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“...Nosuland. C. E. Hicks........................ 12
Nosu Tribute, A. John Nu ....................117
Ting Lan. W. FI. Hudspeth ................... 77
Wedding at FIong-Kong ... ... ... 48
Wen-Tsi-chien. W. H. Hudspeth ... 31
Yunnan Fu, Church. C. N. Mvlne... 222
EAST AFRICA.
African Memories. J. Baxter .................141
Black Brothers. A. J. Hopkins 132, 156,
173, 194, 211, 227
Education. Hans Vischer .....................174
„ Dr. Snape 190, 213. 230
Mentality, African. A. J. Hopkins 21, 45
Pokomo Mission. Dr. Snape ...................131
Tana Happenings. B. J. Ratcliffe ... 61
WEST AFRICA.
Deputation. Rev. W. S. M. 63, 128, 151
Problem, Our. Rev. W. Vivian... 146, 169
Reception of Ministers. A. E. Dymond 27
Shears. Rev. T. D. ............. ... Ill
■ POETRY.
After Harvest. Miss S. Gertrude Ford 189
Autumn in China. ,, ,, 206
Easter Lilies. ,, ,, 68
Manger, At the ,, ,, 232
Rose of Sharon. ,, ,, 113
Woodrow Wilson. ,, ,, 26
Acts 16. W. H. Hamilton ... ... 145
PAGE
Better Part. M. Arnold..........”
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“...propose to relieve
these destitute people. The Commission has
given the most careful consideration to this
problem, and has formed the opinion that
direct relief by free gifts of food is, at least
upon any large scale, beyond the bounds of
possibility : that, except in the case of the
very old, and those of the most destitute who
have no one to work for them were work
available, relief should be given by providing
work which will at once support the workers
and those dependent upon them. The Com-
mission has therefore formulated a scheme
which will not only provide work and sup-
port for the starving, but will directly and
largely help in reducing the menace of flood
in the future. The Commission’s engineers
have projected a plan for the digging of a
channel from the Grand Canal near Tu Lui
(a Canal port some 15 miles from Tientsin)
extending for 45 miles to the sea, with outlet
about 20 miles south of Taku. The Channel
to be 500 feet wide and 12 feet deep: to be
effectively locked at the Grand...”
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“...preservation of
civilization, menaced to-day as it never
has been in. the history of man, we cannot
do without them.
2. I would put in a plea for a. new
method. Have we not, in the past con-
ceived our task too indiscriminately in
terms of battle. No matter what is on
hand we must be fighting. It came per-
happy naturally that we should think of
our mission as an invasion of heathen
darkness. We undertook a great Cru-
sade. Our methods were exclusively
polemical, and the odium Theologicum was
far more malodorous than at home.
Every vestige of every other faith than
Christianity must be extirpated root and
branch. There were perhaps parts of the
mission field, Africa, Polynesia, Micro-
nesia, where this would not be glaringlv
unfit. But missionary experience itself
has taught us how grossly unfit it is as a
policy in India and in China,, and, we
must say, in Arabia. Faiths like Confu-
cianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Moham-
medanism, have too much in them that is
excellent, that is strictly consonant...”
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“...available to
meet new appeals. By this means you can
found as many churches as you have
effective openings, until all China is pro-
vided for. By our present methods we
are getting nowhere, are pauperizing our
members and are rapidly congregationali-
zing ourselves. By our present method
we cannot reach the goal. Not all the
missionaries we can sent from England
and America, with all the money we can
send after them will suffice. It can only
be done by the living faith of Chinese con-
verts. We as a mission have spent sixty-
five years in forming supported churches.
Those churches are the very reason why
we cannot form self-supporting churches.
A new motive will put our work on a
more practical and business-like founda-
tion, giving us an incentive of our own
for pursuingi it : a new method will bring
us to more kindly and cordial relations
with the people : a new policy will define
our task and help much to make clear
our respective burden of responsibility. If
vigorously and consistently followed...”
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“...other.
This Report has, and will have in years
A fishing; net of a kind much used in
Wenchow. Note also a long bamboo raft. [JItss B. Petrie Smith.
Rev. W. CANN.
Our Mission Report for 1924.
to come, this special value, in that, em-
bodied in it, is the “ statement of policy ”
adumbrated by the Foreign Missions
Committee, and presented to and en-
dorsed by the Conference of 1924. From
this statement it will plainly appear that
our missionary enterprise is not to be car-
ried forward in any casual or haphazard
manner, but that at its head are men and
women with both foresight and farsight.
Those readers of earlier reports, who fol-
lowed the journeyings of Mr. and Mrs.
Butler and the Secretary will see in this
statement a definite outcome of their
arduous itinerary.
One of the special and piquant joys of
our foreign mission work in recent times
has been the number of young people who-
have come forward offering themselves
for service on the foreign field. Fine
young men and women these,...”
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“...“ Good fori Evil ”
to show what an increasing and living
part the women of our Church are taking
in missionary endeavour. If only they
had free and full scope for their effort,
in every church and circuit, their report
would be still more ample.
No less than twenty-nine pages are
taken up with the doings of the Home
Mission Department. Very possibly this
Department, as far as reports go and
also propaganda, has suffered by com-
parison with the Foreign work in that a
certain romance always clings about the
work that is done in distant lands and
among strange peoples. But there cer-
tainly is romance in these pages, which
tell how men “knelt down and prayed in
the streets” of a midland town, “while
the snowflakes fell softly on their heads.
Or what shall be said of the “ Communion
rail being filled from end to end with
kneeling penitents at a Sunday morning
service ”? Or of “thirty young men and
women from our Bible class coming
boldly out for Christ ” ? Or of “ a whole
family, father, mother...”
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“...Missionary Investments
really vital concern in all African matters
is the development of the native character ;
and on such a question missionaries are
competent to bear a quite unique testi-
mony.
The Tana-River Mission has been the
centre of many strange adventures, and
Mr. Phillipson had his full share in such
experiences, and with the collaboration of
Mr. Shapland has given an excellent
selection. It is possible to join him in his
rides on Lado, the temperamental donkey,
with Max as canine companion; or to
drift down the Indian Ocean in an Arab
dhow, the steel grey sky and low mainland
coast giving a by no means conventional
impression of tropical seas. Or we may
sit in the Missionary’s judgment-hall and
witness the settlement of the appeal of
Abashaura, the old warrior, against the
modernist movements of Galla youths.
Such a session might convince us that a
Justice’s Law Hand-book alone might
not suffice to settle the problems involved
in the chapter headed “A right of way.”
For the...”
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“...thousands, we knew that God’s
touch had still its ancient power, that
His Spirit was still active, and that there-
fore our little efforts were not futile.
Such being some of the gains received,
the interest accruing, what may we invest ?
We can invest our thought, by read-
ing, studying, hearing speeches ; our
time and effort, by collecting, sewing,
organizing, etc. ; our money ; our
prayers, not perfunctory ones, but intel-
ligent and heartfelt, based on our study ;
our friends or our children as mission-
aries, a big investment and calling for
much self-sacrifice, but with the bigger
interest attached ; perhaps ourselves, the
biggest investment of all. We may not
be like the child, greatly stirred at a mis-
sionary meeting, who asked for the col-
lection plate to be put lower, and lower
still, till finally she stepped into it; but
our investment of self, where possible,
may be just as genuine.
If we make these investments, we may
find that the Company knows nothing of
limited liability, and...”
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“...Women’s Missionary Auxiliary
about it, for, as many will know, the
author is the daughter of Professor W. E.
Soothill, M.A., of Oxford, formerly Pre-
sident of the Shansi Imperial University
and for thirty years the Missionary in
charge of our Wenchow Mission. As the
wife of Sir Alexander Hosie, who has
spent many strenuous years in China in
the service of the British Government and
the Chinese people, Lady Hosie has had a
varied experience of Chinese life and
thought.
Thus her real qualifications for writing
this book are, as the brief introduction
suggests, that she has lived in Chinese
homes, rich and poor, and has been on
intimate terms with mothers, wives, and
daughters, entering fully into their joys
and sorrows. What better equipment
can there be ?
Native manners, customs, dress and
family life are shown in striking detail.
Indeed, it is doubtful if any more intimate
description of the private life of the Chinese
has hitherto been published.
The following incident from the book re-...”
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“...is honoured indeed to have
the keeping- of his ashes. It was a great
chapter in our denominational history
that closed with that quiet g-rave on the
Dartmoor hillside. There are thousands
of souls in far-off Yunnan, in the great
cities and the M’iao and Nosu villages
who can trace their new era of blessing
to the little man of whom we write. He,
and Samuel Thomas Thorne, were the
torch-bearers who first carried the Gospel
light into the heart of the great province
which holds our West China mission
field, and time can never rob him of the
glory which belongs to pioneer souls of
the Faith. Their enterprise has borne
wonderful fruit, and when the story of the
Church in China is written, Thomas Grills
Vanstone is a name that will shine radiant
on its pages. Though his body lies in
English soil his heart was ever in the
great Empire of the East : for China he
lived, sacrificed all, and, as the result of
his strenuous labours, died at the early
age of 47.
