MISSIONS.

The following is a Table of the Countries in which Missions have been established by these Societies:—

In the preceding tables we have stated the number of communicants connected with the principal Protestant missions, so far as we have been able to ascertain them. If we had given also the baptized, the numbers would have been

much greater, and they would have been still further augmented, if to them we had added others under special instruction. Thus, in the missions of the United Brethren the numbers of these several classes in 1856 were as follows:—

¹ United Brethren.

² The schools in the Sandwich Islands are results of the mission, but they are now entirely supported by the Hawaiian Government.

³ These statistics, particularly in the second table, are in various instances incomplete. Where they are so, the numbers given are of course under the truth.

In the missions of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, these classes in India were as follows:—

In most missions, however, the numbers of the baptized and unbaptized persons connected with them bear a much less proportion to the communicants.

With the view of giving some idea of the expense of such varied and extensive operations, we shall here subjoin a statement of the receipts and expenditure of the principal missionary bodies for one year:—

These statements are nearly complete as regards the societies of this country; but they are imperfect regarding those of the continent of Europe and America. We have, however, found about L.350,000 expended in one year on British missions among the heathen; about L.48,000 on continental, including those of the United Brethren, and about L.167,000 on American. The continental and American societies which are not included in the above list, are for the most part inconsiderable; and if we make a moderate allowance on account of them, we shall have an expenditure of about L.600,000 a year by the Protestant churches on missions among the heathen.

It is a fact not unworthy of notice, that of the heathen races who have been brought to receive the gospel, by far the greatest numbers are Negroes and their descendants. In the West Indies, including British and Dutch Guiana, and on the western coast of Africa, the communicants connected with various missions amounted to no fewer than 105,315. In 1843 there were also 128,410 black and coloured people, members of the Methodist Church in the United States, and it is probable the numbers have since that time greatly increased. There were also considerable numbers connected with the Baptist, the Presbyterian, and other churches in that country. We are well aware, indeed, that the instruction which is given to the slaves in the Southern States is in many, perhaps most cases, very defective, and in some shamefully perverted; yet even among them, we doubt not, there may be found many real, though perhaps not very intelligent converts. Taking these several statements into account, we would not be surprised though it should be found, that in the present day there are more real converts from among the Negro race than from among all other heathen nations put together. But be this as it may, the facts we have stated furnish a striking example of the providence of God overruling the wickedness of man for good, seeing it has been through means of the system of slavery, as carried on by men calling themselves Christians, that so many of the Negro race came to have an opportunity of receiving any religious instruction whatever.

Missions and missionaries have been very falsely estimated both by their friends and advocates, and by those who have been hostile or indifferent to them. Such as were opposed to them commonly looked on missionaries as ignorant, weak-minded enthusiasts; while their friends and advocates have no less erred in looking on them as men of more than ordinary piety, zeal, disinterestedness, and devotedness. In engaging in this work, some noble spirits are doubtless animated by what has been emphatically called "a passion for missions," and some by "the romance of missions;" but the generality, there is ground to conclude, make choice of the service on the same principles, and with the same views, as most persons choose their employments in life, and, in a special manner, from the same motives (often very much mixed) as many choose the Christian ministry as their profession. The truth is, missions afford to many an opening in life,—opportunities of rising in the world, or at least of obtaining a position which they might not so readily otherwise obtain. There are, of course, differences among them, corresponding somewhat to the characteristics of the several churches to which they belong; but in general they will not be found superior, as regards piety, zeal, disinterestedness, devotedness, and other moral qualifications, to the better class of ministers in their respective denominations who remain at home. Many people associate ideas of hardships, privations, and sufferings with their picture of missionary life; but in reality, with a few exceptions, missionaries are generally better off, in regard to salaries and the outward accommodations of life, than most of them could have expected to be in their own country. The chief points in regard to which missionaries are often placed in disadvantageous circumstances are, an unhealthy climate, and the difficulties they often have regarding the education and settlement of their children in life.

Intellectually, the character of missionaries has latterly much improved. When missionary societies were formed in England and Scotland, toward the end of the eighteenth century, an idea appeared to prevail, that persons would do well enough as missionaries to the heathen whom no one

¹ By much the larger portion of the funds of the Propagation Society are raised for, and expended on, the English Church in the British Colonies. Of the sum above mentioned, the portion expended on missions among the heathen probably did not exceed one-third.

² Part of this expenditure is on account of missions in Ireland, France, Germany, and in various of our colonies.

