to speak as he teaches. My joy is unspeakable that the Lord has taken one who was set apart for the Buddhist priesthood, and made him to become a messenger of the Most High.

All these things are signs of the times. Japan is dying, dying, but she is waking, too, to a new and glorious life. Doors are open on every side. Thousands, millions are starving, dying. Oh, for more faithful, Spirit-filled workers to enter the open doors! The doors are open, and now is the time for us Baptists to be up and doing, if we wish the pure gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Christianity of Japan.

FROM AFRICA

Light spreading-Seeking after Truth!

W. H. LESLIE, M.D., Banza Manteke

THE gospel has gone on spreading from this station until it now reaches into the darkness two or three days' journey on every side of us. We have forty or fifty

native evangelists and teachers, and there is plenty of need for about as many more.

Many of the heathen have cast off their old superstitions after once hearing of God from some of our people passing through their country. Some are faithfully trying to follow the glimmer of light which they have seen, and meet together for daily prayer. I have just heard of a company of searchers after the truth whose ignorance is only exceeded by earnestness. They feel that singing is the essential part of worship, and as they know no hymns they have been trying to sing "mosi, zole, tath, yia," etc., "one, two, three, four," to the praise of God. In other places where the ignorance is even greater, they have lapsed again into the darkness for want of some one to teach them.

The gratitude of the native Christians is simply astonishing, and out of their awful poverty they have given this year $500 to the medical work.

Min

R. DENBY, our minister to China, in describing the work of Christian missionaries in China, says:

"I think that no one can controvert the patent fact that the Chinese are enormously benefited by the labors of the missionaries in their midst. Foreign hospitals are a great boon to the sick. China, before the advent of the foreigner, did not know what surgery was.

There are more than twenty charity hospitals in China which are presided over by men of as great ability as can be found elsewhere in the world. Dr. Kerr's hospital at Canton is one of the great institutions of the kind in the world. The Viceroy, Li Hung Chang, has for years maintained at Tien Tsin, at his own expense, a foreign hospital.

ment is immense. There are schools and colleges all over China taught by missionaries. Protestants and Catholics from nearly every country under the sun are engaged in this work, and in my opinion, they do nothing but good.

"I leave out of this discussion the religious benefits conferred by converting Chinese persons to Christianity. There are supposed to be 40,000 Protestant converts in China and at least 500,000 Catholic converts. There are many native Christian churches The converts seem to be as devout as people of any other race.

"As far as my knowledge extends, I can and do say that the missionaries in China are self-sacrificing; that their lives are pure; that they are devoted to their work; that

IN

N Toungoo the representatives of Burma Baptists held their annual meeting Oct. 22 to 26, inclusive.

We had been looking forward to these meetings with joy, expecting our beloved Secretary to be with us, but a cablegram three or four weeks before brought us the sad news that he had been called back, and now the sadder news comes that he has been called above. A mighty man has fallen at this time, we know not why; but our Father knows.

The convention closed its labors last year with a debt of more than three hundred rupees. The Committee of Management talked some of cutting appropriations, but at last decided to make the same as in previous years; some grants were slightly re

duced, while others were advanced; the result has been that the year has been closed with a balance in the treasury.

No new field of labor was taken up during the year, but work previously aided was maintained. From fields aided by the convention fifty-two baptisms were reported; a total of nearly three thousand rupees were raised for evangelistic work. Special offerings amounting to over five hundred rupees were given during the meetings of the convention, without even an appeal being made. This is counted as a clear gain with which to begin the year.

The devotional meetings were of marked spiritual power, while the business was transacted with complete harmony.

The question of the Burmese Bible was

before us again. The British and Foreign Bible Society has at last fully decided to bring out a new version of the Bible in Burmese, in which not only the terms for baptize, etc., are to be changed, but such terms as faith, repentance, sanctification, etc., are likely to be materially changed, making a veritable High-church Bible. The Committee on Revision consists principally of the English clergy; besides the English Wesleyan member of the Committee, non-conformists have no member capable of judging of the Burmese. The member for the Methodist Episcopal Church spent but five years in Burma, and can scarcely be said to have a critical knowledge of the language; he is at present out of the country. The member from the Presbyterian Church was appointed "for the Greek only," making no claim at a knowledge of the Burmese. These, with a few natives and the remainder of the committee, English-church-men, will probably succeed in confusing the Burmese sufficiently to be taught at will without fear of contradiction. However, the convention is awake to the needs of the case, and propose to push the distribution of the present faithfully translated version of the Bible.

