TAM. 
 
 ■ «■ EAST 
 
 Cburcb /Ibissionarg Society, 
 
 Missions in the Far East : 
 
 A Traveller’s Testimony. 
 
 Speech by Mrs. ISABELLA BISHOP. J.R.G.S., 
 
 Honorary Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, 
 
 At St. James’s Hall, May iith, 1897. 
 
 I T is as a traveller, and as one in no way connected directly 
 with missionary effort, that I have been asked to address this 
 Meeting to-night, and I value it as a very high privilege. I 
 have just returned from spending three years in the regions 
 of darkness — China, Corea, and Japan, only seeing here and 
 there, at long intervals of distance, gleams of light sent out from 
 this and other Christian countries, but making the darkness 
 which surrounds them the more vivid by comparison. I visited 
 the Missions of the Church Missionary Society in many parts of 
 China, and spent some time at the great Medical Mission in 
 Hang-chow, as the guest of Dr. and Mrs. Main. And last year 
 I went for a five months’ journey in the far-distant province 
 of Sze-chuan, where I visited nearly all the stations carried on by 
 Mr. Horsburgh’s Mission. In Corea, the Church Missionary 
 Society has, as you know, no work ; but there is a very great out- 
 pouring of the Holy Spirit there at this time. When I left it, in 
 January, there was a work going on which seemed more to realize 
 the Pentecostal days than anything I have ever seen. I also 
 visited Japan several times, and saw something of the work under 
 
2 
 
 Missions in the Far East ; 
 
 the Bishop of South Tokio, who is on the platform to-night. 
 Also of your work in Osaka and in Kumamoto, where the two 
 ladies who are working there have established a leper hospital, 
 which is not only the means of great temporal blessing, but it has 
 been of great spiritual blessing too. I visited Ningpo also, where 
 Mr. Hoare is doing a splendid work in the training of young men 
 as catechists, and clergymen perhaps eventually. And I would 
 say, in connexion with this work, that from all that I have seen 
 now in seven years and a half of Asiatic travelling, that I think 
 that if the nations of the East are to be evangelized, it must 
 be by the means of Native agents. Hence the training of Native 
 agents for native work is one of the first and most important 
 duties of the missionary. And should the work of training 
 be blessed, and the supply of candidates for that training be 
 increased, possibly the day may come when the chief work of the 
 European missionary will be the training and superintending 
 of Native agents, who can carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a 
 very different way to their own people from even the best foreign 
 missionary. That work at Ningpo, and the women’s work at 
 Ningpo, were specially interesting. 
 
 I understand from Dr. Lankester that the Medical Mission 
 work of the Church Missionary Society, so far as funds go, is at 
 this time not in a flourishing condition ; and this I infinitely 
 regret. The medical work of the Church Missionary Society is 
 one of the noblest and best of its agencies, and the good which 
 results from it, even in the very limited way in which it is carried 
 on, is almost infinite. Just to take the one example of Hang- 
 chow. I have been told, and on very good authority, that there 
 is a feeling in some minds that too much money is spent on Dr. 
 Main’s hospital. I think if those who say so saw the hospital and 
 the work it is doing of healing both body and soul, that they 
 would alter their opinion. It is certainly the finest hospital in 
 the East, and it is a credit to a distinctly Christian agency such 
 as the Church Missionary Society to be the possessor of the finest 
 
A Traveller's TestUnony. 
 
 3 
 
 hospital in the East. I should be sorry to see it lowered in any 
 way. There the missionary himself, the doctor, is an evangelist, 
 and a very earnest one. Beginning in the early morning with 
 instructing the twenty-eight assistants and gardeners and cooks in 
 the hospital, he goes on till half-past nine at night, doing an 
 enormous amount of medical work, but undertaking evangelistic 
 work also, in the preaching of Christianity in the hospital and in 
 the dispensary to a remarkable extent. It is a wonderful 
 hospital. By the influence of Dr. Main, a great many of the 
 mandarins of Hang-chow, and even the Viceroy of the province 
 himself, have been won over to some sympathy with Western 
 civilization and to a belief in the superiority of Western medicine. 
 I will mention one thing that I learnt in talking with the 
 American missionaries there. They told me — several, if not all 
 of them — that they scarcely ever met with a person interested in 
 Christianity, or a Christian inquirer, in the villages within a 
 radius of 150 miles from Hang-chow, who had not been brought 
 to be interested and to inquire through the means of Dr. Main’s 
 teaching in his hospital. And I think that that is a testimony to 
 the value of Medical Missions which ought to extinguish any 
 doubt“that exists, and ought to make those who are interested in 
 the physical and moral healing of the world more energetic in 
 sending out more medical missionaries. The blessing has been 
 very great in that hospital and has radiated from it. 
 
