AN INTEREST IN CHRISTIANITY

has in some way been awakened among these people; and evidences of this have appeared in so many different places, many of them widely separated, that it is difficult to account for it except by attributing it to the workings of God's Spirit and providence.

"My own attention was drawn to this subject about ten years ago, and I have since carefully noted every token of an awakening interest in Christianity among these people in different parts of India. The depressed classes are divided and subdivided into castes of their own precisely as their high caste neighbors, but their interest in Christianity is not confined to any one of these sections. Thousands of the sweepers, that is village scavengers, have become Christians during the past ten years. Other thousands from among the Chumars, Churas, and other communities, have done likewise. In Southern India, corresponding classes, but bearing different names, are awakening to a new interest in religious matters, and especially in the Christian religion.

"It is affirmed by many that this interest is chiefly stimulated by the hope of worldly advantages which these poor people begin to see are connected with Christianity. There may be, and probably is, a measure of truth in this, but if so I can see nothing alarming in the fact. The Christian religion certainly holds out a promise both for the life that now is and for that which is to come, and the sooner that all men everywhere perceive this fact the better. It is a fact, however, to which I call attention, that tens of thousands of poor people can be found in India today who are willing to

EMBRACE THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION

if teachers can be found who, in the language of the inquirers themselves, can 'show them how to be Christians.'

"Thoughtful missionaries are exceedingly perplexed to know what course to pursue in the face of a movement of this kind. Many hold aloof waiting to see whereunto it will grow, or perhaps hoping that it will assume a more decidedly spiritual phase. Others think their call lies in the direction of other departments of the great missionary work, while a few have deliberately taken up the work which God seems to be placing before them, and are

struggling to do the best they can, trusting that more light will be given to them as time goes by.

"If I may be allowed to speak for the mission with which I chance to be connected, I would say that we were led some years ago to receive all who came to us professing a wish to become disciples of Jesus Christ. We said nothing about employment, but let the scavenger remain at the work at which we found him. We adopted the rule of baptizing all who gave up their idol worship, avowed their faith in God, and professed to accept Christ as a Saviour. We explained baptism as a sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and taught the converts to look forward to this baptism which Jesus Christ had promised to give to those who would believe and obey Him. In some cases, of course, the converts had professed a change of heart before baptism, but much more commonly it was otherwise. We tried to follow the precedent of the New Testament by baptizing on the spot all who professed to believe.

"As to the result of this policy, I wish, first of all, to say in all frankness that in not a few instances we have met with humiliating failIn some cases a hundred or more have been known to

ure.

DENY THEIR BAPTISM

In other cases

within a week of receiving it. weak or unworthy native preachers have baptized large numbers without proper scrutiny, and have afterwards failed to make any adequate provision for their instruction. Some of these failures have caused us intense grief and mortification, and yet after eight years of experience in this work I do not hesitate to say that the total result has been, if not satisfactory, yet the best that I have known in India. In other words, if India is ever to be Christianized, we must all make up our minds that sooner or later the people will be around us by the ten thousand, asking us to show them how to begin the Christian life. When that day comes, in spite of all our best efforts, many things will happen which would now shock our

IDEAS OF CHRISTIAN PROPRIETY

in general, and of the observances of Christian worship especially. But is it not better that such things should happen than that thousands and tens of thousands of simple, trustful souls

should be turned away merely because we are not able to introduce conventional Christianity among them, as it chances to exist at the close of this nineteenth century?

"While I frankly admit our many failures, I wish to say on the other hand that the best work I have seen during thirty-eight years of missionary service has been in connection with these hasty baptisms.' We hold many revival meetings among these converts, and at these meetings the uppermost question always is, 'Have you received the Holy Spirit since you were baptized?' I have often seen scores and hundreds on their knees praying earnestly for the witness of the Spirit, and I can recall one day in which about a hundred and fifty persons professed to have received the Spirit's gift. If it be said that many hundreds have denied the faith which they so imperfectly professed, it ought to be said on the other hand that very many hundreds more have gone forward from the day of their baptism seeking a a personal knowledge of Christ, and finding the Spirit whom they had been taught to seek.

