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TIDINGS FROM OUR MISSIONS.

THE Kankab i Hind states that the Mr. J. F. Deatkar, who was ordained deacon at the late session of the Northwest India Conference at Agra, has been in the government service twenty-three years, and now expects to give himself entirely to the ministry in Singapore. Mr. McNair, of Roorkee, was also ordained. He went to India when ten years of age.

In view of the departure of the Rev. Frederick Brown, after ten years in China, for a visit home, the leaders and others on the Shan-tung District of the North China Mission, have presented him with a beautiful "Robe of Honor." It is sleeveless and long, while no less than one hundred and eighty names of donors are inscribed thereon. Accompanying it is a letter requesting him to wear it on all public occasions as an evidence of the good wishes of the people. None but officials leaving a city where they are much loved receive this honor.

Rev. W. N. Brewster writes from Hing-hua City, China, February 3: "Our work opens very hopefully this year. We are making a break in the ranks of the literary men in this city and also in other parts of the district. Some literary graduates have recently been baptized and others are candidates for baptisin. The graduate, or first degree man, who was first baptized is a very earnest worker and is bringing in his former associates. This class of men are very influ ential and have formerly been very much opposed to Christianity. When converted they should enter our theological school. They are thoroughly educated in Chinese literature, and all they need is a short course in Bible instruction to make them efficient preachers. There are several such applicants now and soon there will be many more. But we must have a place to put them. We need money to erect suitable buildings."

The Lucknow Kaukab i Hind of February 10 announced that "The Theological School at Bareilly has opened with seventy-two students in the three classes. There is a great demand for trained preachers, and the demand will not decrease in the future. There is a hundred million of people who speak the Hindustani, and the Bareilly Theological School will be called upon to furnish Gospel preachers for a large part of this great mass of people. This school should b for Christianity in India what the Moslem Theological School of Cairo is for Africa. In the school for the wives of the Bareilly theological students there are thirty intelligent women under instruction. This woman's school is in the charge of Mrs. Scott." The Kaukab i Hind reports as follows, of Muttra: The Muttra work is worthy of study. The city and the outlying district are well occupied. Circuits have been organized in each of the five Tehsils, and i undreds of converts have been gainel in the past

five years. In the center of the city an eligible building site was purchased for six thousand rupees, and now a large building costing sixteen thousand rupees is being erected. This will contain an Anglo-vernacular school, book room, missionary's study, and audience room capable of seating five hundred persons. Dr. Scott holds two services each Sunday in the city, one in the morning for the children and one in the evening for the non-Christian adults, besides the two services for the soldiers."

The Indian Witness, published at Calcutta, says: "The Rev. Dennis Osborne, of Mussoorie and Allahabad, has been, by Bishop Thoburn, appointed general evangelist for all India. Mr. Osborne is so well and so favorably known in this presidency, from Lahore to Calcutta, that he needs no introduction here. But as he is now about to go into other parts of India, a word of introduction is not out of place. After some years' experience as a Methodist local preacher Mr. Osborne, in 1874, resigned government service and became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1878 he became a presiding elder, and he has held that office continuously until now. In 1883 he opened work in Allahabad, and a few years later built the church there. He has done valuable pioneering work in many places, and has been a successful evangelist among both Europeans and natives. In Agra, Meerut, Roorkee, Patiala, and Lahore he founded churches among Europeans or natives, and during the past year has given much of his time to Hindustani evangelistic work, for which he is remarkably well prepared. He goes soon to Madras, and he is commended as a brother beloved to the churches there, who will, we are assured, gain much from his services."

Rev. Rockwell Clancy writes from Allahabad, India: We often fear for the health of our beloved Bishop Thoburn. He has traveled five thousand miles and held five Conferences within a month and a half. He works almost night and day, and yet is never too busy to receive the humblest native Christian or inquirer. He never seems to give one thought for himself. He travels in second-class on the railways, and at almost every station he is met by mis. sion workers who have urgent matters for his consideration, so that he gets little rest. The news of his arrival in any mission station is the signal for a general gathering of workers and friends at the place where he is putting up. Meetings are arranged for him, and the workers from outlying districts bring candidates for baptism. He is always the same kind, considerate Christlike man. The reports from all parts of our mission field are most encouraging. There have been about twenty thousand baptisms during the past year. The success of the work is marvelous. Two years ago Bishop Thoburn wrote: We

238

The Hurda Villages for Christ.

could baptize one thousand persons a month if we only had a sufficient number of missionaries and native helpers to instruct them.' During the past year we averaged one thousand six hundred and sixty-six baptisms per month. The work is far in advance of the most sanguine expectations of our most hopeful workers."