 I went, as I mentioned, to Sze-chuan, and there saw the devoted 
 labours of Mr. Horsburgh and those working with him, both men 
 and women. Of course, as you know, it is a day of small things, 
 just the beginning of work. But there were some in every station 
 who had been brought to the knowledge of the truths of Chris- 
 tianity, and who were adorning the doctrine of our God and 
 Saviour in all things. They were not at the time baptized; but since 
 then Bishop Cassels has been through the stations, and has 
 baptized many of them and confirmed others. And the devotion 
 of Mr. Horsburgh to the work is unbounded. It may be possible 
 
4 
 
 Missions in the Far East : 
 
 to criticise his methods, or to differ from some of them. But all 
 people who see and know of his work must agree that the 
 devotion and the self-sacrifice and the way in which he follows 
 the Master’s example, are beyond all praise. And the way in 
 which he has succeeded in opening stations in some of the most 
 hostile parts of China has been very remarkable. And one 
 at least of these— the station in the large town of Miencheo — 
 has been opened by the perseverance and self-sacrifice of two 
 ladies (one of whom has been, to our thinking too early, called to 
 her reward. Miss Entwistle) ; and by their faithful efforts the 
 hostility of these towns has been to such an extent modified 
 by the work they are doing, and the example they are setting, and 
 the just and Christian lives they are living, that they were among 
 the few missionaries who had not to fly from Sze-chuan in 
 the riots of the year before, having got such a hold over the 
 people that they were able to remain at their posts. But the 
 work there is proving too much for the few workers, who are 
 sadly suffering for the want of help. 
 
 I may mention that I was very much impressed in China — 
 both there and everywhere — by the effect upon Chinese faces of 
 receiving Christianity. I could almost pick from a mixed 
 assemblage those who were Christians. There is so much 
 brightness and cheerfulness about their faces. And there is 
 another thing I would speak of, and that is : that in China (and I 
 think that missionaries from China, from whom I have learnt 
 most of what I know, would bear me out in saying so) the con- 
 verts have a very great desire to preserve their churches pure. 
 It is a remarkable thing how anxious they are for purity, and how 
 strong they are against anything which is inconsistent. And I 
 suppose there is no Chinese church in China in which the 
 excesses and immoralities of the Church at Corinth, for instance, 
 are in any way — even in the mildest form — repeated. And that 
 says much for the training and teaching which the Chinese converts 
 are having from the missionaries. 
 
A Traveller's Testimony. 
 
 But there is one mistake that I may venture to speak of. It 
 was very much emphasized by a sermon I heard last Sunday 
 morning. The people of China — and the people of these 
 Oriental countries generally — are not, as is often said, and was 
 said in this sermon on Sunday morning, “ athirst for God.” 
 It is all uphill work. The creation of a feeling of sin, and 
 a knowledge of sin, and the creation of a desire to be saved 
 from the dominion of sin, must be the work of the missionary. 
 And he does not find what people often think exists — the 
 thirst after God. The thirst of the Oriental nature is for 
 money and the good things of life almost exclusively. These 
 meetings, which have succeeded each other so rapidly within 
 the last week, have produced on my mind a curious impression. 
 It is right, and most right, that those who are assisting in this 
 great missionary work abroad, should praise and thank God for 
 all that has been done, and especially for all that has been done 
 in the past year. We know for certain that not a heart would 
 have been touched among the hundreds that have been touched, 
 if it had not been for the almighty power of God ; and therefore 
 too much praise and too much thankfulness can scarcely be 
 expressed. Yet, at the same time, perhaps the very praise and 
 thankfulness which it is so right to express, do something — 
 perhaps not a little — to blind those who come to such meetings to 
 the actual state of the darkness in which the heathen w'orld lies at 
 present, in spite of all the Christian effort which has been 
 brought to bear upon it. It is natural to bring forth the 
 encouraging facts, and it is right to do so. And yet, at the same 
 time, coming fresh from a darkness which may truly be felt, it 
 seems to me as if the little points of light were shining too 
 brightly in our estimation at home, and as if the vast area of 
 surrounding darkness w'ere too little taken into consideration ; 
 and it is an awTul, unrealized darkness. We know nothing of it ; 
 we think little of it. We can scarcely take it in at all. 
 
