Topics for the Year.

Jan., The World; Feb., China; Mar., Mexico; Apr., India and Burma; May, Malaysia; June, Africa; July, United States; Aug., Italy and Bulgaria; Sept., Japan and Korea; Oct., Scandinavia, Germany, and Switzerland: Nov., South America; Dec., United States.

Protestant Educational Work in China.

BY REV. J. W. DAVIS, D.D.

I DIVIDE the subject of education into three parts, and will treat of (1) Bricks, (2) Books, (3) Brains.

1. Bricks. This single word is intended to suggest the question, What kind of houses and material appliances have the mission schools in China?

(1) As to day schools. We find here a sad want of bricks. Generally a native house is rented for a day school. It is on a narrow alley (called a street by courtesy); the room is paved with tiles, black with age and dampness, and the court is narrow and badly drained. The pupils sit on stools too high for them, there is nothing to support their backs or their feet; there is no playground, and frequently there are no maps or charts to relieve the dullness of their tasks.

(2) In the high schools or boarding schools we find better bricks and more of them. The premises are owned, or held on long lease; the houses are, as a rule, built at mission expense and are healthful and comfortable.

(3) In a few cases there are large roomy buildings erected according to carefully prepared architectural plans and at heavy cost. As a modern instance, illustrating the matter of bricks, I cite the case of the superb building of the Anglo-Chinese School for Girls in Shanghai, intended for the education of the daughters of the higher classes; terms, $3 a month for each girl. This school is under the able management of Miss Laura Haygood, sister of Bishop Atticus Haygood of the American Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The Nother branch of the American Methodist Episcopal Church is famous for bricks. This mission has planned great things in the line of education, and in some of the great cities in the Yang-tse valley we see handsome mission school buildings. These piles of brick seem to stimulate the Chinese government to progress in educa. tion.

In Nanking "extensive buildings, including foreign residences, are now being erected near the steamer landing for the new naval college," which is a school conducted by the Chinese government, in which young men are to be thoroughly taught by Europeans the art of naval warfare.

As to chemical, astronomical, and other kinds of apparatus, mineralogical collections, etc., it is in a

few instances only that a mission school in China is found provided with these valuable aids to both teacher and pupil. Among the best equipped schools of the empire I may place that of Dr. Mateer, in Tung-chow, Shan-tung Province, and that of Dr. Parker, in Soo-chow, 80 miles from Shanghai.

2. The second point concerning education relates to Books. What kind of text-books are used? Are books in Chinese preferred, or can the pupils use books in English? The text-books are mainly in the Chinese language. The question of preparing textbooks in Chinese, written from a Christian standpoint, has received much earnest attention. In 1877 there was a General Missionary Conference in Shanghai. From that time till 1890 there was a "school and text-book series committee," which greatly stimulated the preparation of books. In 1890, at the general conference in Shanghai, education was thoroughly discussed. During that conference this committee handed over its accumulation of books, materials, and funds to the Educational Association of China, which had just been formed. This Educational Association grappled with the difficulty of preparing lists of technical terms to be used. Different writers, dealing with subjects new to the Chinese, use different terms. New York is represented in several ways; quinine has two or three names; so of terms in arithmetic. The greatest multiplication of different terms is found in case of names of places and historical characters. The Educational Association appointed a committee to try to bring order out of this chaos. They have encouraged individuals to do special work.

Mr. Hayes, of Tung-chow, Shan-tung, has completed a work on Astronomy, and the following works have been undertaken: Natural Theology, by Mr. Wherry; Mental Philosophy, by Dr. Sheffield; Moral Philosophy, Dr. Mateer; Trigonometry, Dr. Parker; Zoology and Natural History, Mrs. Parker; Political Geography, Mr. Kingman; Physical Geography, Dr. Pilcher. A fairly good work on Political History, by Dr. Sheffield, has been available for some time. And the same author has given us a good Church history, covering the first six centuries of the Christian era. 3. I conclude this discussion of education with a few remarks on Brains. I will state, without elaboration, arguments which show that the Chinese are a highly intellectual people.

(1) They learn and practically use that difficult written language, which one of the old Jesuit missionaries said was an invention of the devil made to keep the Gospel out of China.

(2) Chinese lads, educated in the United States, have been found able to compete successfully with Agulo-Saxons.

(3) The enormous bulk of Chinese literature shows that they are a thinking people.

etc.

(5) Note also the commercial ability shown by Chinamen all over the world. In Siam and the Sandwich Islands their influence prevails; and they fear no competition if they have a fair field.