The Hurda Villages for Christ.

BY REV. T. E. F. MORTON.

EARLY on the morning of February 6, my native worker and I passed on to Serali, one of our outposts sixteen miles distant from headquarters, where we arrived, by reason of the advanced age of our bulls, at noon. We were glad to find our aged worker and his family well and hopeful; and at the two special meetings there, upon which God poured out his Spirit. we had with us the Mohammedan merchant of the station, who, to my surprise, said, 'Amén," that is amen, with us at the conclusion of prayer. In my visits to Serali I have seen him time and again at our mission house; he has no objections at all against Christianity. I verily believe the man is not far from the kingdom of God. At the second meeting the Mohammedan butcher was present, also a Gonda, a young man of twenty-five, who is an ojah, or bhart (singer), whom we baptized the following morning; the preacher there has him in hand, and should he turn out well he will be of great service in the Gond region.

Rampoora, Gongara, and Sookaras were also visited. When we arrived at the Gongara steamer, a young Mohammedan of Undia village fell in our way, and we asked him to accompany us to the vil lage where we were going to preach, which he did and hearing the blessed Gospel preached and sung he fell in with its claims and received the rite of baptism at the Camayawra River on the return journey. He ate, drank, and journeyed with us at our request, and after a day's stay in the house of our preacher at Hurda, where he had received special instructions in God's word, he left last Friday for his home in Undia, a short distance from here, promising to be back on Monday.

The patwari (a man who keeps an account of government land in the village), a Brahman, gave us a warm welcome. He spoke very kindly of Mr. Baker, of the Friends' Mission at Hoshangabad, where he had attended religious services. He had no objections to urge against Christianity, but listened most attentively to the preaching; he said he was the only reader in the village, and that, if we gave him some religious literature he would read it to the people, who also were very quiet and orderly as the Gospel was proclaimed. So we left the gospel of Luke in Hindi with him, also some handbills from the Allahabad Tract Society.

At Sookaras, a great crowd gathered around us to

hear the Gospel. The Ballahis, among whom a few years ago we baptized quite a number, had with them their guru (religious leader) who had come to share with them in a marriage feast. Affairs in the mohalla were quiet and peaceful till the erection of our school building last year, which seemed to be the signal for opposition and a stampede movement for a long while; this we attributed to the skill ul planning of the old guru, who denied that he had any objections to the school in the village, whereupon our preacher with great zeal and power warned those who had been baptized of the great risk they were running and summoned the degenerate tribe to return to their allegiance. The chamars (shoemakers) of the village received us gladly, and one of their number, a blind young man, joined in with us as we sang "Jo pápi Zimb Kane awe and "Kynn Manabhula hai."

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Should there be any lover of the Lord who has some of the Lord's money put away to be used as opportunity offers, who feels like investing some of the gatherings in a pair of strong good bulls for use in the Methodist Episcopal Mission at Hurda, I should be glad to hear from them. February 11, 1893.

The Bengal-Burma Conference.

THIS, the fifth and last of the organized ecclesiastical bodies of the Methodist Episcopal Church in India, convened in Calcutta, February 2, Bishop Thoburn presiding. The completed roll of the Conference gives 17 members and probationers, gathered from various nationalities, as follows: Americans, 3; Canadians, 5; Scandinavians, 2; Anglo-Indians, 3; Hindustanis, 3; and Bengalis, 1. The statistics show that the number of probationers in the churches of the Conference is 747 and the full members 756. The number of baptisms, children and adults, during the year is 195, and the total number of Sunday school scholars is 2,227, the majority of whom are Christians.

At the public missionary meeting on Friday evening, Bishop Thoburn described some of the features of the work going on in Hindustau. The large number of persons definitely known to be for some cause or other desirous of becoming Christians attracts attention. The number of such persons in the Meerut, Bulandshahr, and Aligarh zillahs, is above thirty, thousand. The rapidity with which the illiterate adult converts learn to read, their intense desire to know about Christ, the readiness and clearness with which they apprehend the idea of a sinless Incarn tion who saves men from sin, the comparative superiority of the new converts as evangelists, were some of the points referred to. Regarding the last mentioned item it was shown that these new converts are so much nearer the mass of the people, know and understand them so.

