It has been nearly a year since the Doshisha has been independent of the Board and of our mission in Japan. In the mean time some of the most evangelical men on the Board of Trustees have resigned, and their The Doshisha. places have been filled by those who represent the extreme radicals. It now appears that this radical course upon the part of the Doshisha is convincing the churches, pastors and Christian workers generally, that the institution is wrong. In a letter just received from Dr. Davis he says: "We are told by the Japanese that four fifths of the pastors and workers in the churches are siding with the evangelical party." Mr. Seijiro Niwa, a graduate of the Doshisha, and at present the Japanese secretary of the Y. M. C. A. at Tōkyō, in a recently published article regarding the summer school of theology of the Kumi-ai churches, says: "It is already determined that the basis of the school shall be decidedly evangelical; let us be true to our convictions and brave in defending the evangelical principles of our school in the face of the misleading liberal thought of the day." We have ground for believing that the present theological tendency among the Christian leaders of Japan is in the right direction, while the field for missionary operations is constantly widening. SOME twelve years ago a Chinese lad in a laundry in Boston began to work his way toward securing an education. Identifying himself before long with the Mt. Vernon church he, like his Master, grew in favor with Returning to China. God and man, and now after graduating with honor from Harvard University, he has gone to Foochow to become a teacher in science in the Banyan City Institute of our American Board. Before his departure the Mt. Vernon church gave a public reception to Mr. Chan L. Teung, and the pastor, Rev. Dr. Herrick, spoke with great tenderness of the ability and high Christian character of the young man. Such a history gives great hope that many of the Chinese coming to this country will return to bless their native land as Christian teachers and preachers. TWELVE years ago Bishop Hannington started from Mombasa, on the East African coast, for Uganda, by way of Masailand, following the footsteps of the only white man who had traversed that route. The hardships and Africa Opening. perils of that journey, which cost him his life, are something which it is to be hoped no traveler in the future will be called upon to endure. Already a great change has taken place. The last party going inland went by rail the first portion of their journey, and on reaching Lake Victoria the new steamer Ruwenzori, purchased by funds given in response to the appeal of H. M. Stanley, took the party across the lake to Uganda. So rapidly is Africa being opened. The Force Ir illustrates both the inadequacy of the missionary force and the disturbed condition of the country in Turkey to learn that it is nine years since any missionary lady did any touring in the Aintab field. Mr. Sanders writes Inadequate. that he recently visited several out-stations, Eybeg, Kessab, and Beylan, in company with Miss Foreman, whose presence was cordially welcomed by the mothers who were graduates from the Female Boarding School. There ought to be on hand a missionary force sufficient to allow of repeated visits of this kind. THERE are certain Christian enterprises passing under the name of "Faith Missions," some of whose supporters seem to claim a monopoly of faith, as if there could be no abiding trust in the guidance and care of Faith Missions. God if aid is sought from men. It is sometimes said that it is distrusting the power and grace of God to rely upon an organization for support. But it ought to be remembered that there are few missionary boards that are not called upon to exercise great faith in God and in his people in the carrying forward of their work. For instance, when the Prudential Committee of the American Board, at the beginning of each year, appropriates a half-million dollars for the several missions, not one dollar of which amount is in hand, is it not an act of faith? The Committee goes forward, relying upon Him who has the silver and the gold. If his support fails, then the work fails. It is in sole dependence upon his abiding presence and the grace which he shall give to his people that the work is carried on. It derogates nothing from this spirit of reliance upon him to say that the missionary societies deem it their duty to keep open those channels by which the people give for the maintenance of his work. Do we distrust God when for the supply of water for our homes we dig wells or build cisterns and aqueducts? Are we to expect rain each day directly from the heavens to meet our daily needs, and refuse to store up any of the supplies which God provides in the earth or in distant lakes or rivers, so that we may have water regularly even in times when he sees fit to withhold the showers from heaven? That theory of trust which refuses to employ means for securing the help which God must give, if consistently carried out, would lead to the filling up of our