The missionary campaign in India. seems to many to be progressing very slowly, if at all. It would be difficult for even the wisest of men to find a satisfactory definition of such relative terms as "slow" and "fast" when applied to missionary work. The rate of progress had varied at different periods, now accelerated and again retarded, but progress there has always been. But when the question is put in this form, "Whether the process be slow or fast, what are the results, if any?" then we pass from the shifting sands of opinion to the solid bed-rock of fact.

Bearing in mind the necessity for a very brief and imperfect treatment of the subject, let us consider some of the avauable evidence to show why we should be full of praise and gratitude to God for what He has wrought in India in these last days, and full of hope and confidence regarding the future. In the report of the Decennial Conference of Protestant Missions, held in Madras, India, in December, 1902, and attended by over 300 missionaries, not a word will be found that indicates discouragement or even misgiving. The missionaries do not underrate the powers of the adversary; they know that there is a long fight in front of them, but in their hearts there shines this unquenchable hope, that "He shall not fail nor be discouraged," and confirmed by what is going on before their eyes.

As a basis for this feeling of encouragement, consider the following facts and figures:

I. Out of 294,000,000 people in the

Indian Empire, about 3,000,000 are nominally Christian. These latter include 1,000,000 Protestant native Christians (reckoning only those who are living to-day, for statistics never take account of the dead). In the decade 1891-1900, while the general population increased only 11⁄2 per cent., Protestant native Christians increased at the rate of 50 per cent. Next to them came Buddhists (chiefly in Burma), growing 32 per cent.; Sikhs, 15 per cent.; Mohammedans, 9 per cent.; Hindus actually decreasing 14 per cent., tho they still number over 200,

000,000.

2. Quite as remarkable as the numerical increase has been the spiritual progress of these native Christians. This is a point often overlooked, both by friendly and unfriendly critics, but it is the most vital factor in the whole question of progress. In almost the whole extent of the Indian mission field there is an eager waiting upon God for fuller blessing and for the power of the Holy Spirit; there is more desire for the study of the Word of God, and a more consistent life and walk on the part of the native Christians. The native Church is making real, as well as rapid, progress in the direction of self-support and self-extension, matters that are nowadays well to the front, and clearly indicate vitality and vigor in the growing Indian Church.

3. Sunday-school work has made marked progress. In the ten years under review by the Decennial Conference the number of scholars had more than doubled and now stands at 300,000. This augurs well for the fu

ture of Christian work in India, and God's people should continually pray that His richest blessing may rest on Sunday-school and Christian Endeavor work in the mission fields.

4. Women's work for India is second to none in importance. Those who know well, tell us that "the number of secret or confessing, but still unbaptized, believers, both women and girls, is steadily increasing all over the land." These are believers, but for various reasons they are not in acknowledged fellowship with the Christian Church, and so they are not reported as Christians, but God knows "His own" and only He knows how many such "hidden treasures" there really

are.

5. There is scarcely any missionary who has not come across such secret disciples, not women only, but men too, and especially young men of the educated classes. The Bible is being carefully studied by thousands of whom we know little or nothing-by some who are altogether outside the range of personal missionary effort.

On the mountain rampart overlooking the northwest frontier of India, a fierce, unruly, Mohammedan tribe inhabits one district, aptly called the "Black Mountain." A young man of the tribe, wandering down on to the plains, came upon a copy of the Gospel according to Luke. He was charmed with the story, and inquiring of a friend where any other such books might be found, he was directed to a mission station, where he obtained the other three Gospels. He had not read the little books through twice. before he was convinced not merely of the beauty but still more of the truth of what he read. Henceforth no more Mohammed for him, "none but Christ

could satisfy.". The purity, the truth, the love, the wisdom, the goodness of the Prophet of Nazareth convinced. him that He was more than a Prophet, even the Son of God, and his Savior and Lord. He returned to his home on the Black Mountain and told his people of his new faith and showed. them his books. His father, an old man of over seventy years, a fine, tall fellow and a "first-class fighting man," but bitterly hating Christianity, was so furious with the boy that he wanted to shoot him on the spot. The mother pleaded for her son, so the old man said: "I give him three months; at the end of that time, if he does not give up this accursed nonsense, I'll shoot him like a dog." During that period the young man fell ill and seemed to be in danger of death, and the father exultingly said: "See! God is laying His hand on the dog; no need for me to kill him." Then the lad began to mend, and the father was angrier than ever, saying: "I shall have to kill him myself, after all." A cousin came to the lad and said: "I don't believe in your Christianity, but I don't want to see you murdered: so I'll help you to get away down to the plain as soon as you are fit to go." In due time the young fellow escaped to the railway, and traveled as far as Amritsar, where he was introduced to the C. M. S. missionaries, was baptized, and began to work in the mission hospital as a "compounder." One day he came face to face with his father in the bazar. Neither of them knew that the other was in the place. At once the young man turned and fled to the mission in terror for his life. With great difficulty he was assured that his father could not shoot people in British territory as in the Black Mountain. "Ah!

sir," he said, "you don't know my father!"