How well I remember him still ! He
was...”
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“...say it is the
white man’s medicine that has killed her?
We are not really doctors.” He looked
at Mr. Eastman, and said, “Let this be
your gift of love to her, that you give her
a chance of life.” That is. just what
Livingstone Colleg'e enabled him to do,
and the chance brought her through, and
she recovered. To-day she and her hus-
band are Christians.
Rev. A. G. Mill (B.M.S.), Congo, told
how the training received at Livingstone
College had enabled him to be more useful
in God’s work on the mission field. He
spoke of the catholicity of Livingstone
College : of the prejudices which were re-
moved on account of the practical sym-
pathy which a missionary trained there
was able to show bv healing the sick : of
the necessity for some, knowledge of how
to deal with illnesses, so that one may look
after one’s native helpers, and said that
the Government had asked him to take
charge of a district to combat sleeping-
sickness. He said, Livingstone College
would be of tremendous use in helping to...”
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“...Cracking Up China:
A Protest.*
Rev. D. V. GODFREY.
HERE seems to be a general im-
pression abroad that the Chinese
have taken the place of our trans-
Atlantic cousins as “the intellect and
virtue of the airth, the cream Of human
natur’, and the flower Of moral force,”
and that they must be “cracked up” in
consequence.
Mr. Bertrand Russell has been telling
us that their civilization
is in many ways su-
perior to ours, and
naturally the mission-
aries report to all their
journals startling news
about an Awakened
China. Naturally, be-
cause a missionary is
always something' of a
prophet, and usually
something of a poet! too.
Where the matter-of-fact
see but the first cold
streak of dawn, your
missionary feels the
warmth of the mid-day
sun that shall be. His
rejoicing is so great over
one sheep found that for
a moment he forgets the
nine hundred ninety and
nine.
Thank God that those
who search so diligently
can rejoice with their
friends when their pains
are rewarded, even
though they g'ain...”
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“...increase
our numbers and therefore our income.
Will you, with the same beautiful spirit
that has animated the whole of Christen-
dom during Christmastide, enter into such
a league of prayer and service with me?
“Prove me now, herewith, saith the Lord
of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows
of heaven, and pour out a blessing, that there
shall not be room enough, to receive it.”
Lovingly yours,
Laura Rounsefell.
Mrs. C. E. Hicks.
The Bible Christians of New Zealand
gave to the infant West China Mission
one worker, Mrs. Dymond, nee Cannon.
The Australian Churches gave two, the
Rev. E. Piper, who returned when union
was cemented there, and Miss Bush, who
38...”
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“...Women’s Missionary Auxiliary
remained in the mission. After her ar-
rival in Chao-t’ong-, her mother wrote :
*•' She is all that a daughter could possibly
be.” At that time the missionaries, were
few, and Miss Bush was the only single
lady worker in the far-distant field of
Yunnan, so she experienced at the outset
considerable loneliness.
She was a g'entle spirit, absolutely de-
voted to God. She commenced work in
'Chao-t’ong amongst girls who owing to
national custom were considered too old
to be seen out of doors. She visited ex-
tensively, had meeting's in the homes, and
had a class regularly for those who were
sufficiently near to steal through the early
shades of evening to the mission. The
lessons were a great treat to the girls,
and the spiritual influence lasting-. “Gentle
’Marie,” as we used to call her, was in
*China during the Boxer rising.
Immediately after this event, the great
work amongst the tribespeople com-
menced, which necessitated an extra man
to carry on the educational...”
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“...Penryn Spier, B.A.
Penryn Spier, an appellation which we
shall now thankfully adopt.
A short time after this first introduc-
tion, in 1903, the writer took charge of
the mission school, carried on in those
early days in a Chinese house,17 and found
that an elder brother (about whom
another story could be written) was a
teacher in the school; whilst Penryn
himself was one of the smallest—though
by no means the dullest—boys in the
bottom class. A few years later, when
the new College building was completed,
he was transferred along with the other
boys as a boarder in the enlarged insti-
tution. Here he became a general
favourite and gradually worked himself
up to the top of the school. He was a
real boy, and though no great athlete,
was fond of football and tennis. One of
his great ambitions was to win the mile
race at the annual College sports. By
dint of much training, and after a tremen-
dous effort, he attained to this ambition,
and I ' well remember how he was
triumphantly borne off...”
