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A Lutheran Anniversary

liberately misrepresent men and women who are too far away to defend themselves, and even a reputable paper has space to print statements that every one who knows anything at all about the subject knows to be false.-Spirit of Missions. Arrangements are being made to celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of the founding of the first Protestant mission to the heathen, by Ziegenbalg, at Tanquebar, East India. He sailed from Copenhagen November 29, 1705, and arrived in India July 9, 1706. A year later he laid the corner-stone of the first Lutheran church in India. After 13 years of service, during which he translated the New Testament and part of the Old, he died on February 23, 1719, and was buried in the New Jerusalem Church, at Tanquebar. The Lutherans of Minneapolis, Minn., observed the anniversary with appropriate services on November 29, 1905.

OBITUARY

Bishop Merrill Bishop Merrill, who was suddenly called home while attending the General Missionary Committee in Brooklyn, N. Y., on November 12th, was a leading figure in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was born in Ohio in 1825 and was elected bishop in 1872. Within the years 1878 to 1883. Bishop Merrill visited all the great foreign mission fields of the Church, except Africa and South America. In 1880 he visited the conferences in Germany, Switzerland, and Norway, and the missions in Denmark and Bulgaria. He then went to India, where he held the India and South India Confer

ences. Returning westward early in 1881, he organized, under the authority of the General Conference of 1880, the mission in Italy into an annual conference. In 1883 he made an Episcopal visitation of Japan and China, and presided at the conference sessions and mission meetings in those countries.

Rev. James Simister, of China

We regret to learn of the death of Rev. James Simister, of Fuchau, China, one of our contributors. He passed away in the midst of his career as the head of the Methodist Theological School in Fuchau. He went out to China in 1896. Early in October, 1905, he was stricken with fever, which resulted in his death on October 19th. He had been taxing himself to the full limit of his working capacity. He was a gifted Chinese scholar, and was ambitious to make the School of Theology a success. His death is a great loss to the work in China. Mrs. Simister and her four children expect soon to return to the United States.

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THE LORD'S PRAYER IN 500 LANGUAGES.

Preface by Reinhold Rost. 4to, 160 pp. 205. Gilbert & Rivington, London. 1905.

This is a remarkably interesting compilation. The Lord's Prayer is printed in native languages, with native characters, so as to give the collection a decided missionary and Biblical value. Not only are the ordinary languages of the world represented, but the ancient Egyptian hierogryphies and other written. forms have been especially translated for this work. The Chinese is accompanied with a literal translation, in which “amen" is rendered "Heart wishes exactly so." Another valuable feature is the reproduction of the prayer from the Greek manuscripts and the early English versions. The whole volume is beautifully printed and bound.

The

DAYBREAK IN THE DARK CONTINENT. By Wilson S. Naylor. The Forward Mission Study Course. Cloth, 50 cents. Illustrated. The Young People's Missionary Movement, New York. 1905. Particularly timely is the study of Africa by the Young People's Missionary Movement and the Woman's Missionary Societies. daily press is full of items concerning the opening of the great continent, and in no year has Africa been called so much to the attention of the civilized world. Wise, indeed, then, was the Young People's Missionary Movement in presenting the text-book by Dr. Naylor for 1905

The general division is excellent, and of especial value are the maps and diagrams, showing the size of Africa, as compared with the area of India, China, and other missionary fields, the railway map and the one in colors giving the general religious divisions of the country. It will be appalling to most students to realize how the Christian missions face their greatest foe, Mohammedanism, throughout the entire upper half of this great continent. To the missionary strategist the fifty

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millions of Mohammedans offer a far greater obstacle than the ninety million pagans. Dr. Naylor minds us that one province of South Africa country bears a Christian name (Natal), in honor of its discovery on the day of the Savior's birth. He also pays high tribute to the missionary as the one who is reducing the African languages to writing, promoting peaceful in

tercourse,

establishing industrial schools, and winning his way to the hearts of the people through medical missions. The book leaves us with a sense of our responsibility as Christians to hasten to the evangelization of this great continent, as our Divine Master and Lord is being misrepresented before this people by the atrocities due to the mismanagement of the Kongo Free State, the continuance. of the slave-trade, and the awful havoc of American rum. Dr. Naylor quotes one of their pathetic prayers to their vague and distant god. "Yea, if thou dost really exist, why dost thou let us be slain? Thou hast made us, why dost thou let us be trodden down?"

The author presents to us a strong illustration of the uselessness of mere civilization without Christianity, in Bishop Colenso's experiment. compared with Sir Harry Johnston's testimony regarding the industrial value of the boy trained in mission schools.

The increasing number of mission study classes in our churches will be highly profited by the use of this text-book and the accompanying missionary library.

