But it is time to leave these things and to speak of some aspects of the Society's work which concern all missionary enterprise.
"IN THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE EARTH."
(The peoples amongst whom the C.M.S. Missionaries are now working.)
Twice in its career the Church Missionary Society has definitely committed itself to a policy of faith as it has committed itself to sending out all who offer and are found qualified. It is a policy which, judged by the most secular standard, must be accounted a success. The growth of its staff in recent years, under this system, has been most striking. The Society has had its periods of stagnation and disappointment; at times its directors have felt driven to retrenchment. Thus in 1859 the number of European missionaries on its roll was 226; ten years later it was only 228. But, whereas in 1889 the number was 360, in 1898 it had risen to 802. During the first ten years the Society sent out five agents; in the ten years ending with its Jubilee the number was 119; in the nine years ending 1898 it reached 719. The income of 1848 was £92,823; the income of 1898 was £331,598. Its latest statistics show that there are about 240,000 natives associated with its missions, and of late it would seem that its clergy baptise on an average about twenty adult converts every day.
(Photo: A. G. Carlile, Exmouth.)
SIR JOHN H. KENNAWAY, M.P.
(President of the Church Missionary Society.)
In this month of April all round the world—from North-West Canada to New Zealand, from Palestine to Japan, from Central Africa to the Indian frontier—men will be keeping the centenary of that meeting at "The Castle and Falcon," in Aldersgate Street. For a hundred years of work, considered in relation to the power and the wealth and the responsibilities of our nation, there may be little to show; but, for such as there is, men of many races, and once of many creeds, will, with one accord, give thanks to God.