message, and others to "heal the sick"; but those who preached were those who should afterwards heal. This is what is meant by the term "medical missionary." Not one man to heal and another to preach, but where both preacher and healer are represented in the same person. The medical work must ever be regarded as a handmaid to the gospel. The attention of the sufferer is already directed towards the physician, who improves the power he already exercises upon his patient, and speaks of the love of Jesus. The patient has derived benefit from the physician, and the ear is open to the same voice, which has won the heart by reason of the relief he has brought to the body. I saw this in China, and was conscious of my personal influence over all my patients. During the month of August last I was assisting Dr. Owles in his medical mission work in Liverpool, where I often preached to the patients before seeing them in the consulting-room. Then I felt the all but irresistible power which God had given to me over the poor sick people. The ear was open to all that was said. The hearts of many had been won by kindness and relief. Had another than the one who prescribed, preached, the chain of influence would have been broken. This is often the case in China, simply because many of the medical men known as medical missionaries do not preach the gospel. Ever since God put the desire into my heart to go to China, it has been as a medical missionary. Nearly three years in that country enabled me to learn the Mandarin dialect, to travel as a colporteur hundreds of miles away into the interior, from free ports, and be engaged in preaching and selling the Scriptures, and also as a medical missionary on a small scale, when residing in HangChau and Nankin. I have returned home purposely to complete my medical studies at the London Hospital, and hope, after professional qualification, to return to the field of labour. I trust that 1875 will find me once more in China. I can scarcely imagine a finer field for medical missions than China. The non-professional people there (those who know anything about it) for the most part are convinced of the superiority of foreign practice over their own; and when it is gratuitous are glad to avail themselves of it. This statement has been corroborated by innumerable instances in the history of medical work in China. Our one great enemy is the "native doctor," who spreads abroad the awful reports about foreigners kidnapping children, scooping out their eyes, and cutting out their hearts, and then boiling them down for medicine. I take occasion to give positive denial to the unwarrantable rumours which have been started in England, that the English doctors, who work amongst the Chinese in China, have by reason of their blunders given just cause for these reports. Dr. Maxwell, of Formosa, gave no cause in his practice whatever for the disturbance there in 1868. Nor did Mr. J. H. Taylor, in Hang-Chau in 1867, when the doctors of that city threatened to sack our missionpremises there. It is the reverse. It is because foreign doctors in China are so successful in their treatment of natives that they are so inundated with all kinds of patients, which causes the native doctors, who see these things, to gnash their teeth with pent-up hate, which at times manifests itself in rumours too horrible to relate, but which I hear are true of the native doctors themselves. And are we to stop

such a good work because we are opposed? No! Never! Medical mission work is of Christ's establishment, and in his name and in his strength we will carry it on-even in China.

By these four mediums, then, the gospel may be made known; viz., Schools, Preachers, Colporteurs, and Medical Missionaries. To prosecute these various works, and especially the second and third, China NEEDS YOUNG MEN. Strong, active young men, of unquestionable piety, who, actuated by the "love of Christ " (2 Cor. v. 14), are willing to go out, "being held from above." From God and for God. If they cannot go out in simple dependence upon him, and trust his faithfulness, then let them stop where they are. For the life of a faithful missionary in China, especially in the interior (and it is there men are wanted), means trial and denial of nearly every kind. But let this be remembered, that "God is not unmindful (unrighteous) so as to forget your work and labour of love." (Heb. vi. 10.) Neither is he less honourable than an earthly master, who faithfully remunerates his servant for bis service, and supplies him with everything needful to carry out that service. If you count it any hardship to part with the comforts of home, and the delicacies of an English table, and in lieu of all these things, to sleep in a Chinese bed laid on battened earth, or on barrows or mats, and to eat rice, slugs and bacon fried in lamp-oil, then take care that you are not found in the interior of China. Luxurious hotels with feather beds and all the delicacies of an English table, may be found in English cities, but most certainly they are not in Chinese. Repeatedly I have thanked God for giving me a cover to my head, when lying down at night on the mud floor of a mud-hut. But we are persuaded, when God has called a young man to China, all these matters will be of third-rate importance, if entertained at all. Souls are perishing, brother, in hopeless sin! Men are dying, ignorant of Christ who came to save them. Buried in filth, manacled and borne down by heavy chains of superstition and idolatry, men, women, and children are living out wretched existences. And MEN are NEEDED; true-hearted, genuine men, manly men, full of Christ, to go to the rescue of those who live in the power of Satan, and at their Master's command to "loose them, and let them go." (John ix. 44.)