"In addition to this I need hardly say that we have learned by our failures and mistakes, and have no idea that in the future these will be repeated on the same scale as in the past. So far as I have been able to ascertain, in not a single instance in which proper instruction was given after baptism have these converts disappointed us. The failures and defections have invariably been in the case of those who were baptized, and then

LEFT WITHOUT THE INSTRUCTION which our Saviour directed should always be given. Christian baptism without subsequent teaching is unscriptural.

At

"My own impression is that a great movement in the direction of Christianity is close at hand. In our own missions I hear of encouraging signs in many directions. At one point two brethren report five hundred applicants for baptism, all now receiving instruction. another point, a thousand miles away, over a thousand have been baptized during the past year. This was in a district where there was no famine. A missionary, not a Methodist and not an American, writes from another distant point that he believes that,

IF A VIGOROUS EFFORT WERE MADE

in his district, 400,000 converts could be gathered in during the next ten years.

"For my own part, I wish to say deliberately that if in our own mission we had the means to provide proper teaching for those baptized, a million converts could be won before the close of the first decade of the next century. In other words, I wish to say that such possibilities as God is setting before His people in India at the present day have never before been witnessed in Christian history; but the work cannot be done by merely baptizing those who come to us. Our world can never be converted without patient, faithful, and almost universal labor on the part of Christians. The conversion and nurture of immortal souls in any land, and under any circumstances, means work in the best sense of the word, and

THIS FACT CANNOT BE IGNORED.

"For nearly ten years past the income of the Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society, to which the writer belongs, has been slowly contracting, and the outlook for some years ahead is not hopeful. In the face of such a movement as I have indicated above, some of our people have felt constrained to make appeals to other parts of the Christian world, and, after many suggestions and even urgent requests, I have concluded to present the above facts, as viewed by us, before the Christian public of England. I hesitate to appeal for aid, but if those who chance to read these lines feel moved to send us any assistance it will be strictly applied to the one object of supporting those who preach to and teach converts of the above character. Six pounds a year will support a simple worker, called among us a pastor-teacher, who does the double work of teaching children and having pastoral oversight of the parents. Fifteen pounds a year will support a teacher of a somewhat higher grade, who works beyond the bounds of his own village. Fifty pounds a year will support a preacher with three assistants, having charge of from one hundred to one thousand Christians. If God moves any reader to desire a share in this blessed work, a remittance can be sent to the undersigned, and in due time a brief account of the application of the money will be sent to the giver.

When you are fretted and worried and wearied, sing a verse of some dear old hymn that you have laid up in your heart.

WORK AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Mr. Robert L. Layfield is conducting union meetings in Slater, Mo.

Mr. W. F. Bischoff has recently concluded a series of special meetings in Carrollton, Ill.

Major George A. Hilton is conducting evangelistic services at the First Presbyterian church in Allegheny, Penn. A good attendance is reported at these meetings and the interest is spreading.

D. L. Moody is to conduct special meetings in New York City, January 9th to 16th inclusive. The meetings are to be held in Carnegie Hall mornings and afternoons during the week, and afternoons and evenings on Sundays.

Rev. W. A. Bodell, of Crawfordsville, Ind., began evangelistic meetings at St. Joseph, Mo., the latter part of November. Mr. Bodell is working in connection with the Y. M. C. A., but has the support of the ministers of the city, who attend the services and aid in the work.

Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman and D. L. Moody have accepted an invitation to conduct a series of evangelistic meetings in Pittsburg, Pa., early in April. A committee composed of ministers and business men have charge of the arrangements, and plans are being made to use the Exposition building for the services.

Rev. F. B. Meyer will arrive in America about January 19th. It is expected that he will visit Albany, Bay City, Mich., Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Rochester, N. Y. He will also attend the Student Volunteer Convention to be held in Cleveland, February 23d to 26th.

Rev. Alexander Patterson held Bible Institutes this fall in Dayton and Springfield, Ohio, in Danville, Ill., and at the University of Illinois, and conducted the Bible Studies at the State Conventions of Kansas and Missouri. He reports great interest as shown by large attendances and close attention even to the more difficult studies. The bible institute or conference seems to supplement the work of the revival meeting. It is what is needed to confirm the young converts and lead them out to work and study.

Sunday and Oliver. The three weeks union meetings, under the direction of Evangelists W. A. Sunday and Oliver, have greatly moved

the town of Salem, Ind., and surrounding country. Six to eight hundred people have attended the meetings each night to hear and participate in the inspiring songs and listen to the appeals of Evangelist Sunday. At first men criticised and persecuted, but not many days passed until nearly every citizen was in sympathy with the movement and ready to do all possible to help on the work.-E. K. W.