 I travelled for fifteen months in China, and yet I feel as if I had 
 
6 
 
 Missions in the Far East: 
 
 only in my thougnt and knowledge touched the very outer fringe 
 of that darkness in which the Chinese are wrapped. The same 
 thing in Corea. And, if you will allow me, I will just run hastily 
 over some of the features of that darkness which occur to one as 
 one thinks of it in the world. Among these are the fetish systems 
 of Africa, New Guinea, and the Amur, the great philosophical 
 systems of Hinduism and Buddhism, the nature and hero worship 
 and scepticism of Japan, the revival of Islam in Africa and in 
 Western and Central Asia, which must be seen to be thoroughly 
 appreciated, and the revival of Buddhism in Japan. Buddhism 
 has become, and is becoming more and more progressive and 
 advancing. Then there are polygamy and polyandry, with their 
 unspeakable degradation, and the enthronement and even deifi- 
 cation of vice, so that many of the divinities of India are 
 incarnations of unspeakable wickedness. And one thing that is 
 painfully impressive is the terror which enslaves the people of the 
 East — the terror which enslaves Corea, for instance, and great 
 parts of China. I allude to the terror of dead ancestors, and of 
 what they can inflict upon them, of demons, and of the forces of 
 nature, all of which involve systems of worship and sacrifice. In 
 Corea, for instance, people scarcely dare to stir after the sun has 
 set, from terror of the demons who inhabit earth, air, and water. 
 Then come horrors such as cannibalism, Arab slave stealing, and 
 the brutality of punishments and tortures. Law itself is an engine 
 of oppression, and justice a commodity like any other to be 
 bought and sold, and which the working-classes are too poor 
 to buy. And there are unbridled immoralities and superstitions 
 and shameful political and social corruptions. And then, on the 
 negative side, there is no public opinion penetrated by Christianity 
 and making for righteousness to condemn wrong-doing ; and I do 
 not think in this country we can realize what that means. Then 
 again, there are few of the sanctities of home as we understand 
 them. There is infanticide, too, and there is no truth, and 
 no trust between man and man. 
 
A Traveller's Testimony. 
 
 7 
 
 Then I would mention what I think is not sto often brought 
 forward in connexion with Medical Missions. I am just now 
 mentioning the things which the Christian Church of this country 
 and which Christian Missions have to face and vanquish in 
 the strength of the Lord Jesus. I think it is scarcely fully 
 recognized that every system of medicine prevailing in the East is 
 connected with sorcery, demonolatry, and witchcraft, not to speak 
 of brutal and torturing treatment, and the thousands of lives 
 annually imperilled and lost. There is a close connexion 
 between medicine and extraordinary superstition and wickedness ; 
 and the sorcerer is summoned on almost all occasions, or the 
 wizard, or some prophetess, who profess openly to being in league 
 with spirits of the other world. Sickness is supposed to be the 
 work of demons, and the sorcerer is called in with his wand. 
 And in comparatively enlightened Japan they believe the power of 
 healing is connected with a divinity, and thus there is no worship 
 more constant and continual, and no power possibly more 
 believed in, in Japan, than that of Binzuru — the god of medicine. 
 And, therefore, it is a necessity to send out medical missionaries, 
 for so long as the only healer of the body is the man who is 
 in supposed connexion with evil spirits, so long must the people 
 remain in darkness and in the shadow of death. And I think that 
 it is a great argument in favour of Medical Missions, that the only 
 medical systems that these people know are systems of demon- 
 olatry and sorcery. 
 
