they suffered. His missionary brethren will share the grief with which the news of his departure will be received by the native converts of Jessore and Barisal, while the Committee cannot but express their profound regret at the loss of services so long and so honourably rendered to the mission. They also desire to assure the widow and children of their departed friend, of their sincere sympathy, and would bear with them the burden of a loss which for a long time will be deeply felt. They commend them to the care of God, to Him who has ever been the refuge of His people in the hour of distress and. trial."

The following resolution regarding the lamented decease of the Rev. J.. Mintridge was also adopted :

"Resolved, that the Committee have received with deep sorrow the news of the decease of their young missionary brother, the Rev. J. Mintridge, who,. after so short a season of active work in the cause he loved so well, has been called to his rest and reward. They thankfully place on record their warm appreciation of his earnest attention to the acquisition of the language of the country. They would assure the bereaved parents and family of their sincere sympathy with them in this sudden and heavy bereavement, and their earnest prayer that the God of all consolation may sustain and comfort them in this time of sore trial." It was also further resolved that copies of this resolution be sent to the members of Mr. Mintridge's family, and to the Birmingham Young Men's Missionary Society, in connection with which he offered himself for mission work.

The departure of Mr. Sundstedt, of the Norwegian Mission, for Sweden, has left a vacancy, which the Committee have filled by accepting the services of Mr. J. U. Bakke, formerly in connection with the Wesleyan Methodists.

At the same meeting of the Committee, their most cordial thanks were pre sented to Mr. Thos. Coats, of Paisley, for the generous gift of a small steam launch for the use of the African mission, and named, by him, "Helen Saker," in honour of the veteran missionary's wife. This generons gift is a further proof of Mr. Coats's deep interest in the great work of spreading the Gospel in Africa.

DEPARTURE OF MISSIONARIES.

We have the pleasure of mentioning the departure of the Rev. R. E. and Mrs.. Gammon for the mission in Turk's Islands. They sailed on the 20th ult. on board the American, viâ St. Thomas. On the 28th left our shores for the work of God in India, in the City of Manchester, from Liverpool to Calcutta, the wife and two daughters of our highly valued colleague, the Rev. C. B. Lewis. Also Dr. and Mrs. Carey, the Rev. II. Tucker, and Miss Anderson. We trust all these friends will have a safe voyage under the shadow of the wings of the Almighty, In connection with this, we may mention that our friends in Birmingham have generously promised to provide £200 towards the outfit and passage of the two missionaries to India, thus completing their provision for the ten missionaries sent to India during the last three years. Our old friend, Mr. W. Stead, formerly of Bradford, now of London, has also given £100 for the outfit and passage of the third missionary mentioned above. We should be happly to receivesimilar donations for the two remaining ones-viz., Mr. Comber and Mr. Wm. Landeis.

Meetings and services have been held as follows, since our last report:

The Rev. Q. W. Thomson has also given an address on Missions to the

THE MISSIONARY HERALD.

BY thi

The Home Work of the Year.

Y this phrase, as our readers will readily guess, we mean the efforts put forth during the year now closing, with a view to stimulate and keep alive the missionary feeling among our churches. The importance of this part of our work cannot be exaggerated; it is vital, indeed, to the wellbeing of the mission itself. Indifference in our churches means lack of support, and this, in its turn, means crippled activity abroad. On the other hand, earnestness and zeal at home, secure efficiency abroad. Our home churches and our mission churches act and re-act on one another in many ways, but, as a rule, it is from home that the spiritual tone of our brethren far away from us is regulated.

We have thought it would not be uninteresting to our friends to have a summary of this "home work," as we have called it, and we therefore present it to them now with a few of the many suggestions to which the statement gives rise.

We have two great missionary seasons in the year-the first commencing in the middle of February and ending with our annual meetings in London; and the second beginning at the middle of September and closing at the end of November. These we are in the habit of calling our spring and autumn campaigns. Missionary meetings and services are held, more or less, the whole year round, but at least three-fourths of the whole work is done within these two periods. At such times the whole of our available force is employed-nay, overworked-and were it not for the volunteers who are generally found to help us, it would be impossible to meet the claims upon us.

The meetings and services held during this year (including those fixed for the present month) have amounted to more than fourteen hundred, distributed through the year as follows:-About six hundred in the spring, the same number in the autumn, and the rest during the remaining parts of the year. If, in addition to the above, we reckon pri

vately arranged meetings, of which we have had no information, but which nevertheless have been held, we should reach a grand total of upwards of sixteen hundred.

