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“...The President’s
Message for 1924.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
to all readers of the
“Missionary Echo,” and
may their number be
largely increased.
This magazine sets forth our
missionary operations and keeps us
in touch with our brothers and sisters
who have gone forth to make known
the Gospel in all its social and
spiritual implications.
The past successes of our mission-
ary work are making great demands
upon us for a larger income and
greater enthusiasm. There cannot
be adequate individual co-operation
in our great overseas’ work unless
we are constantly gaining informa-
tion, and this necessity is met by the
magazine in which I am now empha-
sising the clamant call for continued
and increasing missionary zeal.
We are all extremely thankful for
the devoted labours of Mr. and Mrs.
T. Butler and the Secretary, and it is
a real joy to hearthem describe their
wonderful journeyings. Their pre-
sentation of the case for our missions
has deepened the zeal of those
Rev.
CHARLES PYE.
already on fire, and aroused...”
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“...From the
Mission House.
Rev.
C. STEDEFORD.
“ The Lord is
able to give
thee much
more than
this.”
These words are recorded
in 2 Chron. xxv. 9 as the
assurance the “man of
God ” gave to king Ama-
ziah in order to encour-
age him to put his whole
trust in the Lord rather than to employ
hired soldiers. I suggest them now as a
suitable text for the New Year, for the
encouragement of all missionary workers,
including those abroad as well as those at
home. To our missionaries they are a
reminder that the attainment of the past
•should not be the measure of our hope
for the future. Whatever the result
already gained, it may be said, “the Lord
is able to give thee much more than this.”
We talk sometimes of having come to
the limit of our resources. So it may ap-
pear, but we can never come to the limit
of Divine resources. Let us learn to' look
beyond the human medium to the Divine
■source, and our hopes will expand like
the broadening day.
This assurance should come also as a
stimulus and encouragement...”
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“...From the Mission House
of a dance in progress provided the cer-
tainty of a large audience, and the dance
was stopped while the Word was
preached.”
In this way Mr. Hopkins sows beside
all waters, and friends at home may share
his ministry in praying that the seed sown
may bring forth abundant fruit.
News from the Rev. B. J. Ratcliffe re-
Tana River. ports having recently
visited every one of the
stations on the Tana river, from Fetina,
our first station from the coast, to Hola,
the farthest up the river. Hola is a
station where one of the German mission-
aries resided. Mr. Ratcliffe says>: “ It is
nine years since these people had a white
missionary permanently resident among
them. During the whole of that time the
teachers and church elders “have fought
a good fight and have kept the faith.”
Amid the ravages of war, the scourge of
pestilence and famine, they have main-
tained an organization which has exploded
the notion that our native converts cannot
stand the test of loneliness.”
Mr...”
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“...necessary for him to go to Peking for a
thorough examination and probably to
undergo an operation for the removal of
gall stones. Our friends will deeply sym-
pathise with Mr. and Mrs. Eddon and
earnestly pray for his complete recovery.
A Call for Our Committee is very
Missionaries. desirous to hear of a suit-
able candidate for educa-
tional missionary work in China. A man
is needed who is fully qualified to take the
principalship of a Middle School. Above
all, he needs to possess the true mission-
ary spirit, whose supreme desire is to im-
part a knowledge of God through faith in
Jesus Christ. We trust that among our
young men one will find in this oppor-
tunity a call to combine high educational
qualifications with the highest spiritual
vocation.
Our Committee also calls for a minister
who is willing to exercise his ministry in
West Africa. He would need a sound
constitution and aptitudes for leadership.
It is said that one volunteer is better than
ten pressed men, and we pray that the...”
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“...great work? How enlarge
your sense of its greatness ? How indi-
cate to you without discouragement the
.extreme difficulties of the task? How
paint on the canvas of your imagination
in sundawn colours of redly glowing light
the beauty of ultimate triumph ?
Forty-five years! The briefest sketch
•of the history of the nation during the
period would take more time than is at
our disposal. A sketch of the general
development of missionary work would be
equally impossible. Even the story of
■our own mission for the period would be
all too long.
So I attempt no more than a few con-
trasts by which I hope to bring into light
some of the most salient and dominant
facts. Seen with missionary eyes, this
China which between then and now has
passed through such great crises : war
with France, war with Japan, encroach-
ments by the nations, threatened dismem-
bership, the coup d’etat, Boxer outbreak ;
revolution, the oldest existing empire
suddenly become
the youngest of
the republics ;
■stormy, troubled...”
