[CHRISTIAN MISSIONS.]
The most recent intelligence at hand from the Missionary Boards of the different denominations is so full of general interest and encouragement that we give the results that have been reached. With the tens of thousands of our thoughtful readers, we rejoice greatly in this work so efficiently carried on by the American churches at home and abroad.
The latter part of the nineteenth century is becoming more and more a missionary era. Practical heed is given to the “Great Commission,” and the heralds are sent forth into all the world, with the tidings of “peace on earth, and good-will to men.”
METHODIST EPISCOPAL BOARD.
This Church, the youngest of the large denominations, and last to enter the foreign field, has done some effective service. A few weeks since some fears were entertained that from a single point where success was not satisfactory, the partially defeated forces might be, for a time, withdrawn. Such fears were groundless, and the orders are for an advance all along the lines. The little company in Bulgaria have struggled under many disadvantages, but will be reinforced, and the work go on.
At the late meeting of the General Committee, in New York, the annual appropriations were advanced to $750,000, in the confidence that the church will meet the demand.
The Home Missions of this church are numerous. There are reported 2,381 missionaries in the home fields, and more could be profitably employed in communities unable of themselves to furnish an adequate support. The aggregate of the border missions shows an increase in membership, and of church property. The missionary aid given to feeble churches and to establish churches where none existed, combined with the efforts of other organizations, is doing a work whose value can hardly be over-estimated.
The Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church are in fifteen nations. A larger number of missionaries are in India than in any other country.
The summarized statistics show: