seem applicable only to the true God. The worship is said to consist mainly in elaborate physical movements, and the endless repetition of rhythmical sentences of no very clear meaning. But two or three points have greatly interested me in talking with those I have met. One is their (for Chinese) unusual sense of sin, which they say they are seeking to get rid of; another, that the great object of desire is the attainment of future blessedness, whether in heaven or in some future earthly state. With many, notions of transmigration are mixed up with this. But in any case the good they hope for and the evil they fear is a recompense for the life of the present. In other words, conscience is at work among them; and, finally, the greatest merit is attached to efforts to save others by getting them to enter the sect and live according to its rules. There are the greatest rewards hoped for from this work for others. It is needless to point out the value of the presence of such ideas, in however imperfect a form, in the minds of the people. Nor can it be otherwise than that the most truly religious spirits may be looked for among these sectaries, who show more reverence and earnestness than any class I know. The Christian Church ought to win some of its brightest converts from their number."

NEW HEBRIDES.

THE NEW HEBRIDES MISSION.—It was in 1848 that the first missionary settled in the New Hebrides group, but prior to that time missionary work had been done among

In a recent letter

the islands by missionaries from Tahiti and the Samoan group. Rev. Mr. Lawrie, who resides at Aneityum, and who is aided by over thirty native helpers, speaks of the work within the group as follows: —

"After an existence of fifty years, the New Hebrides Mission is being prosecuted with a spirit and vigor greater than has ever been known before. There are seventeen principal stations occupied by European missionaries, and five times that number of branch stations occupied by native evangelists or teachers. During the last two years portions of the Word of God have been translated and printed in nine different languages. That does not mean mere dialects, but distinct languages, each as unintelligible to those who do not speak it as French is to an Englishman."

Mr. Lawrie reports that a more permanent class of buildings, with corrugated iron roofs and board walls, is being built. One great difficulty in reference to the evangelization of the group is the number of languages. Portions of the Bible have now been published in fifteen distinct languages.

A LETTER in The New Zealand Presbyterian from Mr. Smaill, on the island of Epi, one of the New Hebrides group, dated August 2, gives some interesting facts. Mr. Smaill's station is in the interior of the island, among hills 600 or 700 feet above the sea. There is a growing Christian sentiment against the old heathen festivals, the dancing and kava-drinking, and especially against the fightings which have so sadly reduced the number of people. Peace had been proclaimed and all old quarrels were declared to be off." The arrows which they use for birds and fish the people would not sell at all, but their poisoned arrows and charms, which were formerly used in their wars, they were quite ready to dispose of. But all these islands of the Pacific are suffering from the "labor traffic," which is taking away the young and strong for what is practically slavery in other parts of the world.

AFRICA.

UGANDA. The latest tidings from this interior post were dated July 14. The native lay evangelists, who were set apart in January last, are working well. Two of the French missionaries had lately died. The translation of the Acts of the Apostles had been completed. Mr. Walker, one of the missionaries, writes that he “cannot imagine happier work" than that in which he is engaged. He thinks that the present population of Uganda does not exceed 200,000, and that the Roman Catholics outnumber the Protestants four to one. In November Captain McDonald, of the Royal Engineers, left London in charge of the expedition of the British East Africa Company to make a preliminary survey for the proposed railway to Victoria Nyanza. Friends of the Church Missionary Society, but not the Society itself, are seeking to raise $75,000 in aid of the British East Africa Company's scheme for retaining its hold upon Uganda. The company itself pledges some $100,000, and in this way it is believed that the company can hold on to its interior posts till the question of the proposed railway is settled.

THE NEW LOVEDALE. Dr. Stewart and the pioneer exploring missionary party seeking to establish the "New Lovedale," somewhere in the interior of Eastern Central Africa, left Mombasa on the eighteenth of September for the interior. They had 200 porters, and the caravan when on the march was more than a mile long, moving at the rate of from eight to ten miles a day. When last heard from, October 9, the whole party were in excellent health and spirits.

THE CONGO BALOLO MISSION. - This mission, recently commenced under the direction of Mr. and Mrs. H. Grattan Guinness, is apparently in a prosperous condition. The son of the director, Dr. Harry Guinness, is now on a visit to the mission, and he makes a favorable report of the situation. As a physician, he affirms that

missionaries might live in Balololand indefinitely, if they could secure an annual rest and change such as they have at home. While he finds most of the Balolo people ready to receive missionaries, he has witnessed some of the fierce cruelties of which we occasionally get reports from Africa. For instance, he writes of a village which he passed one day, having perhaps thirty or forty people, buying fish of them, and witnessing their contented and peaceful life. A few days after, passing the same place, he found the village destroyed by fire, and learned that the N'gombe, a powerful and warlike tribe, had made a raid on the village and killed most of the people. That night, while the doctor and his companions were about retiring, an alarm was raised, and on going out they found the headless trunk of a little boy, apparently about ten years of age. The prowling N'gombe had cut off the lad's head, taking it to decorate the entrance of their town, and mutilated the body in the most atrocious manner. Dr. Guinness speaks in the highest terms of the services of Mr. Lothaire, the humane and brave representative of the Congo Free State, who was exerting himself to the utmost to suppress intertribal wars and the forms of slavery which are found along the Congo.