ON THE BORDERS OF PIGMY LAND. By Ruth B. Fisher. With portrait of the author and 32 illustrations. 8vo, pp. ix and 215. Price, $1.25. net. Fleming H. Revell Company, New York. 1905. Traditions about pygmies in Africa used to appeal to the imagination of the school children of fifty years ago, because no one could be sure that Liliput was fiction if they

were true. Mystery still surrounds the little people of the great forest. The least light on their life history must attract interested attention.

One needs to remember that this book promises no more than the "borders" of Pygmy Land. The pygmies themselves are dealt with only in a part of one chapter out of twenty-one. The one chapter shows, however, that pygmies can be taught by missionaries to read and write, and that one of them at least has human nature. He is passionately fond of football; and, having learned enough himself of a-b, ab, to become a teacher of fullsized men, he switches them all over the shoulders, because, he says, "Without respect, progress is impossible!" Some of the pygmies are Christians, and more will be baptized.

As for the rest of the book, we have to confess to an inclination to throw into the waste-basket any book offering information which, like this one, has no index. Another grievance which some readers will not forget is the lack of mutual understanding between author and illustrator. The list of illustrations

is an unpaged hodge-podge, and names attached to some of the pictures are blunders that might have been avoided by looking into the text. The book consists of annals of travel of a young woman missionary of the Church Missionary Society, from Mombasa on the East Coast of Africa to

ments, and for his prize was given the choice between a piece of cotton cloth and a Bible. He stood for a moment handling the cloth, then looked down at his own shabby garment of bark fiber; and, then, dropping the cloth, he took up the Bible and, clasping it with both hands, he said: Master, the Bible has got the better of the cloth!"

A VISIT TO WEST AFRICA. By A. W. Halsey. Pamphlet. 10 cents. Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church. 1905.

Dr. Halsey made good use of note-book and camera during his recent visit to West Africa, and he has here given us the result in an exceedingly graphic account of what he heard and saw. Rare heathenism and Christian converts are contrasted, and the missionary work is vividly described. We can not see how one can read Dr. Halsey's account without becoming more deeply interested in these missions. AFRICA FOR JUNIORS. By Katharine R. Crowell. Illustrated. Pamphlet. 25 cents. The Willet Press, New York. 1905.

This latest contribution to the list of literature for Juniors is excellently adapted for its purpose. A mission band could scarcely do better than to take it and follow Miss Crowell's suggestions in planning the missionary meetings. The children will most certainly be interested and instructed.

ZENDING EN Mengo, in

Uganda, and thence to the borders of the Congo Free State. One is helped to bear the fatigue of the first 150 pages of these travels by really fine illustrations, and thus arrives not at all out of breath at the field which the authoress knows and loves.

The last three or four chapters are full of information well told. There is promise for Africa in the story of the man who won a prize for progress in his studies. He had never known the luxury of cotton gar

POLYGAMIE (Missions and Polygamy). De gedragslijn der christelijke zending ten opzichte der veelwijverij historisch toegelicht. 8vo. 191 pp. Dr. B. J. Esser, Baarn, Netherlands. 1905.

This important and scholarly production of nearly two hundred pages ought not to escape the notice of the student of missions, altho the book appears in the Dutch language. It is a historic review of the difficult question of polygamy among heathen and Mohammedan converts, and the attitude of the Church and missionary societies in

regard to it. As far as we know, it is the first monograph on the subject that goes back to original sources, and the author has made very thorough study of his subject, since the book was written as a proefschrift" to obtain the doctorate at the Free University of Amsterdam.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE MÜLLER. Condensed from his own Journals and edited by G. F. Bergin, his successor in the direction of the work. Introduction by A. T. Pierson, D.D. Gospel Publishing Company, 52 West Twenty-second Street, New York. 1905.

This is a very compact and comprehensive volume of 700 pages. It contains a vast amount of matter compiled from Mr. Müller's own writings, and presents the full account of his marvelous life history as told by himself. In the Annual Reports much was unavoidedly repeated, but in the present volume Mr. Bergin has given the most valuable incidents of Mr. Müller's life, and all the valuable teaching found in his journals, reproduced in full. The book is copiously illustrated with many photographs never yet published. No more inspiring gift could be put into the hands of evangelists, missionaries, and others who are working amid many discouragements, than a life history which abounds in encouragements to faith and prayer and dependence on God. No man of his century left behind a more unquestionable testimony to a prayer-hearing God.

SEED FOR THE WORLD. Popular Illustrated Report of the B. and F. Bible Society, 1904-5.

These reports are unusually attractive and entertaining. The illustrations are excellent, and the pen pictures of Bible work in many lands. give graphic accounts of the sewing, cultivation, and harvests.

HOME MISSIONARY READINGS. By Alice M.

Guernsey. 12mo, 128 pp. 50 cents, net. Fleming H. Revell Company. 1905. These "readings " are original, not selected from home missionary

books and articles. Some of them are interesting and forceful, but the result would have been better for the missionary meeting if the author had selected the best from all sources on the subject.

WAX WING. By Caroline Atwater Mason. 16mo, 48 pp. 30 cents. Fleming H. Revell Company. 1905.