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“...Then and Now
work in Shantung ; we had hardly any
schools, our Churches were few and scat-
tered but enthusiastic; the Mission was
almost without organization, no1 quarterly
meetings, no Chinese representatives in
District Meeting, not one ordained pastor,
no definite source of local income, no col-
lections. By far the largest contribution
made by our members to the finances of
the Mission were the rooms lent to us
free of cost for religious services, a
generosity which continues in no lessened
deg'ree until now. We had no, settled rules
in China, no scale of payments tO’ either
preachers or teachers, all was indefinite,
hand to mouth inchoate, unformed.
Now we are a well-organized Mission
of five Circuits, which ought to be called
Districts, themselves grouped intoi sub-
Circuits, which ought to be called Cir-
cuits, each in charge of a trained preacher
or a catechist. We have six ordained
Chinese Pastors, three self-supporting
Churches and a number of Churches ap-
proaching self-support;...”
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“...Then and Now
included, should divert too large a por-
tion of our slender finances into these
channels, to the impoverishment of our
Evangelistic work. It is a significant fact
that to-day throughout China no boy,
however poor, perhaps no girl, need go
untaught. There are Lower, Primary
and higher Primary schools everywhere
supported by Government, to which ad-
mission is free, and all our Mission schools
are simply auxiliary to these. We still
continue to speak of only one boy in ten
or one girl in a hundred being taught, but
in another generation this will be a thing
of the past. If you remember that the
Chinese people are per se the intellectual
equals of any nation, that the Chinese
brain and heart have long ago produced
masterpieces in religious classics, in his-
torical, poetic, biographical and critical
literature, and that in the ancient world
there was no more inventive and self-
sufficient nation than theirs, the illimitable
possibilities of this intellectual awakening
will startle...”
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“...and if the slave was not
there to- do it, he would know the reason
why, and the slave would probably be
there the next time he was wanted.
Several years after these people had joined
the church, your missionary was among
them for a Bible School. A hundred o-r
so of the men had come, some of them
several days’ jc-urney, bringing their food
and bedding with them, for a twelve days’
Bible School. And towards the close of
the school it was suggested that a photo-
graph should be taken, and your mission-
ary was very busy carrying the forms out-
side the church preparatory to the photo-
graph being taken outside the church
doors, when he awakened to the fact that
he was the only one carrying a form ! All
the others were contentedly looking on.
And then I said to them, “ Look here !
if you are Nosu, so am I ! Come and help
me carry these forms I ” And they did,
willingly, cheerfully, laughingly ! But the
natural thing for them to do, the thing
they did without thinking—was to let
someone else...”
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“...wonder what
some of our organists at home would have
thought of it. But we weren’t singing
for them.
“You pray, sah,” he said. Very natur-
ally he remained in charge. I did as I
was told. Then he started to chant the
Lord’s Prayer. I joined in as best I
could. “Now the grace,” he said, and I
pronounced the benediction.
Then he told me he had been a car-
penter, had been to Nigeria with a British
officer, had come home to his native land
to end his days. He lived quite alone.
I asked him what mission he belonged to.
He said the “United Methodist.” “What
you, sah? ” I told him “Wesleyan Meth-
odist.” “Why, that’s all the same, sah,”
he said triumphantly, and the handshake
I got was about fifty times as hearty
as the average handshake of a Salleonian.
“Me a Local Preacher, sah,” he said,
and fumbled for a plan. Adding regret-
fully : “Too old now to take appoint-
ments.”
“Very glad I am you came in, sah. . .
We shall meet again, sah. . . When our
day’s work is done.” This followed me
as I went...”
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“...certificate of the good
temper and generous appreciation of our
readers that in all the latter'period there
have been only three complaints ; while
what we call “unsolicited tributes” have
been wonderfully numerous. These are
not permitted to occupy our precious
space, but are placed at the foot of
the monthly advertisement in our ever-
helpful contemporary, the “ United
Methodist. ”
When, in 1906, we commenced our edi-
torial work, the late Henry T. Chapman
was writing the monthly notes from the
Mission House. With the beginning of
1908 our present Secretary commenced
his contributions, and with the exception
of a few months when away as Deputa-
tion to the field, they have been continued
without intermission. His writings have
ever been marked by fitness, variety, and
vitality. Our comradeship has been in-
spirational and unalloyed for these sixteen
years. To know him is to trust and
esteem him.