THE KATANGA COMPANY. A dispatch from Loanda announces that Msidi, king of the Garenganze Country, where Mr. Arnot established his mission, has submitted himself to the Congo Free State government. His domains lie within the limits assigned to that State by the Berlin Conference of European Powers. Some time since he was approached by an agent of the British South Africa Company, but declined to make any treaty with it. The Congo Free State has accorded to "The Katanga Company" the right of exploring the territories of the upper Lomami and Loualaba, and this company, in agreement with the Upper Congo Company, is establishing the Commercial Syndicate of Katanga, for the trade in ivory and caoutchouc, in the basin of these two rivers. M. Hodister, the well-known traveler, will take direction of the syndicate. He will have twenty European agents under his orders. A part of the expedition left Antwerp last October; the remainder followed in November. ALGIERS. Rev. Dr. E. J. Ekman, Superintendent of Missions of the Swedish Free Churches, has just returned to Stockholm, from a visit to the missions of the Free Churches in Algiers. In a letter to the Svenska Morgonbladet he says: • The Swedish Missions förbundet has here two workers: Dr. Nyström and Mr. Tuff, who, aided by their wives, work among the French population as well as among the Arabians and Jews. Dr. Nyström is engaged in translating certain parts of the Bible into the Arabian dialect spoken here. He hopes to publish in the course of 1892 the Psalms, the Gospels of Luke and John, and the Epistle to the Hebrews. The workers of the other missionary societies are looking for a rich blessing from Dr. Nyström's work, as they will be able to distribute the Bible among people who walk in the darkness of unbelief and superstition."

EGYPT.

REFORMS AMONG THE COPTS. The United Presbyterian Church of America is doing most excellent work in Egypt, and one of its missionaries, Dr. Watson, reports that there is an interesting movement now in progress among the ancient Christian sect of the Copts, numbering about 350,000. The Copts are in culture and education quite in advance of the people about them, and some of the best men have formed societies for benevolent purposes. They are strongly protesting against the superstitions and corruptions of their old church. The priests are ignorant and lazy. Dr. Watson says that not one in a hundred can read the vernacular correctly; they spend their time in mumbling masses for the dead. But the reformers, as they may be called, have rejected many doctrines and practices of the old church, such as worshiping of pictures, the confessional, and the intercession of the saints. In some churches the

pictures have been removed and the Arabic language is used instead of the old Coptic, which is not understood by the people. Some of the meetings of these reformers differ little from those which are held in the Protestant congregations. The missionary evangelists and preachers are welcomed and frequently make addresses. The new movement, which is not political but has a deeply religious character, gives promise of great good and stimulates hope for the evangelization of Egypt.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL.

Miscellany.

Before assuming his duties as Home Secretary of the American Baptist Missionary Union, Dr. Mabie made a tour of their mission fields, especially in Asia, visiting some 200 of their missionaries. His impressions are presented in an attractive and beautifully illustrated volume, which is at once an exciting book of travel, an encouraging view of missions, and a treasury of fresh information concerning the heathen world. While it aims to give but glimpses or sketches of the scenes and work surveyed, they are from the point of view of an American pastor, are interesting, and calculated to deepen the missionary spirit.

The Preacher and his Models. The Yale Lectures on Preaching, 1891. By the Rev. James Stalker. New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son.

are

This volume is marked by the excellencies which have made Dr. Stalker's Life of Christ and Life of St. Paul so popular. The style is beautifully clear and the treatment of the theme suggestive and profoundly evangelical. The lectures upon the preacher as a man of God, as a patriot, as a man of the Word, as a false prophet, as a man, as a Christian, as an apostle, and as a thinker. Admirable as this division is, we venture to suggest that there is one other topic which might

SPECIAL TOPIC FOR PRAYER.

well be made the basis of a special lecture, namely, the preacher as a missionary, taking thus into account the relations of the minister, whether at home or abroad, to the wide Kingdom of God throughout the world. But we rejoice greatly in the volume as it is, and are confident that it will prove an intellectual and spiritual tonic to all who peruse it.

Romans Dissected. A new critical analysis of the Epistle to the Romans. By E. D. McRealsham. New York: Anson D. F. Randolph & Co.

Here is the keenest bit of satire that the controversy over "Higher Criticism" has yet evoked. It is a veritable Damascus blade, slicing off a head with such nicety that the victim enjoys the sensation. The author has applied the canons of the destructive critics of the Pentateuch to the Epistle to the Romans, and with most elaborate and particuiar analysis of each phrase and word discovers in this writing, hitherto of acknowledged genuineness, the work of four separate authors, whom he designates as G1, G2, J. C., and C. J. The careful presentation of the argument and the tone of candor heighten the effect of this covert attack on rationalistic criticism. 'Higher Criticism" will find a rewarding field of operation in studying the author's name, which can be made to disclose the well-known and honored signature of a former professor in one of our theological seminaries.

Notes for the Month.

For colleges, seminaries, and all schools of Christian learning at home and abroad: that these institutions on mission ground may be kept true to the evangelical purpose for which they were founded; that the thousands of pupils now in training in them may bear the light of the gospel which they have received to their countrymen; and for educational institutions at home, that they may raise up a great company of devoted men and women who shall use the treasures of wisdom and knowledge they are gaining for the advancement of Christ's kingdom throughout the world.

ARRIVALS AT STATIONS.

October 17. At Lin Ching, North China, Rev. Franklin M. Chapin and wife.
November 17. At Prague, Austria, Rev. John S. Porter.

November 18. At Tientsin, North China, Miss V. C. Murdock, M.D.

December 3. At Madura, India, Rev. J. E. Tracy and wife.

December 4. At Constantinople, Miss Fannie E. Griswold.

December 7. At Bardezag, Western Turkey, Rev. Robert Chambers and wife.
December 22. At Samokov, Bulgaria, Rev. E. B. Haskell and wife.

DEATHS.

November 22. At Foochow, China, Mrs. H. Jennie, wife of Hardman N. Kinnear, M.D. (See page 43.)

January -.

At Smyrna, Turkey, Mrs. Cornelia C., wife of Rev. Lyman Bartlett. The telegram announcing Mrs. Bartlett's death was received at Boston, January 4. (See page 45.)