In the direct religious teaching of the people, nearly six hundred missionaries from Europe and America, sustained by twenty-two Missionary Societies, have planted stations in the most populous and influential cities. Joined by two hundred ordained Native Ministers and two thousand Native Preachers, they carry on a system of christian agency which costs the important sum of 300,000 pounds sterling a year. Many calumnies have been uttered respecting missionaries, and their work, by men who have professed to visit the cities where they labour, and saw nothing of its results. But these are more than answered by the striking fact that, of the money annually expended on these Missions no less than 50,000 pounds are contributed by the English residents in India, who live among the missions and see them with their own eyes.

And what is the result? We can point to 50,000 adult communicants, to congregations of 250,000 people, and to our two hundred native clergy, as fruits of grace and proofs of blessing from above. But one of the greatest fruits of all missionary labour in India in the past and in the present is to be found in the mighty change already produced in the knowledge and convictions of the people at large. Everywhere the Hindoos are learning that an idol is nothing, and that bathing in the Ganges cannot cleanse away sin. Everywhere they are getting to know that to us there is one God, even the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all nations. A native scholar, speaking of his own religion, has said of it, "Hindooism is sick unto death: I am persuaded it must fall."

A crowd once asked a Berlin missionary, "Sir, why does not the Government abolish Juggernaut, and save us from the penalties of outcasts if we profess Christianity?" While the new school of educated men, calling themselves Theists, in myriads are seeking for a better way, without encountering the same great penalties. A glorious future is indicated by these "signs of the heaven," which seem to me to prove that in a great Empire in which public opinion is compact and firm, a vast change in preparation for the future may be produced while churches and converts are comparatively few. Like Israel of old in presence of Moab, in the darkness of night we have been digging ditches by Divine command; but when His day of grace shall dawn and the morning sacrifice be offered, He shall fill them in abundance with His Spirit's streams, and the whole Empire be revived.

Shall the children of the world, in these matters, be wise in their generation, and the children of light not go and do likewise? It is the universal conviction of residents in India that it is a wise course not to denationalize its inhabitants, but to keep them a distinct people; merely introducing into their dress and style of living those improvements which are demanded by health or by propriety. To make them Europeans is almost certain to do them irreparable injury. Adaptation is the law of life. Europeans, wherever they go, adapt their houses, their dress, their habits, and their food to the climate under which they live. However strong may be the belief of Englishmen in the excellence of our constitutional government, yet in all our colonies and dependencies the form adopted is one suitable to the knowledge, the power, the training, the degree of self-government attained by the people of that particular place. In no case do the English rulers force upon a dependency a system of government unsuitable to it, however excellent that system may in itself be.



So ought missionaries and Missionary Societies to act in building up native churches in foreign lands. Nowhere ought we to import and force upon them those systems of church government which amongst ourselves have been largely shaped out by political struggles, by numerous controversies, by local experience, and by the far reaching thoughts of a few great minds. In most cases we are ourselves outgrowing them. In striking instances these systems in Europe are found in certain of their elements to trammel and to cramp the life, the energy, the lofty aspirations of spiritual minds. And among the great problems now before us for the edification and extension of our modern churches, are not all thoughtful men anxious to see how in every case they may be made more elastic, more perfectly adapted in their organization, as well as in their plans of benevolence, to the demands of the present day; and specially how they may be so widened as to draw into the church in largest degree the piety, the experience, the zeal of the lay members of which our churches are chiefly composed?



Why should we put upon the neck of our young disciples a yoke which we and our fathers have not been able to bear? We must teach them some system, and missionaries of different churches will naturally, as well as from conscientious principles, teach their own. But let us teach the systems in their essential elements; let us teach those elements which have stood the test of time, and are found suitable to the spiritual power, the self-management, the general resources, the christian civilization of the churches which we are asked to guide. We may well separate the theory and the principles of our different churches from the churches themselves as shaped out by history and by the conditions and the course of our own national life. Then will their real worth and excellence be more truly manifested, to the honour of God and the edification of His children. Let us not only open our alabaster box, let us also be willing to break it, if only the perfume of the Divine ointment may fill the house of God, and cheer and refresh the weary souls within its walls.

