A UNION service of seven Baptist churches was held in Rangoon, Burma, on New Year's morning. Mr. F. D. Phinney, Superintendent of the Baptist Mission Press, sends to the editor a program of the exercises, with hymns in four languages: English, Burman, Karen and Tamil. The scripture was read in five languages: English, Burman, Karen, Telugu and Chinese. The invocation was by the veteran Pwo Karen missionary, Rev. D. L. Brayton, who has just celebrated his ninetieth birthday, and has spent nearly sixty-two years in the missionary service. Prayer was offered in English by Rev. W. F. Gray, and the addresses were by Rev. W. F. Armstrong in English, Saya Lu Din in Burmese, Rev. A. E. Seagrave in Karen and Mr. S. J. Duncan in Tamil. Of this inspiring meeting Mr. Phinney writes: We had more than one thousand four hundred present, including the school children who attended, and a unanimity in the singing of the grand old hymns that would have done your heart good to see and hear. The program is printed with hymns in four languages, and all sang together, each in his own tongue, making the room ring as it has seldom or never rang before. This was especially noticeable on the second hymn, “How Firm a Foundation," and on the doxology. The services lasted a little less than an hour and a half, and were enjoyed by all. It was impossible to seat all the audience, and many had to stand through it all. In the addresses mention was made of the sainted dead of the year: Dr. Duncan, Mrs. Stevens and Mrs. Packer, and lessons drawn for encouragement and emulation. The benediction was pronounced by the Methodist pastor, Rev. C. B. Hill. There are but few localities in the world where a service of this unique character could be successfully carried out. Burma is a meeting-point of the races of Southern and Eastern Asia, having representatives of nearly fifty different peoples and dialects, and Baptist missions have made so much progress in Burma that representatives of every race in this polyglot country can be summoned to participate with one heart, but varying voices in a grand gathering of praise to the name of him in whom all the nations of the earth are made one. T The Difficulty of Obtaining Presidents for our educational institutions will not, we trust, be ascribed to the large number of able men who have entered the foreign missionary service. Some have seemed to fear that, if so many ministers went abroad, there might be a dearth of pastors for the churches at home, but we have not learned that serious trouble in this direction has been encountered. A few years ago a professor in one of our institutions of learning deprecated the devotion of young men of great ability to work abroad on the ground that their services are needed at home. Is it possible that his fears were well founded, and that so much talent has been drawn off for foreign service as to cause a deficiency in presidential material? We cannot believe it. The List of Chinese Reforms in the last number of THE MAGAZINE should have been credited to The Independent. The Buddhists of Burma recently presented a magnificent golden casket to the shrine of Buddha at Colombo, Ceylon. It is intended to contain a tooth of Buddha, and is valued at a lac of rupees (100,000 rupees or about $33,000.) When it was shipped to Colombo on the steamer " Derbyshire," more than one thousand Burmans accompanied it as an escort. This is an indication of the strength and power which Buddhism still retains in Burma, and of the need of vigorous and effective labors on the part of Christian missions in that province. Death of Rev. Charles B. Glenesk. With sorrow we record the death of this member of our mission on the Congo, in Aberdeen, Scotland, about Feb. 25, as we learn from a letter from his pastor, Rev. S. G. Woodrow. Mr. Glenesk went out to the Congo in 1884 and was a member of the Livingstone Inland Mission when that work was assumed by the Missionary Union in September of that year. His special work on the Congo has been in the conduct and care of the missionary steamer, the "Henry Reed," in conjunction with Rev. A. Billington. These two brethren put the steamer together at Stanley Pool, and have most ably, efficiently and faithfully carried on the important work of the steamer in connection with the missions of the Upper Congo for nearly all the time from that date to this, interrupted only by occasional visits to England for rest and the restoration of health. The nature of this work was by no means merely mechanical, but in conjunction with the work of the steamer Mr. Glenesk did a large amount of missionary work, especially at Bwemba, which was his home and the headquarters of the steamer when not engaged in its voyages. His death will bring great sorrow to the missionaries on the Congo. He leaves a widow with four children, to whom we extend the most sincere sympathy, as well as to the circle of friends in Scotland and on the Congo. Mr. Glenesk's death