The old man was politely invited to the missionary's house, where he was asked to remain as long as he wished. Respectful, courteous, and kindly treatment tamed the wild tiger-spirit, and he talked long and often with the doctor on all manner of subjects, day after day, till one day he said he must be going home. "But what about your son?" asked the missionary. "He is no son of mine," replied the father. "I came down here with murder in my heart, intending to kill him. But I can not do that now. Christians are better people than I thought. Take him and train him as you will." He took the lad's hand and placed it in the doctor's.

"Will you promise me one thing?" said the doctor. "I want you to read this book." It was the New Testament in his own tongue.

"Is that all? That's nothing to promise. Of course I'll read it, if you wish."

So he went home, and months went by. Again he found his way to the doctor's house in Amritsar.

"I have not come to stay," he said. "We have been reading that beautiful book you gave me, and as it is called the New Testament, we have thought there may be an Old one. If so, we should like to read that, too."

He received a copy of the Old Testament and returned home immediately. Some eight or nine months later he came for the third time, and this was now his story:

"We find that the Old Testament. tells of our own prophets, Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, and so on. They spoke of a Coming One, and in the New Testament Jesus of Nazareth

His

says that they spoke of Him. teaching is so beautiful and true! He is so pure and good that He has won my heart, and I have come to be baptized."

So the old man was baptized at the age of about 72, his tiger-heart tamed and turned to the heart of a little child; his hands, red with many murders, now lifted up in praise to God for His mercy and saving grace.

With God all things are possible. Have faith in Him, for He is at work everywhere and always, and there is no help or power in any but in Him. This is the ground of confidence of every missionary worker.

6. We should come far short of the truth in our estimate of the results of missionary work if we were to ignore what are called the "indirect" results.

Hindu social reform movements, which are protests against evil in many forms by men who are still far from being professing Christians, reveal the extent of the influence of Christianity. Conferences have been held by such in Christian places of meeting, at which Hindus have passed severe censures upon certain practises of their coreligionists, such as childmarriage and the degradation of widows, priestcraft and temple abuses. Beyond all this we come across thoughtful Hindus, whether "orthodox" or advanced, who are apprehensive and troubled, knowing only too well that Christianity is an irresistible force against which their gods and they are equally impotent.

A new Islam has also arisen in our midst. Western science, philosophy, history, and religion have stirred the Moslem mind to such purpose that many have moved to a position full of encouragement for the Christian mis

sionary. There is a wide gulf, growing wider every year, between orthodox and liberal Islam. The new movement has led, among other things, to the study of Christian writings by educated Mohammedans. The outlook among this class is more hopeful than ever, and we need men specially trained for this work.

Do we not well to be hopeful and to look for yet greater things? The secret, silent development of the work has no doubt been very gradual, but when the future brings it all to the birth, it will probably be with surprising swiftness, and we shall see "a nation born in a day." Some who read these words shall not taste of death until they have seen the glory of God manifested in India. When that day comes, it will rebuke all our want of faith and patience, all our doubts and misgivings.

Causes of Delay

The "slowness" of progress which is complained of in many quarters may be due to circumstances within our control, to our remissness, to want of faith and courage, zeal and liberality, earnestness and self-sacrifice, to the deficiency of workers or to defective methods. If so, we do well to be troubled with great searchings of heart.

There

Let us look at the situation from this other point of view, not what has been done, but what remains to be done? We have no call to be discouraged, but neither have we a right to be satisfied with the present conditions. are still 207,000,000 of Hindus, 62,000,000 of Mohammedans, and 20,000,000 of other non-Christians in the Indian Empire, and a very large proportion of these have yet to hear the Gospel. How are we performing our duty toward these millions?

British Baptists, for example, who are working in North In lia are responsible for the evangelization of about 38,000,000 of people, more than the whole population of England and Wales. The working staff to-day is so inadequate to the task laid upon them that there is only one worker (foreign and native) to every 200,000 nonChristians in that field. Supposing that Wales were pagan to-day and that the Baptist Union arranged to evangelize it. If they went to work on the same scale as the B. M. S. are working in India, they would send one Baptist minister, three local preachers, three colporteurs, and two deaconesses-nine workers in all!

But this is not the whole story. In North Bengal, a vast region, with over 7,000,000 of people, we have one worker to 500,000 souls! There is no other society at work in that area, and no zenana work. Is it right to expect great results and to expect them quickly when we have not begun to meet the need in any thorough fashion that would honestly deserve such results?

In the height of the hot season, on a hot night in June, when the scorching wind from the desert keeps the thermometer at midnight up to 80 degrees, an outpost missionary is alone with God and his thoughts on the roof of the mission bungalow, under the brilliant stars. He thinks of all the work intrusted to him, with six native. helpers. Evangelistic and pastoral, schools and medical work, finance, office work, and correspondence, and whatever part of all this he may share with others or delegate to them, the whole responsibility rests on him alone. Then he thinks of his district, containing 600,000 souls at the least.