Strong words have been uttered against sending young men to China as missionaries without a "college training." College training is very desirable, but it is not the only qualification. For much of foreign missionary work (and home, too,) college training is unnecessary. But even where desirable it must never be substituted for personal piety and Christlike zeal. Not that it is so; but we hear certain people cry out far more when men lack college training than when they lack a true spirit of holy devotion. You seldom hear a word said about our city missionaries at home lacking college training; and from what I know of both kinds of work-at home and abroad-it requires far more ingenuity and knowledge to deal with men in Whitechapel than ever it does in Nankin. Yet a city missionary, with a London School Board education, if he is a good and useful Christian, is deemed equal to his work. Why should there be such an outcry for collegetraining in missionaries going abroad? Is it that the intellectual standard shall not be lowered? Is it simply to have none but educated

gentlemen go out? and so save the circle from the sound of an untaught lip? Oh! sirs, God forgive us if we seek to establish a missionary aristocracy abroad.

The mission of which I have the honour to be a member, has been singled out by some-Carstair Douglas, of Amoy, China, for one (sec) "Memoir of the Rev. W. C. Burns," Appendix)-as being composed of a lot of uneducated people. Uneducated or not, this I can truthfully say, than no one mission in China has accomplished more, or been the means of establishing so many stations in the same time, as the China Inland Mission. Although we have been called by a certain English nobleman (God forgive him), "the sons and daughters of a lot of Whitechapel costermongers and greengrocers," "of this I am proud, that every member of the mission, since the last embarkation in 1870, can speak the language fluently; and some of them a number of dialects. And they have, more or less, all been owned of God in the conversion of sinners.

It does not require much deep mental acumen to overcome the mysteries of the Chinese language. Any young man under twenty-eight years of age, with an ordinary amount of intelligence and perseverance, can obtain sufficient knowledge of the Chinese language in ten months to enable him to preach either in the chapel or streets. We are well aware he will speak better at the end of the fifth year than he does at the end of the first. When in China, we did not find that it required a remarkably well-furnished mind to converse with the Chinese. There is no need to be well up in the first six books of Euclid to answer the shrewd question, "Does it ever rain in your honourable country?" Or, Does the same sun and moon shine on your country that shines on ours?" So let no young man think himself disqualified on the ground of lacking a college-training. If he possess sufficient mental ability and perseverance to acquire the language, so as to speak it intelligibly, then he will be able to "preach the Gospel." In doing this, he will be doing just the ONE thing his Master told him to do. (Mark xvi. 15.) We are not told to go and translate abstruse works into Chinese, or impart secular instruction. We are told to go and "preach the Gospel." Preach it to the very best of our ability, and leave the work of translating scientific works into Chinese to others. It is no real part of a missionary's work.

It must not be thought that we wish to despise education; we do no such thing. Education is invaluable in every calling, especially in the foreign missionary. By all means seek to send out educated men, other things being equal. But by no means make education the sine quâ non, and reject those who fall short in this department only. Sensible young men, with perseverance and energy, mixed with patience and politeness, and full of Christ, are the men to take the Gospel to China. But how many young men does China need? Fifty? a hundred ? a thousand? Yes, far more. No country in the entire world is so needy as concerns the knowledge of the truth as China. It possesses 400 millions of precious souls. At the best computation, there are about two hundred male Protestant missionaries, and these are confined for the most part to the free ports on the coast. They reach at most but twenty millions or so; whilst the remaining 380 millions, mostly in the vast interior, are beyond the sound of the Gospel-having no

opportunity of hearing it. It is for these 380 millions that I plead. Oh, brother, is it true that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son"? Is it true that Jesus shed his blood to save sinners, and that these know it not? Rests there a doubt upon your mind as to God's will concerning these 380 millions? Listen,-"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Whether God has ordained them all to salvation or not, is quite another matter. One thing is certain, God wills that each of these should hear the gospel. You have nothing to do with God's predestination. That is his work, not yours. It is for you to preach,

and for him to save. He has more than once declared his desire that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. Moreover, he has, through his Son, given his express commands to us to go and preach the gospel to each one of those 380 millions of Chinese, in that he has said, "to every creature." Do not shirk the responsibility, and say that the truth will permeate into the interior in the ordinary course, and reach them in time. Oh, sirs! these 400 millions in China are dying at the rate of a million a-month. Dying without God. Passing away to return no more. Without the knowledge of Christ, and in the vast majority of cases without having enjoyed even a single opportunity of hearing about him. And "how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent ?" (Rom. x. 14, 15.) This brings me to the last point, namely, China NEEDS the SYMPATHY and HELP of the CHURCH at home.