Expectation.
We do not wonder that the Secretary
should eagerly phrase his desire for a
great increase...”
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“...Kenya Government is anxious to continue
its present railway to the Uganda frontier,
while the Uganda Government is equally
desirous of completing the proposed ex-
tension to Jinja, which is situated on the
Nile at the point where it issues from the
Victoria Nyanza. It will give a direct
rail-route between Uganda and Mombasa,
and also open up undeveloped cotton fields
and native reserves.
We have made enquiries, and reg'ret to
find that the proposed extension will not
go anywhere near our Meru Mission.
14...”
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“...claim that “it is the modern repre-
sentative of the first missionary magazine
for children published in Great Britain.”
Perhaps our historians will g'et busy. This
book is not the bound volume of “Won-
derlands,” but the best of the monthly
issues is retained in the volume, the purely
ephemeral references being omitted.
It is a handsome well-illustrated volume
of 190 pp., and owes much to the editor-
ship of Mr. W. E. Cule, as in the case
above the editor of the missionary
monthly issued by the Mission House. It
is also, under obligation to' the Carey
Press for its embellishment and produc-
tion. It is just splendid for a prize. By
the by, the title trespasses a little on the
Bible Society’s children’s monthly, “For
Every Land.”
To their missionary books for young
people Messrs. Seely, Service and Co.,
have added—
* By David Chamber ain ; Is, net.
I Edited by Mr. W. E. Cule ; 3s. 6d. net.
“Hannington of Africa.”
“Pennell of the Indian Frontier.”
“Judson of Burma.”
Nigel B. M. Graham writes...”
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“...of all,
and afterwards among the Barotse. We
can understand the pride of the Paris
Evangelical Missionary Society in the ser-
vant it was their honour to train.
We cannot recount the story of the book
in a review—it would not be honest jour-
nalism. Readers must not fail to secure
the volume for themselves. The pub-
lishers—to whom, as to the author, we are
sincerely grateful—disappoint us in one
matter. The only portrait they present is
of Coillard, taken after forty years’ ser-
vice on the mission field. We should like
to have seen other portraits and scenes
too—the face of “Mother Kindness,” as
she stepped out of her cottage home at
Asni&res to go to labour for her fatherless
Francois among the vines, and the por-
traits of M. Arnie Bost, the minister of
the French Protestant Church of the
village and his daughter Marie — es-
pecially the photo of Marie. Every-
body adored Marie. They called her
“Mademoiselle le pasteur.” Yet the
things she did seem hardly worth talking
about. She arranged...”
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“...morning.
The poor parents were greatly upset,
but bravely determined to' devote them-
selves to their other three children, and
try not to grieve too much about the little
one, who had gone to' be with Jesus, the
Friend of little children.
The next day I went to* Stone Gateway,
and was absent three days. On my re-
turn I learned that Mrs. Yang’s next
youngest child—a boy of two—was now
dangerously ill. I hurried across and
scarcely left his side again. Everything
possible was done by doctor and mission-
aries, and the little patient himself, but
on the third night he too> passed away,
exactly a week after his brother. How
were the parents to stand this shock?
Two boys in one week? Sons are very
precious in China. Mr. Yang had always
been a happy Christian, his smiling face
brightening up our Sunday School, which
he conducted every Sunday—and we all
wondered how he would behave. For a
few days he did not smile. He did SO'
miss the little fellow who' used to call
him from school when his meals...”
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“...seven o’clock prayer-meeting this
morning 193 people were present, and at
the mid-day service there were 607. At
the close of this meeting we observed the
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Over
four hundred members partook of it. We
used common, inexpensive earthenware
cups, tea (in place of wine), and buck-
wheat cake ; nevertheless men realized
that the buckwheat meant that His body
was broken for them and the cup meant
that the new covenant was ratified by His
blood.
A woman has come to ask the mission-
ary to pray for her. Three of her kid-
dies have died, and she is sorely troubled.
Prayer is offered, and the woman goes
away with a new hope, a strengthened
faith, a peace which only our religion
gives. We have explained to her that
her little ones will be all right, as they are
with the Father, whose heart is so tender
that He feeds the sparrow and clothes the
lily.
We turn up and read that strong Psalm
—the 46th.
God is our refuge and strength.
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore will...”
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“...From the
Mission House.
Rev.
