life was a failure, but a perusal of his letters to his Board and family, printed in the March number of the Missionary Herald, of Boston, U. S., would be useful to missionaries of all types of character: the timid man could learn to take heart, the over-anxious man to take it easy, the unduly careless man to take heed of what is necessary and convenient; the quarrelsome man would see the advantage of gentleness of speech, and, a loving nature; the selfish man would learn the lesson of entire self-abnegation; and the halfhearted man would recognize the surpassing greatness of him who has counted the cost, and is ready to give all to his Saviour. These letters do not bristle with stock quotations of holy writ, but the writer is so imbued with the spirit of faith and obedience, that he gives back the true sound almost unconsciously, like a plate of metal that is struck accidentally. After nine years' experience among the Zulus in Natal, be was chosen as the pioneer to the new field in Umzila's country, between the rivers Limpopo and Zambési. He conducted his wife and little ones to Chicago, in North America, where he left them, nothing doubting that the Covenant Jehovah who had called him would be more than a Father to his children, and started with alacrity on his journey, picking up his companions at Durban. He proceeded by sea to Delagoa Bay, with the intention of being conveyed thence to Inhambane, but a change in the course of the steamer baffled him. When the steamer of the next month came, he was again thwarted, and carried on to Zanzibar, whence he was brought back by Captain Wybrants to Mozambique, and after further delay he at length reached Inhambane. He was received with kindness by the Portuguese authorities, who, although Roman Catholics, gave him every possible assistance, as during his enforced delay at Delagoa Bay and Mozambique he had made valuable friends. His last written words to his Society were: "The Governor proposes to send me directly across country to Umzila." The Governor of the Universe had other plans for him, and not very long after he caught a fever and died in the jungle. He had his senses to the last, but was too weak to speak, and we know not what thoughts passed through his brain during those last hours: if we may judge from the character of the man, as revealed in his letters, all rising murmurs of disappointment were soon silenced in the sense of humble acquiescence in the purposes of his Master, who had no further occasion for his poor services. A letter to his wife, as follows, was the last reflection of his feelings:'Now, my dear wife, as I start forth on this new stage of my journey, let us hold fast our trust in that living God who used to keep you and me, while in Natal, through dangers of various kinds. Let us patiently hold on, and bear a brave but humble part in our peculiar work. I shall, if all goes well, soon get to where I begin retracing my steps, if I think the Lord calls me to hasten to you. Make personal piety and personal consecration to God the great object with yourself and the children. If God returns me to you, or brings you to me, I shall try to be more faithful in that respect. The future will bring its needed light, and work, and solace. . . . My thoughts turn sadly towards you, and our dear children. . . . All well: we go right on." In a few days he died, and it was all well with him still. His example may still aid indirectly in the conversion of the Amatonga and Umzila. London, March 14th, 1881. ROBERT CUST. EXTRACTS FROM THE ANNUAL LETTERS. MID-CHINA. From the Rev. J. C. Hoare, Ningpo College. Ningpo, Dec. 20th, 1880. 10 far as the special work in which I have been engaged is concerned, the past year has been one of prosperity. Our college and schools have certainly advanced, the numbers have increased, the masters are more efficient, the boys for the most part have brightened up, and show a better knowledge of, and a more intelligent interest in the lessons they are taught. I believe, too, that the influence of the college and schools on the Mission work generally has been more perceptible, and that, through God's blessing, that influence has been for good. With regard to the college. As regards numbers we are in much the same position as we were last year. At the commencement of this year three præparandi and all the first class, with one exception, having fulfilled their time, were taken on as Mission agents, either as itinerant preachers, schoolmasters, or assistants. The three præparandi were employed as preachers; the head of the first class as assistant in the college; two more as schoolmasters in the day-school close at hand, where they can be trained to teach, and at the same time attend some of the lectures in the college; one was sent to take charge of a school in the country. Thus seven in all passed out of the college to active work in the Mission, making a total of twelve during the four years in which it has been worked on its present basis. One other student, who had come on trial for a year, was recommended to leave, as he was not considered satisfactory enough to warrant us in holding out