As to political ability, observe

(1) The vastness, the complexity, and practical workings of their government.

(2) Consider the broad fact that China stands in spite of the dishonesty of the officials. The fact that equilibrium is preserved, that the whole machine does not burst to pieces, is proof of consummate brain power on the part of the ruling classes.

(3) Note the shrewdness, the far reaching, as well as penetrating skill displayed by them in dealing with foreigners. When forced to promise to do a thing, what marvelous ability they show in contriving how not to do it! All this gives proof of diplomatic capacity unsurpassed by any people on earth.

Let this brief outline of argument suffice to show that the third requisite, brain power, needed in edu cational work, is found in China abundantly.— Chinese Recorder.

Outlook of Protestant Missions in China.

BY REV. J. W. DAVIS, D.D.

THE mission statistics presented to the General Missionary Conference, held in Shanghai, in May, 1890, are the latest to be had. The number of foreign missionaries then reported was: 589 men, 301 wives, 316 single women; a total of 1,296. Now there are about 1,500 in October, 1892. The native helpers in 1890 numbered 1,657; the organized churches, 522, of which 94 were self-supporting; the communicants at the close of 1889 were 37,287. We note the growth of the Protestant communicants in China:

75

lasted a few months during the spring and summer of 1891. It seems to have subsided now. But it is as certain that there will be other outbreaks as it is that there will be earthquakes in Japan. Like Japan's earthquakes, like the epileptic's convulsions, these outbreaks of antiforeign rage in China are absolutely unpreventable. Of this, therefore, we may be sure: in the prosecution of mission work in China there will be more rioting, more property burnt, more bloodshed.

2. The progress of evangelizing China will go on steadily. Local earthquakes, however terrible, do not put a stop to the life and activity of the nation as a whole. So of the China mission work. The riots, however widespread, are, after all, merely local. The mission work, as a whole, goes on, and will go on, in spite of these disturbances. Reinforcements will continue to pour into the empire. Bibles, books, tracts, newspapers will be multiplied. Consecrated men and women will press forward the medical work. Native workers will be educated and sent forth from schools constantly improving in their methods. And, best of all, earnest humble cries for help will daily rise to God and move the arm that rules the world.

3. Finally, mission work in China will gloriously triumph. The task to which the Church is called in China is, in many points, like that accomplished in the mighty Roman empire. In that ancient struggle Christianity was victorious. Truth triumphed in spite of mighty emperors, cunning priests, wise philosophers, cruel magistrates, pitiless soldiers, savage beasts, fierce flames, and fiendish tortures.

History will repeat itself. Christian truth will triumpli in China. Stubborn conservatism, stupendous national pride, intense worldliness, hoary superstition, adamantine hardness of heart, besotted vice, opium smoking-the most enchanting and enchaining sin that ever cursed a nation-all combined under the bitterest antiforeign prejudice that the world ever saw-all this will be swept away by the tide of Christian thought that is now merely lapping the shores of the empire. This tide will rise higher and higher, for the power of God is in it. It will burst every barrier; it will sweep away every obstacle; it will overflow China, Chinese Recorder.

As to the outlook of Protestant Missions in China: 1. Persecution must be expected. China is very much like a giant, who is subject to epileptic fits. It is very certain that he will have convulsions from time to time, and there is no telling when the spasms will occur. And when the giant has one of his convulsions he is like an epileptic patient, pitiful to behold. He walloweth, foaming. Furthermore, while the epileptic is in a convulsion it would seem that he must die, and die soon; he nevertheless recovers and resumes his usual occupation. The latest great outbreak of Chinese rage against foreigners

Chinese Book Lending and Evangelizing Society.

THIS Society had its origin three years ago in a union prayer meeting of the Chinese in Canton. The Christian Chinese felt that the school-teachers and literati of the province were not reached, since few of them ever entered a chapel. Again, they realized that in order to reach the scholars they must have the very best of tracts and books on science. So they decided to organize themselves into a society and procure the necessary books, and send colporteurs into all the different districts of the Canton Province, whose duty it would be to lend the books to the literary men

who cared to read them, or offer to sell them if they found any disposed to buy. One month after the books had been lent the colporteur was to return and see whether the borrowers desired to purchase them. If so, they were to be sold; if not, they were to be taken back. These were the main principles of the organization. Missionaries were not invited into the society, and the work was to be carried on solely by the Chinese.

