VOL. LXXIV.

The More Hopeful Treasury Outlook

UNE was an exceptionally favorable month for the missionary treasury. To July 1st the receipts are $70,000 in excess of the receipts to July 1st, 1908. This amount in turn was $22,000 larger than the income to July 1st, 1907. Thus in two years a fine advance of $92,000 has been made. All this is most encouraging. It indicates that the Church desires a progressive missionary policy. THE SPIRIT OF MISSIONS has always had abundant faith in the willingness and ability of Churchmen to take advantage of every opportunity and to meet fearlessly and resolutely every emergency. It is gratifying to see this spirit manifested in spite of the adverse circumstances of Mr. Thomas's death, Dr. Lloyd's approaching retirement and Mr. Kimber's illness. Evidently many people have been thinking and praying and giving as never before. The gain to July 1st appears in all classes of contributions, especially in congregational offerings and individual gifts. The total has been helped greatly by one individual offering of $10,000. This is the largest single gift of the year. Not many people may be able to give $10,000 at one time, but there are not a few who can give from

No. 8

$100 to $1,000 and many more who can give from $5 to $100. Such gifts will be most timely now, for the fine gain of June must be held and improved upon. Unfortunately, a gain of $70,000 as compared with last year does not remove the possibility of a serious deficit on September 1st. Writing on July 19th we are unable to forecast accurately the record of the month, but the indications are that the income will be rather larger than in July, 1908. August is the last month of the fiscal year. An earnest effort all along the line may still avert the dampening and deadening effect of a shortage. Let every reader of THE SPIRIT OF MISSIONS do just a little more in giving himself and asking others to join him in crowding the word "deficit" out of this year's missionary history.

June the beautiful grounds of Fulham Palace, the home of the Bishop of London, became a spacious open-air stage, upon which were depicted some of the great episodes of English Church history, beginning with the publication of the Edict of the Emperor Constantine in 313 and closing with a procession illustrating some of the incidents of the eighteenth century. Other scenes were the foundation of Iona, the arrival of Augustine, the death of Becket, the granting of Magna Charta, the founding of King's College, Cambridge, the consecration of Archbishop Parker, the presentation to King James of the translation of the Bible and the execution of Archbishop Laud. About 4,000 performers took part in the pageant and great crowds came daily to witness the really wonderful performance.

The Church of England Looking Forward

But lest the thoughts of English Churchmen should become fixed upon the past, however interesting and significant, it was also arranged that for four weeks in June and July there should be a great missionary exhibit under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society. In the Royal Agricultural Hall the life of "Africa and the East" and the work done by Christian missions to better that life were reproduced on a large scale and with wonderfully realistic exactness. About 8,000 stewards took turns in caring for the various courts. More than 300 missionaries told of the conflicts and conquests of the Cross. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, the Lord Mayor of London and other distinguished speakers emphasized the duty of English Christians to the world.

Special trains were run from cities as far away as Liverpool, Exeter and Bristol. More than 230,000 people visited the exhibit between June 8th and July 3d, paying the admission fee of sixpence, a shilling or half a crown. The heavy expenses of assembling the

material for such an exhibit was entirely provided for and a surplus remains for missionary work in the field. Thus the Church of England, while looking backward to a memorable past, reaches forward to the present duty of making her Lord known throughout the world.

IT

What

T was inevitable that a recent brutal murder of a young American woman in New York by a Chinese whom she had taught and who had professed beSir Robert Hart lief in Christianity, should lead to much Did Not Say newspaper discussion regarding the alleged futility of all efforts to Christianize Oriental people. On the whole, however, the comments of correspondents and editors were far more restrained and discriminating than might have been expected. Ten years ago the subject would undoubtedly have been discussed with much more heat and much less consideration. In this fact it is, possibly, not inaccurate to read a somewhat changed attitude on the part of both press and public toward the general proposition that it is the duty of Christian people to make the Gospel known to non-Christian people.

One of the undiscriminating editorial comments appeared in the New Orleans Times-Democrat, a widely read and influential Southern journal. In the course of its article the Times-Democrat, with that calm air of infallibility, not to say omniscience, characteristic of a section of the press, remarked: "Sir Robert Hart, for many years in charge of the Chinese customs, whose knowledge of the Chinese character is probably greater than that of any other living uitlander, is quoted as saying that 'not one Chinaman has ever been converted to Christianity, no matter what the missionaries may believe or say.'" It seems a pity to shake the child-like confidence that could make in print such a statement and credit it to a man who spent nearly half a century in China, who

witnessed some of the Boxer activities and who passed through the siege of the legations in Peking in the summer of 1900. No one who knows anything of the facts would suppose for a moment that Sir Robert would or could make such a statement.

What

In order, however,

to settle the matter Sir Robert Hart finally, it was carDoes Say ried, through the courtesy of Dr. Herbert Lankester, of London, directly to Sir Robert Hart. This is his reply: "I never made any such statement. On the contrary, I have on several occasions adduced the fact that, during the Boxer trouble, in 1900, thousands of Christians bowed to death rather than recant, and the students of the American Methodist University at Peking prefer the life of evangelists on a mere pittance to that of other occupations with ample means and wealth to tempt them. Of course, preaching and teaching do not find the same response everywhere, but I believe that, while at some places success follows quickly and conspicuously, the 'Word of Life' is nowhere sown on barren soil; somebody receives it and bears 'fruit.' The end may be far off, but Christ will reign!"

