122 Liverpool Missionary Conference of 1860, [January 
 
 good, though xi. 5 be translated with De Wette, interrogatively, 
 Shall he not return into the land of Egypt? There is no note 
 of interrogation in the Hebrew, however, so that the declarative 
 form, adopted in the common English version, is to be preferred. 
 
 Art. V.— Conference on Missions held in 1860 at Liverpool, 
 Including the Papers read, the Deliberations, and the Con¬ 
 clusions reached, with a comprehensive Index, showing the 
 various matters brought under Review. Edited by the Secre¬ 
 taries to the Conference. Tenth thousand, revised. Lon¬ 
 don: James Nisbet & Co. 1860. 
 
 In bringing this interesting and important volume to the notice 
 of our readers, we are influenced by the momentous character 
 of the questions it discusses, and the valuable light it sheds 
 upon them. No interest of the church, or department of 
 Christian labour, towers above missions to the heathen. When, 
 at the beginning of this century, the mind of Protestant 
 Christendom awoke from its lethargy on this subject, and com¬ 
 menced its labours of foreign evangelization, the field was new 
 and untried, at least in modern experience. While the great 
 principles which underlie and shape the missionary work are 
 laid down in Scripture, yet those details of practical develop¬ 
 ment and organization, which are conditioned by the difference 
 between present circumstances and those of the apostolic 
 church, and which can only be determined by actual experi¬ 
 ence, remained to be evolved by the future working of mis¬ 
 sions. Great questions have thus been emerging in regard to 
 various matters connected with the conduct of missions, which 
 have tasked the wisdom of missionaries, and of missionary boards 
 and managers, while some of them have agitated the mind of 
 the church at large. In this exigency, it has been felt to be 
 desirable to collect the lights of experience from those who 
 have personal knowledge of the operations and effects, the 
 difficulties and perplexities, that have shown themselves in the 
 practical working of modern missions. The most obvious 
 
121 
 
 1861 .] The Fulfilment of Prophecy, 
 
 well known that Tyre was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar for 
 thirteen years, and there is good reason to believe successfully, 
 although the fact of its capture does not happen to be men¬ 
 tioned in express terms. It cannot, at any rate, be disproved; 
 neither can his conquest of Egypt, which is, moreover, asserted 
 by Josephus, Antiquities^ x. 9, 7, who quotes Megasthenes 
 and Berosus to the same effect, Antiquities x. 11, 1. These 
 positive statements are certainly sufficient to outweigh the 
 silence of Herodotus and Diodorus. The indignities threat¬ 
 ened to the dead body of Jehoiakim, Jer. xxiL 18, etc., xxxvi. 30, 
 are not discredited by 2 Kings xxiv. 6, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 6, for 
 there is no conflict between these passages and the prophecy. 
 Nor is there any reason to question JoSephus’s explicit testi¬ 
 mony to its fulfilment, x. 6, 3, notwithstanding its rejec¬ 
 
 tion by De Wette. The difficulty in Isa. xxii. 29, is not so 
 much to discover a fulfilment, as to decide between different 
 events which have a claim \to be so regarded. The invasion of 
 Sennacherib seems to have been more immediately regarded in 
 both cases. Elam and Kir, chap. xxii. 6, denote troops from 
 those nations in the Assyrian nrmy; and the sudden and mira¬ 
 culous defeat, xxix. 5, etc., is that of the host of the Assyrians. 
 But with this is blended the foresight, in chap, xxix., of other 
 trials and deliverances; and perhaps, in chap, xxii., of the 
 later sieges by Esar-haddon and Nebuchadnezzar. Hos. ix. 3, 
 “ Ephraim shall return to Egypt,” and xi. 5, ‘‘he shall not return 
 into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king,” are 
 mutually contradictory, if regard be had' merely to the letter 
 and the form of expression. In thus affirniing and denying the 
 same proposition, the prophet must, if he is to be absolved from 
 the charge of inconsistency, have intended it in different senses. 
 Two explanations are possible, either of which is satisfactory. 
 He may mean, Ephraim shall return to an Egypt, i. e., he shall 
 be reduced again to a servitude like that which he formerly 
 experienced in that land—not in the literal Egypt, however, 
 but in Assyria. Or he may naean some of the people shall 
 return to Egypt, fugitives from Assyrian invasion; thfe mass, 
 however, shall be carried not to Egypt, but to Assyria. Upon 
 either of these hypotheses, the language of the prediction 
 accords with the event. And these explanations will still hold 
 VOL. XXXIII. — NO. I. 16 
 
1861.] Or, Results of Missionary Experience, 123 
 
 > 
 
 method of applying this resource for facilitating the solution of 
 the problems in question, was hy deliberative conventions of 
 missionaries, and of the conductors and intelligent friends of 
 missions, in all parts of the world. Of the obstacles which for 
 a time prevented the gathering of such convocations, and of 
 the meetings for this purpose which have been successively held 
 within the past few years, we shall soon make brief mention. 
 This volume is a complete and accurate account of the last and 
 greatest of these conventions, for which those previously held 
 formed at once the demand and the preparation. It contains 
 over four hundred large octavo pages, in clear and ample type, 
 and although exceedingly cheap, is, in all respects, neatly got 
 up. It gives the entire proceedings, papers, debates, speeches, 
 results, of this conference, at its formal sessions, its soirees, 
 and public meetings, together with an appendix of valuable 
 documents, a most copious and accurate index, and marginal 
 headings of topics on the sides of the pages. We have seldom 
 met with any report or record of the doings and sayings of 
 any deliberative assembly so complete and satisfactory. The 
 editors, who were the four secretaries of the meeting, together 
 with their assistant stenographers, deserve all praise for the 
 manner in which they have executed their work. And the 
 work is worthy of the labour bestowed upon it. It presents 
 the many-sided experience, the profound reasonings, and the 
 deliberate judgments of this great catholic missionary conven¬ 
 tion, on the vexed questions which have most baffled the con¬ 
 ductors of Protestant missions. It contains several papers on 
 these questions of consummate excellence; also, a number of 
 addresses before public meetings, which are among the finest 
 recent specimens of Christian eloquence. The members of the 
 Conference numbered one hundred and twenty-six. They em¬ 
 braced missionaries, both retired and still in service, from all 
 quarters of heathendom, together with the active and controlling 
 officers of the chief missionary societies of Britain, besides other 
 leading friends of missions, lay and clerical. Among these were 
 included prominent representatives of all the great evangelical 
 bodies. Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Moravian, 
 Independent. Leading parts in the proceedings of the Confer¬ 
 ence were assigned to members of these respective denominations. 
 
124' Liverpool Missionary Conference of ISQO, [January 
 
 Not the least interesting and able constituent portion of the 
 assembly were the officers of the British army who had been sta¬ 
 tioned in missionary fields, more especially in India. We can 
 scarcely wonder that the Queen’s armies in India are victorious 
 over insurgent foes that vastly outnumber them, when they are 
 commanded by the Havelocks, Campbells, Alexanders, and 
 other Christian officers like those whose noble Christian and 
 missionary addresses are reported in this volume. One of 
 these. Major General Alexander, presided at the regular sit¬ 
 tings of the Conference. The Earl of Shaftesbury, however, 
 presided at the general public meeting held at its close. No 
 class of members contributed more to the objects of the meet¬ 
 ing, or exhibited greater piety, wisdom, earnestness, and elo¬ 
 quence, than these army officers. One of the charms of the 
 volume lies in the large variety of writers, speakers, and ora¬ 
 tors to which it introduces us. In short, our inspection of the 
 hook fully bears out the statement of the Glasgow Examiner^ 
 that “ there is no such collection of opinions on mission-work 
 extant.” It justifies the following language of the Edinburgh 
 Witness: ‘‘At the missionary meetings of individual churches 
 or societies, the experience has been often detailed that falls 
 within their own limited and sectional operations. For the first 
 time the Conference brought into play wffiat we may call the 
 catholic experience of missions. The results of long years of 
 observation in all fields and by all classes and denominations of 
 missionaries were thrown into a common stock, and the mate¬ 
 rials furnished, out of which there may be drawn, if not a new 
 theory of missions, new and wiser methods of mission opera¬ 
 tions. We know not a more valuable contribution towards the 
 formation of a science of missions than the volume that records 
 these meetings. It has not only added largely to the experi¬ 
 ence that has been accumulating for half a century—it has con¬ 
 centrated it.” 
 