The following missionaries have done, each his part, of this great work :-The Rev. John Davey, of the Bahamas, who returned to his field of labour in the spring of the year; the Rev. S. J. Chowrryappah, who was sent to Madras at the same period; the Rev. John Trafford, M.A., of Serampore, still among us; the Rev. F. D. Waldock, who returned to Ceylon in May; the Rev. John Sale, whose unexpected decease we so recently had to deplore; the Rev. Alfred Saker, the veteran African missionary, who left us early in the year; the Rev. Victor Bouhon, of St Brieuc, who came over to help us in our emergencies in March last; the Rev. Albert Williams, Pastor of the Circular Road Church, Cal cutta, but here on a furlough; Mr. W. L. Wenger, of Calcutta, son of our revered friend, Dr. Wenger; the Rev. W. H. Gamble, of Trinidad; Mr. Passingham, Minister of the Baptist Church at Dover, and whose personal acquaintance with India and our work there makes him a very efficient helper; the Rev. Isaac Allen, M.A., of Dacca, still here; as also the Rev. T. Morgan, of Howrah; the Rev. J. Williams, of Muttra; the Rev. H. R. Pigott, of Ceylon, and the Rev. J. Kingdon, of Jamaica, both of them but recently arrived in England; the Rev. Alfred Jenkins, of Morlaix, who was sent for in the pressure of our autumn work; and the Rev. Q. W. Thomson, of the Cameroons, recently returned, but hindered by his present state of health from doing all he would. In addition to these, the Revs. Isaac Stubbins, formerly of Orissa; J. Hume, of Jamaica, and W. H. McMechan, formerly of China, have been very largely engaged; whilst our friend Mr. Wall, of Rome has recently spent a month in pleading for his special work, having attended some forty meetings during the time. We say nothing of the part taken by the officials at the Mission House in all this; their work is too familiar to our readers to require any description here.

Among our occasional helpers we mention with much gratitude J. C. Parry, Esq., so long a resident in India, and so intimately acquainted with our brethren there; the Rev. Alfred Powell, secretary of the Bible Translation Society; the Revs. A. Sturge, of Dartford; W. Sampson, of Folkestone; T. H. Morgan, of Harrow; W. Stott, of London; W. Barker,. of Hastings; S. Newnam, of Edinburgh, and J. Bloomfield, of Gloucester. All these, with the Pastors of our Churches, have contributed to the holy enterprise, and with their help and God's blessing the work of the yearhas been done.

It would not be surprising if, in work of such magnitude, and covering the whole kingdom as it does, there had been several mishaps and failures. But these have been exceedingly few. The lamented death of Mr. Sale disarranged several plans, and occasionally the temporary illness of a deputation has disappointed a meeting; but the former event was absolutely in the hands of our gracious God: our friends could not but reverently submit. Of the latter casualties we remember only three! Many thanks to the missionaries and other helpers, to the pastors of churches, superintendents of Sunday-schools, and officers of missionary auxiliaries for the way in which they, each and all, have done their several duties. Above all, thanks be to God, from whom have come the strength, the disposition, and the skill.

One very important element in all the work we have described has been the attention paid to the young. With scarcely an exception, our deputations have addressed Sunday-school children on the Sunday afternoons, and, in not a few cases, special meetings have been arranged for them. The Sunday work, on that account, is very arduous, but our brethren on whom it devolves do not complain; on the contrary, they rather court this department of it. The results have been of the most gratifying kind. As an actual fact, nearly one third of the contributions come through our schools. Looking into the future, our constituency are being prepared for such intelligent and earnest co-operation as will secure the progress of our great work.

Among the many gratifying features of this part of our enterprise, is the uniform kindness experienced by our brethren in the many homes in which they receive hospitality. Their expressions of thankfulness are uncompromising. We think it but right to note this fact, and, for our own part, to thank, most cordially, all our friends, who have contributed so much to the comfort of hard-worked and devoted servants of our Master, who accepts, as rendered to Him, all the love and help they received. Incidentally, the Mission is loved the more from this contact with the Missionaries, whilst the confidence of these in the love of the brethren at home is increased by their mutual intercourse.

We sum up this short sketch by expressing our conviction that, as abroad, our Missionaries were never more devoted than now, so, our Churches at home were never more sympathetic. We thankfully review the past, and we hopefully anticipate the future.

C. B.