The most prominent feature in the INDIA Mission of this Society has been the ORDINATION of Evangelists to the work of the ministry; either as Pastors of Churches, as missionaries to the heathen, or assistants to the missionaries. English education continues to extend its influence. The INSTITUTIONS in Calcutta, Madras, and Bangalore, are fuller than ever, and very efficient. The school fees in India during 1868 amounted to 940 pounds. The attitude of the educated classes towards christianity has wonderfully changed, and the impression it is making on them is very strong. In the same great cities Female education now occupies a larger place than ever in the labours of the Mission. In two of the missions of South India, seven among the well-trained evangelists of those missions have been ordained as pastors or missionaries during the past two years, and eleven others have been proposed for the same responsibilities. The number in Travancore still stands at eleven, and in North India at six. The total number of Native ordained pastors and missionaries in the Indian Missions of this Society is twenty-eight, of whom fifteen are pastors of churches, and thirteen are employed as missionaries. It will probably ere long amount to forty.



The TRAVANCORE Mission has now been established more than sixty years. The settled agencies, which have shaped it into its present form, have been at work just half a century. And none who contrast the present state of the province with what it was when the mission began, can fail to mark the wonderful progress which it has made during these sixty years, in every element of true prosperity. The province has enjoyed an increasing degree of security and order under its native rulers, and has made special advance under its present enlightened RAJA and his able minister Sir T. Madhava Rao. While slavery and serfdom have been abolished, the intensity of Brahminical bigotry has been diminished, and a very large measure of religious freedom has been secured for the varied classes of the population. Sound knowledge and freedom of thought on the most important subjects prevail to an extent utterly unknown at the commencement of the present century. At the same time, the direct work of the mission has met with the most encouraging success. In the seven districts of the mission, recently reduced to six, the great number of native churches, the large congregations, the number of scholars, the order and general purity of christian society, and the liberality with which the agencies of the gospel are supported, exhibit that success in a striking manner. The crowning proofs of blessing and prosperity are seen in the congregations prepared for complete self-support; in their great liberality; in the large band of well-educated Native preachers and teachers; in newly appointed elders; and in excellent and tried native pastors. In these latter points the Travancore mission has begun to take rank with some of the most advanced missions of all Societies, and to approach the position of rural churches in Great Britain itself.



XII.—CHINA.



In the Empire of China the London Missionary Society occupies seven principal stations and employs twenty-one English missionaries. By their efforts several churches have been founded, which have been blessed with true prosperity. No cases of earnest personal effort have been more striking in their character and results than those which have occurred among the prosperous churches of AMOY. Last year the Directors published, in the usual way, detailed information from the Rev. JOHN STRONACH, of the opening of new stations at BO-PIEN and TIO-CHHU, and showed from Mr. Stronach's journal the hearty reception which he met with on his visit to these villages in the interior of the province. In the REPORT of the Amoy mission further particulars were given, which indicated the progress of the movement, and the healthy manner in which it has been carried on. The Directors trust that from the outset these earnest Christians will understand that it is their privilege and their duty to sustain for themselves the ordinances of that faith which they have now received:—