 And the last thing I would mention that the Church in this 
 country has to face (and this is especially a question for women 
 to consider) is that the final element of darkness is the influence 
 of woman. From what I have learned — and learned often in 
 conversation, through an interpreter, from women themselves — 
 it is evident that the Eastern woman believes in the advantage 
 and morality of the customs which seclude her, in the religions 
 which deny her any future, and in the infinite superiority as well 
 as the immortality of man. The woman in the East rules to an 
 
8 
 
 MissioJis in the Far Fast : 
 
 extraordinary extent, and influences her family-world. She never 
 delegates the training of her children to others, as far as I know. 
 She stamps herself with all her prejudices and superstitions and 
 darkness on her offspring ; and she faces maternal responsibilities 
 ungrudgingly, and from this ungrudging care of her offspring she 
 doubtless acquires over them that influence which is fatal to them 
 throughout their lives. We often speak of the influence of 
 prayer at a mother’s knee. What, then, must be the influence of 
 a mother on these children as they grow up, when her whole 
 nature is steeped in superstition and idolatry ? She is the unseen 
 and often unsuspected power, which, it is possible, does more 
 than all else in the East to secure the absolute continuity of the 
 false religions of the East, and tradition and custom. And to 
 bring down, or rather to raise up, the influence of women in the 
 East, is surely a task worthy of women in the Christian Church at 
 home, and all the more so as it can be only accomplished by 
 women. 
 
 Then, with all these things in view, these tremendous difficul- 
 ties, we must remember that it is not only conquest that the 
 Christian Church now, in this age, is to aim at, but it is that 
 more difficult thing yet, namely, Reconquest. For we must 
 remember that there was a time, as early as the eighth century, 
 when from the Atlantic to the Stone of Singan Fu, in Northern 
 China, Christianity prevailed, and North Africa, Turkey, and 
 Persia contributed to swell the ranks of the noble army of mar- 
 tyrs. And it is an awful consideration that now, from the pillars 
 of Hercules to the frontier of China, the son of the bondwoman, 
 himself a son of Abraham, has triumphed over the son of the free, 
 and that that vast tract of country has to be re-entered and won 
 for the Lord Jesus Christ. In looking at all this, and especially 
 at this last fact and the reconquest which is essential, it might 
 well be that all who are desirous of preaching the Gospel might 
 despair, but for the knowledge of the great power of God, and 
 that it is with Him to make the Word effectual and with 
 
A Travellers Testimony. 
 
 9 
 
 Him to reconquer North Africa and Central Asia for His blessed 
 Son. But still, it must be done by men and women. And it is 
 for Him to raise them up, and for us to help by our prayers in 
 raising them up. And there is more than that. We must be 
 fellow-workers with God in contributing more largely — far more 
 largely — than we have ever done before to the support of those 
 who shall go out to fight in the great battle against the prince of 
 the power of the air, the god of this world. But even in refer- 
 ence to the terrible darkness and this terrible reconquest, we 
 have a sure word of prophecy, and we know that the son of the 
 bondwoman shall not finally triumph over the son of the free ; 
 that the idols shall be utterly abolished ; and that even the vast 
 system of Buddhism shall ultimately perish. And we know, too, 
 
 • that the blood of Kucheng and Liao-yang, shed within the last 
 three years, has not been shed in vain. And beyond that, we 
 know that no godly, just, earnest, Christ-like life, lived quietly 
 and humbly in the remotest corner of China, is lived in vain, and 
 that the day will come — and must come — when “the kingdoms 
 of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of His 
 Christ,” and that in all their wide dominion there shall be no 
 more curse, because there shall be no more sin. 
 
 But then the question comes, — What are we doing to hasten 
 that Day ? For each and all of us this is a very solemn 
 consideration. I feel almost as if it were presumptuous in me to 
 speak on this subject, and yet you must excuse and forgive me, 
 because of the awful condition of those without hope in the 
 countries in which I have spent the last three years. And 
 the first thing that I should suggest is, more earnest and con- 
 tinual prayer. I think if there was one thing more than another 
 which I have noticed in the recent meetings, it has been the 
 prominence given to prayer by Christians for the success of 
 the Gospel. But it does seem less easy to pray constantly than 
 even to give constantly, and disappointment and fatigue come, 
 and many other things enter in, to prevent that continuing in 
 
lO 
 
 Missions in the Far East: 
 