hopes of employment. All of those who are employed by the Mission have proved fairly satisfactory; some of them have really done good work, but I hope to write of their work at length hereafter. This year we have admitted nine men and boys as students. Three young men, one from Ningpo, two from Hang-chow, come rather under the class of præparandi; the remaining six are boys. With regard to the work in the col Our lege, our course has been much as in past years. Scripture, of course, and some theology for the older boys and students; Greek, for the cleverer of the boys; history and geography, with mathematics. These subjects, with constant work at Native literature, have formed our curriculum. Mr. Shann, who arrived at the end of last year, has almost entirely relieved me of the mathematical work throughout the year; and during the autumn both he and Mrs. Shann have taken some classes in Scripture, thus enabling me to concentrate my work more on the more advanced students. Our Debating Society has been kept up, and we have had many interesting debates. question class, in which the boys ask me questions, has also been useful as a means of imparting a good deal of general information. The Debating Society has, however, been productive of one practical result, which will, I hope, under God's blessing, tend to the advancement of our work here. In the course of a debate on the subject," What can we do in the college to advance the work of the Mission ?" I suggested that we might form a Prayer Union, somewhat after the model of the Cambridge Prayer Union. The idea has been taken up warmly, and we have commenced prayer meetings in the college on Saturday evenings. From a copy of the rules, which I enclose, you will see that the members are to devote part of Saturday evening, wherever they may be, to prayer for the spread of the Gospel; whilst some undertake, at least once a week, to go out preaching. We hope that the Christians in the outstations may also be led to join the union, and that thus throughout the Mission we may have united prayer, and also united action on the part of many, who, not being paid by the Mission, seem to think that they have no call to go out preaching. The union is still in its infancy, so we must not rejoice too much at present; but it has been started in the spirit of prayer, and we may confidently hope for God's blessing upon it. As Mr. Shann's arrival set me some On what more at liberty than I had hitherto been, I have this year taken up another branch of work in connexion with the college, viz., the systematic training of those who have already passed out from it. I had long felt that something was needed for the young men in our country schools; for they leave us at the age of twenty, and cannot be expected to have a very ripe knowledge of theology. At the same time, if they are to look for work as pastoral agents, and possibly as ordained ministers, it is absolutely necessary that they should be well instructed. I have, therefore, started a system of monthly papers for them. Our subject this year has been the Thirty-nine Articles. I issue a series of questions each month for them to answer they also write an exposition of one of the Parables of our Lord. my tours of school inspection I talk over their answers with them, correcting their mistakes. I have undertaken to give them my own answers in print, but pressure of work has hitherto prevented my doing this. With regard to the parables I have found time to translate Archbishop Trench's Notes on the Parables for them, and have printed ten parables, publishing them in separate pamphlets. I hope thus to translate the whole of that work, which would be invaluable to those engaged in preaching or teaching. Other Missions have also bought many copies. looking over the papers they have written for me, I have been very deeply impressed with the absolute necessity of some such system of training, for whilst the young men have shown considerable ability and acquaintance with Scripture, they are certainly wanting in knowledge of dogmatic truth; and constantly I have seen in their papers errors which have in times past been the germs of heresies and divisions in the Church. By thus drawing out the thoughts of the young men, I have the opportunity of correcting their mistakes. In We are still much crowded in the college, as we have not begun to build yet. Land has been bought for the new buildings, but we have had to wait for the removal of some tombs which were on it. This, owing to Chinese superstitions, is a long and tedious process. We hope, however, to commence building very soon now. During the present year we have been using the church as a college chapel for morning and evening prayer. Our services have been bright and hearty, and our singing, thanks to the instructions of Mr. and Mrs. Shann, is improving rapidly. I am sure that it is a very important thing to accustom those who are to be employed as catechists or pastors to orderly, well-conducted services. From the nature of things many of the services in the country chapels are not all that could be desired at first, for the people do not know what