Having no means, the society, composed of Wesleyans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutherans, and Congregationalists, appealed to their brethren in America and Australia for funds, and to the foreign missionaries for books. The Bible and Tract Societies of Great Britain and America kindly consented to furnish the books, and nearly fourteen hundred dollars have been placed in the hands of the missionaries for this purpose. The Chinese themselves have collected or received by subscription some four hundred dollars in order to send out their men with the books, and four book lenders are at work in the province during the present year, at a salary of six dollars per month.

The society has a further object in view, and that is to offer prizes for the best essays by the non-Christians on Christianity or kindred subjects. Again, it is hoped that after a while they will establish permanent centers of Christian work, when the different missions will be invited to come in and take up the work of founding churches and carrying on the work still further. The society does not baptize, nor form churches, ueither is it its object to settle questions of doctrine, nor even to preach, but simply to circulate Christian literature in every city.-Missionary Herald.

China is Moving.

REV. DR. JUDSON SMITH believes that China is moving, and that in the right direction. He says: "China is often spoken of as the synonym of rigid conservatism. Undoubtedly the temper of the people is much more steady and even than we are accustomed to see in the Occident; they hold to the good they have gained with great tenacity and are slow to accept the necessity of change. But it would be far from the facts to speak of China as stationary and of the life of her people as stagnant. Those who live in the empire and are conversant with the facts are aware that this great empire is in motion; that against her will, almost without her knowledge, the currents of progress which sweep so powerfully through all Western life are lifting her up and bearing her away from all familiar moorings toward the goal of a New Age and a New World. The thicken. ing net of telegraph wires upon her provinces is one sigu. The railway from Tientsin to the sea, with the plans for a system which shall cover the empire, is another sign. The imperial proclamation of recent date defining the character and aims of Christian missionaries, declaring them to be the teachers of virtue,

and commanding the people to receive and treat them as their guests and friends; this is a further proof. The riots and mobs against foreigners have a like significance. When the Christian religion was unmolested in the old Roman Empire it was weak and relatively unknown. The thickening of persecutions, the growing fierceness of opposition, the increasing crowds of Christians that were swept to the lions, the flames, and the sword, gave sure proof of the incurable weakness of paganism and of the resistless growth of the true faith. This token of the irrepressible conflict between the Gospel and false faiths of China already appears."

China Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church. THE Methodist Episcopal Missions in China were commenced in 1847. The first missionaries were Rev. Judson D. Collins and the Rev. M. C. White and wife, who left the United States for China April 15, 1847, and arrived in Foo-Chow August 6, 1847. They were reinforced the following year by Rev. Henry Hickok and wife and Rev. Robert S. Maclay, who reached Foo-Chow April 15, 1848. The Mission then commenced has developed into what is now known as the Foo-Chow Conference, the North China Mission, the Central China Mission, and the West China Mission.

FOO-CHOW CONFERENCE.

The following are the missionaries: Foo-Chow.-Rev. N. Sites, D.D.; Rev. J. H. Worley and wife; Rev. W. H. Lacy and wife; Rev G. S. Miner and wife; Miss Sarah M. Bosworth.

Kucheng.-Rev. M. C. Wilcox and wife; J. J. Gregory, M.D., and wife.

Hing-hua-Rev. W. N. Brewster and wife, Rev. R. L. McNabb and wife.

In the United States.-Rev. N. J. Plumb and wife (New Haven, Conn.), Mrs. N. Sites (Washington, D. C.); Rev. G. B. Smyth and wife return this month to the United States.

W. F. M. S., Foo- Chow.-Miss Julia Bonafield, Miss Carrie I. Jewell, Miss Ella Johnson, Miss Ella M. Lyon, M.D.; Miss Luella Masters, M D.; Miss Ruth M. Sites, Miss Lydia A. Trimble, Miss Lydia A. Wilkinson. Kucheng.-Miss Mabel C. Hartford. In the United States.-Miss Mary E. Carletou, M.D. (Port Chester, N. Y.).

The post office address in China of all the missionaries is Foo-Chow.

Two theological schools are in operation, one in Foo-Chow, with 33 students, and one in Hing-hua, with 12 students. The latter greatly needs increased accommodations for those who wish to attend. The Anglo-Chinese College at Foo-Chow has 5 foreign teachers, 4 native teachers, and 85 students.

Rev. M. C. Wilcox reports for the Kucheng District that five years ago the district had 372 members and probationers. Now they number 803. The eleven circuits of the district contain about fifty towns and villages in which the Gospel is regularly proclaimed. There have been several cases of severe persecution