 Having thus presented to our readers the general features of 
 this volume, we propose to bring before them a brief conspectus 
 of the missionary conventions which preceded and culminated 
 in this, and of the results at which this arrived—availing our¬ 
 selves of the statements and language of this volume, with or 
 without quotation marks, as convenience may dictate. From 
 
125 
 
 1861.] Or, Results of Missionary Experience. 
 
 a paper in the appendix by the Rev. Joseph Mullens, one of 
 the Secretaries of the Conference, we learn the following facts 
 in regard to previous conferences on missions. 
 
 During the last few years several important conferences 
 have been held respecting the best modes of furthering the 
 great work of Christian missions in heathen lands. The grow- 
 ine: union of all branches of the Church of Christ in England 
 and America, on several occasions led to suggestions respecting 
 a gathering of the chief managers of missions, lay and clerical, 
 that they might combine their sympathies and their efforts, 
 more openly and more completely, in extending the Saviour’s 
 kingdom. For a considerable time, however, the carrying out 
 of such a plan was hindered by the fear, expressed in many 
 quarters, lest some Utopian scheme should be broached for 
 confounding combined action with unity of association; and 
 substituting, for the affectionate co-operation of independent 
 churches and societies, the action of some single Missionary 
 Society, to be formed by the union of the whole. At length 
 meetings of the kind were successfully commenced; and com¬ 
 mon discussions on missionary principles and plans of labour 
 were permitted to take place. 
 
 The first conference of the kind actually inaugurated was the 
 Union Missionary Convention, Avhich met in New York on 
 May 4th, 1854, and was occasioned by the visit to America of 
 the Rev. Dr. Duff. Stirred up by his fervent appeals, and 
 anxious to take advantage of the presence and experience of 
 one in whose labours all branches of the church felt a deep 
 and sympathizing interest, various brethren in Philadelphia 
 and New York joined in inviting the officers and supporters of 
 all missionary societies to hold such an assembly; “to illus¬ 
 trate the practical unity of the church ; to excite an increased 
 interest in her holy work; and to combine and judiciously 
 direct her efforts, for the salvation of the millions of our Vace 
 perishing for lack of knowledge.” All idea of merging exist¬ 
 ing agencies in some Utopian centralized missionary organiza¬ 
 tion was repudiated; and the ho})e was expressed that, while 
 each branch of the Christian church endeavoured to render 
 more efficient its own share in the great cause, such an assem¬ 
 bly of men, aiming at one common object, might collect and 
 
126 Liverpool Missionary Conference of [January 
 
 concentrate scattered fragments of foreign experience; might 
 inquire into the best method of raising funds: might discuss 
 the relative advantages of the several modes adopted in evan¬ 
 gelizing the heathen; and arrange for a freer interchange of 
 information among existing missionary societies. On the day 
 appointed a hundred and fifty members of the Convention met 
 in the lecture-room of Dr. Alexander’s church in New York; 
 including eleven missionaries and eighteen officers of various 
 Missionary Societies and Boards. They sat, however, for only 
 a day and a half, and the range of topics discussed was neces¬ 
 sarily limited. But the harmony, the practical union of affec¬ 
 tion, the earnest desire to maintain a cordial co-operation in 
 the Saviour’s work, manifested on every side, were most 
 delightful; and in this respect the success of the Convention 
 was complete. 
 
 Besides the consideration of general Scripture principles, on 
 which the work of missions is based, three practical questions 
 were taken up by the Convention, of which two related to 
 foreign work, and one to the raising of missionaries at home. 
 On each of these a distinct opinion was pronounced. ' 
 
 [a) On the subject of concentrating or scattering labourers 
 in a foreign field, the Convention resolved: that while approv¬ 
 ing the plan of diffusing the gospel by means of judicious 
 itinerancies, it was equally proper and desirable to seize on 
 commanding stations, especially in countries possessing ancient 
 systems of error; and to concentrate a powerful agency there, 
 which, by harmonious cooperation in different departments of 
 missionary labour, may both largely influence the heathen, and 
 perpetuate the gospel in pure churches to succeeding genera¬ 
 tions. 
 
 {h) On the expediency of different Boards planting stations 
 on the same ground: the Convention expressed their thankful¬ 
 ness that Societies have interfered so little with each other-— 
 decided, and resolved, that, considering the vast domain of 
 heathenism yet untaught, it was very desirable that an efficient 
 preoccupancy of any portion of the field by one evangelical 
 Society, should be respected by others, and left in their sole 
 possession. 
 
 (c) On the important question of multiplying and preparing 
 
1861.] Or, Results of Missionary Experience. 127 
 
 qualified labourers; the Convention considered that much de¬ 
 pended on a deeper missionary spirit in pastors of churches; 
 leading them to constant efforts, in their pulpits, bible-classes, 
 and Sabbath-schools, to impress parents, teachers, and the 
 young, with the duty and glory of personal dedication to the 
 work of the Lord. On these topics the conclusions reached 
 are similar to those adopted by the recent Conference at 
 Liverpool.* 
 
 The next Conference on missions was gathered in London, in 
 the autumn of the same year; and sat for two days, October 
 12th and 13th, 1854. Like that at New York, it was limited 
 in the range of its discussions; and dwelt rather more on 
 general principles. Members of all the principal Societies 
 were present; but many of the Secretaries were unable to 
 attend. 
 
 The Conference was deficient, therefore, to a large extent in 
 practical elements: but the kindly feeling and harmony pre¬ 
 vailing among the members of the different churches present, 
 evinced an earnest desire heartily to cooperate in the great 
 work of preaching the gospel to the heathen. Three long and 
 able papers were read to the Conference; of which the second 
 only dealt with the plans of missionary life; having discussed 
 the increase of native agents and the extension of itinerating 
 operations. No resolutions were adopted on this or other 
 questions: the object being to make the expression of opinion 
 free and unrestrained. This first gathering in England of 
 brethren deeply interested and engaged in missionary work 
 tended greatly to prepare the way for the more practical 
 assembly which has recently taken place.f 
 
 To these gatherings among the home friends of missions suc¬ 
 ceeded several more private Conferences on the actual fields of 
 labour: all of a much more complete, searching, and practical 
 character. The earliest took place among the American Mis¬ 
 sions in India and Syria. At the close of 1854, the llev. Dr. 
 Anderson, Foreign Secretary of the American Board, and the 
 
 * “Proceedings of the Union Missionary Convention held in New York, May 
 4th and 6th, 1854.” New York : Taylor & Hogg. 1854. 
 
 f “The Missionary Conference in London: Evangelical Christendom.” 
 December 1854. 
 
128 Liverpool Missionary Conference of 1860, [January 
 
 Kev. A. C. Thompson proceeded to India as a deputation from 
 the Board, and spent the following year in visiting the entire 
 range of their missions in those countries. In each case they 
 examined the stations occupied by the Board in all their detail; 
 and gathering the missionaries together for consultation, went 
 over with them all the questions involved in every plan existing 
 in operation in their peculiar circle of missions. 
 
 The American Board has three great spheres of missionary 
 operations in India; in the Deccan, North Ceylon, and Madura; 
 with two smaller missions in Madras and Arcot; and has two 
 chief centres of missions in Western Turkey, at Beirut and 
 Constantinople. In all these missions, this, or a similar range 
 of searching topics was discussed in full by the missionaries 
 and the deputation; the views of the brethren were inter¬ 
 changed, and the results of their experience on heathen ground 
 were freely detailed. The deductions of this experience appear 
 in the form of Papers drawn up by the missionaries (similar to 
 the Minutes of the recent Conference,) and of Letters, com¬ 
 menting upon them, by the Deputation. They are contained 
 in a volume of 600 pages, printed privately for the use of the 
 Board and its friends; and it is not too much to say that no 
 previous volume of equal size, published during the era of our 
 modern missions, contains so much valuable information on all 
 the details of missionary experience on several most important 
 fields of labour, as that volume of missionary papers. It might 
 be published with great advantage to the friends of all Mission¬ 
 ary Societies; and deserves the careful study of all mission¬ 
 aries, and the managers of all missionary agencies, especially 
 in the countries and provinces in Asia.* 
 
 About the same period, E. B. Underhill, Esq., the able and 
 accomplished Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society, 
 visited all the missions of that Society in India and Ceylon, as 
 a deputation from the London Committee, and acting on a plan 
 similar to that of the American deputation, gathered the mis¬ 
 sionaries of the Society in four separate Conferences, for a 
 similar examination of every element in their local plans. A 
 
 * “Reports and Letters connected with Special Meetings of the India and 
 Syria Missions of the American Board in 1855.” Printed for the use of the 
 Prudential Committee. Boston. 
 
