PREFACE. ANOTHER year has come and gone, and we are again called on to give a connected account of the work done. The short and simple annals of the poor do not present much attraction except to those who love to trace the Master's hand and see souls awakening to new life under the influence of His grace. For such as those the record of the past twelve months will be full of interest, for abroad as at home the desire for simple Bible teaching is on the increase, and new fields are constantly opening up if only the labourers were at hand to go in and make ready the ground for the harvest; but what impression can even two or three hundred Bible-women make on the teeming masses of London, or the few native teachers scattered here and there on the millions of heathen India? And yet that an impression, an abiding impression, is made, the record of their work does most surely testify. May we not, then, gratefully recognise the blessing vouchsafed to us during the passing year, and take courage to go on rejoicing into the unknown future ? The Revised Edition of the New Testament may require another and yet another revision before it can in any way take the place of the time-honoured version so dear to every English heart; but the eagerness with which its publication was expected, and the absorbing interest with which it was read even in the public thoroughfares and at railway stations, may lead us to hope that many who then read it as a new book, may have found in it a new life reaching from time into eternity. In the field of foreign work, we have to deplore the loss of a young and valuable life, whose labours among the female prisoners of Athens seemed so full of hope, and whose work must now, as far as we can see, be abandoned, while at Berlin the cabdrivers and their families are mourning the sudden death of their special friend, Mr. Palmer Davies. Under the title "Searching the Scriptures" an interesting account of the monthly meetings carried on for their benefit will be found. The centenary of Henry Martyn's death has called fresh attention to the work began by him in Persia, and his translation of the Bible, improved by the light of modern investigation, is now being scattered broadcast over the land. Every year, every month we might almost say, fresh discoveries are being made "by the spade," all tending to the triumph of the truth of the Holy Scriptures, even to minute particulars. For what end has the actual mummy of the Pharaoh of the Jewish captivity been preserved in secret for so many generations now, in these latter days, to be brought to light and recognised? Several letters and reports on the Bible-nurse will show how this latest outcome of Mrs. Ranyard's loving care for the poor is appreciated and made use of by doctors and patients: the combination of the two words Bible-nurse is perhaps the nearest approach we can hope to make in following Him who came not only to bind up the broken-hearted but to heal the sick. We would fain hope that the coming year may give us the means of multiplying these invaluable helpers of the poor, both in London and elsewhere. One word more. How the heart of L. N. R. would have rejoiced at the burst of loyal gratitude with which our Queen's womanly sympathy with the national grief was greeted, when after that heroic three months' struggle for life President Garfield succumbed at last to the assassin's blow! How she would have bid us re-echo across the ocean's water the desire that, as we are already one in descent and one in language, so we should also be one in faith, in hope, in charity! NOTE BY THE EDITOR.-Will our friends forgive us for reminding them that, as we never advertise for funds, the circulation of the Magazine is the only means by which the work and the needs of the Mission can be made known. There is room for a large increase in the number of our subscribers. |