 prayer which may be the means of, we know not, how much 
 untold blessing ! One reads in the Bible of agonizing in prayer, 
 of nights and days spent in prayer, of a yearning of intense 
 sorrow over the ungodliness of the world. The Psalmist says, 
 “ Rivers of water run down my eyes, because of the wicked which 
 forsake Thy law.” Where with us is the spirit of Jeremiah, who 
 exclaims, “ Oh, that my head were waters, and mine eyes a 
 fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain ” ? 
 And where with us is the spirit of the Apostle Paul, who when he 
 spoke of those that were enemies of the Cross of Christ, blotted 
 the page on which he wrote with his tears ? We take it all too 
 easily, far too easily. We see the Heathen perishing, and we 
 know they are perishing ; but yet we go about our ordinary life 
 and our avocations as though there were no such thing as perish- 
 ing people, and as though we could not do infinitely more than 
 we are doing to try to save them. Then, what are we doing 
 abroad ? I almost hesitate to bring these figures before an 
 audience which may possibly be as well acquainted with them as 
 I am. But it is true that in India, with 270,000,000 of our 
 fellow-subjects, there is but one man or woman missionary to each 
 240,000 ; that in China, with its estimated population of 
 
 390.000. 000 or 400,000,000, there is but one to each 300,000 ; 
 and then in Central Asia, Afghanistan, Cochin China, Cambodia, 
 much of Siam and of farther India, and in Arabia and Southern 
 Turkey, where are our missionaries, and what are we doing ? 
 And what of South America, too, with its perishing millions ? 
 Then it is said — on good and careful authority, I believe — that 
 in this century only three millions have been baptized, with 
 a natural increase in the population of the world of some 
 
 200.000. 000. And I hear from those connected with the 
 societies of this country that there is a fearful paucity of men 
 going out, that the cry is for men. There are many women 
 offering — and woman’s work is great, and the field is enormous ! — 
 but what of the paucity of men ? And when I was in China, 
 
A Traveller's Tesllmonf. 
 
 II 
 
 Japan, and Corea, the cry was always the same, — “ There are no 
 men coming forward, or very few.” 
 
 Now, what is it ? Is it growing Sybariteism, or is it that the 
 prizes of the professions are more prized than before? I have 
 come too lately home to know. But we know that in the early 
 days of British Christianity men like Fridolf, Columbanus, and 
 Killian went forth, each with his woollen cloak, his leather 
 bottle, and his pilgrim staff as his sole equipment. In faith they 
 threw themselves among the savage hosts and hordes of the 
 Pagans of Europe, and won the Continent for Christ — from the 
 Carpathians to the Atlantic, and from the Appenines almost to 
 the Arctic circle. And one asks. Are the heroic days of mission- 
 ary effort in this country always to be those of the sixth, ninth, 
 and tenth centuries ? Is the constraining love of Christ upon 
 men less now than then ? It is true that people have more to 
 sacrifice in leaving home now. These men sacrificed but the 
 blessed communings and the sweet ties of Iona, and the men 
 who go out now have to sacrifice Church ordinances and sacred 
 fellowships and intellectual life, and all the many things that we 
 have been accustomed to consider our birthright. Still, the Spirit 
 may be roused again, and the Student Volunteer Missionary Union 
 is doubtless helping in this aim. But the fact remains that there 
 are no armies of men coming forward as these men came forward, 
 each going out with his company of twelve to convert Europe to 
 Christ. And these old saints counted not their lives dear unto 
 themselves, and thought nothing apparently of what they were 
 leaving behind. And those who left Iona perhaps scarcely gave it 
 a thought that they might never return to see its green shores again. 
 And then followed two centuries of success. And surely the 
 example of such men, and — to say it reverently — the far higher 
 example of Him Who gave up the Throne of His Father to come 
 and preach the Gospel on earth among sinful men, and to die 
 for sinful men — surely such may be sufficient to urge men out, 
 even from all that they love best, to go forth as missionaries now. 
 
12 
 
 Missions ht the Far East: 
 
 I would conclude by speaking on the subject of which I am 
 almost ashamed to speak — that of Christian giving. The labourer 
 is worthy of his hire, and men and women cannot go forth 
 unless they are supported on the mission-fields, however simple 
 and humble that support may be. I have not seen anything of 
 missionary luxury, and I think that those who give may rest in 
 peace on that subject. We all may be certain that the money 
 which is raised by the Church Missionary Society and other 
 Societies in this country goes direct to the point ; and that it is 
 not used to keep missionaries in luxury, but to enable them just 
 to live in that amount of comfort which we all know to be 
 necessary in the climates of the East. 
 