was due to a sudden and severe attack of pneumonia, in connection with the weakness incident to the fevers which had obliged him to seek restoration of health in Scotland. Although the Congo climate is considered unfavorable for the residence of white men, fifteen years have passed since the adoption of the Congo Mission by the Missionary Union without a break in the ranks of the nine men who came to the Union in 1884. Mr. Glenesk is the first to be called away. The Religious Condition of Japan is something remarkable if an examination of three schools is any indication. Of the 400 students examined, 282 claimed to be Agnostics, 60 Atheists, 15 Buddhists, 4 Christians and only one was an adherent of Shintoism. Japan's objection to being called a heathen nation would, according to this, seem to be well founded. In a catalogue of religions it is difficult to say where Japan should be placed, but this examination may serve to show some of the difficulties which Christian missionary laborers in that country will be called upon to meet. AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSION PRESS, RANGOON, BURMA - PRESS ROOM THE AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSION PRESS, RANGOON, BURMA REV. EDWARD O. STEVENS Μ' R. FELIX CAREY, son of William Carey, D.D., of Serampore began work in Rangoon on behalf of Burmans before the arrival of any American missionaries. By the time he had acquired the Burmese language, however, he went up to the capital at the command of Mendaragyi, the King of Burma. It was during his absence that Mr. and Mrs. Judson landed from the old brig "Georgiana" on the 13th of July, 1813; so they occupied the vacant house of the English Baptist Mission. Mr. Felix Carey entered the service of the king, and the property was transferred to the American Baptist Board of Foreign Missions. In 1816 Mr. George Hough was sent out as mission printer, coming by way of Cal cutta. The English missionaries at Serampore gave him a hand-press and the types with which Mr. Felix Carey had already done a little printing in the Burmese language. When Mr. and Mrs. Hough reached their destination, this press was placed at one end of the veranda of the mission-house. That was the beginning of the American Baptist Mission Press at Rangoon. The war of 1824-26 broke up missionary operations for two years. Mr. Judson was imprisoned at Ava and Aungbinle as a spy, and Mr. and Mrs. Hough and Rev. and Mrs. Wade fled to Serampore, taking the mission press along with them. Mr. Hough printed at Serampore the edition of Judson's Burmese and English dictionary, which was edited by Mr. Wade. The American Baptist Mission Press, Rangoon, Burma After the close of the war Messrs. R. B. Hancock, O. T. Cutter and Cephas Bennett were appointed as missionary printers. Mr. Cutter answered the summons of the King of Burma by taking a press to the capital for royal inspection. While he was at Amarapura he struck off one edition of Boardman's tract, entitled "The Ship of Grace." Soon after his return from Upper Burma, Mr. and Mrs. Cutter were transferred to Assam. When Mr. and Mrs. Hancock went back to America his place was filled by Mr. S. M. Osgood, who printed in Moulmein the first and second editions of Dr. Judson's Burmese Bible. Meanwhile Mr. Bennett had charge of a mission printing office at Tavoy. When Rev. S. M. Osgood, with his family, went home in 1847, Mr. T. S. Ranney assumed charge of the Moulmein Mission Press. The annexation of Pegu was proclaimed in 1853, at the close of the second Burmese war. That event was speedily followed by the removal of the mission presses from Tavoy and Moulmein to Rangoon, with Rev. Cephas Bennett for superintendent. To assist him Mr. Haws came out in 1863 and Mr. Hancock in 1866, but neither of them was long connected with the press. In 1871 Rev. I. D. Colburn assumed charge. In 1874 Mr. W. H. S. Hascall was assistant superintendent. He was relieved by Rev. C. Bennett. Mr. Bennett was followed by Rev. W. H. Sloan, who was mission treasurer and press superintendent from 1875 to 1877. When Mr. Sloan took his family to America, the superintendence reverted to Mr. Bennett. He was succeeded by F. D. Phinney, Esq., who, twice temporarily relieved by Professor Roach and once by Mr. Miller, is at present the efficient superintendent. It would be difficult to overestimate the amount of good which has been accomplished by means of the Mission Press in Burma. Not only has the third edition of the Burmese Bible been published, but also several editions of the New Testament, in 131 cluding two with references carefully prepared by the late E. A. Stevens, D.D. The Sgaw-Karen Bible was translated by the late Francis Mason, D.D., and the Pwo Karen by the venerable octogenarian, Rev. D. L. Brayton. J. N. Cushing, D.D., now President of the Baptist College, Rangoon, translated the Bible into the Shan language. The Peguan New Testament, translated by the late