Missions. would have thought of for ministers at home. But the standard of the education of missionaries has gradually risen; and a large proportion of those who are now sent out as missionaries are well-educated men, and have for the most part enjoyed a regular training for the ministry. Several of the societies established institutions for the education of missionary students; while numbers who had received the usual education for the ministry, particularly in this country and America, have offered themselves for the service. In the early stage of our missionary societies individual medical men were also sent out, and some even of those who had enjoyed nothing more than a common education were put in the way of receiving some medical instruction before leaving their native country; but latterly, in America especially, a physician has been a very common constituent of a mission; and some years ago a society was established in Edinburgh under the name of the "Medical Missionary Society," which is chiefly under the management of gentlemen of the medical profession in that city, who have shown great interest in the cause.

Missionaries, many imagine, are not much to be relied on as to the accounts which they send home; but we are satisfied that for such suspicions there are no sufficient grounds. There may have been individuals who, giving way to their imaginations, or studying effect in their narrations, or seeking to raise themselves in public estimation, have sent home coloured and exaggerated accounts of their labours, successes, and prospects; but of the general truthfulness of the letters and journals of missionaries we are perfectly satisfied. We may not always form the same judgments as they form of the things related by them, nor be prepared to draw the same conclusions from them; but the simple facts themselves it seldom enters into our minds to question.¹ We cannot, however, say so much for the advocates of missions at home. In printed books, in sermons, and in speeches at public meetings, we frequently meet with coloured, exaggerated, one-sided representations.

Though the success of missions has been considerable, yet it is by no means equal to what is commonly supposed. Of the difficulties in the way of the conversion of the heathen few persons have any adequate idea. To say nothing of the many and powerful moral obstacles, the darkness of the heathen mind is such, that it must generally be exceedingly difficult even to lodge Christian ideas in it,—ideas so foreign and often so opposite to all its previous ideas and its habitual trains of thinking. Nor is the success of missions to be estimated by mere figures. Though the numbers of the baptized, and even of the communicants, in the several missions, and especially in those of particular societies, may appear considerable, yet there can be no question that a large portion of these can be reckoned as converts only in name. Missionaries who exercise much strictness in the admission of members into the church, though the numbers they receive should be comparatively small, are probably more really useful than such as open the door wide, and count their converts by hundreds or by thousands.

Though the following statements have reference to converts from among the Hindus and Africans, they are probably extensively applicable to converts from among heathen nations. Speaking of Hindu converts, Dr Brown remarks:—"Of the general character of the converts we wish we could speak favourably; but it must be acknowledged that even in those missions in which considerable care is exercised in the admission of persons to baptism, it was for the most part very imperfect. Of the sincerity of many

who professed Christianity there was room to doubt; but even those who, it was hoped, were truly converted, laboured under many and great defects."

Dr Livingstone gives the following as his impressions of the effects produced on the natives of Africa by missionary labours:—"Many hundreds of both Griquas and Bechuanas have become Christians, and partially civilized, through the teaching of English missionaries. My first impressions of the progress made were, that the accounts of the effects of the gospel among them had been too highly coloured. I expected a higher degree of Christian simplicity and purity than exists either among them or among ourselves. I was not anxious for a deeper insight in detecting shams than others; but I expected character such as we imagine the primitive disciples had, and was disappointed. When, however, I passed on to the true heathen, in the countries beyond the sphere of missionary influence, and could compare the people there with the Christian natives, I came to the conclusion that, if the question were examined in the most rigidly severe or scientific way, the change effected by the missionary movement would be considered unquestionably great. We cannot fairly compare these poor people with ourselves, who have an atmosphere of Christianity and enlightened public opinion, the growth of centuries, around us, to influence our deportment; but let any one from the natural and proper point of view behold the public morality of Griqua Town, Kuruman, Likatlong, and other villages, and remember what even London was a century ago, and he must confess that the Christian mode of treating aborigines is incomparably the best.

"The Bechuanas mission has been so far successful, that, when coming from the interior, we always felt, on reaching Kuruman, we had returned to civilized life. But I would not give any one to understand by this that they are model Christians,—we cannot claim to be model Christians ourselves,—or even in any degree superior to the members of our own country churches. They are more stingy and greedy than the poor at home; but in many respects the two are exactly alike. On asking an intelligent chief what he thought of them, he replied, 'You white men have no idea of how wicked we are; we know each other better than you. Some feign belief to ingratiate themselves with the missionaries; some profess Christianity because they like the new system which gives so much more importance to the poor, and desire that the old system may pass away; and the rest—a pretty large number—profess because they are really true believers.'"