Christian Truth the Basis of Civilization

"Christ will reign." What an inspiring conviction as one draws toward the end of a busy and useful life, lived for the most part in a non-Christian land. Sir Robert Hart has not been a missionary in the technical sense, yet his labors on behalf of China have been, in a real sense, missionary work. He has implanted principles of honesty and fair dealing; he has trained a large number of Chinese to be faithful servants of the nation. As a vicepresident for many years of Peking University, of whose graduates he writes so

highly, he acted upon his conviction that the West must not only teach the East the science of government and lay the foundations for commercial progress, but must impart that principle of Life without which no nation can prosper. No doubt Sir Robert Hart would say with Baron Uriu, vice-admiral of the Japanese navy and one of the most distinguished Christians in Japan, that government and commerce and all else that we include in the term civilization must be founded upon the bed-rock of Christian truth. That is the conviction, too that President Taft expressed to the laymen of New York a year ago in a great meeting in Carnegie Hall, when he said: "No man can study the movement of modern civilization from an impartial standpoint and not realize that Christianity and the spirit of Christianity are the only basis for the hope of modern civilization and the growth of popular self-government."

Mr. Roosevelt, speaking in Washington shortly before the expiration of his term of office, pointed with satisfaction to the fact that "America has for over a century done its share of missionary work. We who stay at home should, as a matter of duty, give cordial support to those who, in a spirit of devotion to all that is highest in human nature, spend the best part of their lives in trying to carry civilization and Christianity into lands which have hitherto known little of either." Utterances such as these from leaders of the world's thought and action go far toward justifying the assertion of the Archbishop of Canterbury in opening the exhibition of the Church Missionary Society the other day: "Nowadays missionary endeavor has come to be a factor-we might almost say a factor recognized by public men as the greatest in regard to our dealings with men of other color than our own. It is not the fad of a few; it is not even the enthusiasm of the Church; it is the deliberate thought, the deliberate conclusion of the statesmen and the inquirers of the world."

Church Progress in Cuba

One significant eviIdence of advance is the fact that the proceedings were conducted almost exclusively in Spanish. There will be general regret that Bishop Knight has been compelled to advise the clergy to go slowly in opening new stations, though the plan of beginning work only where all expense is provided from the start is well worth trying. The Cuban mission has done admirably in the amount given in the field for Church support and extension, but even in Cuba there may be chance for improvement in this respect. The present financial strain under which the Board of Missions is working would not be without benefit if it were to lead a great many congregations in this land as well as in the distant fields to ask whether they might not give up at least some outside aid in order that the money thus set free might be used to establish the Church in new places. The statistics of the Cuban mission show steady growth since the last convocation. Services are now being maintained in forty-eight places. When Bishop Knight went to Cuba in 1905 there were only nine congregations. The 297 confirmations since the district held its last meeting bring the present number of communicants to 1,355, a net increase of about one-third. There are four more Sunday-schools and the number of pupils has increased fifty per cent. The parish day-schools have grown from six to nine, with an increase in the teaching staff from nineteen to thirty-three and in the pupils from 348 to 533. The Church property is now valued at upward of $126,000, but much more is needed and its purchase would be a distinct economy, since about $10,000, or nearly one-third of the present appropriation by the Board of Missions, must be expended for rent for houses in which the Church's work can be carried on. The staff in Cuba includes, in addition to the bishop, six American and

ten Spanish-speaking clergy, with six candidates for orders and thirty-three lay workers and teachers. When it is remembered that four years and a half ago Cuba received its first bishop, the Church in this country has a right to take pride in the excellent record of growth and adaptation to the needs of the people.

IN

The Chinese Government and the Roman Missionaries

N 1899 the Chinese government, under French diplomatic pressure, confirmed the claim of Roman missionaries to excrcise civil as well as spiritual jurisdietion over their converts. Of course this was a distinct abrogation of inherent national rights, but in those days China was being harried and plundered by European powers. By the terms of the imperial rescript Roman priests were granted a rank equivalent to that of Chinese prefects, and bishops a rank equal to that of viceroys. After this concession had been wrested from the Chinese the Peking government offered to make a similar arrangement for the missionaries of non-Roman bodies. The offer was courteously but unanimously declined, for these missionaries preferred to let their lives and their work speak for them rather than to seek any official advantage. For years the difficulties with the Roman missionaries have been growing more frequent and acute owing to their custom of interfering in the administration of Chinese law as it affected Roman converts. Several local outbreaks of the Chinese against foreigners, such as that at Nanchang two years ago, can be traced directly or indirectly to this policy of interference. But China has been finding herself during the last few years. One evidence of this is an edict from Peking cancelling the privileges granted to Roman priests ten years ago. The action is wise and right. It is something for which every well-wisher of the Roman as well as the non-Roman missions has been hoping. It is bad for the extension and perma

work in China by erecting a new diocese. Heretofore, although the Canadian Church has sent her representatives to the empire, they have been attached to one of the six English dioceses. In the Rev. W. C. White, who has served for some years at Foochow, the Canadian Church has found a worthy leader for this new enterprise. The financial difficulties in the way have been met and conquered in unique fashion. The bishops of the Church in Canada announced that they would not consecrate until suitable provision for the support of a new bishop was assured. The committee charged with the duty of distributing the Pan-Anglican Thank-offering assigned $10,000 for this purpose. St. Matthew's congregation, of Quebec, has given up temporarily its plans for a new organ and has given the $6,000 collected for that purpose to the scheme, while the Hon. S. H. Blake, one of Canada's loyal Churchmen, has guaranteed to make good any deficiency. An enterprise conceived and begun in such a spirit cannot fail of success.

The Diocese of Hunan will be carved out of the present Diocese of Victoria and will include the southern part of the Hunan province. The Archbishop of Canterbury has appointed as the new bishop Archdeacon Bannister, of Hong Kong. For nearly thirty years Archdeacon Bannister has served in China and has proved in many offices his capacity as a wise and effective leader.