Notes from Uruguay.

much better, that they are beyond comparison more successful in bringing in the sheaves than are Christians of older standing. The work of teaching and guiding and leading to truer spiritual conceptions of the Christian life must, however, be done by more experienced and better taught men.

The appointments in the Conference are chiefly in the cities of Calcutta and Rangoon and their vicinity. The churches and missions are making steady progress and the outlook is encouraging.

The Conference love feast, Saturday evening, was a well attended and enthusiastic meeting. The ring of victory and of large expectation was very clear and strong. There was not a despondent note or discordant tone in any one of the numerous testimonies given. The missionary meeting ended in an ordination service, in which an American who is to work in Singapore was ordained deacon, and with him to the same rank the pastor of the Hindustani Church in Calcutta. This man's mother was ayah in a Lucknow missionary's family in 1858-C2; and among those who witnessed the ordination was a missionary who, in April, 1861, began his work in India by teaching a class of little boys, one of whom was this ayal's boy.

The usual Sunday night service was followed by another ordination service, at which the Rev. B. J. Chew was ordained elder. At the close of the service Bishop Thoburu spoke of the future work of the Church in India, and said he believed the time would come when he would ordain one hundred men to the Gospel ministry every year. As he has ordained about seventy persons since landing in Bombay list December the estimate cannot be considered an extravagant one.

APPOINTMENTS.

BURMA DISTRICT, Julius Smith, P.E.-(P. O., Rangoon.) Pega: Tamil Mission, to be supplied by Sundrum. Rangoon: Burmese Mission, John T. Robertson; English Church, Julius Smith; Tamil Mission, to be supplied by Ezra Peters: Telugu Mission, to be supplied by R. W. Cully. Thongwa, Henry Girshom; Toungoo, to be supplied by S. Joseph.

CALCUTTA DISTRICT, Frank W. Warne, P.E.-(P. O., Calcutta.) Asansol, William P. Byers. Bolpur, James P. Meik. Calcutta: English Church, Frank W. Warne; Bengali Cireuf. Sorbo Nanda Das, City Missions, Benjamin J. Chew, Superintendent, August Kallman, two to be supplied; ..dustani Mission, Charles Dowring; Seamen's CoTee Rooms, to be supplied by George Henderson; Boys' School, to be supplied; Oriya Mission, to be supplied by H. N. Samuel. Pakur, Neils Madsen.

Agent of the Methodist Publishing House, Charles G. Conklin.

TIRHUT ISTRICT, Henry Jackson, P.E.-(P. O., Mazafarpu.) Chapra, John Robert; Schools to be supplied by D. Cameron. Darbhanga, to be supplied by Matthew. Mazafarpur, Henry Jackson, William Peter. Samastipur, to be supplied. Sitamari, to be supplied by John Peter. Levan R. Janney, supernumerary.

MISSIONARIES TO MALAYSIA.-Ralph W. Munson, BenJamin . Blderston, David D. Moore, William G. Shellabear, William F. Kensett, Benjamin F. West, John F. Deatker, W. H. B. Urch.-Indian Witness.

Notes from Uruguay.

BY REV. GEORGE G. FROGGATT.

239

Ir has not rained in the country for many months now; in San José, for instance, it has not rained for over eighteen months, and the distress among the poor is something saddening. The burnt-up camp, strewn with dead animals, presents an appalling picture. Scores of business houses have had to close their doors, and many of our country towns actually resemble cemeteries more than anything else; lawlessness has also risen to a high pitch, so that, all things considered, the condition of the camp men or the camp resident in this republic is, at present, most truly pitiable.

In many places it has rained lately, but it has rained so little, and such strong dry winds have come immediately after these downpours, that the rain has done more harm than good. Many stock farmers have been ruined, and not a few others have had to sacrifice the savings of mauy former years. The saddest feature, however, in connection with these manifold ills, is that they do not seem to turn the mind nor the heart of the people toward God. The way they curse and blaspheme God over their calamities is something heartrending to a Christian.

The Church of Rome has not fed the natives of these countries with the Bread of Life, but has fed them, and still feeds them, with the empty busks of man-devised doctrines, and has done everything in her power to hinder Gospel truth from illuminating their hearts and getting a firm grip of their souls. Hence their spiritual nakedness, hence their frail morality, and hence their incapacity to bear the slightest trials and temptations.