Mrs. Mason has written many good books, and this little missionary meeting sketch is one of the best. It will make good reading for a missionary circle, and drives home its point without the need of a sledge-hammer.

The treatment is purely historical and not theoretical. What the early church taught and practised in regard to the marriage-tie; their interpretation of I. Tim. iii: 2; the attitude of the medieval Church and its missionaries toward polgyamy; that of the Roman Catholic Church; the views of Luther, Calvin, and the reformers; and, finally, a most careful résumé of all that has been written on this knotty question by the missionaries of the Protestant churches in the modern mission period. Such are the contents of the book. The bibliography gives more than 70 sources of information for reference. The author draws no conclusions, but leaves no doubt that the question of the admission of polygamous converts into the Church on the mission field has two sides.

A COMPLETE CATALOG OF CHRISTIAN TRACTS AND PUBLICATIONS FOR JEWISH READERS. Compiled for the use of Jewish missions and workers. By the Mildmay Missions to the Jews, London. IS. 1905.

Here is an exceedingly valuable catalog which every missionary to the Jews should have. It contains an exceptionally complete list of about 1,000 tracts in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, German, and other languages. They are arranged alphabetically, and give the price and addresses of publishers. It would have been helpful to have

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The sixth number of Volume III. of this valuable publication comes as a lenten message to the Christian Churches of New York. It deals more fully with "Religion in Greater New York," and by means of maps, diagrams, statistics, and other carefully compiled information shows the present condition and problems in various parts of the city. It has meant an immense amount of labor and skill to gather, tabulate, and publish this material. It is ammunition for editors, pastors, and city mission workers. HISTORY OF THE JAPAN MISSION OF THE REFORMED (GERMAN) CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES, 1879-1904. Edited by Rev. H. K. Miller. Illustrated. 127 pp. $1.00. Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed German Church in the United States, Philadelphia. 1904. The twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Japan Mission of the Reformed (German) Church was celebrated last year, and this book is a charming souvenir of that event. It is an interesting story of the growth of the mission, with descriptions of its present condition. Its introductory chapter, which gives general information of Japan and its people, contains a vast amount of characteristic information closely pacted. The pictures really illustrate the book, altho the portrait element predominates. Altogether, the book is a source as agreeable as

com

it is authoritative for information on the work in Japan of the Reformed German Church.

INDIAN DECENNIAL CONFERENCE REPORT.-Free copies of the reports of the Third Decennial Conference. held in Madras in 1903, are offered to those who will value them. This volume contains a large amount of valuable matter, including the papers presented and statistics collected. Copies may be had for the cost of transportation from Fleming H. Revell Co., 158 Fifth Avenue. N. Y.

NEW BOOKS

THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN. By J. K. Giffen.
Illustrated. 12mo. $1.00, net. Flem-
ing H. Revell Company. 1905.
RIVER SAND AND SUN. By M. C. Gollock.
Illustrated. 8vo. 184 pp. 38. 6d.
Church Missionary Society, London.
A YANKEE IN PIGMY LAND. By William
E. Geil. 12mo. $1.50, net. Dodd,
Mead & Co., New York. 1905.
WITH TOMMY TOMPKINS IN KOREA,
Mrs. H. G. Underwood.
12mo. 326 pp. $1.25, net. Fleming H.
Revell Company. 1905.

By Illustrated.

CHINA AND HER PEOPLE. By Hon. Charles Denby. 12mo. 2 vols. $2.40, net. L. C. Page & Co., Boston. 1905. JOHN CHINAMAN AT HOME. By Rev. E. J. Hardy. Illustrated. $2.50, net. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. 1905. THE PEN OF BRAHMA. By Beatrice M. Harband. Illustrated. 12mo. 320 pp. $1.25, net. Fleming H. Revell Company, 1905. SCHOOLMATES By Lewis Gaunt. Illustrated. 8vo. 191 pp. 2s. 6d. London Missionary Society. 1905.

HOME MISSION READINGS. By A. M. Guernsey. I2mo. 128 pp. 50 cents, net. Fleming H. Revell Company. 1905. THE AFTERMATH OF SLAVERY. By William A. Sinclair. Small, Maynard & Co., Boston. 1905.

INDIAN AND SPANISH NEIGHBORS. By J.
H. Johnston. 12mo. 194 pp. Cloth, 50
cents. Paper, 30 cents. Fleming H.
Revell Company. 1905.

IN SALISBURY SQUARE. Daily Life at the
C. M. S. House. By Irene H. Barnes.
Illustrated. 12mo. 236 pp.
2s. 6d.
Church Missionary Society, London.
THE PASSION FOR SOULS. By Rev. J. H.
50 cents, net.
Fleming H. Revell Company, New

Jowett. I2mo. 128 PP.

York. MISSIONARY CIRCLES. XIII. Programs ar

ranged by the Ladies' Foreign M. S. of the First Presbyterian Church of Augusta, Ga.

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