"On the 2nd of December, Mr. JOHN STRONACH visited a large village still further distant, called San-io, and had, in the spacious public school-room, a numerous and attentive audience for two hours. But the chief interest was displayed in the village of Tang-soa, distant from Bo-pien about twelve miles, the native place of the zealous, but as yet unbaptized convert, whose earnest efforts to instruct his numerous neighbours I referred to in my recent letter. In Tang-soa his efforts among his relatives have been so successful that many of the villagers not only gave up the school-room for us to give addresses in, but, after listening to them with an interest altogether new in that part of the country, begged me to gratify their desires for regular instruction in Christianity by establishing services every Sunday. I asked what proof they could give of the sincerity of their desire, and fifteen replied by bringing in the evening all the idols they owned, and in the presence of about forty of their fellow villagers, placing them on the table and then decapitating them, breaking them in sundry pieces, trampling them frequently under their feet, and otherwise ignominiously treating them, to the great delight of the numerous boys who were present and who joined gleefully in the sport; and we were at once offered the village school-room as another chapel, with the hope of eventually being put in possession of the idol temple. One of the deacons at Bo-pien, who has often attended the examinations for the first literary degree, has been engaged as an assistant preacher. At Tio-chhu, the new station referred to in my last letter, I had the pleasure, on the 8th December, of baptizing four additional converts, making twelve in all."

The Report further observes with respect to the general character of the churches in Amoy:—

"While lamenting the falls of some, we rejoice in the salvation of many. In the region of BO-PIEN there has been a decided awakening; not the least interesting feature of which is, that it was commenced by the preaching of an individual who belonged to a church the fewness of whose members has often been cause of regret; thus showing us that the Gospel, though producing apparently little impression in one place, may be productive of the highest results in another; and that, though a church may not increase in numbers, it yet may increase in the usefulness of its members.

"It is with unfeigned joy that we observe among our church members many whose endeavour to overcome their evil habits and customs, whose love for the Scriptures, habits of prayer, patient forbearance of injuries, and general Christian behaviour, convince us that their piety is such as the great Head of the Church will greatly approve."

The city of HANKOW, far up the river Yangtse, in the centre of CHINA, has often been spoken of in the Society's periodicals as one of the most wonderful mission stations in the world. The Society's work commenced in HANKOW in 1861. It has steadily prospered from the first. But during the past two years the Church has received unusual blessings; has doubled its numbers, and has received several remarkable accessions from the heathen. The Rev. G. JOHN thus describes these results:—

"Profound gratitude to Almighty God for His presence and aid should be the predominant sentiment of our hearts. The numerical accession which the church has received this year is considerably in excess of that of any previous year. In 1862, ten adults were baptized; in 1863, twelve; in 1864, thirteen; in 1865, eleven; in 1866, twenty-two; in 1867, FIFTY-ONE have been added to our number. Thus, whilst year by year the work has been steadily though slowly advancing, this year its progress has been rapid and signal. But it is not in the mere number that we rejoice. We rejoice in these fifty-one converts principally on account of their general character, their various stations in life, and the circumstances in which, and the means by which they have been brought into the fold of Christ. In these respects they are to us a source of much consolation and encouragement.

"One interesting fact connected with these fifty-one members is, that thirteen of them are women, and that eleven of the thirteen are the wives of converts. The conversion of the female population of China is a subject which must weigh heavily and constantly on the heart of every earnest missionary. The obstacles are many and formidable. Both by preaching and private conversation, for nearly six years, I have been labouring to impress on the minds of the converts the duty and importance of bringing their wives under the direct influence of the Gospel. They would maintain that the custom of the country was against it. To attend chapel and join the men in public worship, would bring not only the wife, but the whole family into contempt, and so on.

"Last, year there were evident signs of a movement in the right direction; and this year the result has exceeded my most sanguine expectations. Nineteen women have already been received into the church, several are now coming in, and we have every reason to hope that most of the wives of the converts who reside in and around Hankow will be identified with us before the end of next year. There are now several whole families in the church, and it is getting to be generally understood that it is the solemn duty of the Christian member of a family to make the salvation of every member of that family a matter of deep personal concern."



The great value of Hankow as a mission station, and the variety of persons which it brings into contact with the Gospel, are strikingly illustrated by Mr. JOHN:—

"There is one more interesting fact connected with these fifty-one members, namely, that they represent SEVERAL DIFFERENT PROVINCES, and various ranks and grades of society. Only on Sunday week I baptized six men, who represent five distinct provinces. Of the 108 members still in communion, about seventy reside in and around the cities of Hankow, Wu-Chang, and Han-Yang. The rest are scattered over the country, and, we trust, are spreading abroad the knowledge of the truth. These facts tend to impress on our minds the importance of Hankow as a Mission station; and they prove an observation which I made in a former communication to be correct—namely, that the whole Empire may be influenced more or less from this grand centre.