wells and the destruction of our waterworks. But that would not be trust, but presumption. Is the Bible a seditious book? It has been so regarded in many periods of the world's history, and is so regarded now by a high official in Eastern Turkey, who seized two copies of the Bible and condemned them Scenting Sedition. because of the first verse of the twelfth chapter of Daniel. This official threatens to collect and burn all books containing this passage. It is difficult for us to conceive of minds so saturated with suspicion as to find sedition in this verse of the Scriptures. If any of our readers are disturbed because they have not received a personal acknowledgment of gifts sent for Christian work abroad, with an account No Strength of the special use made of their gifts, we would ask them to medito Report. tate on a sentence in a recent letter from Mr. Hartwell, of Foochow : "I fear you are disappointed in not getting more regular reports from this station; but, really, I don't see how we have strength to report what we are doing. It is enough for us to try and do it, without writing about it." A GOOD index of the spiritual condition of the pupils in the Central Turkey Girls' College at Marash is seen in the fact that each week they hold a meeting A Christian for the special purpose of praying for former students, particularly for those who have gone out as teachers in the neighboring towns and villages. Thirteen students of the college made their first confession of Christ at the beginning of last year. College. Dr. Marcus Whitman. THROUGH the kindness of the Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work we are able to give, on the opposite page, a photo engraving of the statue of Dr. Marcus Whitman, which is to grace the Witherspoon Building at Philadelphia. The artist was obliged to depend upon various descriptions of the heroic missionary, since there is in existence no likeness of him taken during his lifetime. Professor Weed, of Philadelphia, who when a lad saw Dr. Whitman on his arrival from his journey across the mountains, and was greatly impressed by his appearance at the time, speaks of the statue as a "vivid reminder" of the man. He was clad in buckskin and fur, looking like a rough mountaineer, as well he might, after his perilous tramp. We have been interested in examining the papers of Dr. Whitman, now on file in the archives of the American Board, in which he offers himself for missionary service. His first letter, dated Wheeler, N. Y., June 3, 1834, when he was in the thirty-second year of his age, says: "I regard the missionary cause as based upon the Atonement and the commands and promises of the Lord Jesus Christ to his ambassadors and church; and that it involves the holiness and happiness of all that may be reclaimed from sin. I am willing to go to any field of usefulness at the direction of the American Board. I will coöperate as physician, teacher, or agriculturist, so far as I am able, if required." In one of his letters he speaks of having examined the Missionary Herald upon the Marquesan Mission, and says, "I should have no objection to go there except for the climate." Subsequently, on December 2, 1834, some question having arisen as to his health, he makes a distinct offer of himself to accompany "Rev. Samuel Parker on his mission to or beyond the Rocky Mountains." Having received notice of his appointment on the second of February, 1835, he responds with great cheerfulness, saying that he purposes to start on the sixteenth of that month, only two weeks from that day, and to travel to St. Louis on horseback. Miss Narcissa Prentiss, who was soon to become his bride, in her offer of service writes: "Feeling it more my privilege than duty to labor for the conversion of the heathen, I respectfully submit myself to your direction." One of the testimonials concerning Dr. Whitman, from the pastor at Rushville, N. Y., speaks of "his appearance among respectable people as rather forbidding at first, but he makes a good impression soon." These papers on which the Prudential Committee of that day appointed Dr. Whitman could by no means have led them to regard the applicant as a man of unusual abilities and devotion, or to warrant any expectation that he was to accomplish a work of immense and far-reaching importance. God chooses his own instruments to carry out his plans. He who chose David and took him from the sheepfold to lead his people, chose also Marcus Whitman to do a noble work for our nation and for the kingdom of Christ in the vast regions of the Northwest. The fiftieth anniversary of the massacre of Dr. and Mrs. Whitman, November 29, was appropriately observed at Washington, Philadelphia, and at Walla Walla, but we regret that an unusual number of services occurring in Boston on that day, among them the laying of the corner stone of the Congregational House, interfered with the commemorative services which were planned for. May the American Board Scholarship in Whitman College be liberally and speedily endowed as a suitable monument in memory of Dr. and Mrs. Whitman. |