plan of preaching Christ, in lieu of first bringing civilizing and educating influences to bear upon heathendom, may not meet with the approval of the wise and prudent of this world; but we simply follow in the spirit of the Apostle's declaration, that it has "pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." (1 Cor. i. 21.) Meanwhile the great work of education has not been neglected. Many of the opponents of missions admit that the missionaries have done much by their educational institutions towards preparing India for a moral and intellectual revolution, the tokens of which are even now observable by those who "understand the signs of the times." It may be true that no great movement is perceptible among the masses of the ignorant population, but the middle and higher classes have not escaped the contagion of the new ideas. Witness the ferment in the Hindu mind. The rise of a reformed Hindu Society, formed on the teachings of pure Theism, though confined to a comparatively small class, is a proof that Christian teaching has made some impression on the mind of India. As in the second and third century, the heathenism of the whole world, brought in contact with Christianity, was compelled to explain away its absurdities, and to fall back upon a modified and more rational system of Theism, so in our day in India. Our missionaries are beginning to hope; they say, "Every year the prospect brightens a little;" "We are much encouraged by the success with which we have been blessed in our efforts to raise efficient native agents, and by the progress which our schools are making." This is the opinion of our brethren in Continental India. In the Tamil and Singhalese Districts, in the island of Ceylon, our prospects are very bright. An educated native ministry, and Churches rapidly advancing towards self-support, are proofs that the labours of our missionaries have not been in vain. In the Calcutta, Mysore, Madras, Tamil, and Singhalese Districts, we have seventy-five missionaries, two thousand nine hundred and seventysix members, thirteen thousand nine hundred and eighty-seven children in

the schools, of whom three thousand seven hundred and sixty-five are girls. These statistics, neither in reference to Indian nor any other missionary district, give an adequate impression of the nature and character of the work itself. In India and Ceylon, the missionaries preach in the streets and bazaars, as well as in the chapels; they make frequent missionary tours in their respective Districts, to preach and converse, and circulate books in the villages. Much time is necessarily occupied in the training of native agents, and the charge of the higher classes in our schools, as well as in the general superintendence of the educational department of our work. Of these, and of our missionaries in general, we may say, "Blessed are ye who sow beside all waters." (Isaiah xxxii. 20.) We look forward in confidence that "they who sow in tears shall reap in joy." (Psalm cxxvi. 5.)

Of China we make no further mention, but simply give the statistics, as it has already had its special meeting. In the Canton and Wuchang Districts, we have eleven missionaries, with one hundred and seventy-eight members and three hundred and eighty-six children in the schools. A new opening at KwangChi, about one hundred miles from Wuchang, has been entered upon, with good prospects of success. Meanwhile the Medical Mission exercises a most beneficial influence upon Chinese public opinion. The Chinese mission in the Australian colonies meets with support, and is making very satisfactory progress.

The Polynesian missions, under the care of the Australasian Conference, carried on mainly in the Friendly and Fiji Islands, have been among the most successful of modern missions. The Friendly Islands, governed by the Christian King George, may be regarded as Christian, and, as such, no longer a mission. In Fiji, the rapid influx of European colonists from the Australian colonies is producing complications in the government, and in all the relations of society, which are likely to result in serious evils, unless met by the estab lishment of some legal authority which would command obedience and inspire confidence. The statistics of these missions speak for themselves: twentythree European missionaries labour in

connection with sixty-three native missionaries, and nine hundred and six native catechists, and one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six local preachers; the number of Churchmembers is thirty-three thousand one hundred and forty-nine. There are.

above one hundred and thirty-three thousand attendants at public worship in eight hundred and two chapels and in three hundred and fifty-seven other preaching-places. The work of education has not been neglected; one thousand five hundred and sixty-eight dayschools, taught by one hundred and forty-eight head teachers, and by two thousand four hundred and sixty-nine subordinate masters, return fifty-three thousand eight hundred and four day, scholars, and about the same number attend the Sunday-schools, in which there are three thousand five hundred and fifty-one teachers. The statistics of the Maori mission in New Zealand are included in the colonial returns of the Australasian Conference. Marvellous is the retrospect; a generation ago the Fiji Islanders were cannibals. What hath God wrought!

In conclusion, the retrospect of another year furnishes ample grounds for renewed and unreserved consecration to the service of God in this department of the Church's labour, and for cheerful and hopeful confidence as to the future stability, progress, and triumphs of Christian missions. While we linger with reverent affection over the graves of our honoured dead who have recently been gathered to their fathers, we can only exclaim, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." The Lord gave us Elijah Hoole, with his various learning, his wide experience, and his lengthened years of faithful service as one of the General Secretaries of the Society; William Shaw, with his practical intellect, his administrative talent, and his unexampled success as the Apostle of Kaffirland; and Thomas Jackson, with his saintly simplicity, his godly eloquence, and his glorious old age. "They rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." Their precious memories are among the richest endowments of the Methodist Churches of all

lands. If the succession of such men is to be perpetuated, we must pray to Christ to give them to us. None but such as He gives us can do the work of missionaries. "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest."