"But these men not only represent different Provinces and Districts of the Empire; they represent also different grades of society. Some of them are scholars, and others are tradesmen; some are artizans, and others are peasants; some are poor, but none (with one exception) are helpless. We have in the church at present one who has obtained his M.A. degree, eight who have obtained their B.A. degree, and a large number of ordinary scholars who have passed their matriculation examination. Among those who were admitted on Sunday week, there were a scholar, a merchant, and a barber. It was interesting to see representatives of the highest and lowest grades of Chinese society meet before the same font on Sunday; and then, on the following Wednesday, at the Christmas feast, occupying adjoining seats. Both are filling stations in life in which they may exercise a beneficial influence on many around them."



XIII.—THE WEST INDIA MISSION.



From the ample information recently furnished by the missionaries to the Directors, we learn that these two colonies of the British Crown contain together a population of Negro extraction amounting to half a million individuals; viz.: BRITISH GUIANA, 100,000; JAMAICA, 400,000. Besides these there are Indian Coolies, 28,800 in number, of whom GUIANA has 25,000. That province also contains 7,000 Indians, while Jamaica has its thousands of heathen Maroons. The ruling population of whites is 13,816 in Jamaica, and 2,000 in Guiana, or about 16,000 in all. This native population of half a million, just equal in number to the population of the single city of Calcutta or Canton, spread over an occupied territory of twelve thousand square miles, and situated only four thousand miles from England, enjoys the services of three hundred professed ministers of the Gospel; of whom a hundred and forty are supplied by Missionary Societies not connected with the established churches and supported by voluntary funds. The bulk of the population is nominally Christian, and has been for some years as well instructed in Christianity as an equal number of persons in the country parts of England. And doubtless it has been thus christianized the more fully because of the large supply of religious teachers furnished by the different sections of the Church of Christ.

It is evident that the converts in Jamaica occupy a much higher position of physical and social comfort than those in GUIANA, and that the latter are not so well off as they were five-and-twenty years ago. While wages have fallen and prices have increased, it is evident that the moral influence of the 25,000 Coolies from India, with all their heathen vices, on the 100,000 Creoles has been exceedingly injurious. In neither colony has there been that thorough spiritual growth, that self-control, that self-reliance among the christian converts generally, which their best friends hoped for and thought they were able to find. This cannot be deemed unnatural, when it is considered that only thirty years have passed since the Act of Emancipation, and that ages of training will be needed before the moral taint of slavery is purified away.



The Directors therefore feel that it would be in every way a mistake to throw these young and imperfect churches at once upon their own resources. They have also not seriously entertained the suggestion made to commend them to the care of some other evangelical denomination seeking the same end as ourselves. Nevertheless the Board cannot think it right or wise to continue the present system unchanged. If unable completely to run alone, our churches are too large, the members too numerous, and their resources too great to justify any continuance of that complete dependence upon the Society which has prevailed with them hitherto. The Board desire to see the churches strong in themselves, managing completely their own affairs, providing the ministry by which they shall be instructed, and engaged heartily in missionary efforts for the conversion of their heathen neighbours. This is the end which, they trust, will henceforth be distinctly kept in view, and which should be sought by every means which practical experience finds suitable to promote it.

They have resolved, therefore, to adopt the following measures:—First, they limit the staff of English missionaries to the number of men (thirteen) now left in the field. They desire that steady efforts shall be made to place all the churches under the pastoral charge of suitable Native ministers. They desire that all the local and incidental expenses of the mission shall be entirely defrayed by the Native Churches. Lastly, they will limit their grants from England to the allowance of the English missionaries.



XIV.—INCOME AND EXPENDITURE.