they ought to do, nor how the services should be conducted. I hope, however, that the students have already learned to appreciate the value of the apostolic maxim, “Let all things be done decently and in order." There is one other feature of the college which I feel deserves mention, viz., the increased interest which has been taken in active sports. Cricket and other games have been practised vigorously, and with no small success. In the spring we felt strong enough to challenge the foreigners in the settle ment, and, though in our first attempt we were defeated, we afterwards won a most signal victory. I must say that I consider this a matter of no small im"all work portance, for not only does and no play make Jack a dull boy," but it also, in my opinion, is very apt to make him a selfish, sulky, and bad boy. Certainly the set of boys we have at present are very much what boys should be, playful, good-natured, and generally well behaved. I should indeed be sorry to think that this state of things simply arises from their games, but I believe that it does spring to a great extent from the blessing of God upon the use of proper means. Both in school and in the playground the conduct of the boys has given us complete satisfaction. As I turn from the college to report the condition of the day-schools, I find cause for renewed thankfulness. I remember that three years ago, after one year's superintendence of these schools, I wrote to the effect that I considered them of little use. I now look upon them as the most encouraging feature of my work, and believe that they have a most important bearing both on the development of the Native Church and on the spread of the Gospel among the heathen. At the same time I am not prepared to say that my former opinion was incorrect. The fact is that the schools have improved very much. Three years ago the masters were almost all heathens, none had had any training; now they are all Christians, and with one exception, trained for teaching. Consequently the boys are now taught the truths of the Gospel by masters who know and love them; whereas formerly they used to be made merely to learn books by rote, which the masters neither could nor would explain. Then, again, at that time the attendance of the sons of the Christians was very small, except in the city of Ningpo, where the parents lived under the eye of the missionaries. Now there are very few who do not attend regularly. On looking through the school lists I see that in the year 1877 the number of Christian boys in the Mission schools was twenty-seven; now they amount to sixty-four, a large number considering the small numbers of the Native Christians. fact we may now say that with only one or two exceptions, all the sons of the Christians are taught to read their Bibles, and to know the outline of Christian truth. Of the importance of this with regard to the future of the Native Church it is needless to write. The sons of the heathen also receive exactly the same education, and we may surely hope that the seed thus implanted in their hearts will by the working of the Holy Spirit of God hereafter bring In forth fruit. Indeed fruit has not been wanting even now. Some boys have applied for and received baptism; very few of those who attend the schools retain any reverence for idolatrous practices. It was but a few days ago that I heard of some striking testimony borne by parents to the effect of the teaching in one of the day-schools. They stated that their boys would never take part with the rest of the family in idolatry, but on the contrary constantly exhorted even their parents to give it up. I have four out-stations under my charge, two of which, Tsông-ts'eng and Loh-do-gyiao, have made no advance, but have, if anything, fallen back. At P'u-k'eo-wông slight progress has been made; Tsông-gyiao still continues to give me great cause for thankfulness. The number of baptisms there during the year has not been greater than that of last year, being about ten adults; but the bright, earnest manner of the Christians is very striking, and it is always a pleasure to ride over there for the Sunday afternoon service. We are sometimes fairly crowded out of our little chapel, and during the summer I have often seen the court in front filled with benches, and eager listeners. In fact the chapel will not contain all the Christians connected with the station. Both at P'u-k'eo-wông and Tsông-gyiao, the system has been continued of leaving a schoolmaster in charge of the chapel, and sending itinerant agents to preach to the heathen. PUNJAB: BELUCH MISSION. From the Rev. A. Lewis. Tibi, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dec. 14th, 1880. In looking back over the past year, in spite of many disappointments, we can see numerous blessings which have been granted, for which we may still thank God, and take courage for our future work. To sum up briefly these disappointments, they are the failure of our plans for settling the Beluch Mission at Choti, the retrogression of a Native convert, and that which is, as far as short human sight can see, the greatest misfortune which could have