1861.] Or, Remits of Missionary Experience. 129 
 
 range of topics was discussed similar to that of the American 
 brethren; and the result, as in their case, was embodied in 
 reports by the missionaries and letters by the deputation. 
 They are also equally valuable.* To the missionary in India 
 no works will give a more complete insight into the worth and 
 working of all sorts of plans, than the nine sets of Papers and 
 Letters contained in these volumes of the two Societies. 
 
 Three other Conferences, of a more general character, also 
 on Indian ground, accompanied, or have since followed, the 
 meetings of the American and Baptist missionaries. They had 
 to consider not merely general principles, but the minute de¬ 
 tails of each circle of missions. The General Conferences which 
 followed, including missionaries from many Societies, were con¬ 
 fined to the principal plans of labour adopted by Indian mis¬ 
 sionaries, hut illustrated them by experience, drawn from a 
 wide surface and contributed by the most able men, who had 
 been engaged in carrying those plans into effect. 
 
 The Bengal Missionary Conference met in Calcutta in Sep¬ 
 tember, 1855; it consisted of nearly fifty missionaries; sat 
 four consecutive days; held eight sessions, with meetings for 
 devotion; enjoyed the most delightful harmony in its meetings; 
 and its members were greatly cheered by their mutual counsels. 
 The topics discussed were as follows : 
 
 The progress made by missions in Bengal: 
 
 The peculiar difficulties encountered in them: 
 
 Preaching the gospel in the native tongue: 
 
 English missionary education: 
 
 Inffuence of the Indigo and Zemindary systems on the pro¬ 
 gress of the gospel in rural districts: 
 
 Vernacular Christian literature: 
 
 Vernacular schools: and 
 
 Native female education. 
 
 Each subject was introduced by a brief paper; the discussions 
 were conversational, pointed, and searching; and the opinions 
 of the brethren were embodied in the form of resolutions, which 
 were submitted to them and approved. The papers, brief notes 
 
 * “Minutes and Reports of Conferences of the Baptist Missionaries in 
 Bengal; the North-west Provinces; Behar; and Ceylon, in 1855—56.” 
 Printed for the use of the Committee and the Missionaries. 
 
 VOL. xxxm.— NO. I. 17 
 
130 Liverpool Missionary Conference of [jANUiRY 
 
 of the discussions, and the resolutions passed, were also pub¬ 
 lished in a thin volume, of great value to missionaries and the 
 officers of their Societies.* 
 
 A second General Conference was held hj the missionaries 
 of the North-west Provinces, at Benares, in January 1857, 
 three months before the mutiny. Thirty missionaries were 
 present belonging to seven churches and societies, and, as in 
 Calcutta, were greatly encouraged and instructed by the rela¬ 
 tion of their common experience. The plan followed, and the 
 topics discussed were very similar to those adopted in the 
 Bengal Conference; and the opinions of the members were 
 embodied in the form of Resolutions. These resolutions, and a 
 few brief notes from a private pen, are all the account now 
 remaining of this instructive Conference; the whole of the 
 MSS. and printed proofs having been destroyed when the 
 Allahabad Mission Press was burnt in by the mutineers in the 
 following June.f 
 
 The last Conference held in India, a gathering of the South 
 India missionaries, took place at Ootacamund, in the Nilgherry 
 Hills, in April, 1858. It differed from the previous general 
 conferences, in the wide range of topics brought forward, and 
 in the length of time devoted to their examination. Thirty-two 
 missionaries met on the occasion; and having retired from the 
 heat of the plains, were able to spend a quiet fortnight in the 
 cool air of the hills, in a full and satisfactory examination of 
 all the plans adopted in their different fields of labour. The 
 results are published in a large volume, and are of very great 
 value to all who would know the character and progress of 
 Christian missions in the Madras Presidency.^ 
 
 The volume opens with a series of twenty-seven narrative 
 papers, descriptive of the growth of the chief missions of the 
 Presidency, in the several provinces speaking four great lan¬ 
 guages. These narratives contain a great deal of valuable 
 
 * “Proceedings of a General Conference of Bengal Protestant Missionaries, 
 held in Calcutta, Sept. 1855.” London: Dalton, Cockspur Street. Price 4.s. 
 
 I “ Outline of the Benares Missionary Conference.” Calcutta Christian 
 Observer, March 1857. 
 
 J “Proceedings of the South India Missionary Conference, held at Ootaca¬ 
 mund, April, 1858.” London: Missionary Societies. 
 
131 
 
 1861.] Or, Results of Missionary Experience. 
 
 information, from which a general view of that growth may be 
 easily derived. They are followed by papers read on no less 
 than twenty-one subjects connected with missionary life and 
 plans. The papers are thirty in number, written by men most 
 competent to produce them, and are followed by resolutions, in 
 which the common views of the Conference are embodied. The 
 subjects include not only the prime topics of native agency, 
 missionary education, vernacular preaching, village congrega¬ 
 tions, and the like, but more special topics, as industrial insti¬ 
 tutions, caste, public morals, and the government, government 
 education, and others. A number of statistical tables close the 
 work—recent, and of the best authority. The book is a great 
 storehouse of information on all that concerns the missions of 
 South India, and deserves most careful study. 
 
 The records of these various missionary gatherings, both 
 general and special, embody, to a far greater extent than any 
 works previously written, the tested experience of missions in 
 various localities, as to the worth of existing plans; and they 
 are calculated to confer great service on all who wish to learn 
 from that experience the most efficient methods of carrying out 
 the great commission to preach the gospel, which underlies 
 them all. A work might yet be written, which shall gather up, 
 in relation to the whole, the principles, facts, and teachings 
 thus presented respecting the various sections of our wide¬ 
 spread Indian missions: a work wffiich shall seize on general 
 features of locality, work, and results; discriminate between 
 them and local peculiarities; and fairly deduce the results 
 taught by the entire field to the missionaries and managers of 
 all Protestant Societies. The Rev. Joseph Mullens states that 
 he has, for some time, planned the preparation of such a 
 volume, but want of opportunity has compelled him for the 
 present to lay it aside. 
 
 From these brief notices, the reader wdll at once see how far 
 the recent Conference on Missions, held in Liverpool, has 
 differed from its predecessors. Embracing in its details the 
 experience of missionaries and Societies in all parts of the 
 world, it has examined a wider range of field than the Confer¬ 
 ences in India, though it has not, like them, descended to a 
 great variety of minute details. Dealing less with general 
 
132 Liver'pool Missionary Conference of [Januaey 
 
 principles, and going more deeply into plans, its discussions 
 were of far greater value than those of its predecessors in 
 London and New York. 
 
 It was arranged by the promoters of the scheme, that four 
 days should be spent in discussing the various plans of mis¬ 
 sionary labour at home and abroad; that two sittings should 
 be held each day, morning and afternoon, of about three hours 
 and a half each; that they should be preceded by a morning 
 prayer-meeting, and followed by a missionary soiree at night; 
 and that while the official deliberations should be confined to 
 the members of the Conference, all friends should be invited to 
 attend the devotional services. The plan was carried out with 
 great success; the general attendance at the opening and 
 closing services increased day by day; a happy variety was 
 observed in the addresses delivered, and the fields of labour 
 described; a most delightful spirit of Christian union, devotion, 
 and prayer prevailed; and the presence of the Lord, in whose 
 name the work was done, was largely realized. 
 
 The more general services were brought to a conclusion by a 
 public meeting held in the Philharmonic Hall. It proved to be 
 the noblest meeting ever held in Liverpool, in connection with 
 Christian missions. 
 
 The first session of the Conference was occupied with the 
 subject of ‘‘European Missionaries Abroad,” embracing various 
 subordinate topics, first presented in a very brief but able 
 paper of ten minutes, by the Rev. Joseph Mullens, London 
 Missionary Society, Calcutta, followed by a series of terse and 
 luminous addresses by members of the Conference—the vffiole 
 concluding with a formal minute on “Missionaries and their 
 plans,” unanimously adopted by the Conference. A simple 
 enumeration of the topics handled, will show the importance of 
 this session. This is all that we can present, as we must dwell 
 chiefiy on matters which still more urgently press themselves 
 on the mind of the church. They were the following: 
 
 “Necessity for a missionary at once mixing intimately with 
 the natives, and obtaining a thorough mastery of their 
 language. 
 