In reviewing the financial results of the year, the Committee cherish the conviction that God's people are becom ing more thoroughly alive to the responsibilities of wealth, and are disposed to tithe the first-fruits of their increase for Him. The country has to a large extent been favoured with great commercial prosperity, and it is only right that such prosperity should be sanctified in the service of humanity and religion. "With such sacrifices God is well pleased." The organization of the Society for collecting its pecuniary resources covers the entire country, and touches all classes; and if it be worked with the systematic oversight, the steady zeal, and the cheerful earnest. ness which have marked the past year, there is every reason to believe that the next balance-sheet will show as gratify. ing a result as that which, with devout gratitude to God, we have announced to-day.

But

As to the future, there is no doubt a formidable work before us. In helping to restore a pure and primitive Christianity to nominal Christendom we shall find much to try our faith and patience. Then, again, we have only touched the outskirts of heathendomthe citadel remains to be taken. we are not disheartened. With the old Gospel committed to us to "preach to every creature;" with the power of the Holy Ghost vouchsafed to give effect to our efforts; and with the mighty promise, "Lo, I am with you alway," we cannot fail. The Church may be harassed, but "God shall help her, and that right early;" the heathen may rage, but "the Lord shall have them in derision;" the nations of the earth may refuse to serve the Lord's Anointed, but those nations shall be "utterly wasted." "He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet." "Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise inthe caith."

The CHAIRMAN said:-Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen, You will not be surprised when I say that I have accepted the position which I occupy here to-day with some hesitation. Born a Presbyterian, and associated by the accidents of life with the Church of England, I do not belong to the Wesleyan Communion, and I have been but rarely brought into contact with its members. I do not possess the convictions by which most of my hearers are probably animated. I cannot hold the language familiar to this place. These facts were, how ever, frankly stated to the gentlemen who were charged to offer me this honourable office, and the Committee were still of opinion that my presence might be useful; that the testimony of an entirely separate, unattached, and impartial person to the value of missionary labour might in some quarters have greater authority than the testimony of one who was deeply embark ed and strictly identified with the cause. In the remarks which I shall have the honour of submitting to you I will not go beyond my personal experience and the secular aspect of the question, The views which I express will have reference to missions in India only, to the Wesleyan missions as an important branch of the Protestant missionary agency, and they apply to Roman Catholic missions as well as to those of the Protestant Churches. In estimating the significance of mis sionary agency to the Government and the people of India, let us look for a moment at the great social ob jects which the Governments of India have at this moment at heart, and the means which they possess of fulfilling those objects. The Governments of India desire to give a high and sound education to a portion of the people, to give elementary education to the masses, to bring home the benefits of European medical science and sanitary regulations to all, and to diffuse the practice of local organization and selfgovernment. These are great under

takings, and without the aid of voluntary agency I do not hesitate to say that they could not be carried out. The Governments have done much by direct action for the higher education; but even here, in this restricted part, they feel their complete inability to embrace the whole field of work. They therefore invoke every form of voluntary effort, and especially the efforts of Christian philanthropy. I need not say how warmly the missions have responded to the call. In the South of India certainly half the higher education of the country is directly due to missionary enterprise. Nor is the higher education bestowed by voluntary Christian agency identical with the education of the State. It has its distinctive character and peculiar advantages both for Government and people. It costs the Government less. It costs the pupil less. It is more moral and spiritual in its character. I mean, that there must naturally be a larger share of moral teaching, associated with doctrinal teaching, in a mission school than in a secular State school. The mission school, moreover, teaches what Christianity is, even when it does not make the scholar a Christian, and it supplies to the Christian population, generally of low-caste or outcast origin, the means of culture and social elevation which they might not so readily attain in the seminaries of the State. The mis. sion goes hand-in-hand with the Government in raising the intellectual standard of the Indian people, and in forming for the service of the State a body of public servants of intelligence and morality. The Government could not do without the mission. If you blotted out the missionary you would deprive the State of half its teaching, civilizing, and moralizing power. If such be a correct statement of the part taken by the mission in the higher education in Southern India, I affirm that the mission is equally available for elementary education, and especi ally for the elementary education of

the very lowest order of the people, of the outcast, destitute, disinherited classes who claim the peculiar sympathy of this Christian assembly. What has been hitherto the elementary education of the Indians? It has been supplied not by Government, but by the Pyall or Leaf school, the primitive teaching of the Indian village. These schools have indeed a deep interest to the philological and social inquirer, and have rendered great services to a simple people; but I need not tell you how incommensurate they are in number, how laborious and conventional in their methods, how restricted in the subjects taught. Insufficient for the better rural classes, they scarcely can be said to exist in some provinces for the lowest castes and pariahs. It is true that here and there the Government has taken up the primitive native school, reformed it, and assisted it with grants in aid, under the system of payment by results-witness Malabar; but to such schools I doubt whether the pariah has practically any access. If you ask to see an elementary school in the South of India taught by European methods, and really available for the humblest orders of the Indian people, you will find it in connection with the missionary's house. The amount of service hitherto rendered in this way may indeed be small compared with the necessity; but it is a substantial, beautiful, and a touching service, and one peculiarly appropriate to the blessed office of the missionary, who can never be so well employed as in carrying the benefits of light and conscience to the most despised and the most afflicted. In addition to such important aid rendered to Government by the missions in the higher education and in the elementary teaching of the people, the missions have peculiar facilities for the education of women. The mission ary commands the confidence of the people, by his sacred office; and by the presence and co-operation of his wife and daughters, the Hindus readily entrust their girls to his

