The meeting closed with a resolution reaffirming the belief of the Alliance in the power of prayer to promote Christian union. The British Society for the Jews New work has been started by this Society in the very center of the Jewish Quarter, in Soho, London, and the whole work in London has been completely reorganized. It is a good proof of the success of this work that the Chief Rabbi and other leaders in the Jewish Community of London have sent to English Jews a warning against coming into contact with the missionaries or entering the mission rooms. In regard to this warning, however, we are glad to hear that even the poorest among the Jews, realizing that they are in a free country, are determined to act for themselves, and come in goodly numbers. The work of the Society in Great Britain, Italy, Prussia, Austria-Hungary, and Russia is very prosperous, while the stations at Adrianople and Dublin are vacant at present. Especial readiness of the Jews to receive Scriptures and Christian literature is reported by all workers of this Society. Barbican Mission to the Jews, London This mission, with which the name of the Rev. Prebendary Webb-Peploe is most closely associated, celebrated its anniversary meeting on May 11. Prior to the meeting an impressive service was held in St. Paul's Church, Onslow Square, when three young Jewish men were baptized by Prebendary Webb-Peploe. Tho the year closed with a deficit of $800, the committee reported encouragement in every branch of the work. Large numbers of Jews had listened to the preaching of the Gospel, and 15 had been baptized (12 in London, 3 in Strasburg). The Bible class was well attended, and the reading-room attracted many Jewish men. The openair work had been most encouraging, and women's meetings and Sundayschools showed a marked change for the better. The Training Home at Goringe Park House, Mitcham, Surrey, proved of great help, and 38 inquirers and converts passed through it in 1905. The house at Mitcham. which has proved itself so admirably adapted for its purpose, has now been purchased by the committee. London Missionary Society This organization, with one exception (the Baptist) the oldest in Britain, was formed on a broad catholic basis, from which it has never departed. The constitution (adopted in 1795) declares its design to be "not to send to the heathen any form of church order and government, but the glorious Gospel of the blessed God." It has had the honor of being the first Protestant society to send missionaries to China, Madagascar, Polynesia, and New Guinea. Number of missionaries Church members Native adherents Native ordained missionaries ers Schools Scholars Medical mission patients 443 80,165 240,890 930 6,157 2,077 87.299 185.279 Money raised on mission field..... £40.121 There are in the missions connected with the Society, in the South dies, and Madagascar, many hunSeas, Africa, India, China, West Indreds of native churches, which are not only self-supporting, but are carrying on vigorous mission work among the heathen. Scottish Church Missions The Established Church of Scotland reports an income of $216,150. It has missions in India, China, and East Central Africa (Blantyre). Its missionaries number 60; native helpers, 218; church members, 4,210; pupils in 254 schools, 8,003. Roman Catholic Gifts to Missions From 1822 to 1905 the International Roman Catholic Society for the Propagation of the Faith, with headquarters in this country, collected and distributed over $70,000. 000 for missions. During the same period the society gave to the work of the Roman Church in the United States nearly $6,000,000. During 1905 its total receipts were $1,300,ooo, a larger amount than had been collected in any previous year in its history. Rather more than one-half of the society's income is derived from European branches, France alone sending last year $659,000. German Missionary Statistics (1) Basel Evangelical Missionary Society: Stations, 63; India, baptisms, 258; church members, 16,745. China, baptisms, 506; church members, 8,892. Gold Coast, baptisms, 869; church members, 20,217. Camerun, baptisms, 640; church members, 5.253. (2) Hermannsburg Missionary Society, Zulu Mission: Stations, 21; baptisms, 320; inquirers, 772; scholars in missionary schools, 1,091, and members of the Church, 7,890. Berlin Missionary Society This organization sustains 10 missions, of which 2 are in China and the others in Africa. The male missionaries number 128 (19 unordained); adherents, 54,337: communicants, 32,543; and pupils in the schools, 10,528. Leipsic Society According to the last annual returns of the Leipsig Mission dated November 30, 1905, there were, says the Gospel Witness, 570 heathen baptized last year. The total of the Christian community, except the catechumens, who number also some hundreds, is therefore, at present, 21,507, of which 9,983 are communicants. For this number of Christians there are 232 places of worship in 44 stations, and the native workers for them are 21 pastors, I candidate and 96 catechists. The missionary force numbers 35 missionaries and 14 lady missionaries, besides the wives of missionaries. Besides this, there are 23 native evangelists and Biblewomen for the work among the heathen. For the training of native pastors there is a divinity class with 12 students, and for the training of teachers a semi nary with 67 students and a normal training-school with 27 students at Tranqueber. 