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THE

MISSIONARY HERALD.

Meeting.

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ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

THE Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Board held at Grand Rapids, together with the report of the Committee of Fifteen, are appended to this number of the Herald. They show what votes were passed, but, The Annual of course, they can give to our readers little conception of the spirit of the sessions. To say that the meeting was altogether successful would not adequately represent the impressions of those who were present, for the opinion seemed to be unanimous that, from beginning to end, the services were of unusual interest and power. The sermon by Dr. Meredith, on the Anointing by the Holy Ghost as the preparation for preaching the gospel, became the keynote for all the sessions, and gave a spiritual tone and uplift recognized by everyone.

THE thanks of all who were present at the Annual Meeting are due to the Committee of Arrangements and the people of Grand Rapids for the

The Arrangements

at Grand Rapids.

abundant and gracious hospitality which was shown. The arrangements for the sessions seemed perfect, and were greatly enjoyed. While the delegation from the east was small, the attendance from the interior, and especially from Michigan, was large, so that the fine edifice of the Park Church was at some sessions overcrowded, and hundreds sought an overflow meeting. The new President of the Board, Dr. Lamson, adorned the position to which he has been chosen as well in the grace with which he presided as in his address on Thursday evening. It will be impossible to speak here particularly of the great number of excellent addresses which were listened to with profound interest, but it will not be invidious to refer to the marked impression produced by the addresses of our missionaries, who, as a body, won golden opinions from all who were present as to both their intellectual and spiritual power.

New Plans.

"THE Open Hour" which had been arranged for was so much enjoyed on Wednesday afternoon that it was extended into the next day. Not less than eighteen brief addresses were made at this "Free Parliament." Among the suggestions made during this open discussion was one which bore fruit immediately in the raising on the spot of $3,500 to meet the cost of employing for a year a competent person who shall personally visit churches and individuals, seeking to secure the adoption by them of individual missionaries, as well as general advance in contributions. for foreign missions. This scheme was at once taken in hand, and our friends from all parts of the country will doubtless hear from it speedily. The con

viction seemed to rest powerfully upon everyone that the present rate of giving in our churches is wholly inadequate to the proper carrying forward of the work, and is far beneath the privileges and obligations which rest upon Christians in this land.

MOST naturally President Angell, on his first public appearance since his return from his embassy at Constantinople, was accorded a most hearty greeting in his own State of Michigan. His report of what he had seen in Turkey was, on the whole, encouraging, and his testimony to the work done by our missionaries was most emphatic. We must quote here a few of his sentences:

President Angell's

Address.

"You are nowhere better represented than you are in the missions of the Turkish Empire. There is everywhere a certain discreetness in the average American missionary which attracts the attention and the remark even of foreign ministers. When I was in China the minister of another great power, which is represented by missionaries in China, came to me one day and said, 'Mr. Angell, I wish you would trade missionaries with me.' I said, 'Why is that?' He said he had some that were continually making trouble for him, quite needlessly, as he thought, and he had observed that the American missionary had great tact in keeping out of trouble.' And it is literally true."

In reference to what our missionaries are doing in Turkey President Angell said: "I regard the missionary work the work of the American people as one of the most creditable chapters in our history. Certainly there has been nothing more heroic in the heroic times of this war or of the civil war than the bravery and firmness and faith with which our missionaries stood at their posts in the days of the massacres. Mr. Barnum and his associates declared that they would die there rather than leave the ground. That brave missionary woman, Miss Corinna Shattuck, stood in the door of her school at Oorfa and told the mob that were threatening to break in her house and murder her scholars that they must first go over her dead body. I had occasion to say to the foreign minister more than once that, whereas almost every other nation in Europe had been seeking to get something out of Turkey, it was to the glory of the United States that it had never sought to do anything to Turkey except to do it good. We never have brought them anything but blessings. We have sought to bring food and clothing for the body, and we have sought to bring light for mind and soul; and there is nothing in all Turkey so beautiful and radiant now as the American schools and colleges, shedding their radiance far and wide, from the Euphrates to the Egean. And there are some Turks who appreciate this."