charge. Nor is the female mission school only a school for the education of the female pupil, heathen or Chris-i tian: it is also a training-school for the female teacher, who is destined, we hope, hereafter to carry the benefits of knowledge to women as widely as they are extended to men. Not withstanding all the efforts of Government, and all the efforts of voluntary agency, how little has been yet accomplished in comparison with what is left undone ! It may be doubted whether there be three per cent. of the Hindus and Mussulmans receiv. ing any education at all which is worthy of the name. Great indeed is the lack of means and the lack of instruments; but in the midst of this inability and deprivation how mani fest is the obligation of the Govern ment and the people of India towards those who come spontaneously, it matters not with what primary motive, to their relief! I consider it a sacred duty on the part of every Indian Go. vernor to recognize and avow the value of the missionary as an auxiliary teacher of the people. I thank this great assembly for the part which the Methodist Church has taken in the work; I earnestly solicit their unabated co-operation and good offices.

And now while we remember all that India owes to the missions, we must not forget what the missions owe to India. The missions are largely benefited by the grants in aid from the Indian Government, and the Wesleyan missions have their full share of those grants. The money thus obtained is well earned by the secular instruction given; but it is granted to a form of instruction which includes Christian teaching. The Government grants are grants from the revenue of a Hindu and Mussulman nation to Christian and denominational educa tion. The system is one of the most liberal character, and in this reflection the missionary may find an additional incentive in the performance of his duties to the heathen from whom he draws the elements of support. If the educational work of the Indian

Governments has been insufficient, though zealous and expansive, what shall I say of their philanthropic work, in the form of medical relief and sanitary regulation? The recognition of the duty is complete. The desire to fulfil it is great. The performance is insignificant. In the presidency of Madras, with a population of thirty millions, there may perhaps be one civil dispensary for five hundred thousand inhabitants. But here again voluntary agency, that is, Christian philanthropy, comes to our aid. There are four or five medical missions, which are conducted with admirable humanity and skill, and which are in some degree schools of popular medicine as well as places of medical relief. The value of these institutions is not to be measured by the actual material good which they do, but by the fame which they enjoy, by the evidence which they afford of the benevolence of the Christian religion and of the English people, who freely and spontaneously send to their Indian fellow-subjects what they deem most precious and most profitable for body and for soul. Finally, the missions have in my eyes, and for Southern India at least, a particular value at the present conjuncture with reference to the recent policy of Government in instituting a new order of local institutions, such as municipalities and rural boards, charged with local powers for public works, for elementary education, for sanitary improvements. This is all in its infancy, but it will go on sooner or later. Now as friends and counsellors of the people in their ignorance and inexperience, I think that the missionaries may often do a good work. It is of no small importance that there should be this grave, dispassionate, and disinterested order of Englishmen walking between the Government and the people, and desirous to do their duty by both. The missionary should not be afraid of doing some secular work in local affairs and in the remoter parts of the country. I have seen missionaries, and those of the Wesleyan persuasion

too, engaged in this way, and acceptable alike to the community and to the authorities. I have seen them also occupied in developing the agricultural and industrial pursuits of their respective congregations, and thus contributing indirectly to the welfare of all. Having thus emphatically stated my firm and deep belief in the usefulness of all the missions of the Christian Church to the Governments and the people of India, I have the greatest pleasure in affirming that the missionaries of the Wesleyan Church occupy a most honourable and respected place in that fraternity who are at the present moment working in perfect harmony for the glory of God and the good of mankind. The Rev. Gentleman who opened these proceedings with prayer, remarked that he hoped the heart of the Chairman would be gratified and kindled by the glorious spectacle of Christian zeal manifested in this assembly. Indeed, I now for the first time feel, when I look around me, how intense and enthusiastic is the missionary spirit in the souls of the English people. It matters indeed little that my spirit should be animated in a cause in which I have so small, so transitory a part; but what must be the triumph and consolation of those labourers in the missionary field who stand behind and around me in the presence of such a demonstration of affectionate sympathy! My memory, as I gaze on this great multitude, carries me back to a solitary and distant place to Manargudi, in the plains of Tanjore, to the humble but hospitable roof of the good missionary Fryar, where first I received a welcome in a Wesleyan home. How will he, and such as he, kindle with new strength and new zeal when they read the record of your unceasing efforts and faithful love! In this they will find the reward of their remote and often ill-requited toil.

The noble Chairman, who had been repeatedly cheered during the delivery of his speech, resumed his seat amid loud applause.

(To be concluded.)