It may appear surprising that so many of the converts from heathenism should turn out to be only nominal Christians. It might naturally be thought, that in giving up with the religion of their country and their forefathers, and embracing a new religion of an entirely opposite character, we might calculate on its being the result of inquiry and consideration, and that, if not particularly intelligent, the generality of them would yet be true Christians. But to say nothing of the fact, that in all countries and in all ages (unless, perhaps, in apostolic times) the great majority of professed Christians have been Christians only in name, there are circumstances which, especially in some countries, will account for the natives coming over to the religion of the missionaries, without there being any substantial or spiritual change in their own state and character. Nowhere in modern times have missions been considered as achieving such great and glorious triumphs as in the South Sea Islands; yet, while we have no doubt that much good was in various ways effected in these islands, it yet appears

¹ In making these observations, it must not be imagined that we mean to detract from the intellectual character of missionaries. Among them there are men of highly respectable talents and acquirements, and taking them generally, they will be found to possess a fair average measure of ability and sound-headedness. We have, for the most part, a great respect for their judgment; only we are not disposed to receive it implicitly, just as we are not disposed to receive implicitly the judgments of any other class of men on other subjects.

² Livingstone's Travels in South Africa, pp. 107 and 109.

Missions. that the religious revolution which took place in many of them was materially the result of the example and influence of the chiefs,—more, in the first instance, than of the teaching of the missionaries. So long as the chiefs adhered to the religion of their fathers, the people had no thought of changing it; but as soon as they declared in favour of the new religion, their subjects were ready to follow them. They would now destroy their moris, burn or deliver up their idols, profess to be Christians, erect places of worship, observe the Sabbath-day with great outward strictness, while yet they continued to indulge in the most degrading vices, living like the beasts of the field. As regards the great body of the people, the revolution wanted not only purity, but reality. Christianity now became in a manner the national religion, and the mass of the population outwardly conformed to it. It is also worthy of mention that, among the Sandwich Islanders at least, it was a great object of ambition to be received as members of the church. "A tabu meeting (i.e., a meeting consisting of selected persons) was to the mind of a Hawaiian one of the most desirable things on earth. Hence the constant pressure by them at the door of the church. It would have been the easiest thing imaginable to have added as many to it in one day as the Apostles did on the day of Pentecost." Among the Hottentots it was also observed there was a great anxiety to be received as members of the church. We have already seen that the numbers of communicants of the Negro race are very great as compared with other classes of heathens; and though we do not recollect ever to have seen it stated as a fact, yet we greatly suspect that pride is often at the bottom of their desire to be baptized,—that their being so raises them in their own estimation above their unbaptized countrymen, and brings them a step nearer to White men, to whom, though often their oppressors, they cannot help looking up as their superiors. These circumstances, and in some cases self-interest in one form or another, will explain how professed converts from among the heathen are so often only nominal Christians.

The earlier missions of our societies were directed chiefly to uncivilized tribes; and it was strongly argued by many who were opposed to the whole scheme, that civilization must of necessity precede Christianization, and that it was vain to think to communicate the sublime principles of the gospel to barbarians and savages. But the promoters of missions had then scarcely access to civilized nations (India and China, for example, were in a manner closed against them), and unless they sent to barbarous tribes, they could scarcely send forth missions at all. But they had a still further answer to the objection, namely, that the gospel was adapted to, and intended for, all mankind, whether civilized or uncivilized,—"to the Jew and the Greek, the barbarian and the Scythian, the bond and the free." This answer was no doubt well founded; but it is not unworthy of remark, that what might then perhaps be deemed only theory has since that time been completely established by numerous, varied, and undoubted experiments. Numerous missions have been established in North America among various tribes of the Indians; in the islands of the Pacific Ocean,—the Society, the Hervey, the Navigator, the Friendly, the Fiji, and the Sandwich Islands, and also in New Zealand; among the Negroes in the West India Islands and on the Western coast of Africa; and in South Africa, among the Hottentots, the Griquas, the Bechuanas, the Kafirs, and the Zulus. Numerous missions have also been established among civilized or demi-civilized nations, as in the East Indies, in Burmah, in Siam, and in China. Now, though we may not be able to state with anything like exactness the comparative amount of labour bestowed on civilized and uncivilized countries, nor yet the comparative extent of success in the one and the other, yet it will be seen from the preceding statistics that great numbers

from among barbarous tribes have been brought to profess themselves Christians through the labours of missionaries, and there is ground to hope that among them there have been many who have been brought to something more than a mere profession of Christianity,—have, in fact, been genuine believers in Christ. The number of both these classes among uncivilized nations is even greater than among the civilized nations of the East, in India, Burmah, Siam, and China.