422 male teachers and IOI female teachers work in 2 high schools for boys with 550 students, 9 lower secondary schools with 1.089 boys and 236 girls, and 206 primary schools with 5.275 boys and 2,091 girls. The Gossner Missionary Society The report of this Society shows again a deficit of more than $3,000, so that it is now more than a decade since it began to go into debt. This is the more distressing since the work of the Gossner Missionary Society among the Kols in Chota Nagpur, Northeast India, is one of the most prosperous of missionary efforts. The work was started among them in 1845, and the report of September, 1905, gave the following facts: In 21 stations were laboring 38 European missionaries and I lady worker. These were assisted by 27 native pastors and 14 licentiates, 383 catechists, 70 teachers and 184 assistants, 15 lady teachers, 46 Biblewomen, 6 colporteurs, and 8 pandits. To this force of 772 paid native laborers must be added 472 native voluntary helpers. 66,045 Kols were baptized members of the Church, while 17.831 were inquirers. The number of baptisms was 4,110, of whom 2,121 were those of heathen. The Christian Kols contributed more than $3,500 to the congregational expenses. During the last ten years the number of baptized Kols has been almost doubled, from 34.861, in 1895, to 66,045, in 1905. There were 466 Sunday-schools with 507 helpers and 8.486 children, while 2.351 Christian Kols had founded a Society for the Prevention of Drunkenness. In the missionary schools 5.562 children received Christian instruction, and 7.818 of the native Christians (adults) could read and write. Many of the Kols have emigrated to Assam, where they work in the tea-gardens. Among these the Gossner Society employs 2 missionaries in 2 stations. Rhenish Missionary Society Eleven new stations have been added by this Society during the past year: 3 in Southwest Africa, I in Borneo, 4 in Sumatra, and 3 in Nias, while 7 of the stations in Southwest Africa are temporarily abandoned on account of the rising of the natives. Thus the Rhenish Society had, in 1905, 117 stations (109 in 1904) with 377 outstations (362) in 1904), with 170 European missionaries (161 in 1904), 22 lady missionaries or sisters (19 in 1904), 32 native pastors (29 in 1904), 579 native teachers (548 in 1904), and 1,290 native elders (1,094 in 1904), while the members of the Church numbered 106,760 (100,167 in 1904). Of the 9.253 baptisms (10,281 in 1904) 4,792 (6,174 in 1904) were those of heathen and Mohammedans, while 4.461 (4,107 in 1904) were those of children of Christian parents. At the close of 1905, 13.366 inquirers (14,199 in 1904) remained under instruction. China reported 180 baptisms of heathen (57 in 1904), New Guinea 0 (0 in 1904), Africa 482 (656 in 1904), and Netherlandish East India 4,130 (5.461 in 1904). Of the inquirers 10 remained under instruction in New Guinea, 156 in China, 2,388 in Africa, and 10,812 in Netherlandish East India. The reports from all stations were most encouraging, and the laborers in the new fields reported an open door everywhere. The income in 1905 was $202,183, or only about $2,000 less than in 1904, when special efforts for raising money were made. West German Society for Israel, Cologne The sixty-third annual report of this Society shows that the year 1905 was most prosperous in the work in Cologne, Frankfort, and Strasburg (where the Barbican Mission to the Jews contributes to the support of the work). A new mission house was acquired in Cologne. so that the much-needed Home for Converts could be started. Eleven Jews of mature years and six chil dren were baptized in the three stations, while several others, brought to Christ through the instrumentality of the laborers of the society, were baptized in other cities. The income of the Society was about $10,000 in 1905, but a debt of $14,000 rests upon the new mission house at present. Romanism in Spain A remarkable interview with an "eminent" Spanish statesman, who, for obvious reasons, is not named, appeared recently in The London Times. After speaking warmly of King Alfonso and of the good hope for Spain in his wife's English education and tradition, this statesman spoke very seriously of the condition of the Church in his country. The parochial clergy and their bishops have, he said, little influence. The secular priests are for the most part idle and ill-educated. They have, as in other Latin countries, lost control of the men, but what is more serious, they are losing control of the children also, and with the growing custom of secular funerBut if the als, even of the dying. episcopate and parochial clergy are dangerously weak, the religious orders are dangerously strong. They are recruited mainly from foreign sources, and are, as one of them was frankly designed to be a Roman militia organized on lines anything but patriotic. Jesuits, Augustinians, and Dominicans have all a consistent policy to get and keep control of the rich classes and to obtain such surreptitious influence as they can over the officers of the army. The Jesuit, Augustinian, and Dominican colleges educate most young men of aristocratic birth and those whose parents aspire to social recognition. The Spanish politician says the liberal party will probably make its next fight on the school question, which will never be settled in any nation till it is settled right; that is, by the strict dissociation of Church and State, as in America. AMERICA A Potent Ally of Missions Its The Young People's Missionary Movement is an organization which in three years has developed into an important agency operating in the leading evangelical denominations. working force of capable young secretaries, its corps of wise and experienced supervisors, its plant at Silver Bay, its network of machinery reach ing into all parts of the country, make it a power actual and potential. Its annual budget is now in the neighborhood of $40,000, raised by registration. fees at the summer conferences, its publication department, and by contributions from individuals. Its object is to enlist young people in the churches in the support of missions and to arouse hearty and sustained enthusiasm through mission classes, institutes, literature, and constant appeals of one sort and another on the part of the organizing secretaries. The movement is establishing itself in the hearts of little groups of young people here and there. What the Student Volunteer Movement is seeking to be to the 100,000 college students of the country, this movement undertakes to do in behalf of the 14,000,000 young people. Young People's Conference at The Young People's Missionary Movement held five conferences during the summer; four of these were for leaders in young people's work, and one was for leaders in Sundayschool work. Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Asheville, North Carolina; Whitby, Ontario, and Silver Bay, New York, were the places. The conference of the leaders of young people which followed the Sunday-school conference for ten days was attended by 520 representative young people's leaders of the northwestern part of the United States. Five daily classes in Bible study, fourteen daily classes in mission study, several daily institutes of methods, occasional denominational meetings and daily platform meetings gave variety, instruction, and enthusiasm to the work. Missionaries from Africa, India, China, and Turkey were present, and the representatives of many mission boards. It is significant that in the four years since the organization of the Young People's Missionary Movement, twelve conferences for young people have reached about 3,500 different young people, twenty metropolitan institutes have reached several thousand more, and over 200,000 have been in the various mission study classes connected with the mission boards because of this work. Metropolitan institutes for several cities have already been. planned, and the opportunities opened through this work and the new Sunday-school field are far beyond anything that has yet been thought possible. These conferences are made significant when it is remembered that the work is done through existing denominational agencies by leaders. brought together and trained under the guidance of the board secretaries. Plans for a year's campaign are laid and the leaders are instructed in the methods to be employed in carrying out these plans. God is in the movement. His hand can be seen in every step of its history, and He is now leading on in His purpose to evangelize the world. HARRY S. MEYERS. Mission Study in the Sunday-school A conference under the auspices of the Young People's Missionary Movement was held at Silver Bay, New York (July 17-19), to consider the subject how to secure adequate consideration of missionary instruction. in the Sunday-school. About 75 leaders came together, representing the Denominational Missionary Boards and Sunday-school Boards of Publication, the International Sunday-school Association, the Editorial Association, and the Religious Education Association. The program was informal, and the several aspects of the subjects were presented in addresses, which were succeeded by free discussion. The following were some of the topics: The Place Missions Should Have in the Sunday-school. The Widespread Indifference to Missions and the Remedy. The International Sunday-school Association. What Can Be Done? Among the leaders present were the following: Hon. Samuel B. Capen, President of the A. B. C. F. M.; Mr. W. N. Hartshorn, Chairman Executive Committee International Sundayschool Association; Mr. Charles G. Trumbull, Editor Sunday-school Times; Mr. C. C. Vickrey, of the Young People's Missionary Movement; Mr. Earl Taylor, Secretary Young People's Department, Methodist Episcopal Board: Rev. F. W. Haggard, Editorial Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Union; Rev. A. L. Phillips, D.D., General Superintendent Sunday-school and Young People's Work, Presbyterian Church South; Mr. Harry Wade Hicks, of the A. B. C. F. M.; Rev. J. P. Mackay, Secretary of the Presbyterian Missionary Society, Toronto, Canada; the Rev. J. F. Goucher, D.D., President Woman's College, Baltimore. When we consider the importance of the subjects and the personnel of the speakers, we will realize the significance of the following "Policy unanimously adopted at the confer ence: Missionary instruction should form a part of the curriculum of every Sundayschool, inasmuch as such instruction forms an essential part of all complete religious education. This may be accomplished by a missionary development of the International lessons, by supplemental or optional lessons and study classes, by special program, and by fostering a missionary atmosphere through the worship of the school. To meet the demands for material beyond that which can be supplied by the denominational boards, the Young People's Missionary Movement is requested to prepare syndicated material for missionary instruction, including books, maps, charts, curios, etc. Training for missionary teaching shall have a place in all Sunday-school conferences and institutes. LEILA B. ALLEN. A Unique Donation Secretary A. B. Leonard, of the Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society, recently received $15,000 from a donor who forbids the publication of his name. The gift is to be divided equally between India, the Philippines, Africa, Korea, and Japan, and is to be expended for the opening of new work in the following manner: In each of the countries named a native church and parsonage are to be erected, and the balance of the money is to be used for the support of a native pastor until the fund is exhausted. The donor is evidently not in sympathy with the movement for entire selfsupport in native churches. Where the Presbyterian Money Goes Last year the Presbyterian Foreign Mission Board (North) disbursed $1,241,821, of which $81,628 were consumed at home for administration, printing, etc., and $1,160,193 went abroad to the 136 stations of the 13 mission fields, the division made being as follows: |