 The use of the common Colloquial, as compared with the so- 
 called Sacred Languages. 
 
133 
 
 1861.] Or, Results of Missionary Experience. 
 
 Vernacular Preaching. Itinerancies. 
 
 Visiting from house to house. 
 
 Local Pastoral Work. 
 
 Medical Missionaries. 
 
 Translation of the Bible and Christian Books. 
 
 Causes of Missionary Success. 
 
 Causes of Failure. 
 
 Should Missionary Effort he concentrated in limited locali- 
 [ ties, or diffused over a large surface ? 
 
 Beflex influence of a greater degree of vital religion among 
 our European Soldiery and Countrymen abroad.” 
 
 The following was the programme of the points discussed at 
 the second meeting, which was opened with an interesting 
 paper, by the Rev. T. B. Whiting, of the Church Missionary 
 Society, ‘‘On the best means of exciting and maintaining a 
 missionary spirit.” 
 
 “How best to stir up, direct, and work, the Missionary Feel¬ 
 ing at Home. 
 
 A Missionary Intelligencer. Missionary Periodicals. 
 
 Correspondence of Missionaries with University Prayer- 
 Unions, and Missionary Associations in their Native 
 Towns. 
 
 Deputations. 
 
 Juvenile Associations, and Missionary Effort on the part of 
 the Young. 
 
 A Professorship of Missionary History at the LTniversities.” 
 
 In the course of the discussions at this session, the principal 
 novel suggestions made were, 1. “ That the missionary work 
 might be greatly advanced amongst the higher and more intel¬ 
 ligent of the middle-classes by the publication of a first-class 
 Quarterly Review of Missions^ devoted to the discussion of all 
 those subjects which had brought this Conference together; and 
 in which men of ability, experience, and piety, might advocate 
 their views in regard to the home and foreign operations of mis¬ 
 sionary societies. Christian missions in all ages; the condition 
 and relations of ancient and modern churches; missionary 
 biographies in connection with the work; special features of 
 particular missionary fields; heathen systems of religion and 
 philosophy; books of travel, and the like—so far as these cross 
 
134 
 
 Liverpool Missionary Conference of 1860, [January 
 
 the path, or affect the proceedings of the missionary—might 
 be discussed with great advantage to the committees of the 
 various societies, to missionary students, and to the mission¬ 
 aries themselves. Such a Review would afford the means of 
 discussing critically, comprehensively, and philosophically, all 
 the secondary influences which affect and determine the reli¬ 
 gious faith of men, and would be read by a numerous class of 
 persons well disposed to the mission cause, who would be more 
 interested in that cause, if they had its principles and proceed¬ 
 ings brought before them in a higher form than is done in the 
 monthly publications and occasional meetings of the year.” 
 
 The second suggestion related to the importance of making 
 provision for the more efficient instruction of students academic, 
 and especially theological, in regard to the nature and claims 
 of the missionary service. In furtherance of this object four 
 plans were mentioned. 1. The erection of a distinct Professor¬ 
 ship of Missions in theological schools. 2. Due instruction in 
 the premises by the chairs already established in these institu¬ 
 tions and in colleges. 3. The establishment of a special lec¬ 
 tureship in these institutions, on the subject of missions. 
 4. Making provision for an annual course of lectures on some 
 topic connected with missions, in some great centre of popula¬ 
 tion or education, analogous to the Bampton Lectures on the 
 Christian Evidences. The last of these plans met the sanction 
 of the Conference, which, before its adjournment, initiated 
 measures, formed an organization, and obtained some generous 
 subscriptions towards founding such a lectureship upon the 
 basis of <£300 per annum. 
 
 In regard to the proposed Quarterly, while Protestant Chris- 
 tiandom might afford a sufficient fleld and support for it, if it 
 were established under favourable auspices, yet we think those 
 conversant with the practical difficulties of such an undertaking, 
 will endorse the wisdom of the final minute of the Conference 
 thereupon: ‘‘that it would be exceedingly desirable to secure 
 the establishment of a periodical of a higher class, that shall 
 treat of Christian missions at large; so that while the friends 
 of missions naturally support the periodicals of their own socie¬ 
 ties, they may, through such a general periodical, also secure 
 regular and full information respecting the numerous missions 
 
135 
 
 1861.] Or, Results of Missionary Experience. 
 
 of their brethren. Till its establishment, however, they suggest 
 that attempts should be made to employ in the cause of missions 
 the service of existing periodicals.” 
 
 In regard to the provision to be made for missionary instruc¬ 
 tion in theological schools, the following minute of the body is 
 at once sufficiently emphatic and definite: “ They further con¬ 
 sider that the subject of Christian missions, in all their bear¬ 
 ings, their history, difficulties, successes, and obligations, should 
 be brought systematically before theological students, as a part 
 of their college course; that they may thus be trained in the 
 practical conviction that missionary work is the regular work 
 of the church of Christ; acquire information respecting its posi¬ 
 tion; and themselves go forth to share its toils.” 
 
 The third session was devoted to the various questions con¬ 
 nected with missionary education. It was introduced by three 
 able papers, and closed with the unanimous adoption of the 
 following minute on missionary education: 
 
 “ The Conference believe that educational plans legitimately 
 fall within the province of Christian missions; as affording 
 means both for consolidating native churches, and promulgating 
 the gospel among the heathen. 
 
 They consider that on this subject more than on any other, 
 attention should be paid to the great rule:—That, preserving 
 their single aim of spreading the gospel, all missionary agencies 
 should be most carefully adapted to the numerous varieties of 
 places, people, and spheres of missionary labour; and that 
 experience should be followed as the most valuable guide. 
 
 In all countries, as a general rule, Vernacular Schools, car¬ 
 ried on in the language of the country, are the most natural 
 and most important, both for the children of converts and for 
 those of the heathen. The Conference believe that such schools 
 should be increased in number, and be made as efficient as pos¬ 
 sible in the character of their teaching. 
 
 In some countries and localities where the natives earnestly 
 desire to obtain a knowledge of the English language, English 
 Mission Schools have been established on good grounds, have 
 turned that desire to good account, and have been blest with a 
 variety of valuable results. Their value has been proved partly 
 in the conversion of souls; and chiefly in the extensive difi'u- 
 
136 Liverpool Missionary Conference of 1860, [Januahy 
 
 sion of a knowledge of tke gospel, in spheres of usefulness 
 which other plans of labour have not reached. Efforts, how¬ 
 ever, in this direction, the Conference think should not be car¬ 
 ried too far. 
 
 In some countries, especially in India, where caste is so pow¬ 
 erful, Orphan and Boarding-Schools, in which young people 
 have been brought up, separated from heathen influences, have 
 been found greatly useful in the conversion of their scholars, 
 and in securing well-instructed native agents for the service of 
 the mission. 
 
 Considering the position of women in the heathen world, the 
 Conference think that great attention to Female Education is 
 not only desirable, but necessary in every mission; and that all 
 opportunities for extending it and increasing its usefulness 
 should be eagerly embraced, and thankfully employed. 
 
 They consider that, as the sphere of education widens, wFere 
 teachers are demanded, and can be obtained. Training Insti¬ 
 tutions for teachers should be established and efficiently main¬ 
 tained. 
 
 They regard with much satisfaction the progress already 
 made in raising up in various missions a Vernacular Literature 
 suitable both to Christian and heathen; and they think it a 
 work of the greatest importance, that such a literature should 
 be still greatly extended; especially in countries where the 
 press is extensively employed by the heathen to circulate wrong 
 views of religion and morality. 
 
 For most valuable help in this important matter, this Con¬ 
 ference recognize with pleasure the generous support given to 
 all Missionaries and Missionary Societies by the Bible and 
 Tract Societies of England and America.” 
 
 The following is the programme of subjects suggested for dis¬ 
 cussion at the fourth session: 
 
 ‘‘How the missionary feeling at home should be so stirred 
 up as largely to increase the present income of Mission¬ 
 ary Societies. 
 
 Paper of ten minutes, by Rev. James Lewis, of Leith. 
 
 The great expense of Religious Societies, from the necessity 
 of constant begging, and the general neglect of St. Paul’s 
 advice (1 Cor. xvi. 2,) to lay by periodically. 
 