AMONG the swift changes that have come in China is the one which requires a knowledge of western science in order to obtain the much-coveted

A Marvel in China.

degrees for which tens of thousands of Chinese literati are laboring. Heretofore the Chinese have scoffed at western learning, and their sole ambition has been proficiency in Chinese classics. Western science is by no means the same as the Christian religion, but the Lord is using the desire among the Chinese for occidental learning to open the way for the gospel of Christ. The rapidity with which the change has come is simply marvelous.

Financial.

THE new fiscal year is well under way and we give here the
receipts for the first month, which are as follows:
Regular donations,

From the churches and individuals for the month of September amounted to
The legacies amounted to

Total for September

$14,510.84

2,742.92

$17,253.76

Aside from the above there was received for the debt in September, $226. The receipts for special objects in September amounted to

$3,813.70

We wish every pastor in the land could have caught the spirit of the Annual Meeting at Grand Rapids. There was but one sentiment expressed in regard to the support of our missionary work, namely, that it must be done, and an advance be made at once. As a result of the deliberations a 66 Forward Movement" was agreed upon, and we ask all the readers of the Missionary Herald to get into line with this spirit. May we not hope that this coming year will be one of the best in all our history for its substantial gains along all the lines of this great and uplifting work of giving the gospel to the nations.

The Report from China.

NATURALLY much interest was awakened at the Annual Meeting by the accounts presented from China by the members of the recent Deputation to our missions in that land. The paper presented by Secretary Smith, printed on another page, and the address by President Eaton of Beloit College, covering matters outside of the direct report of the Deputation were listened to with deepest interest. The meeting responded heartily to the facts presented in reference to the marvelous openings in that great empire, and the present need for reinforcements. It is a day of need as well as of hope for China. We are glad to report that at the first meeting of the Prudential Committee after the meeting at Grand Rapids a missionary and his wife, whose support is largely pledged in advance, were appointed to reinforce the Foochow Mission.

Papers for Distribution.

OUR friends can be supplied, on application, at the rooms of the American Board, with pamphlet copies of the report of the Deputation to China, the Annual Survey of the Missions, and the papers by Secretaries Smith and Daniels on the " Missionary Outlook in China" and "Young Manhood and Womanhood in Missions." OUR medical missionaries in many places are crowded with work. At Fen-cho-fu, in our Shansi Mission, Mr. Atwater reports that "the opium patients fill all the rooms and have filled the dispensary waiting room, and we have to stand fast or our new church building would be filled also."

Crowds of
Patients.

Pupils.

IT is a touching fact that the alumni of Euphrates College, in Harpoot, Turkey, who are now in the United States have of their own accord contributed $70, with which to provide a monument for the grave of Grateful Rev. Dr. Crosby H. Wheeler, the founder and for years the president of the college. Dr. Wheeler lies buried in the missionary lot in Newton, Mass., and these pupils of his now in America desire to testify to their esteem and love for their honored teacher by providing this monument. "The righteous are in everlasting remembrance."

To Librarians. years.

IN moving to new quarters from the old Congregational House, it is necessary to reduce somewhat the stock now on hand of Annual Reports of the Board, and of copies of the Missionary Herald for previous To all individuals or libraries we offer freely these extra copies, some of which are bound, asking only that they pay the cost of shipping. Of the Annual Reports, copies can be supplied save for the years from 1822 to 1826, inclusive, and from 1828 to 1833, inclusive, and the year 1846. Of the Panoplist or Missionary Herald, no copies can be spared earlier than of the year 1822, and the years 1824 and 1827 are wanting. With these exceptions full files will be furnished until the supply is exhausted. Those who desire to avail themselves of this offer would do well to apply at once. Many church, college, seminary, and other public libraries are already provided with sets of these publications, and occasional applications are coming from newer institutions. This will be the last opportunity afforded for obtaining these publications, except by purchase. Requests from libraries and individuals will be met in the order of their reception. Address, Mr. C. N. Chapin, A. B. C. F. M., Congregational House, Boston.