befallen us, the death of our dear chief and fellow-labourer, the Rev. G. M. Gordon. But even in each of these events, on looking more closely, we can see good resulting. For the first may have taught us to search further, and find a more desirable Beluch centre in the place I am now writing from, Tibi. The second tells us that we cannot be too particular in thoroughly knowing the hearts of those who are admitted to the holy privilege of baptism. In the third, while grieving over the loss of a brother, and feeling the increased load of responsibility on ourselves, we can seem to hear our Saviour calling us to trust more completely in God, and less on man, and bidding us exclaim with St. Paul, "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." At the close of 1879 we had the pleasure of welcoming amongst us a worker whose assistance is very valuable. This is the head catechist who was working with Mr. Baring at Batala. He is a Christian of some fifteen years' standing, a Native of Rajanpur in this district. Owing to his having expressed a desire to work in his own country amongst his own people, now that a Mission is established here, Mr. Baring, in a most self-denying manner, sent him down to join us. He brought with him an inquirer whom he had known for some years. Mr. Baring, having expressed an opinion that he was prepared for baptism, he received that sacrament on the Epiphany, January 6th. The newly-baptized convert was then employed in the Mission as a colporteur. The next day, January 7th, the catechist, colporteur, and I, set off on a tour for preaching and book-selling. Many towns and villages were visited by us, in which the message of the Gospel had probably never been proclaimed before. We had the opportunity, too, of visiting both Dajal and Rajan pur, towns in which the relatives of the catechist live. They belong to a numerous and influential tribe of Jats, called Machis. As he had not seen or heard of his people for many years, it may be imagined that it was with somewhat excited and tumultuous emotions that the catechist one afternoon approached Dajal. But it was indeed a cause of rejoicing to find that all bitter feelings, consequent upon one of their number having become a Christian, were buried, and the absentee was gladly welcomed. Their kindly disposition towards us was evinced by presents of milk, butter, flour, &c. Ever since this first meeting they have remained our fast friends, always willing to help us, and, which is best of all, listening to, and asking questions about, the Living Word. A similar welcome, too, awaited us at Rajanpur. Soon after our return to Dera Ghazi Khan, I was summoned to Multan in March, to meet the Bishop on his return from Candahar, to give him some particulars about our Mission. Good Friday, March 26th, is especially memorable, as being the first. day on which a Native congregation of Christians was gathered together. We met, like the infant Church of old, in an upper chamber, overlooking the main bazaar of the city, and earnest prayers were offered by those two or three in Christ's name, that the Holy Spirit might be outpoured on the world around. Easter Day saw our first Communion. On April 5th we all left Dera Ghazi Khan together, and the next day arrived in Choti. From here Dr. Jukes went to Fort Munro, to superintend the building of the new hospital, while the catechist, colporteur, and I, branched off to Sakki Sarwar, in order to be present at the great annual gathering of pilgrims which takes place. This shrine at Sakki Sarwar attracts devotees from all parts of the Punjab. Sikhs, Hindus, and Mussulmans, all unite in their superstitious service. On April 9th we arrved there. Notwithstanding the total absence of verdure and water the scenery is picturesque. The town is built on a low spur of the Suleiman Range, and extends all down the ridge, while the shrine is situated at the upper end, with long and high steps constructed down the side of the hill, to a torrent course beneath. Higher up in the mountain is the tomb of Sarwar's brother, also an object of veneration. There is a certain grandeur and beauty in these edifices when viewed from a distance, being built of a white lime composition, which contrasts well with the brown and red rocks of the mountain. But, on closer inspection, that which from afar might be mistaken for marble, is found to be of coarse workmanship, and of a very inferior nature altogether. All water has to be brought upon camels or oxen from a distance of three miles, and at first there is a little repulsion in drinking that which has somewhat the consistency of pea-soup. We had one travelling bedstead with us, but wanting another, we asked that one might be brought. After a little hesitation, the answer given was, that there was only one in the whole town, and that was used for carrying the dead to burial. Our informant said he thought we might have that if we wished. The offer was declined with thanks. My tent was pitched in the dry torrent bed, where most of the people were collected during the day. It was open from sunrise to sunset to visitors of all kinds, and many made use of it, |