137 
 
 1861.] Or, Results of Missionary Experience. 
 
 Private hospitality, and private carriage for Deputations. 
 
 How to avoid collectors’ per-centage.” 
 
 The paper of Mr. Lewis is one of marked ability. Besides 
 the usual points of such a discussion, he argues with great 
 force the importance of sending to the heathen other agents 
 and representatives of British and American Christianity, in 
 addition to mere preachers and teachers. He maintains that 
 this method, by rendering the missions more successful and 
 effective upon the heathen, would tend powerfully to augment 
 missionary zeal and liberality at home. He discourses on the 
 subject, in the vivid and luminous sentences which follow, in a 
 style which must command attention, whatever may be the 
 ultimate judgment of the church. 
 
 “Do we seek to rebuild these fallen institutions (monasteries) 
 of a mediaeval age? Certainly not. But we would translate the 
 variety of their mission action into the methods of our own 
 times. It is not necessary, in availing ourselves of their 
 experience, to adopt their principle of community life. In 
 harmony with our own habits of thought, the strictly-teaching 
 missionary might still go forth as the accredited agent of the 
 church or the Missionary Society, whilst the Christian capitalist, 
 planter, or factory proprietor, left to the bent of his own mind, 
 could choose and organize his field of operation; yet so co¬ 
 operate with the missionary teacher as that each should have 
 the benefit of the services of the other, and the heathen the 
 benefit of both. Why should not the arts, and agriculture, and 
 mechanic skill of our British Protestants, be called to pay 
 tribute to missions, through their own characteristic channels, 
 in rearing the foreign factory, cultivating the tea, indigo, rice, 
 sugar, and cotton; and, by prosperous industrial settlements, 
 exemplify to barbarous or half-civilized nations the arts of 
 Christian social life? 
 
 “If a capitalist who has ten thousand at his command, and 
 business skill to use it to advantage in a foreign field, be 
 desirous of dedicating his skill and his capital to the gospel, 
 why should he be compelled to turn himself into a preacher, 
 and his capital into a fund for the support of preachers, before 
 he can lay himself and his gifts on the altar? Let him go 
 forth, and be encouraged to go forth, to the mission-work as he 
 
 VOL. XXXIII.—NO. I. 18 
 
138 
 
 Liverpool Missionary Conference of 1860, [January 
 
 is; and gathering the heathen around his African or Indian 
 settlement, he will prove more than a pioneer of the teaching 
 missionary’s work. He will be a choice fellow-worker, embody¬ 
 ing to the eye the results of the word spoken to the ear, 
 and more surely than by words, training to those moral 
 habits, without which Christianity amongst a rude or half- 
 civilized people can have no permanence. 
 
 To establish missions of this more comprehensive nature in 
 Africa, and widen thereby the circle of British sympathy in the 
 mission enterprise, is the great work opening before our intrepid 
 missionary traveller. Dr. Livingstone. Why should it be his 
 alone ? Other fields are ripe for the same operations. A large 
 class of our practical working minds are becoming wearied with 
 the oft-repeated tale of missionary preaching tours, bazaar- 
 conversations, tract-distributions, and school-examinations—all 
 necessary and invaluable means of sowing the good seed. But 
 why these alone or exclusively ? It is asked that other methods 
 be incorporated with our missions, and other results presented 
 than the reported pious lives of their converts. Let them be 
 seen doing as we ourselves do—living in industrial, domestic, 
 well-ordered communities; their new religion subjecting them 
 to law and order, disciplining them to self-support, and binding 
 them together in the spread of their own faith, to work with 
 their own hands, to give to them that need; and fresh strength 
 would be brought to the mission cause, and convictions of its 
 great work flashed upon many still doubting minds. It is from 
 the higher measure in which the Polynesian missions have 
 exhibited these results, that they have always commanded the 
 liberal support and the warm sympathy of the British Christian 
 mind. 
 
 ‘‘The limitation of mission agency, and its consequent limita¬ 
 tion of action, has necessitated the dependence of the modern 
 mission—its inability to rise to self-support. Dr. Livingstone 
 has asked the question, ‘Why the former mission stations, 
 the early mission monasteries, were self-supporting, rich, and 
 flourishing, as pioneers of civilization and agriculture, from 
 which we even now reap benefits; and modern mission stations 
 are mere pauper establishments, without that permanence or 
 ability to be self-supporting, which they possessed?’ We need 
 
1861.] Or, Results of Missionary Experience. 139 
 
 not go far to seek an answer to this question. Missions, from 
 which has been eliminated every capacity but that which could 
 preach or teach could not possibly be self-supporting. An 
 action more varied, an organization more complex, is demanded 
 to reach this state. To attain it they must embrace in their 
 conception, and ally to themselves all consecrated ability. 
 
 ‘‘And, because wanting in the element of self-support, or in 
 the organization from which it would grow, missions have failed 
 to lay hold of the British Christian mercantile mind. The 
 British thought is self-support, and help only to men to help 
 themselves. If missions be permanently wrought in antagonism 
 to this thought, our great mercantile community may contribute 
 to missions; but its contribution will be as the dole that is 
 extracted from the reluctant. It will be a contribution that 
 will leave untouched the mass and magnitude of its wealth. 
 Continued dependence is repugnant to the British mercantile 
 mind. It suspects an enterprise that is wrought for long years 
 in reliance on foreign aid and continual foreign drafts. It 
 ceases to have faith in it. If we would draw from the mercan¬ 
 tile community according to the vastness of its resources, we 
 must ask it to give in character, and work our missions in the 
 line of its dominant idea. They must proceed on the principle 
 that has made our nation the colonizer and merchant of the 
 world. There must be inwrought into them the poAver of deve¬ 
 loping into self-support, of advancing on the strength of their 
 organization from enterprise to enterprise, until, like the colo¬ 
 nies of our empire, they engirdle the earth. In a sense more 
 literal than has yet been conceived, the merchandize of Tyre 
 must become holiness to the Lord—the tea, the sugar, the 
 indigo, the cotton, which are the materials of our traffic, must 
 become the products of our foreign missions, the fruits of their 
 Christian industry and their support.” 
 
 Passing by the fifth session for the moment, as we propose to 
 consider it in connection with the seventh, we barely observe that 
 the sixth was occupied with the consideration of the question, 
 “How may we best obtain and qualify candidates of the right 
 stamp for mission work?” The preliminary paper, by the Rev. 
 Thomas Green, of the Church Missionary Society’s College, 
 Islington, is, like most of this class of documents, of high merit. 
 
140 Liverpool Missionary Conference of 1860, [Januaky 
 
 As, however, the plans sanctioned bv the Conference are not 
 new, we will not dwell upon them. We hasten to the delibera¬ 
 tions and issues of the fifth session on “Native Agency,” and 
 of the seventh on “Native Churches.” These subjects are 
 closely allied. They were the paramount subjects before the Con¬ 
 ference, and the primary cause of its assembling. They present 
 the chief problems which now call for solution in the present 
 stage of missionary development. Here, therefore, the proceed¬ 
 ings of the Conference culminate in interest and value. The 
 ultimate success of missions depends upon rearing up a competent 
 native ministry, who shall be placed over self-supporting native 
 churches. Till this result is accomplished, no heathen people 
 can be said to be truly christianized. The prevailing judgment 
 expressed by the members of the Conference in their papers 
 and speeches, was to the effect, that this paramount object has 
 been too much overlooked by. our missionaries, and that native 
 preachers and churches have been too long and too exclusively 
 kept in a state of pupilage. We will, however, let the Con¬ 
 ference speak for itself in this matter, and lay before our 
 readers the formal deliverances in which their discussions 
 regarding it terminated. 
 
 Minute on Native Agents. 
 
 “The members of this Conference recognize as of vital 
 importance, in every healthy plan of Christian missions, the 
 work of raising and employing, on the field itself, various 
 classes of well-qualified native agents. The European or 
 American missionary, who, in obedience to Christ’s command, 
 bears the gospel to some heathen country, is a stranger and a 
 foreigner there: his work is temporary; his position is excep¬ 
 tional; and when Christianity becomes localized, his peculiar 
 functions and duties come to an end. Christianity must be 
 embodied in a living form in native churches; and the outward 
 services it demands must be performed by native pastors and 
 native missionaries of all grades. Apart from this circum¬ 
 stance, missionaries are few; the work is large; foreign climates 
 are often unfavourable to their health; it is difficult to acquire 
 foreign languages and manners; the expense, moreover, of the 
 voyages and maintenance of missionaries is heavy. In all 
 
141 
 
 1861.] Or, Results of Missionary Experience, 
 
 these things native converts have the advantage; they are at 
 home; the language they have learned in childhood; the 
 climate is their own ; the cost of maintaining them is compara¬ 
 tively small. These considerations show the maintenance of a 
 native agency to be essential to the successful establishment of 
 Christianity in a foreign land, and urge upon every missionary 
 the duty of securing in his work as many well-qualified agents 
 as, on careful inquiry, he is able to find. 
 