BISHOP TUCKER, of the English Church Missionary Society, has again reached Mengo, the capital of Uganda, and on the 30th of May he wrote,

giving full accounts of the condition of affairs since the revolt and Uganda. the banishment of King Mwanga. The country has not advanced as

much as he hoped it would, yet he says the marvel is not that it has not advanced more but that it has not gone back to any appreciable extent. A revolution in the country and a mutiny among the soldiers would naturally check growth, yet there is manifest in many ways great stability and some improvement. It is, no doubt, a perilous time, and there are some signs of spiritual declension, while there are also encouraging tokens. Within the three weeks after the bishop's arrival he confirmed 772 candidates, and he found the attendance at public worship as large as ever. The reading and sale of the Scriptures is as phenominal as at any previous period. The bishop is convinced that they are yet to see even greater things in Uganda than the marvels of previous days. As to the political situation, it seems that Mwanga is roaming about the province of Bunyoro, never sleeping in the place where he has spent the day. Kabarega, the king of Bunyoro, has ordered Mwanga out of his territory. What the end of the political conflict will be is not yet apparent. The bishop reports that every station abandoned at the time of the mutiny is in process of being rebuilt or reoccupied. These certainly are good tidings from the Central African kingdom, where such marvelous progress has been witnessed within the last twenty-five years, and we may hope that the good work, so sadly interrupted by revolution, will result in the furtherance of the gospel.

We have received a copy of a Memorial presented to the United States Commissioners for the arrangement of terms of peace between the United States and Spain, prepared by the officers of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, in which, with great clearness and force, is given a statement respecting the relations of the Spanish government on the island of Ponape to our mission there. The Memorial contains

The Caroline
Islands.

some detailed accounts of recent events on Ponape, especially of an outbreak between the natives and the Spaniards in March and April last. Letters are given from Henry Nanpei, who, it will be remembered, was a Christian teacher in the training school on Ponape at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards in 1887. While holding steadfastly to his Protestant faith, Nanpei has been trusted by the Spanish governors and has aided materially in preventing outbreaks between the natives and their oppressors. The priestly party has importuned him to renounce his faith and side with the Catholics. The civil war began on the 17th of March last, on the small islet of Mants, but the Metalanim tribe rallied to the aid of their brethren who were attacked and routed the Spanish party. Ten were killed and many were wounded. Two men on the Protestant side were wounded. Later on, on May 23, Mr. Nanpei was invited to go on board a Spanish man-of-war, and was at once informed that he was a prisoner and could not return. The last report was that he had been condemned to death, but it was doubted whether such a sentence would be put in execution. News had reached the island of the battle of Manila, and while the natives were greatly elated, the Spaniards were naturally sorely distressed, and were making preparations to meet an attack from any United States vessel that should appear in their port. This Memorial of the Hawaiian Board appeals to the Commissioners to make such provision "that the total withdrawal of Spanish power and government from the Caroline Islands as a whole, and from Ponape Island in particular, may be definitely determined upon, and enforced by the power of the United States government." "We are not solicitous," they say, as to what form of government may succeed the withdrawal of Spanish power, provided the American government shall exercise a protectorate over the group."

66

A MISSIONARY in Africa in writing to one of the secretaries says: "I fear I have not the hope which seems to animate you through all your discouragements that people would give if they only understood the situation in Is It So? the missions. It has seemed to me as though people had heard so much that they had grown callous. It seems a long time since there was enthusiasm in foreign missions; but perhaps I am too easily discouraged." Can we wonder much that this good missionary lady, face to face with heathenism, writes in this strain?

French Protestants.

THERE is certainly one result of the French occupation of Madagascar which compensates in a degree for the serious embarrassment of the work of the London Missionary Society in that island. The French Protestant church is small, but it has risen grandly to the necessities of the case, and inasmuch as the government requires French teachers in the schools of Madagascar, the Evangelical Society of Paris has raised $25,000 extra for the sending out of men to undertake such missionary work as the London Society can turn over to them. The London Society, while regretting the necessity of passing over to other hands the work which it had so wisely and vigorously inaugurated, is glad to transfer it to the hands of such faithful and evangelical Christians.

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