Thanks to the accession to office of the priest-ridden Saenz Pena in the Argentine Republic, and to the clerical reaction that has unfortunately begun to assert itself for some time past in this republic; a considerable number of misguided young ladies of the best families have entered different conven's wi hin these last few weeks. We fear many more will be following their unhallowed footsteps. Government should, in the interests of morality, at least, if not in the interests of true religion, legislate against such a pernicious, essentially popish heresy.

Major Alfred de Barritt, who has been at the head of the Salvation Army in the River Plata since the commencement of this work among us, has been recalled to England, and will probably be leaving us in a few days. This loss will be regretted by thousands who have learned to respect him because of his ardent charity toward all, and because of his great energy and steady perseverance in the interests of the poor, of whose cause he was so able a champion. God bless our good friend Major de Barritt wherever he goes!

I am glad to say our beloved and talented young friend, Dr. Cubilo, who, a few short weeks ago was

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seriously ill, has now completely recovered. Cubilo is Superintendent of the Central Spanish Sunday School of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Montevideo, and also President of the Young Men's Christian Association. The latter organization was founded in 1891, and has had a slow but steady growth from the day of its foundation, and has at present every promise of a long career of future usefulness. This association has thirty-five members, a relatively large number considering the very large number of English young men who, to their enduring shame, pitch every tenet of their religion overboard as soon as they lose sight of Old England.

Mr. H. F. Pratt is the Honorary Secretary, and Mr. E. Miles is the Honorary Treasurer of the Montevideo Young Men's Christian Association. Dr. Cubilo is likewise President of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, an organization most urgently needed in these Spanish-speaking countries, where cruelty to dumb animals seems to be looked upon rather as an evidence of true manliless, or as a virtue, than as a most cowardly act, offensive to God and man. Dr. Cubilo also renders the cause of Christ valuable service as a local preacher. Few men are better known among our laymen for their zeal and devotion to Christ.

I regret to read that the Peruvian government, instigated by the insatiable clerical element, seems disposed to light up anew the fires of religious persecution which had been wisely allowed to extinguish slowly since the imprisonment, at the requisition of the Bishop of Auguipa, of our beloved Brother Penzotti. The Peruvian clergy, like the clergy of Bolivia and Brazil, are rotten to the very core. Not many months ago a priest named Father Vargas was sentenced by the criminal court in Lima to be shot for having caused a woman to be burned to death at the stake in a small country town, on the accusation of witchcraft. Many other cases could be cited to show the gross immorality and wickedness of the Peruvian clergy. Yet these are the men who pretend to oppose insuperable barriers to the entrance of God's holy, sanctifying word into the former ancient empire of the worshipers of the sun.

The priests of the Church of Rome have done more by their incredible ignorance, loose morals, and licentious conduct, to sow the seeds and to promote the triumph of unbelief than all the infidel publications introduced into these countries since the day they were first colonized. Romanism nowhere Ireeds a type of more malignant, thorough infidels than South America.

I regret to state that since my last letter, Brother McCarthy has resigned the superintendency of the "Sailor's Home" in Montevideo; this will be a posi tive loss to the "home," for Brother McCarthy is a thorough Christian gentleman, and has proved a very efficient superintendent.

Mission Notes, etc.

Rev. H. G. Appenzeller returns to Korea in July.

Rev. Franklin Ohlinger, of the Korea Mission, has been transferred to the Malaysia Mission.

Bishop Foss is to sail from San Francisco May 23, for episcopal service in Japan, Korea, and China.

Rev. D. S. Spencer and family, and Rev. H. W. Swartz, M.D., and family are to return to Japan this month.

J. B. Busteed, M.D., has been appointed medical missionary to Korea. He is to leave this month for his post of duty.

Rev. Thomas Craven of the North India Conference has returned to the United States. His address is Evanston, Ill. Rev. J. S. Ladd, formerly of the Bulgaria Mission, has been transferred to the New York Conference and appointed to Dover Plains, N. Y.

Rev. Gerhard J. Schilling was last month transferred from the Newark Conference to the Malaysia Mission Conference, having been previously ordained deacon and elder under the missionary rule.

Dr. J. F. Goucher is to leave San Francisco May 23, to be absent for about eight months on a visit to our missions in Japan, Korea, China, Malaysia, India, and Europe. He is charged with special duties by our Board of Managers.

Rev. M. T. Frantz, at one time connected with our Japan Mission, withdrew in March last from the Philadelphia Conference, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, to join the Congregational Church.