 “ They consider that, while among the converts zealous lay- 
 agents may be found, who, though supporting themselves, are 
 willing systematically to fulfil the common Christian duty of 
 urging, both on the heathen and Christian population around 
 them, the faith which they have themselves received, it is still 
 required that some of the converts shall devote all their time 
 and all their powers to the service of the Lord; and, in various 
 spheres of duty, as pastors, evangelists, readers and teachers, 
 endeavour heartily to promote his cause. In all such men, 
 personal piety, zeal for the work, and fitness to teach, they 
 reckon essential to the right discharge of their important 
 spiritual duties. 
 
 “ The demands of numerous localities, states of society, and 
 spheres of usefulness, differing greatly from each other, at once 
 exhibit the necessity of securing a suitable variety in the 
 native agents who are to occupy them. Some will be required 
 to labour among a simple, rural population; others, among 
 the people of great cities; some, among uncivilized tribes; 
 others, among scholars, with minds perverted by false phi¬ 
 losophy; some, among isolated communities, where a great deal 
 is left to their own judgment; while others labour immediately 
 under a missionary’s eye. 
 
 “They consider it a rule of the first importance, that each 
 native labourer should be placed, as far as practicable, in the 
 sphere for which his various gifts render him suitable; and they 
 believe that, in the present dearth of agents in the vast sphere 
 open to their efforts, the services of all may be well employed, 
 from the ablest to the most humble labourer. While young 
 men, trained from their childhood amid Christian privilege^ 
 have proved most useful in leading a community to higher 
 stages of Christian experience; older men, also, converted from 
 
142 Liverpool Missionary Conference of 1860, [January 
 
 lieatlienism in riper years, have been found to bring their sober 
 character and their knowledge of idol-systems to bear with 
 great efficiency upon their still heathen neighbours. 
 
 . “The Conference consider it, therefore, the solemn duty of all 
 missionaries to endeavour to secure for the church of Christ the 
 services of as many such agents as possible. They should 
 watch well the call of God’s Spirit, remembering that, in the 
 exercise of his prerogative, he has taken his servants from all 
 ranks, and has especially employed the lowly, making the weak 
 things of the world to confound the wise. They should seek out 
 all agents-that may appear to possess the right qualities of 
 head and heart; and make it a matter of constant prayer that 
 they may.be chosen and called forth by the Lord of the harvest, 
 whose fields they are required to reap. 
 
 “ The system of training adopted to render such agents, under 
 God’s blessing, competent and well-furnished teachers, should 
 have direct and due regard to their intended spheres of labour. 
 With the greater number, an education, through the medium of 
 their own tongue, will be found sufficient; with others, English 
 may be added to a certain extent; and with a few, an extensive 
 knowledge of the English language and literature wdll be found 
 a means of storing their minds with large knowledge, and fur¬ 
 nishing them for those higher labours to which men of distin¬ 
 guished ability, in great heathen cities, are constantly called. 
 In some cases, where native missionaries are pioneers of civili¬ 
 zation as well as of the gospel, industrial pursuits have been 
 found not only.Taluable but necessary. 
 
 The Conference, however, believe that in all cases the more 
 directly theological portion of their education should be given 
 in the native language; that in their owm tongue they may 
 become perfectly familiar with all the expressions, texts, tech¬ 
 nical terms and phrases,,which are required in every hour of 
 an active preacher’s life; lessons on preaching, specimens of 
 sermons, arguments, and discussions, should be all given in the 
 native tongue; and it would be well if, in their private reading, 
 these native students used only their vernacular Bible. 
 
 “With this teaching of principles, should at the same time be 
 associated direct practice in mission work; exercises in preach¬ 
 ing and the like, should be undertaken under the missionary’s 
 
143 
 
 1861.] Or, Results of Missionary Experience. 
 
 own eye; that the capacities of all may be thoroughly under¬ 
 stood before they are appointed to positions of heavy responsi¬ 
 bility. These studies also may most usefully be continued after 
 native agents have been so placed; that as their experience 
 increases, their knowledge also may grow, and they may be 
 stirred up to seek higher attainments and greater ability for 
 usefulness so long as they live. 
 
 “ The Conference would dread that any course of training 
 should be so conducted as to injure their power to do good. A 
 missionary should so guide, and teach, and train his converts, 
 as not to injure their national character. lYhile he should seek 
 to improve that character in every way, to raise its tone, and 
 to christianize all its elements; when native customs are harm¬ 
 less, and are likely to continue among the community of his 
 countrymen, the native teacher should seek to maintain them; 
 he should, in his food, dress, manners, and style, continue to 
 resemble his fellows; and show, that while he is a Christian 
 indeed, differing from them in the possession of a purifying 
 and ennobling faith, he is still one of themselves. By so doing, 
 he will rather add to his influence with the heathen; on the 
 opposite plan he may wreck it altogether. 
 
 “When the right men have been thus trained, and been duly 
 qualifled, the Conference consider that, in the various positions 
 in which they may be placed, as pastors, evangelists, teachers, 
 or readers, of whatever grade, they should be placed under 
 such responsibility as they are able to bear; should not be too 
 closely tied down; but should enjoy that amount of freedom in 
 action, 'which will both test their principles and stimulate their 
 zeal; in this way the agents of the native church may in due time 
 grow out of pupilage, and be enabled to work perfectly alone. 
 
 “ On the important question of native salaries, the Conference 
 consider that no rules can be drawn from the artificial position 
 occupied by the missionary himself. They think that it may 
 most appropriately be settled in every case, by a careful con¬ 
 sideration of the average incomes of natives moving in that rank 
 to which the native agent belongs; and to evangelists, sup¬ 
 ported by Missionary Societies, they would apply the same rule 
 as that of the foreign missionary; of securing an income that 
 will supply real wants, give him ordinary comfort, and keep 
 
144 Liver'pool Missionary Conference of [January 
 
 him free from all anxiety. Where a native pastor has been 
 appointed over a Christian congregation, they think that his 
 support should come from them. It is neither natural nor just 
 that his support should be derived from a foreign Society in a 
 distant country; but where a church is poor or weak in num¬ 
 bers, a society may well continue to supplement such salary as 
 the church can give, by an annual grant, until it is able in due 
 course to bear all the burden alone. 
 
 “ They believe that, in the extension of the gospel among the 
 heathen, the power of female Christian influence should be em¬ 
 ployed as far as practicable; and that, where the state of society 
 allows, and circumstances are favourable, Christian females 
 should endeavour, not only as school teachers, but as visitors in 
 heathen families, to lead them to an acquaintance with gospel 
 truth and an acceptance of its claims. 
 
 “ The Conference rejoice that the native agents, in whose wel¬ 
 fare they feel so deep an interest, and for whose increase they 
 so ardently long, have already, under the blessing of God, been, 
 made the instruments of great good. They rejoice and give 
 thanks to God, that in many countries, in many spheres of 
 missionary labour, converts, raised up from among the heathen, 
 have been found faithful pastors, eloquent preachers, self-deny¬ 
 ing evangelists, and that in some cases they have joyfully laid 
 down their lives for Christ’s cause. They reckon this fact as 
 one of the most gratifying proofs of the success of the gospel 
 in modern days. They trust that this agency will be largely 
 extended in every field of missionary labour; and they pray, 
 that according to his own example, in answer to his own pro¬ 
 mise, and his people’s intercessions, the Lord of the harvest will 
 send forth more labourers to reap the harvest, to which the 
 great field of the world is ripening.” 
 
 Mimite on Native Churches. 
 
 In the following minute are embodied the views entertained 
 by the Conference generally, on the subject discussed during 
 the final session: 
 
 “The subject of native churches is, in the opinion of the Con¬ 
 ference, equally important with that of native agencies, already 
 brought before them. Native churches are the germs of those 
 
145 
 
 1861.] Or, Results of Missionary Experience. 
 