1.—RECEIPTS.

1. CONTRIBUTIONS FOR GENERAL PURPOSES—

a. Subscriptions, Donations, and pound. s. d. Collections 56,685 2 11 b. Dividends 584 4 9 c. Australian Auxiliaries and Foreign Societies 3,191 6 10 d. Legacies 10,875 13 7 e. Fund for Widows and Orphans and Retired Missionaries 4,500 15 0 f. Mission Stations, English and Native Contributions, raised and appropriated 19,414 16 4 g. Ditto, additional from the South Seas, unappropriated 1,070 19 5 —————— 96,322 18 10

2. CONTRIBUTIONS FOR SPECIAL OBJECTS—

a. For the Extension of Missions in China 552 12 10 b. For the Extension of Missions in India 371 5 4 c. For Madagascar Mission 1,521 7 11 d. For Memorial Churches 1,267 17 0 e. For Training Native Agents, other than in India 1,000 0 0 f. For Missionary Ship 253 19 0 g. For Expenditure of 1867 and 1868 79 7 8 —————— 5,046 9 9 —————— Total Income 101,369 8 7

3. Balance in hand, May, 1868 1,062 8 4 4. Funded Property, Tasmania Bond, paid off 500 0 0 5. Value of Stock transferred from Ship Account 2,432 0 0 6. Rev. Dr. Tidman's Testimonial Fund 3,483 18 11 —————- 7,478 7 3 —————— 108,847 15 10 ============

2.—EXPENDITURE.

1. FOREIGN EXPENDITURE.

a. China Mission: allowances of the English Missionaries; Rents; Repairs; Sick Leave; Expenses of Itinerancies; Native Agency; Education, and the Press (as detailed in the last Annual Report) 10,103 7 3 b. India Missions: Bengal and North India; the Madras Presidency; and Travancore 35,386 13 11 c. Madagascar Mission 6,686 4 4 d. South Africa Mission 9,872 1 6 e. West India Mission 9,225 10 9 f. Mission in the South Seas 13,454 19 2 g. Education of Missionary Students 2,109 10 1 h. Retired Missionaries; Widows and Orphans 3,398 8 0 —————— TOTAL FOREIGN EXPENDITURE 90,236 15 3

2. HOME EXPENDITURE.

a. Expenses of Administration 1,913 16 10 b. Expenses in Raising Funds 3,477 12 4 c. Periodical Literature 1,539 1 1 d. General Home Expenses 794 19 8 —————- TOTAL HOME EXPENDITURE 7,725 9 11 —————— Total expended in 1868 97,962 5 2 3. Investments 9,017 0 0 4. Balance in hand, May 1, 1869 1,868 10 8 —————— 108,847 15 10 =============



This statement shows that the greater ordinary income secured during the past year is needed every year, to maintain the Society at its present strength. Even with revised establishments working at a reduced cost, the Directors still require 75,000 pounds a-year to meet the various items of general expenditure for which they have directly to provide. But that is precisely the amount which the revived interest and the earnest exertions of deputations and collectors have brought into their hands; and no margin is left at their command to cover any extraordinary expense which may arise. Nowhere, therefore, may our friends relax their efforts or diminish their recent gifts. Givers, collectors, ministers who plead, are still invited to uphold the hands of the Society, and to urge its claims. And if we look to extension, that extension which comes naturally to a prosperous field: still more to that extension for which the field untouched cries mightily day by day: how shall this enlargement of our operations be secured but by still augmented resources, by still higher consecration, still greater liberality, and more earnest prayer?

The SOCIETY DESERVES such help from our Churches; its history, its sphere of usefulness, the spirit in which it is managed, the rich prosperity which the Lord has granted to its labours, all appeal in its name. THE FIELD DESERVES AND NEEDS IT. How little has been accomplished of the holy purpose which Missions have in view. Compared with the millions unevangelized, the converts gained are numerically nothing. Indeed, the sphere of our labour has continued ever to grow wider, and every answer of God's providence to the Church's gifts and prayers and self-denial has been to extend its power to be useful and give it much more to do.