 And we at home, many of us, are living in luxury ; and if we 
 could only reduce ourselves to the level of the missionaries and 
 their simple way of living and their self-denial, we might be 
 gaining more of the Master’s approval than we at present have. 
 It is hypocrisy to pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth 
 labourers into His harvest, when, though we say that the 
 silver and the gold are His, we are keeping it back from Him, 
 and are spending it on our own selfish luxuries. And I would 
 not say upon luxuries only, but upon things which are pleasant to 
 the eye, pleasant in various ways — not in themselves sinful, 
 but just pleasant. And if we are spending money upon them, we 
 are keeping it back from the Lord. And I think we must learn, 
 each one of us, to ask ourselves the question — in every purchase, 
 in every shop to which we go, “ What doth God require of 
 thee?” and “How much owest thou unto thy Lord?” We 
 owe everything, and God requires of us much. And there 
 are many ways — I may be forgiven perhaps for mentioning 
 a few of them in which it seems to me, on coming home, 
 that the style of expenditure has been raised; and especially 
 would I mention, considering the large number of women who 
 are here, something of the extravagance in dress. The 
 extravagance seems to me in London this year to pass all bounds, 
 
A Travellers Testhnony. 
 
 13 
 
 and how much Christian women are affected by it I know not. 
 But sometimes, I suppose, it requires more Christian courage to 
 wear a bonnet of three seasons ago than it would to face a 
 flooded river, or anything else that may be dangerous. And I 
 think it is the dread of wearing old-fashioned clothes ; of living in 
 an unfashionable quarter, when it is possible to secure a house in 
 a fashionable one ; to have old-fashioned and possibly tasteless 
 furniture, when it is within our power to acquire artistic furniture 
 which is so easily obtained ; to spend a holiday in a second-class 
 hotel, when we could spend it in a first-class hotel ; and the 
 aversion to the giving up of expensive floral decorations, on 
 which fabulous sums are expended at this time ; to the modifying 
 our desires and our fashion in equipages and appointments, so far 
 as they are mere luxuries ; to the denying ourselves reserved seats 
 at concerts and other entertainments ; to the self-denial as to 
 filling our houses with objects pleasant to the eye — -which are 
 preventing us from following Christ. I mention these, because I 
 have just come from regions where either a tent or a dark room 
 in a Chinese hut of some village seemed sufficient luxury. 
 People here have a superfluity of luxuries, and Christian people 
 follow in the train of those who do not profess to follow in 
 the self-denial of the Master. And may it not be that we are 
 called to more self-sacrifice and self-denial than we have used 
 or are trying to use? Can we hear of souls perishing, as 
 they are perishing, and yet continue to use the silver and 
 gold which we constantly say are the Lord’s for other purposes — 
 and not His ? I know that reasons are given for not giving 
 up luxuries, and I should not venture to condemn them in 
 any way. People say that young people, growing up, must have 
 this and that and the other, that daughters do not like to see their 
 mothers looking dowdy, that they must have amusements and 
 recreations and entertainments, and that it is a pity to put young 
 people in adverse circumstances. I would only say, regarding 
 the oft-repeated argument, that if people gave up these super- 
 
14 
 
 Missions in the Far East : 
 
 fluities “ it would be so bad for trade,” that there is one word of 
 the Master which very often occurs to me, “ What is that to 
 Thee ? Follow thou Me.” It may be that the way of the Cross 
 is harder than of old, and that the steep of Calvary — which we all 
 must climb if we are to suffer with Christ and to be glorified with 
 Him — is more rugged than of old. I know not. But always in 
 front passes the Master, and every step of the road of self-denial 
 is wet with His blood. And with that example before us, and 
 His promise to help us, surely we may deny ourselves the little 
 luxuries and many of the little pleasures of this earthly life — for 
 the sake of those for whom, as for us, He died, and who are still 
 living in ignorance of Him. I would say no more on this 
 subject, because the measure of our giving and the measure 
 of our self-denial are questions which each one must decide for 
 himself or herself. But I would venture to say that each one of 
 us must seek to decide them in the light of the Cross of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and as if His eye were upon us in the decision. 
 