Rev. A. M. Ayers, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, Kankakee, Ill., has organized a Bible class, similar in general plan to those in Chicago and Boston, with a membership of 400. He attended the lessons of Dr. Gray at the Bible Institute, Chicago, last summer, and as he says, learned both how to study and teach the Bible intelligently, with the abovementioned result. It is expected that Dr. Gray will carry on the same work in the Institute next summer, from June till October, when ministers of all denominations will be freely welcome to its benefits. During the fall and winter he teaches in the Gordon School (Clarendon Street church), Boston, where the same opportunity is offered and appreciated by many.

The Boston-Keswick Conference, held in the Berkeley Temple, has been well attended and has proved a blessing to many. The Congregationalist gives the following report of the gathering: "The interest taken in the 'Keswick' convention held in this city last week was greater than had been anticipated. The effort to imitate in this country the great English convention, where the teaching is that of entire dependence upon God for both spiritual and material blessings, will probably result in its establishment here in America. The plan is to have several of these conventions every year in different cities of the country. As for the Boston convention, a committee Samuel B. Thing, Dr. Edward S. Niles and James B. Bell-has been appointed to arrange for monthly meetings and the annual convention. The meetings, lasting from Monday until Thursday, were held in the auditorium of Berkeley Temple and were well attended. The speakers were Rev. Dr. Charles Inwood, of Belfast, Ireland, and Rev. Dr. A.T. Pierson. The audiences were made up of active Christian workers, who entered into the spirit of the gathering. Dr. Inwood was eloquent and possessed a graceful delivery, and

his exposition of the Bible was clear and well understood. He dwelt wholly on the idea of explicit trust in God for everything, and used concrete examples where those who had carried out that belief had been blessed and supplied. The feature of the convention was the meeting for testimony held Thursday evening. when nearly a hundred testified to the benefits that they had received from the gathering."

Under the topic of "Israel's Mission to the World, and the Church's Mission to Israel," Rev. David Baron has contributed a valuable article to the December number of the Missionary Review of the World. Mr. Baron points to the present rejection of the Jews who refuse to behold in Christ the long promised Messiah, and says, "The present condition of Israel may be very beautifully illustrated by a touching incident. It was about a child who met with an accident and suddenly lost his eyesight. At first he did not know what had happened to him, and used to follow his mother about the house, crying: 'Mother, mother, when will it be day? When will the sun shine?' The poor mother had not the heart to tell the child all at once that it was day, that the sun was shining, but that something had happened to his eyes. This is the condition of the Jews today. 'We wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.' But 'the eyes of the blind shall be opened.' Soon the cry will go forth, 'Arise, shine, for thy light has come; the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee.' And then 'the Gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising.' The prophet continues: 'Then the lame man shall leap as an hart.""

The writer also relates the history of the Norwegian missions among the Jews in Roumania, which is not without its lessons for many present-day Christians. "Generally I find that in speaking to Christians about the Jew it is easy to carry them with you if you speak of the Jews of the past-the Jew of Bible history," he continues: "but when it comes to the actual Jew of the present day, and you want them to enter into the thoughts and mind of God in reference to Israel of the present, that is a most difficult task. Let me illustrate it practically. At the present day there is, perhaps, no country in the world

where such a lively interest is taken in the Jew, and where so much is done in proportion for Jewish misssons, as in Norway, although in Norway itself there are scarcely any Jews. The Norwegian friends have missionaries in Budapest, in Galatz, and in Roumania; and they also support, financially, other missions to the Jews in Germany and in Russia. You will ask how this interest in Israel originated in Norway. Well, it originated, for the most part, in the prayers and devotion of a nobleminded Christian lady. About fifty years ago, when the cause of foreign missions was taking hold of Christians in Norway, this lady's heart was moved by the Spirit of God with compassion for Israel. One day, as the pastor of her church was coming down from the pulpit, she said to him, 'I am very glad to hear you always pray for the heathen, but I wish you would also include poor scattered Israel.' The pastor turned around rather hotly, and said: "The Jews! We have nothing to do with them. They have been cast off, and now it is the time of the Gentiles.' She tried to reason with him, but it was of no avail. But one day she called on her pastor, and said to him: 'I have a very sad story to relate to you, and I am sure it will draw out your sympathy.' He said: 'What is it?' She replied: 'Not far from here there lives a good man and his wife. They have one son, whom they love as their own lives. They did everything possible for him, but the son turned out most unworthy of his parents; he returned it only with disobedience and ingratitude. After a time, when his conduct became no longer tolerable, with great grief of heart, they let him go, and he is now a wanderer. Instead of this son of theirs they adopted a poor gypsy boy. They put him in their own son's room, gave him their own son's clothing and books-in fact, they treated him in every possible way as their own child. The boy was very happy, but the parents can not forget their own son. In the evening sometimes a mist steals over the mother's eyes, and a sigh escapes from the heart of the father, and when the boy asks what is the' matter, the father answers, "Oh, our son, our son; would that he would come back; there is room in our hearts for him as well as you." But this the boy does not like, and every time that the parents mention their son, he gets into a temper. What do you think of that?'