Missions. It would, however, be a grievous mistake to conclude from this that uncivilized countries are to be preferred as fields of missions to civilized countries, and that the prospects of success are greater among barbarous and savage tribes than among more cultivated nations. Though the statement of the opponents of missions, as to the necessity of civilization in order to Christianization, possessed no weight as an objection, there was great weight in it as a consideration, involving important truth, which was deserving of much more attention than it has received to this day,—the connection between civilization and Christianization, and their mutual influence and bearing upon each other. "Christianity and barbarism are certainly not incompatible with each other, yet they are antagonist principles. They may exist together, but they cannot flourish together. Barbarous and savage tribes are generally inconsiderable as regards population, and are often widely scattered and commonly migratory. Their language, from its imperfection and poverty, is ordinarily little fitted for expressing the truths of religion, or, indeed, any idea beyond their daily and immediate wants. It is also commonly unwritten, and they are without books and mental culture of any kind. The untrained and unthinking minds of savages are for the most part less able than educated minds, even supposing them to be inclined, to give continued attention to instruction, and are less capable of understanding, remembering, and applying the instruction given them. If any of them are brought under the influence of religion, their piety partakes of their degraded character and low condition, and there is little prospect of raising up among them a well-qualified native agency to carry on the good work among their countrymen, or among neighbouring tribes and nations. The advantages to which we have alluded are to be found only among nations somewhat advanced in civilization, and in its ordinary accompaniments, education and literature. It is a remarkable and not unproductive fact, that Judea, the point from which Christianity originally emanated, was the very centre of the then civilized world, and that the countries in which it was at first chiefly propagated, so far as appears from the New Testament and other authentic records, were the countries in which civilization, education, and literature principally prevailed."

It is not unworthy of remark, that while considerable numbers of pagans have been brought to embrace Christianity, there have been very few Mohammedan converts. This is no doubt partly accounted for by the fact, that where the ruling power is Mohammedan, it is death for any one to renounce the faith of the prophet and to embrace another religion; and with death thus staring them in the face, we need scarcely wonder that few or none should embrace the gospel. But in countries where the ancient churches are still in existence—Turkey for example—there are other and powerful obstacles besides these to the conversion of the Mohammedan population, arising out of the character of these churches. The Mohammedans in the Levant sustain a better character than the Christians. The universal testimony of the Franks is, that there is more honesty, more fair dealing, and more punctuality to engagements among the Turks than among the Christian sects. "It may even be fairly made a question, whether Mohammedanism is not a better religion than the Christianity of the East, from which they naturally take their ideas of what Christianity

Missions. is. Assuredly it is in various respects a less absurd religion. The form in which it is daily presented to them is as a system of idolatrous worship, of gross superstition, of senseless rites and ceremonies, of absolute and pure mummary; while both priests and people are, in point of morals, generally much below themselves. They have thus exhibited before their eyes very natural and very plausible reasons for rejecting Christianity; and it is no wonder that these objections should carry entire conviction to their minds, and lead them to think any further inquiry in regard to it perfectly unnecessary." But even in those countries where the government is not Mohammedan,—India for example,—the Mussulman part of the population are much more opposed to Christianity than the Hindu. They at once despise and hate it. We accordingly find comparatively few converts among the Mohammedans even in India.

Missionary societies have not confined their labours to heathen nations. Several of them have also established missions among the members of the ancient churches, as among the Greeks, the Armenians in Turkey, the Copts in Egypt, the Abyssinians, the Syrians, and other sects in the mountains of Lebanon, the Nestorians in Persia, and the Christians of St Thomas, on the coast of Malabar. It is not unworthy of notice, that these societies, though differing essentially from each other in their character and views on other subjects, wonderfully agreed in the principles on which they proposed to carry on their missions among the ancient churches. The grand object which they had in view was to introduce and diffuse Scripture truth among them, and thereby to revive spiritual life among them, in the hope of effecting their reformation through the instrumentality of their own members: they repudiated the idea of drawing converts out of them, or forming them into separate churches. But after the several societies had prosecuted this scheme for many years, they came, one after another, to the conclusion that it had entirely failed of its great object, and that the only way to deal with these churches was to receive the converts from them and to unite them with their own churches, just as they would do with heathen or Mohammedan converts. The result of such experiments might, we think, have been easily foreseen, and having now been fully tried, we trust they will not be again repeated.