C. STEDEFORD.
The Rev. W. Last month I stated that
Eddon. Mr. Eddon had been ob-
liged to go to Peking for
medical examination and probably for an
operation. He was found to be in a
critical condition and an immediate opera-
tion was necessary. This was performed
on Thursday, November 22nd. He came
through the operation very well, and for
a few days appeared to be making satis-
factory progress. Then came a set-back,
and for some days his condition was most
critical, and the doctors were very
anxious. Still more anxious were his
watching wife and his colleagues. For-
tunately, Mr. Eddon was in the hands of
experts, and by God’s good grace he was
brought safely through the period of ex-
treme weakness and reaction. Both. Mr.
and Mrs. Eddon testify to being wonder-
fully sustained as they passed through
this furnace of affliction. Mr. Eddon has
never been too’ robust, but until recent
years he has not been hampered by ill
health, and could steadily pursue his...”
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“...dictated by the Christian spirit.
In the year 1874 the Mission to Lepers
was established for the special purpose
of alleviating the lot of these sufferers
and of conveying to them the consola-
tions of the Gospel. This mission does
not send out missionaries. It supplies
the funds for the establishment and main-
tenance of leper asylums, and relies upon
various missionary societies to provide
the missionary superintendence and the
means of imparting Christian instruc-
tion. More than one hundred such
centres have been formed in India, China
and the Far East generally.
' Through the medium of our mission in
Yunnan, the Mission to Lepers has pro-
vided accommodation and sustenance for
about 40 lepers in a settlement situated
near Stone Gateway. It is now pro-
posed to give more permanence to this
institution. A large piece of land has
been purchased on a hillside within sight
of our Stone Gateway centre, but so in-
accessible that there is no risk arising
from proximity. It will be possible for...”
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“...all-China Church Council, which took
place last year. Its avowed object is the
establishment of an autonomous Chris-
tian Church. A council has already been
formed on which the representation is
predominantly Chinese. It is being pro-
moted by a section of very ardent and,
withal, very ambitious young Christians,
and has the whole strength of educated
Chinese Christian thought behind it, and
the enthusiastic support of the Y. M.C.A.
It is restive under the control, not
always wise, which the foreign mission-
aries exercise over the development of the
Church. It is anxious for the Christian
Church in China to develop in accordance
* See pp. 121, 2, July last.-Ed.
InSTientsin Cemetery. [T. Butler. Esq.,J.P.
The Grave of Rev. J. and Mrs. Robinson.
with Chinese ideals. It should be care-
fully studied, observed and wisely en-
couraged by foreign missionaries and
boards. The task is indeed gi,antic, of
transforming the many differently-pat-
terned samples of Christian fellowship
which have been formed...”
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“...not particularly interested in nor familiar
with mission work. They have not inves-
tigated, and they draw conclusions from
misinformation.
When I hear a man express such an
opinion, I want to be a lawyer again and
have the privilege of asking him ques-
tions. I shall mention some of them. I
want to ask him :
1. What do you really know about the
work of Christian missions in China?
2. How many of their 24 Y.M.C. A.
city centres, of their 12 Y.W.C.A. centres
and 80 student associations ; how many
of their many schools, academies, col-
leges and universities, workshops and
hospitals, churches and Sunday Schools
and other places of activity have you in-
vestigated or even visited?
’From a paper read before the Faculty and Students of
the Peking Union Medical College, and published in the
" Peking Express.”
A Street in Wenchow.
By Mr. F. W. STEVENS,
Director in China of the
International Banking Consortium.
3. With how. many Christian mission-
aries themselves have you talked seriously
about...”
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“...children in missionary
day schools, and 100,000 in Roman
Catholic schools, and that most of them
would have no schooling but for these.
11. Do you know that the Chinese
modern system of education in China
began with the work of the Chinese mis-
sion teachers and that modern medicine
was mediated to China by the Christian
medical missionaries? Do you know
that China was devoid of anything re-
sembling modern hospitals and trained
nurses until they resulted from mission-
ary effort; and that now there are over
three hundred mission hospitals in China,
nearly one hundred of which are con-
ducted on approximately-modern stan-
dards with up-to-date equipment and
nursing ; and that there are few cities in
China having even one such Chinese hos-
pital which is of non-missionary origin?
12. Do you know that the building up
of the nursing profession in China is at
the present time almost entirely in the
hands of missionaries and of Christianized
Chinese?
13. Do you know that although leprosy
has...”
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