And does not the LORD CLAIM from us this larger service? He has shown the need of the heathen world more clearly, and made the argument for instructing it unanswerable.

We have prospects for the future to which the gains of the past are poor. With our skilled agencies, all shaped by experience, with plans well-tried, with our versions and our literatures in every tongue, with China opened widely in answer to prayer, with India deeply moved, with Africa free, with Polynesia raised and civilized, with Madagascar purified by fire—what tokens have we of manifest blessing, of approval, and of divine help! The old systems have fallen, or are paralysed, or are trembling with fear; and the young life of the world is drawing towards freedom and truth. Our results are incomplete; they are but an earnest of successes yet to be gathered; and the full reward will be reaped more truly as the years go by. But how noble that reward will be!

A pleasant custom prevails in India which will illustrate our position. At all the military stations of the Empire, the troops are summoned to parade in the early morning by the firing of a gun. The night may still be dark; the restless sleeper may fancy it will yet be long. But suddenly amid the stillness loud and clear booms out the morning gun. The stars are still shining, and the landscape is wrapped in gloom. But THE DAWN IS NEAR; and soon every eye is open, every foot astir, and the busy, waking life of men again begins. The fleecy clouds that hang on the eastern horizon grow ruddy with gold; and the arrowy light shoots its bright rays athwart the clear blue sky. The dust and foulness which the night has hidden stand revealed. But in the forests and hills the pulses of nature beat fresh and full; the leopard and the tiger slink away; the gay flowers open; the birds flit to and fro, and with woodland music welcome the rising day. In the city all forms of life quicken into active exercise. The trader sits ready on his stall; the judge is on the bench; the physician allays pain; the mother tends her child. The claims of human duty come again into full force; benevolence is active; suffering and disappointment, forgotten in sleep, press with new weight on weary hearts. What a mighty change one hour has made!

Long has the night of heathenism and of wickedness ruled over the world. "Darkness has covered the earth, and gross darkness the people." But the gun has fired and "THE MORNING COMETH." The nations once wrapped in gloom are waking to life and truth. Divine light is quickening all the pulses of human thought; the heart beats more warmly; the eye looks upward, and the great world is drawing nearer to its Father. The Gentiles are coming to the light, and kings to the brightness of His rising. And when at length the Sun of Righteousness shall rise in power, His new creation, "with verdure clad, with beauty, vigour, grace adorned," shall give Him loving welcome; and He shall shine, to set no more, on "the new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."



APPENDIX.

Extension of our Missions.

One valuable result has followed the recent revision of the Society's missions, which was scarcely expected when that revision began. The Directors already find themselves able to contemplate an extension of our missions into new localities long crying out for aid. They are moving in the following direction:—

For several years past the SOUTH SEA MISSION has taken up but a small quantity of new ground. Small groups like the Ellice group, the Lagoon Islands, and the Tuamotus, with a few hundred people, have been instructed. But since Niue and the Loyalty group were evangelised, nearly twenty years ago, not a single large island has been occupied. Meanwhile the Theological Institutions have been training native students in considerable numbers, and many are now ready for evangelistic work. The Directors therefore are anxious to commence such work in new localities without delay; and they have arranged that, during her next year's voyage, the John Williams shall visit the large islands of the northern New Hebrides, together with the Kingsmill and other groups, in order to establish new missions among the thousands of heathen which they contain. The Directors hope that not less than thirty competent and devoted native evangelists will go forth on this expedition. In due time English missionaries will follow: and three of our valued brethren on the spot have already volunteered for the service. In Eastern Polynesia the brethren in Tahiti and the Leeward Islands will complete on system the efforts which they have recently commenced in the Tuamotu or Pearl Islands. For this desired extension funds have been already provided or offered by two of the Society's warm friends.

