The Quiver 3/1900

by Anonymous

The Quiver 3/1900

(Drawn by Percy Tarrant.)

EASTER BLOSSOMS.

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THE CENTENARY OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

By the Rev. A. R. Buckland, M.A., Morning Preacher at the Foundling Hospital.

At "The Castle and Falcon," in Aldersgate Street, on April 12th, 1799, there met, in all the solemnity of a public gathering, sixteen clergymen and nine laymen.

They founded there and then the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East. That Society keeps its Centenary this month; no longer an inconspicuous organisation expressing the hopes of a godly few, but a great Society which has girdled the earth with its missions. When, in November, 1898, its Estimates Committee surveyed its position, they found that its roll included the names of 802 European missionaries, of whom 295 were ladies, whilst, of the 802, no fewer than eighty-four were serving altogether or in part at their own expense. Some of them represented the missionary enthusiasm of Australia and Canada; a fair proportion were duly qualified medical workers, men and women.