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“...whether
it be the murderer himself or any other
member of his clan who is sacrificed. All
the members of a family are equally
responsible for the debt of any one of
them. Most personal affairs, such as
marriage, are arranged by the whole
family. The individual never attains his
majority ; he is always under the tutelage
of his clan or tribe-
This solidarity, this complete submer-
sion of the individual in the community,
makes the appeal of the Christian mis-
sionary extremelv difficult. The mission-
ary uses every effort to convert individuals.
But as the native has never contemplated
taking any step1 on his own initiative, how
can he imagine that his personal destiny
is dependent alone upon his faith and his
action ? They may have some dim notion
that death is followed by another existence,
but they have not even the dimmest idea
that each one of them mav be saved or
damned on his own account. As with the
Israelites under the Old Dispensation, the
unit is the tribe and not the individual...”
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“...the lines sug-
gested by these pioneers.
But reforms cannot be forced upon a
people. They must come from within.
And some of the foreign implements in-
troduced have not succeeded in weaning
the people from their old ways' of doing-
things. There is a legend at our Chu
Chia station of a foreign plough being in
the village, but no one ever sees it. It
was tried once or twice and then quietly
put away, and no blessings were called
down upon the head of the person who
introduced it. At the London Mission
Hospital in Tientsin, the Doctor
fresh from home was much dissatis-
fied with the brick beds in the
wards, and introduced foreign ones
with wire mattresses. Proud of his
achievement he went into the wards
late at night to see how; the patients
were enjoying the luxury provided
for them, and was greatly astonished
to find the beds heaped up with cab-
bages and other articles of food, and
The men quietly sleeping on the floor.
So methods from outside do not
-always work out satisfactorily.
There...”
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“...maidens
for whom a Kingdom is waiting
if they have
the faith and courage to take possession.
Mr. Macbeath calls his book the Story'
of the Baptist Missionary Society, and
that story is the glory of the Baptist
Church, for it tells of William Carey and
his work in India, how he translated por-
tions of the Scriptures into 33 languages
and the whole Bible into, seven, built col-
leges, started a printing press there, and
founded a mission that has spread far and
wide in that great land. The story tells,
too, of Thomas Knibb and his brother
William who founded the mission in West
Africa ; of the heroic Comber family and
their work on the Congo, a country
sixteen times as large as England, and
of Holman Bentley, who was the first to
deal with the two hundred languages and
dialects of that land, and reduce them to
writing and to construct a grammar, a
dictionary and a literature ; of Timothy
Richard and China; and James Walls,
through whose courageous ministry in
Italy, four Protestant Churches...”
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“...self.” To that ring, its text and its asso-
ciations, he traces the theme and origin
of his book, and the use of its title.
The author claims that his book does
two things : first, it describes the con-
ditions of service which affect students
and others like them, rejoicing in the
immeasurable opulence of youth; and
secondly, that it answers the question,
“ How should they use their riches, if they
want to bring in the reign of God
throughout all the world? ”
In the first three chapters the mission-
ary problem is looked at in the light of
Christ’s dealings with individuals, social
groups, and nations ; in the next three
chapters he deals with the open vision of
Gospel truth as the only specific for the
world’s salvation ; then shows that the
truth’s touch quickens the heathen into
’Published by the Student Christian Movement. 2s. 6d.
new life ; but that only true and faithful
citizens of the Kingdom of the Spirit can
give that touch.
The reading of this volume has been a
literary feast...”
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“...their
responsibility. They support and work
two missions amongst the Mendis who
are toilers on the land near by : the Fakai
Mission and the Anne Micklethwaite Me-
morial, so called in memory of the
sainted mother of our esteemed General
Superintendent, whose grave is here in
Freetown. We recently saw these mis-
sions when on our way to Lumley Beach.
Not elaborate buildings but real centres of
light in this needy area.
Monday, 8th December, we left the
Mission House, and were soon away
through Kroo Town road to Murray
Town, where we were cordially received
by the Rev. G. O. Gabbidon, the minister,
and a fine company of sisters of the
W.M.A. and friends, whose “Kabo”
(Welcome) made us feel a.t home at once.
T. C. Fraser, Esq., J.P., presided, sup-
ported by Mr. Jarrett and Mrs. Lydia
Ashley, a keen W.M.A. worker, and the
only woman local preacher in our West
African Mission.
The meeting' was most cordial, a happy
feature being the presence of a group of
Mendi converts who sang three hymns in...”
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