J. M. Haswell, D.D., was printed in 1847. Millions of pages of tracts, in different languages and dialects, have been printed, sometimes at private expense, sometimes with funds furnished by the American Baptist Missionary Union and sometimes with grants from the Burma Bible and Tract Society. Most of the tracts have been distributed gratis, but the standard Burmese and Karen hymn-books have been in such demand that they can be sold at a profit. Last year the "Peguan Hymnal" was issued from the press by Rev. E. O. Stevens, who has recently edited the Talaing spellingbook, and compiled the "English and Peguan Vocabulary." Conspicuous in the list of those who have done much by way of preparing Christian books for the Sgaw-Karens are the names of Dr. and Mrs. Binney, Rev. Elisha L. Abbott, Mrs. H. M. Mason, Mrs. Vinton and Mrs. Thomas, among the dead, and Dr. Cross and son and Rev. D. A. W. Smith, D.D., among the living. Moreover, beginnings have been made by reducing to writing languages of wild tribes, such as the Chins, Kachins, Kh'mis and the Salōngs of the Mergui Archipelago. Large numbers of dictionaries, vocabularies and school-books have been made in English as well as Asiatic tongues. "Stilson's Arithmetic," Part I, revised by the late Rev. J. R. Haswell, is still recognized by the Government Education Department as the standard for vernacular schools throughout Burma. Honorable mention should be made of the first and second Mrs. Judson, and Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Comstock and Mrs. Stilson, among the dead, and Misses Evans, Phinney and Ranney and Mrs. E. O. Stevens, among the living, who have done their part in the translation of books for children of Burmese Christians. To be used in the Burmese Theological Seminary, Rev. F. H. Eveleth, D.D., has quite recently brought out a "Theology" and the "Preparation and Delivery of Sermons." It should be added that, as time goes on, educated natives, by means of the pen of the ready writer, are doing more and more for the upbuilding of the cause of Christ in Burma. From time to time the Rangoon Baptist Mission Press has been aided by funds appropriated from America for the purpose of circulating the Holy Scriptures; but frequently it becomes necessary to resort to job work, for it has been a matter of distinct understanding for many years that by some means or other the press must manage to pay for itself. The Rangoon Baptist Mission Press is doing for the Baptist missions in Burma a work similar to that the American Baptist Publication Society is doing for the Baptists of the United States, with this difference: that whereas the Publication Society has beautiful buildings and offices and the best facilities, the Rangoon Baptist Mission Press is in sore need of better accommodations. Just at present Mr. Phinney is agitating the subject of tearing down the old, inconvenient buildings, and putting upon their site a new structure, in order to meet the demands of the ever-expanding work. An opportunity is now offered for such as desire to contribute to this object. May there be a hearty and generous response in both hemispheres. Let the friends to the Baptist mission in Burma earnestly pray that the Rangoon Baptist Mission Press may no longer be hampered and cramped. for lack of suitable quarters. And as true prayer and giving to the cause go together, let us hope that the future of that press may be even more blessed and glorious than its past. From The Commonwealth. THE MOVEMENTS IN CHINA HE only things certainly known are that the emperor projected very sweeping measures of reform, was sustained in his purpose by the best sentiment of the educated classes and by the great body of the people, was thwarted by the coup d' etat of the empress dowager, and practically deposed. The empress inaugurated a strong reactionary movement, had many of the emperor's advisers beheaded and others degraded and exiled, but has evidently been checked in her course, and in some of her decrees gives intimation that reform must go on. How far it can go, she does not say. In truth, it cannot now be stopped. The steady pressure from foreign powers re-enforcing the unmistakable demand of the people, is not to be finally resisted. Of course these are matters with which we have to do only as they affect our mission interests and work. From this point of view the immediate effect of them is to bring us into close living relations with all classes of people. They know our purpose and work; they know that reform (that is the great word in China now, from Peking to Hong Kong) must and will come soon; and they know that our teaching and training alone can prepare them for it and make it a blessing when it does come. Hence the field is practically ours. Christian literature is circulated as never before through almost the whole empire and through Chinese agencies. Christian schools are patronized by the best families. BISHOP A. W. WILSON in The Review |