 Christian communities, of those christianized nations, which, 
 according to the sure word of prophecy, will at length occupy 
 every country of the world. It is therefore of the greatest 
 importance that they should be based and built up, from the 
 commencement, on perfectly sound principles. 
 
 “Such churches should, in their view, be formed of those 
 ‘faithful men’ who make a public profession of their belief in 
 Christ, and of their consecration to his service; and who desire 
 together to maintain gospel ordinances for their owm spiritual 
 benefit, and as a means of usefulness to others. Guided by the 
 teachings of the New Testament, they should in every land aim 
 to maintain pure doctrine, holy life, and active zeal amongst 
 their members; preserve purity of fellowship by the exercise of 
 proper discipline; and fully support church ordinances among 
 themselves, as administered by duly appointed officers. From 
 the first, these essential principles should be pressed upon their 
 infant churches by th^ missionaries who found them; and from 
 the outset, such measures should be adopted as will steadily 
 tend to accomplish the object in view. Depending, not upon 
 distant and foreign churches, but upon their own exertions and 
 their own spiritual graces; and possessed of those essential 
 elements which underlie the spiritual prosperity of all Christian 
 communities, these churches may, in the opinion of the Confer¬ 
 ence, very naturally adopt various modes of worship, various 
 systems of church order, and different principles of fraternal 
 association. 
 
 “The European missionary is the founder, instructer, and 
 adviser of native churches; and, except in their mere infancy, 
 ought not to be their pastor. The higher Christian civilization 
 from which he has come; his position as a messenger of foreign 
 churches, as a man of superior social rank, and as one of a 
 dominant race, render him unfit to be merely their pastor; 
 while they fall in with his influence as an adviser and friend. 
 It is feared that, from the dependence generated by the con¬ 
 tinued pastorate of a European missionary, many churches have 
 been kept back from that healthy and vigorous growth which 
 leads to self-support and self-control. Self-reliance grows only 
 by exercise, and learns the most valuable lessons from the 
 experience of mistakes and errors. 
 
 VOL. XXXIII.—NO. I. 19 
 
146 
 
 Liverpool Missionary Conference of 1860, [January 
 
 ‘‘The Conference are of opinion that, in cultivating that self- 
 reliance, and leading it to higher degrees of vigour and of use¬ 
 fulness, missionaries should take advantage of such national 
 customs, notions, and tendencies, as will help to foster and 
 render it efficient. The national independence of the Bghai- 
 Karens, and the village municipal system of Northern India, 
 illustrate the importance of this step. 
 
 “ Desiring to see increased the number of native pastors, “who 
 are merely superintended by a missionary, they judge that in 
 the management of their various churches these pastors should 
 be freed from all needless control, and encouraged to settle all 
 difficult questions by the prayerful exercise of their own judg¬ 
 ment. Until they are entirely supported by their people, such 
 income as the churches can give may w'ell be supplemented to a 
 proper amount, by a grant from the Society which was the 
 means of founding them. But the Conference think that, from 
 the outset, it should be kept in view thsrt, whatever forms of 
 union be adopted by the native churches, in every mission-field, 
 dependence for instruction, ordinances, or discipline upon the 
 mother churches is, in due time, to cease; as it does in the case 
 of colonial churches that have sprung up amongst our country¬ 
 men in the different colonies of the British Empire. 
 
 “ In thus starting forward these new communities of con¬ 
 verts, on the race of personal and social progress, the Confer¬ 
 ence consider that everything unsuitable to their national life 
 should be rigidly guarded against. In the salaries given to 
 native teachers and preachers, or sanctioned and supplemented 
 for native pastors and missionaries to the heathen; in the size, 
 style, and cost of church buildings, native parsonages, and 
 dwellings of teachers, due regard should be paid to the customs 
 of the native brethren, and the same scale be adopted from the 
 first, as will probably prevail among them when Christianity 
 becomes naturalized. 
 
 “ In regard to the formation of separate Christian villages in 
 the midst of a heathen population, the Conference are gene¬ 
 rally of opinion that Christian converts should not be sepa¬ 
 rated from the heathen community; and they believe that the 
 practice in most missions throughout the world has been to 
 keep them mingled with the heathen. Such a practice they 
 
147 
 
 1861.] Or, Results of 3Iissionartj Experience, 
 
 deem beneficial to the converts in testing their principles, 
 making them watchful, increasing their usefulness, and prevent¬ 
 ing a great deal of evil; it is beneficial also to the heathen by 
 keeping constantly before their view the practical fruits of the 
 new and pure faith which their Christian countrymen have 
 adopted. They allow, however, that in a country like India, 
 where a small, weak church, may be overshadowed by the 
 great, powerful, and wealthy system of Hindooism, and where 
 its members are, by the laws of caste, cut off from the ordinary 
 social intercourse still admissible in other lands, such Christian 
 villages may be found useful in securing converts from social 
 disabilities and from very severe trials of principle, in the 
 infancy of their community. But they would urge that this be 
 allowed only for a time; and that as soon as converts grow 
 more numerous and influential, they should be encouraged to 
 dwell among the heathen, in order to leaven them with gospel 
 truth. 
 
 “ The Conference think that, though not their pastor, and 
 though directly interfering but little in their concerns, a mis¬ 
 sionary should make the general elevation of the Christian 
 communities an object of continual care; he should watch over 
 their growth in knowledge, their improvement in piety, their 
 purification from heathen vices and deficiencies, and in every 
 way strive to raise the tone of their personal, social, and public 
 character. 
 
 “ On one important topic laid before them, the transfer of 
 European systems of church organization to foreign countries, 
 several members of Conference gave it as their opinion, that 
 while a missionary, in commencing the organization of a church, 
 will naturally begin with the system which he and his support¬ 
 ers conscientiously follow, still, he should apply it to the new 
 country and the new people with considerable latitude; he 
 should endeavour to retain only its essential features; to rid it 
 of mere technicalities, and of those historical elements which all 
 systems, political and religious, absorb into their constitution in 
 the course of years. It was suggested that, in respect to the 
 ordination of native pastors and missionaries, while the scrip¬ 
 tural tests of character enjoined by the Apostle should be 
 retained in full, the standards of knowledge should have refer- 
 
148 Liverpool 3Iis§{onary Conference of 1860, [January 
 
 ence to the circumstances of the churches, and of their own 
 training ; and that in general all these systems should be judi¬ 
 ciously adapted to the communities, climates, and people among 
 w^hom they are introduced. 
 
 “ The Conference rejoice to learn that in some fields of labour 
 the work of missions has so far been accomplished, that native 
 churches, growing in numbers, knowledge, and resources, are 
 supporting their own pastors; fully maintaining the ordinances 
 of the gospel, supplying seminaries with students for the min¬ 
 istry, and commencing missionary work for themselves. They 
 rejoice to learn that in some places, tried by severe and long- 
 continued persecution, grace has been given according to their 
 day, and the converts, remaining steadfast in their faith, have 
 increased in number daily; and they offer their earnest prayer 
 to the Lord of the whole church that, while missionaries may be 
 wise to win souls, and wise to guide the churches into which 
 they are gathered, these churches may be greatly increased in 
 number, may be enlarged by the Holy Spirit, and filled abun¬ 
 dantly with the fruits of his salvation; and that more largely 
 than ever, they may themselves go forth among their heathen 
 countrymen to spread that gospel which has blessed them¬ 
 selves.” 
 
 It would give us unfeigned pleasure, if we had space, to 
 transfer to our pages copious extracts from the speeches at the 
 great public meeting which closed the sessions of the Confer¬ 
 ence. Those of the Earl of Shaftesbury and Major-General 
 Alexander were quite equal to the occasion. But the address 
 of the Bev. Mr. Mullens, of Calcutta, speaking as the repre¬ 
 sentative of the missionaries, on the delightful features of the 
 Conference, and the cheering success already achieved by 
 modern missions; and preeminently that of Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Herbert Edw^ardes, on the illustration which missions received 
 from the Indian mutiny—are among the most masterly and 
 eloquent productions of the kind which we remember to have 
 seen. We close with one of the deliberative addresses at the 
 first session, which gives a dense and vivid summation of the 
 encouraging fruits already achieved by modern missions; and 
 
1861.] Or, Results of Missionary Experience, 149 
 
 is a fair sample of the general character of the addresses at the 
 deliberative meetings, for brevity, force, and point. 
 