 We have been met together now about an hour, and in that 
 time, according to calculations which have been made, four 
 thousand of the eight hundred millions of our race, who have not 
 heard of the Lord Jesus Christ, have passed from this dark 
 life into Christless graves. We cannot realize it. We cannot 
 realize that they are passing in one mournful, ghastly, reproachful 
 procession at the rate of eighty-three a minute, to appear before 
 the throne of God, of the God of whom they have never heard. 
 
 I can say no more. In some respects I almost feel too strongly 
 to say anything on this subject. I only wish that all present 
 could see that thick darkness in which these millions of our 
 fellow-creatures live, as I have seen it, as every missionary sees it, 
 as every one who, like Mr. Baring-Gould, has visited Missions 
 sees it. And far beyond Missions, in outlandish regions, I have 
 seen it, where tens of thousands live without hope for the future, 
 knowing nothing of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life. 
 And I feel that while we have privileges beyond anything that we 
 
A Traveller's Testimony. 
 
 IS 
 
 could have dared to hope for, and of which we are utterly 
 unworthy, — if we, by selfishness and self-indulgence, by want of 
 self-denial, and want of realizing our great debt to our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, are withholding the light, is not our culpability great ? 
 We do it easily. Does not our conscience reproach us ? Will it 
 not reproach us at some day in the future, if it does not reproach 
 us now ? In that solemn Day, when all the things that we have 
 accumulated must be left behind, and when all the pleasures 
 which we have enjoyed at the expense of self-denial for Christ’s 
 sake are abandoned, and when we have to go and render an 
 account of our stewardship, it may seem a terrible thing that we 
 should have been indifferent to this great mass of dying, dark, 
 ignorant humanity. And may we not to-night, while hearing 
 statements regarding the Heathen, and of our responsibility to the 
 Heathen, hear also the voice of the Master — now crowned and 
 glorified — ringing through ages of increasing selfishness and 
 luxury, declaring to each of us that the measure of our love for 
 our brethren must be nothing less than the measure of His own, 
 for when “ He took upon Himself to deliver man,” He kept 
 nothing back from the sacrifice. May we be so inspired by 
 the knowledge and the individual experience of that great love 
 wherewith He loved us, that we may account no offering too 
 precious to lay upon His altar — self, children, all — and that 
 we may account no self-denial too great, if it can rescue one 
 perishing soul, and make it a jewel in His Crown of Glory ! 
 
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 Reviews of Books, Editorial Notes, Home Department, Selections from Proceedings 
 of Committee, &c. 
 
 The Church Missionary Gleaner. 
 
 IQ pp., Demy ito, in Wrapper. Freely Illustrated. Price One Penny. 
 
 Annual Subscription, Is. 6d., post free. 
 
 The Gleaner is the popular Magazine of the Society. It contains articles on various 
 aspects of Missionary Work, Editor’s Letters from Missionaries, Recent News from 
 the Mission Field, Editorial Notes, Missionary Sunday-School Lessons, Information 
 conceruing the Gleaners’ Union, Home Notes, &c., dtc. 
 
 Awake ! 
 
 12 pp., Crown ito. Well Illustrated. Pn'ce One Halfpenny. 
 Annual Subscription, Is., post free. 
 
 This Periodical is intended primarily for adults who know comparatively little of 
 Missionary work. It is very suitable for circulation in poorer parishes, country 
 districts, &c. , &c. 
 
 The Children’s World. 
 
 18pp., small Ito, in Wrapper. Freelij Illustrated. Price One Halfpenny. 
 
 Annual Subscription, Is., post free. 
 
 A Magazine for Boys and Girls. The contents include Missionary Stories, Letters from 
 Missionaries, ilonthly Letter from the Editor, An article in large typo for very little 
 Children, Competitions, Records of Children’s Work, Ac. 
 
 Mercy and Truth. 
 
 24 pp. , in W rapper. WUh a full-page Illustration, and occasiorml 
 
 smaller Illustrations. Price One Penny. 
 
 Annual Subscription, Is, 6d., post fre^. 
 
 A Record of C.M.S. Medical Mission Work. 
 
 Specimen Copies of the above Magazines and other papers on the work of the Church 
 Missionary Society will be forwarded on application to 
 
 The Seci’etaries, Church Missionary House, Salisbury Square, London, E.G.