The pastor stood up and said: 'Oh, the ungrateful youth; if I were the parents, I would let him go; he is not a bit better than the first.' The lady paused a minute or two, and then said: 'Dear pastor, forgive me, Israel is that wandering son, and we are the gypsy boy; and although God was obliged to send the Jews into captivity, and has given over the dearly beloved of His soul into the hands of her enemies," His heart has not ceased to yearn for them, and His "hands are still outstretched all the day long to His disobedient and gainsaying people." Hearken! Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child, for, since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him. I will surely have mercy on him, saith Jehovah.' The pastor's heart was won, and the result was the first society that was established for the conversion of the Jews. The name of the lady was Frau Raguhild Haerm."

Bishop Baldwin on the Second Coming of Christ.

We are informed that a series of four addresses on the above subject have been delivered in London, Ontario, as advent lessons by Bishop Baldwin. This subject is one in which the Bishop has always evinced the deepest interest, and being himself a very reverent student of the Word of God, an unusual interest was manifested in these lectures.

The first of the series was delivered on Friday evening, Nov. 26th, in Cronyu Hall to a crowded house. The subject, "Israel, Past, Present and Future," was presented in an eloquent and masterly style. The speaker proceeded to trace out of the Bible the history of the people of Israel, from the call of Abraham down through the centuries to the birth and final rejection of the long-expected Messiah, and the consequent overthrow and dispersion of the chosen nation-their present condition. Then in glowing terms, quoting the various promises, setting forth the grand truth that "He who scattered Israel will yet gather him," he pictured the time which may not be far distant when He whose right it is to reign will return to rule over His own nation.

The subject of the lectures remaining to be delivered are: "The Present Position and Future Glory of the Church," "The First Res

urrection," "The Millennium." We may add that it is the intention, if possible, to have these lectures published in a cheap form. If this design is carried out, the great importance of the subject and the acknowledged ability of the lecturer will secure a very extensive circulation of the booklet.

Our English Letter.

Before these lines are read, another year will have dawned on the world. I deem it my first duty, therefore, as a humble recorder of Christian thought and work in Great Britain to send a hand-clasp across the sea and to wish for all our fellow Christians in America "a guid new year" in the highest sense of the word. We cannot forget the dark cloud in our international sky at the opening of 1896, or our thankful relief when the misunderstanding that produced it was cleared up, and the trouble passed away. In this country at any rate, there are mulitudes who deeply regret the failure of the recent proposals for an agreement between the United States and Great Britain as to the peaceful settlement of all differences by friendly arbitration; we hope and pray that such a Christian concordat may become actual fact at no distant period. May the only rivalry between the two countries, so close of kin and one in faith and speech, be a holy emulation in widening the bounds of freedom and strengthening the rule of righteousness and peace.

But there are many signs around us that, so far as human foresight can reach, the era of millennial glory and world-wide unity foretold by prophet and seer is still distant. More painful even than national frictions and jealousies are internecine strifes among the different sections of the Church of Christ. For weeks past the church circles in London and other of our great cities have been at white heat with respect to questions of popular education. One would have thought that, however much Christians may differ in mat ters of doctrine and church order, they would at least refrain from making the education of poor children a bone of mutual contention. The framers of our great Education Act of 1870 were evidently of that opinion, for they propounded a "compromise" to the effect that suitable portions of the Bible should be read and explained in our Board Schools, so as to meet the youthful capacities of the juveniles;