 The Rev. J. B. Whiting, Central Association Secretary of 
 the Church Missionary Society, remarked, that he did not 
 quite like the word ‘‘failure” in the programme. It had been 
 his duty, as an advocate of the Church Missionary Society, to 
 plead the cause of missions in various parts of England, and he 
 had endeavoured to acquire some information as to the amount 
 of success with which God had blessed missionary efforts. He 
 found that the Bible had been translated, during the last sixty 
 years, into upwards of one hundred languages. There were 
 100,000 professing Christians in New Zealand; 100,000 in 
 Burmah and Pegu; 112,000 Protestant Christians in India; 
 5000 or 6000 in Mesopotamia; 250,000 in Africa; 40,000 in 
 America; and 250,000 in the islands of the Pacific. There 
 were Christians in China, Madagascar, Mauritius, and many 
 other parts of the world. There were 200,000 or 300,000 
 Negroes under the care of Christian pastors in the West Indies. 
 There are more than a million and a quarter of living Chris¬ 
 tians who, but for the labours of the missionaries, would all 
 have remained idolaters. We were apt to compare the mission¬ 
 ary successes of the present time, in disparaging terms, with the 
 successes wEich attended apostolic labour. He had inquired, 
 however, from the most competent authorities, as to how many 
 individuals, in their opinion, were gathered out of heathendom 
 by the labours of the inspired apostles, during the first sixty 
 years of mission work, after the ascension of the Saviour; and 
 he had been assured that, as far as they could judge, not more 
 than one million of living Christians were found after those 
 first sixty years. They must remember also the hundreds of 
 thousands who were now sleeping in their graves around the 
 mission churches; and how many had gone to their heavenly 
 home from far-distant recesses of heathendom, who were never 
 known to the missionaries, but who had learnt from tracts, 
 Bibles, and other means, of the salvation which is in Christ. 
 Then, again, the 1600 missionaries who had gone forth from 
 Europe and America, were now accompanied by more than 
 16,000 native ministers, religious catechists, Scripture-readers, 
 and schoolmasters, who were evangelizing their own father- 
 
150 The Alexandrine and Sinaitic Manuscripts. [January 
 
 lands. The native ministry, moreover, had passed into the 
 second generation; and from our schools and orphan asylums, 
 the native apostles would arise, whose crown of rejoicing would 
 be multitudes of Christian converts. They ought not, there¬ 
 fore, to indulge in a spirit of despondency, but rather lift up 
 their hearts in devout gratitude to Almighty God, for the great 
 success with which he has so far blessed missionary labours; 
 and indulge in the joyful hope of still greater blessings in days 
 to come. 
 
 Art. VI.— Codex Alexandrinus. H KAINH- AIAdHKH. 
 Novum Testamentum Grsece ex Antiquissimo Codice Alex¬ 
 andrine a C. G. Woide olim descrip turn: ad fidem ipsius 
 codicis denuo accuratius edidit B. H. Cowper. Londini, 
 MDCCCLX. 8vo. pp. 503. Leipzig: Printed by B. G. 
 Tuebner. 
 
 Notitia editionis Codicis Bihliorum Sinaitici auspiciis Impera- 
 toris Alexandri II. susceptoe. Accedit Catalogus Codicum 
 nuper ex Oriente Petropolin perlatorum. Item Origenis 
 Scholia in Proverbia Salomonis partim nunc primum, partim 
 secundum atque emeiidatius edita, cum duabus tabulis lapidi 
 incisis. Edidit Aenoth. Frid. Const. Tischendorf. Lipsise. 
 1860. 4to. pp. 124. 
 
 Biblical criticism has already made vast advances toward the 
 accomplishment of its task, and is still urging its way steadily 
 forward. The first printed editions of the Greek Testament, 
 like those of classic authors, were necessarily inaccurate, for 
 they were based upon whatever manuscripts chanced to be 
 accessible to the editors. And the texts of Stephanus and of 
 the Elzevirs—the latter of which became the textus receptus 
 upon the Continent, and the former, as adopted by Mill, the 
 textus receptus in England—owed this distinction more to a 
 beautiful typography and the repute of the publishers, than to 
 their inherent excellence or superior accuracy. But little was in 
 fact known of the comparative value of manuscript authorities, 
 the extent of agreement or divergence between their several 
 
151 
 
 1861 .] The Alexandrine and Sinaitic Manuscripts, 
 
 readings, or the best methods of detecting and eliminating 
 their errors. 
 
 Nevertheless copies of the original Scriptures existed in the 
 libraries of Europe, which had never yet been read nor ex¬ 
 amined. Many more lay hid in the convents of Egypt and the 
 East, which might be recovered from their obscurity. Trans¬ 
 lations had been made into various languages at a very early 
 period. The writings of the Christian Fathers abound in 
 citations from the sacred volume, exhibiting the text which 
 they respectively had before them. The materials for ensuring 
 accuracy in an edition of the inspired volume are ample. They 
 are sufficient, if not to restore every word and letter as it 
 appeared in the original handwriting of the evangelists and 
 apostles, at least to approximate indefinitely such a result. 
 But the task was herculean; the very abundance of materials 
 was appalling. To examine not cursorily but with careful 
 accuracy these enormous accumulations of ages, to ascertain 
 and record their contents, digesting them within a manageable 
 compass, to determine their respective affinities, judge intelli¬ 
 gently of their comparative value, and by the thorough sifting 
 of the entire mass of testimony, to discriminate the true from 
 the false, and the genuine reading from every rival claimant, is 
 a work which seems to be almost endless. Not one nor fifty 
 lives were adequate to complete it. Mill spent thirty years 
 most laboriously upon it, and yet never advanced beyond the 
 threshold of the undertaking. 
 
 It is true that all this expenditure of toil may have no very 
 direct or palpable effect upon theology or morals. If the most 
 inaccurate Greek Testament that ever was issued were to be 
 accepted as the standard, the creed of Christendom wmuld 
 undergo no material change, nor would any of the great facts 
 or teachings of revelation be invalidated. The ascertaining of 
 this was, however, worth a great deal. If the whole multitude 
 of various readings and inaccuracies of transcription cannot 
 shake anything that is really precious in Christianity, who 
 wmidd grudge the expenditure of the time and the industry 
 necessary to demonstrate this fact, and thus settle the con¬ 
 victions of the Christian world upon a firmer basis for all time 
 to come? 
 
152 The Alexandrine and Sinaitic Manuscripts. [January 
 
 But the intelligent Biblical student must necessarily look 
 upon it as a matter of high and serious concern to have restored 
 to him the very words of inspiration; to have its surface 
 cleansed from the rust and accretions of ages, which dim its 
 brightness and deform its beauty, even if they do not seriously 
 impair its solidity or value; to have every alteration of an 
 apostle’s language, whether made by accident or design, 
 whether it be in itself considered trivial or not, corrected into 
 its original form. If it be a mere question of the collocation 
 of words, or of the substitution of an equivalent expression, or 
 the vindication to each verse of its own precise language, as 
 distinguished from other and parallel passages of equal authority 
 and inspiration, still let it be pressed to a satisfactory answer. 
 Why should there be a careful investigation of all available 
 sources in order to a faithful reproduction of every turn of 
 expression in the writings of Plato, and it be esteemed a matter 
 of indifference what were the precise words of Matthew or of 
 Paul, provided the general sense is not seriously affected? 
 If the point involved were so minute that it could not be made 
 to appear in any translation, yet let us have it as it was written 
 by the pen of inspiration rather than otherwise. Questions, 
 however, are perpetually arising which possess a real intrinsic 
 consequence. Unexpected light has often been thrown upon 
 an obscure clause or a difficult word, by correcting its inac¬ 
 curacy and restoring its original form. The beauty or meaning 
 of an incident, the value of a note of time for purposes of 
 chronological reckoning, and the bearing of a passage, may 
 depend upon the use of a preposition or an article, or the 
 presence or absence of a single letter, or even a single line of a 
 letter. 
 
 In computations of the duration of our Lord’s ministry, for 
 example, it is of some moment whether John v. 1, should read 
 a feast or the feast. If the latter be the correct reading, the 
 passover is, in all probability, the one intended, as that was the 
 principal festival of the Jews; and, in that case, as three other 
 passovers are mentioned in the same gospel, the ministry of 
 our Lord must have lasted for upwards of three years. If 
 the former be the true reading, it becomes an open question 
 whether it was not the feast of Tabernacles or of Purim 
 

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