The church is the granary where the seed of truth is stored. There is the mine in which the precious metal is found. Grain was never given to be kept in granaries, but to support life. "He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him." (Prov. xi. 26.) No more were gold and silver given to remain in the earth, but to be circulated amongst the families of men. And so the blessings of salvation, like rivers of waters, were intended to flow to all nations free. It is well that water is not in the power of man to give, as bread is. Water flows freely from the hand of God to all, and we are far more dependent upon this for the maintenance of life than we are upon bread. Were it not so, many of us would perish. These two pillars which support human life were used by Christ to show forth the character of the salvation he came to work out. Let the church of God take a lesson from this teaching in the 5th and 6th chapters in St. John's gospel, and send out sowers laden with good seed to sow the world over. I hold that this ought to be the distinctive feature of every church— to send out men to all parts to proclaim the truth. It ought not to be left to missionary societies, but the churches upon their own responsibility should send out men. The church at Jerusalem sent out Barnabas to Antioch. (Acts xi. 22.) Afterwards the church at Antioch sent out Barnabas and Saul to Asia Minor. (Acts xiii. 3.) So now, individual churches ought to take upon themselves the responsibility of sending out from their own midst. This kind of work would create a healthy and blessed influence in every church where done. A deep personal interest would then be taken in the condition of the distant heathen. As it is now, this work is thrown upon missionary societies. Missionary societies are provisional necessities for idle churches. There is

in consequence but little active interest taken in foreign missions in churches as there ought to be. For one, I should rejoice to see churches acting independently of these societies; accepting mensuitable men-from their own midst for the work; and making themselves responsible for their maintenance. Far more men would then go out. I know a small Baptist church, not a thousand miles from Oxford Street, London, from, and by whom, a young man was sent to China in 1864. Though they are but few in number, and comparatively poor, yet they support one of their own members in Ningpo. They can point to him and say, "Though we could not go ourselves to China, we have sent a man, and he shall represent us there. We will prop him up with our support whilst he labours for Christ. We stand at the pit's mouth, holding on to one end of the rope, whilst our brother is hanging on to the other end, in the pit." God has blessed, and will bless all such work. Depend upon it, "the liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth shall be watered also himself." (Prov. xi. 25.) If a comparatively poor church like the one mentioned, with less than 150 members, can send a man to preach the gospel in China, what can a church with 500, or 1,000, or even 2,000, members do? A worldly maxim if you will, but it is true-" where there's a will, there's a way." The church at home is full of power and resources; but, like a drowsy lion, who, to use a Chinese expression, "has eaten to the full," needs to be shaken to be awaked; awakened to a sense of its responsibilities, its priviliges, and power. I would that I could, next Sunday morning, with a trumpet, peal out the note, "380 millions in China, and no gospel," into the ear of every Christian as he or she sits in the pew listening to the preacher. "A million a-month dying in China without God." Ministers of the gospel, deliver yourselves, by being faithful to your congregations on this point of personal effort in mission work abroad. Members of Christian churches, remember that you and I will one day stand at Christ's judgment-bar; to be judged, not so much for the things we have done, as the things we have left undone and ought to have done; not so much for positive as for negative sin. For "if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not his trumpet, and the people be not warned: if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand." (Ezek. xxxiii. 6.) You knew that "the wicked shall be turned in hell, and all the nations that forget God." (Ps. ix. 17.) Having been a partaker of the grace of life, you knew of the "blood that saves." But you have forgotten the command to go and "preach to every creature: " hence, he who knew his Lord's will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes." (Luke xii. 47.) That time has not yet come, so " withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to-morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee." (Proverbs iv. 27, 28.)

China! poor China. Help those who are see the fruit of your And Jesus, pointing to some

God help you all to remember poor China. Pray for her; and for those who labour there. going, and help more to go. At the last, you shall labour, at God's right hand in heaven. blood-washed Chinese, shall say to you, "Inasmuch as ye have done it