Rev. C. W. Miller and wife of our mission at Mendoza, Argentina, have been sadly bereaved in the death of two of their children by pneumonia, one a little babe, and the other a boy, four years of age. They have been in the mission field six years.

Dr. Thomas B. Wood, of our mission in Peru, mourns the death of a beloved daughter on February 25, aged nineteen. Miss Angie Dow Wood was an earnest Christian, and a faithful and successful missionary worker.

Rev. Homer B. Hulbert and wife have been appointed missionaries to Korea. Mr. Hulbert was in Korea five years and a half engaged in educational work under the Korean Government. He can speak the Korean language, and will be a valuable acquisition to our mission in Korea.

The Board of Managers of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at their meeting on April 18, decided to change the regular hour of meeting on the third Tuesday of each month from half past three to three o'clock; gave permission to Dr. J. O. Peck, Corresponding Secretary, to visit India next winter or as soon thereafter as may be practicable; appointed Drs. Hunt, McCabe, and Crawford a committee to select and supervise the transfer to and from Chicago of any of the portraits belonging to the Society which may be used in the Methodist exhibit at the World's Fair; released from the service of the Society Rev. N. J. Plumb, for many years a faithful and acceptable missionary in China; arranged for the return of Rev. W. T. Hobart and family to China; provided for better missionary facilities at Pachuca, Mexico, and Shumla, Bulgaria; made appropriations in aid of several foreign and domestic missions, etc.

We congratulate the New York Observer on its threescore years and ten, and its noble record. Thirty-three years ago the writer became a subscriber to that paper, and most of the time since then he has received it either as a subscriber or as an editor, and he has always found it a reliable religious historian, an advocate of a pure Christianity, a helper and an inspiration in Christian work.

The Handbook and Annual Report of the Board of Education of the Methodist Episcopal Church is just received. It is replete with valuable information relating to the educational work of the whole Church. Evidently much labor has been expended in securing and giving to the public a complete list of all the educational institutions of the Church, with very full statistics of each institution. From these statistics we find that our Church has about 200 institutions of learning with property valued at $26,283,191, exclusive of debts, and 41,049 students the last year. The Board of Education makes an excellent showing of its work; the collections for the Children's Fund last year were $62,789.81, or fully 100 per cent above the amount in 1888. The Board aided during the year 1,266 students of more than 25 nationalities, and studying in over 100 different schools throughout the world. All aid is granted in the form of easy loans. The Board's Annual Reports are so valuable that every minister and intelligent layman of our Church should read them and preserve them for reference.

THE GOSPEL IN ALL LANDS.

M

JUNE, 1893.

MORMON IDOLATRY.

BY REV. J. D. GILLILAN, OF UTAH.

OST people living in Mormondom pay but little attention to the vagaries of the Mormons and seldom attend their services, and after a while become careless of their modes of thought and worship; but one who keeps his eyes open sees many things he would scarcely think would be tolerated under the

United States flag.

Not only are the Mormons very superstitious, but they are polytheistic and idolatrous in their worship. Before going further in argument I will state that the proof of the last statement can be had by the perusal of the following hymn, No. 282, L. D. S. Hymns. It was sung by a congregation of thousands in the tabernacle, March 19,

1893:

Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah;

Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer,'

Blessed to open the lost dispensation;

Kings shall extol him and nations revere.

Chorus.-Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven;

Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain;
Mingling with gods, he can plan for his brethren;
Death cannot conquer the hero again.

Praise to his memory, he died as a martyr;
Honored and blest be his ever great name;
Long shall his blood, which was shed by assassins,
Stain Illinois, while the earth lands his fame. - Cho.
"Great is his glory, and endless his Priesthood,
Ever and ever the keys will he hold;
Faithful and true he will enter his kingdom,
Crowned in the midst of the Prophets of old.— Cho.
"Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven;

Earth must atone for the blood of that man;

Wake up the world for the conflict of justice;
Millions shall know Brother Joseph' again.-Cho.

-W. W. Phelps."

Who ever heard a Christian congregation singing praises to Paul or Silas or John or Peter? We do hear of the song of Moses and the Lamb, but not to Moses.

"Mingling with gods, he can plan for his brethren,"

is another exemplification in the case. The honor of planning for the salvation of the world is thus taken from God, Father and Son, and given to Joseph Smith, but this is only the natural and logical conclusion brought about by their teaching and reasoning.

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