"It is a remarkable fact, how generally missionaries in various parts of the world, and among diverse tribes and nations, bear testimony to the equality of the acquiring faculties of the children in the schools with that of European children. We could adduce testimonies to this effect regarding the Greenlanders, the North American Indians, the Negroes in the West Indies, the South Sea Islanders, and even the savages of New Holland. Nor do we recollect of ever meeting with a single testimony of a contrary nature. It may therefore be considered as an established fact, that whatever differences there may be in the original intellectual capacity of individuals, there is no material difference in the original intellectual capacities of tribes and nations, so far as the learning faculties are concerned, at least in regard to the more common branches of education, with the exception, perhaps, of arithmetic. Whether their original powers of reasoning, of imagination, of invention, are equal, is another question. On that point we have not sufficient evidence to enable us to form an opinion."

Missionaries have contributed largely to the science of philology. They have drawn up grammars, vocabularies, and dictionaries of numerous languages, most of them never before reduced to writing, or little known to scholars; and they have made translations of the Holy Scriptures, in whole or in part, and also of other books, into many of them. Many of these works are probably not very well executed, their authors not having been previously much engaged in the study of languages; but others of them, we doubt not,

are scholar-like productions; and the whole cannot but be held a valuable contribution to philological science. In the oriental languages missionaries have particularly distinguished themselves; there are, in fact, few men to whom oriental literature is under such great obligations as to the missionaries in the East.

It is also worthy of notice into how many countries the printing-press has been introduced by means of missions. As regards the extension of the press to new countries, and its application to new languages, there is no class of men to whom mankind are under such obligations as to the missionaries of modern times. India itself is deeply indebted to them, particularly to the Baptist missionaries, who, though they were not the first to employ the press in that country in printing the oriental languages, contributed greatly to its extension and improvement. This powerful engine in diffusing opinions is now in extensive use by the natives themselves, and is employed by them in defence of Hinduism, Mohammedanism, and Parseeism, and in attacks on Christianity itself. The weapons of the missionary are thus turned against himself.

These statements refer exclusively to Protestant missions; but before we close we shall make some brief references to the missions of the Roman Catholic Church. She entered on the work earlier than the Protestant churches, and has prosecuted it for a much longer period. Having at the Reformation lost much ground in Europe, she sought to retrieve her losses by extending her power in other quarters of the world. In this service the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Capuchins, but especially the Jesuits, particularly distinguished themselves. They established missions in India, in Siam, in China, in Japan, and in some of the East India Islands; in Abyssinia, on the Western coast of Africa, in Canada, in Louisiana, in Paraguay, and many other parts of the world; and brought great numbers of the inhabitants of these countries within the pale of the Romish Church. But in the course of the eighteenth century the Catholic missions greatly declined; their pecuniary resources were materially dried up; the missionaries died, and no successors were found for them; and the consequence was, that many of them fell into a state of decay. (Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, vol. v., p. 134.)

But in 1822 an "Institution for the Propagation of the Faith" was formed at Lyons, with a view to the promotion of missions by the Romish Church. It now carries on its operations through two councils, one at Lyons, the other in Paris; and it has drawn to itself the support not only of the rest of France, but of the various countries of Europe, and other parts of the world, where Roman Catholics are found. Through its influence and exertions the ancient spirit of missions has been revived in the Romish Church; many of the old missions have been restored to somewhat of their former vigour, and many new ones have been undertaken in various parts of the world, including our own and other Protestant countries—to which, indeed, their eyes appear to be specially directed. To show the extent of their missions in the present day, we shall here state the number of bishops and priests engaged in them, and the amount of money expended on them.

In 1844 the number of bishops and priests engaged in them was as follows:—

Since that time the number of labourers of one description

Missions, or another, including Sisters of Charity, appears to have been greatly increased. (Annals, vol. v., pp. 138, 148, 153.)

In 1856 the receipts of the Institution for the Propagation of the Faith amounted to 3,905,067l. 7l. 6s., which, taking the exchange of the franc at 10l., makes L. 162,711, 3s. 1d. sterling; and its expenditure on account of the missions was 3,689,663l. 2s. 6d., or L. 153,735, 19s. 4d., viz:—

The following were the receipts and expenditure in Great Britain, her colonies in America, the United States, and in India and China, in 1856:—

It thus appears that the expenditure on the missions in Great Britain and the other countries now named, forms just about one-half of the whole expenditure of the Society on missions throughout the world. (Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, vol. xviii., pp. 150, 158, 160, 162, 174, 179, 181, 183.)