The Mission towards CENTRAL AFRICA suggested by Mr. Moffat and Dr. Livingstone, was zealously commenced eleven years ago. Successfully established, notwithstanding many disasters, it has continued to hold its ground. When their revision commenced, the Directors proposed at once to strengthen this important mission. Several new stations have been named by the missionaries which the Directors hope in due time to occupy. During the last two years three new missionaries have been added to the former staff of labourers, and two others will join them next summer. The missionaries north of the Orange River will then be thirteen in number, of whom nine will be engaged in direct missionary work. This increase, required by our duty to the tribes waiting on our instructions, is entirely dependent upon the Society's general funds.

Many years ago the MONGOLIAN MISSION, which had been carried on by our honoured brethren, Messrs. Swan and Stallybrass, near the Siberian edge of the Tartar deserts and among the Buriat Mongols, was broken up by the Russian Government, and our brethren were withdrawn. The Directors have not forgotten that mission, nor lost their interest in the Mongol tribes. Recent enquiries have shown that the effort may be renewed with excellent prospects, on the China side of Mongolia, and that the city of Peking will form a suitable base of operations. Among their present missionary students the Directors believe that they have found a suitable man; and he will proceed in the spring to Peking to take up his new position. The funds necessary at the outset have already been provided in the generous gift of Mrs. Swan.

Generally in INDIA and CHINA the Directors have been enlarging their operations by the completion and filling in of existing agencies. New chapels at Tientsin; a chapel and dwelling house in Wu-chang; two houses in Canton; a school and dwelling in Almorah; a house at the newly-founded station of Ranee Khet; a new High School in Benares; a medical missionary in Singrowli; an additional house in Calcutta; additional missionaries in South India and Travancore; all have been asked for: and the greatness of the requirements bears testimony to the importance of the sphere and of the opportunities which are open to the Society in these Eastern Empires. Several of the buildings have already been provided or have been sanctioned: others are under consideration. But any solid extension of these two great missions must for the present be deferred.

The needs of MADAGASCAR cannot be overlooked. The call of God's providence and grace is so clear that the Directors have not hesitated to arrange for a decided increase of the English staff. Five ordained missionaries will proceed to the Island early in the coming summer; and one, if not two, medical missionaries. The Betsileo province has long waited for help, and it is proposed to place, if possible, four ordained missionaries and one medical man amongst its important and populous towns. The mere sending of these brethren will cost a sum of 1,500 pounds; their maintenance will require 2,000 pounds a-year. The Directors however cannot hesitate to offer this aid to the churches and people among whom the Spirit of God is so powerfully at work: and they do it in the faith that the Lord to whose call they listen will prompt his people to provide the means by which the brethren shall be sustained. They have had great difficulty in finding suitable medical missionaries, and they ask their friends to make it a matter of earnest prayer that the Spirit of God will touch the hearts of the right men to offer their service to His cause.

The Directors adopt these moderate measures for the extension of the Society's usefulness in hope. From every quarter they continue to receive gratifying proofs of the increased interest taken in their work. The attendance at the autumn gatherings of country auxiliaries has been large, and the spirit that has been displayed was generous and earnest. At Birmingham and Bristol; at Hastings and Halifax; at York and Leeds this spirit was specially manifest: the Bristol meetings, always warm and earnest, were this year enthusiastic. And everywhere the missionary brethren testify to the kindly manner in which they are received and heard.

God is giving us the means of usefulness. He is also bringing a steady supply of suitable men. But the fields are "white unto the harvest," and we must pray the Lord of the harvest to send more labourers to reap in his name. To extend our work larger means are required; and the friends of the Society will see that all additions to the present income will be available for the extension so desirable. Never were the exhortation and prediction more applicable: "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations; SPARE NOT, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes." "And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, THAT THEY ARE THE SEED WHICH THE LORD HATH BLESSED."

BLOMFIELD STREET, FINSBURY. November, 1869.

YATES AND ALEXANDER, PRINTERS, SYMONDS INN, CHANCERY LANE.

THE END