The total attendance at the convention was a little over thirteen hundred.

The Missionary Conference which fol: lowed the Convention this year, adopted a "Course of Bible Study" for our schools; other business of minor importance was transacted. The devotional meetings, which are always the chief feature of the Conference, were very helpful. One paper read by Rev. A. E. Seagrave, on "The Holy Spirit," was discussed in a most prayerful and helpful manner. This alone was worth all the expense and effort of attending the meetings.

After these meetings we turn our faces to the work of the traveling season, feeling that we have renewed our strength by waiting on the Lord together.

During the Tuesday evening meeting of the Conference a telegram was received from Insein saying that Mrs. E. L. Stevens had passed away. She had been ill for some time, and though her death was not wholly unexpected, still it came to every missionary in Burma as a personal loss, for she has been as a mother in Israel for many years. She had given more than sixty years of service to Burma; besides two of her children have passed almost the whole of their lives' activities in Burma. Her children shall rise up and call her blessed.

A

NEPALESE Hindu soldier is a very

interesting case. He serves as a soldier in the military police, and belongs to a regiment stationed at Dibrugar. He was sent on duty to Sibsagor for five months in April. Very soon he came to see me, and showed much interest in Christianity. He wished to know more about it. As I had just the preachers with me for a monthly course of Bible instruction, and afterwards a class of young men to study the scriptures, I told him he should come to the lessons whenever his duty permitted it. Soldiers in India have very much leisure. So he came daily in the morning from eight to ten, to read with us. In this way he had an opportunity to learn a great deal. He also came regularly to our Sunday services and to Sunday-school. In July

he came and asked for baptism. We were

sure of his sincerity, but still I wanted him to get deeper experience, and asked him to wait a little longer. He again applied for baptism in September; we gladly received him then, and I baptized him the 25th. He is a quiet, sincere, lovable man. Since then he has been ordered again to Dibrugar, to be sent to Sadiya. He is our first member at old Sadiya. What astonished me in this whole affair was the attitude of the other soldiers towards Buddhiman Suru (this is his name) when he became a Christian. His comrades did not in the slightest way hinder him to confess Christ, nor did their behavior towards him change after he had been baptized. The most friendly relations continued between the parties. They went to his house as before, and he was admitted to their houses. This was a surprise to me. It proved that at least here it

is no hardship for a Hindu to become a Christian; no persecution, no trouble may be feared. But this is what may be expected soon all over India.

Some months ago we had another experience, which showed a different spirit of one man. In Dolbagau, fifteen miles from Sibsagor, we have a church which is one of our stronger churches. The tax-collector here, or Mansadar, as we call such men in Assam, is no friend of the Christians, though he never troubled them. A few months ago there was some dispute there between one of the Christians and a heathen. The heathen went to the Mansadar and complained. The Christian was called out and told to pay a fine of ten rupees. Of course this was illegal. The Christian was not able to pay at once, so he came to me. I told him not to pay. When the Mansadar heard I had forbidden the Christian to pay the unrighteous fine he was very angry, and went into court in Sibsagor and brought a

case against that Christian, that he had borrowed money from him and now refused to pay back the loan. As I was afraid my Christian would not be able to speak for himself and prove his innocence, I went also into the court when the case was heard. The judge is a Bengali Hindu. The persecutor had two witnesses, both heathen, one the head man of Dolbagau. Both took an oath that they saw with their own eyes that the Mansadar gave a loan to that Christian. Of course it was a gross lie. After this I asked permission to speak, which was granted by his judge. I told in plain, simple words all I knew of the whole matter. The result was, the Christian won the case, and the Mansadar was blamed for having taken the law into his own hands. The case was dismissed. I was very glad that truth had triumphed over oppression, and praised God for his help in court before a heathen magistrate.