As regards the methods of conversion employed by Protestant and Romish missionaries, there is little in common. There is one means of regeneration employed by the latter which seems quite a favourite measure with them, and is deserving of notice as a specimen of their system,—the baptizing of sickly and dying infants, a singular compound of gross error, frivolity, and deception.

"For along time"—(we here quote the Annals of the Propagation of the Faith)—"it was not possible to regenerate in the waters of baptism the children of infidels—only in some isolated places. The number of those who went from the cradle to the grave with the seal of baptism was still small, and for this reason we have seldom made mention of it in our Annals. But of latter years this benefit has been extended in a most consolatory degree. Our missionaries, with the assistance of the alms of the Association, have succeeded in rendering it general among the principal Christian congregations of Asia. We shall soon have much to do to reckon the young elect with which they will people heaven. Even now the account of those whom they have sent there is sufficiently large to draw forth the gratitude and the admiration of our faith; and accordingly we offer it to our associates with a religious eagerness. It will consist of figures only; but figures are very affecting when they express a multitude of souls gained for the happiness of heaven."

"The mission of Su-tchuen," writes his lordship, Doctor Perochau, vicar-apostolic of Su-tchuen, "continues its work of baptizing children in danger of death, and the Lord continues to bless it. Each year the number of those whom they regenerate goes on increasing:—

We have remarked that about two-thirds of the number of these children died in the year in which they were baptized. Thus, out of the number of 1844, 16,763 winged their flight a short time afterwards to everlasting bliss.

We pay some Christian men and women, who are acquainted with the complaints of infants, to go, seek out, and baptize those whom they find to be in danger. It is easy for them to meet them, particularly in the towns and large villages, where on fair days there is to be seen a crowd of poor people, reduced to the greatest poverty, who come to seek alms. It is in winter especially that the number is highest, because want is more pinching at that time. You see them on the roads, at the gates of the towns and villages, or crowded together in the streets; poor people without number, with hardly any clothing, having neither fire nor lodging, sleeping in the open air, and so attenuated by the protracted torture of hunger, that they are nothing but skin and bone. The women, who are in this case the most to be pitied, carry on their backs children reduced to the same extremity as themselves. Our baptizing men and women accost them in the gentle accents of compassion, offer them gratis pills for their little expiring creatures, give often to the parents a few farthings, always with great kindness of manner, and an expression of the liveliest interest in their situation. For these poor creatures it is a sight of transport almost unheard of. They willingly allow our people to examine into the state of the child, and spill on its forehead some drops of water, which they declare to be good for it, while at the same time they pronounce the sacramental words." (Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, vol. vi., pp. 322, 324.)

Dr Perochau does not appear to reckon so much on the success of his mission among the adult population as with these poor children, and he glories in the great increase of their numbers. In a letter dated Sept. 4, 1848, he thus writes:—"In spite of the obstacles which the mandarins throw in the way of the conversion of the infidels, we have received as catechumens 1280 neophytes, and baptized 888 adults in the year. God be praised! But our Angelical Society it is which gives us the greatest consolation. The number of the children of the infidels baptized in danger of death continues constantly to increase. This year it amounts to 84,416, about two-thirds of whom, already in possession of unutterable felicity, will love and praise God eternally. The more we receive aid from Europe, the more will this work extend its benefits. We have opened in several cities small shops, where Christian physicians gratuitously distribute pills for young persons who are sick, and generously give attention of all kinds to the children brought to them. This work produces marvellous effects, causes a very large number of children to be baptized, and singularly pleases the heathens. In order to explain the prodigious success of our angelical work, you must be informed that all China is covered with poor persons, reduced to the last degree of wretchedness, and burdened with numerous families. Their children lack everything; no food, no clothes, almost no shelter. The mothers die of hunger and cold; the infants they support perish with them. It is these nurses which give an abundant harvest to our baptizers, who seek these poor wretches in preference to others, accost them with kind words, testify a warm interest in their young families, give pills, and sometimes add alms. They are therefore regarded as angels descended from heaven, and are easily allowed to baptize the perishing little ones. Some of our physicians have often effected wonderful cures, and though their skill is small, enjoy extraordinary repute. Hippo-

¹ We have included in this sum 58,000l. on account of "Missions of the Rev. Father Oblates of Mary in England and Ireland," not being able to apportion the particular sums appropriated to each country.