Fruits of Toil in the London Missionary Society

by Unknown

Thirty-two years have passed away. Again the crowds gather at the "White Village," and another woman comes down to pray, the object of attraction to all eyes. But this is the QUEEN of Madagascar. On the white ridge which overhangs the ditch where RASALAMA died, stands a handsome church, with its lofty spire, which has been erected to her memory, and will bear her name upon its walls. The church is crowded with christian worshippers, and vast numbers are compelled to remain outside. The Queen, not a persecutor, but a friend, comes to join her people in dedicating the church to Christian worship; and, in special sympathy with the occasion, offers her Bible for pulpit use. The Prime Minister, whose predecessor had assigned christians to death, now urges his countrymen, in stirring words, to believe in CHRIST, because He is the Saviour of the world. To all who are present, ruler and subjects, the occasion is one of unfeigned joy. Once more the Queen and her christian subjects met before the year closed. On Christmas Day the palace court was crowded by converts wishing to present their congratulations, and, at the Queen's request, they sang some of their hymns and offered prayer. The Report of the Mission speaks of 20,000 hearers added to the congregations during last year; and returns the converts at 37,000 persons, including 7,000 members.

Now we hear, on the very eve of this May anniversary, that the QUEEN herself has been baptized. Humbly and simply, like one of her subjects, she has sought instruction from her Native Pastors; has told the story of the growth of her convictions; and has not been afraid to confess her faith.

All this the Directors of the Society have observed with deepest thankfulness; and they know that many have sympathized with this feeling, and have joined them in recognizing these wondrous answers to prayer. But they feel that heavy responsibilities still rest upon them as christian men; and that continued care and grace are needed from the Spirit of God to keep these young churches from surrounding perils. They have a very definite work before them, and definite principle to guide them in the doing of it. The third Memorial Church is being completed, and plans have been adopted for the fourth. They are strengthening the country mission among the Betsileo tribes; increased agencies are now at work in general education; and plans have been suggested for the training of a Native ministry. A reprint of the Malagasy Testament has been undertaken by the Bible Society; the general operations of the press are being enlarged; and they are anxious to strengthen the Medical Mission. The missionary brethren are watching with wise and jealous care over the purity, the discipline, and the spiritual independence of the Native churches; and a UNION of those churches for mutual aid has been inaugurated during the year.

With numerous Romanist priests and sisters in the capital, the Protestant ministers, English and Native, are firm in their adherence to the Bible alone as the appointed instructor and guide of their people. And it is because the preaching of vital truth has been so blessed, that the Directors are anxious to prevent the introduction of all minor controversies. Therefore they cannot but consider that, in the absence of any number of converts in the Episcopal missions, the appointment of a Bishop of the Church of England to Madagascar, promoted by one of those missions, is undesirable; that it is calculated to introduce confusion among young converts; to hinder their spiritual progress; and to do them vital and lasting injury. They have therefore very earnestly pressed upon the proposers of the scheme that it shall be reconsidered; and they trust that, as a result of friendly conference, it may be altogether laid aside.

XI.—MISSIONS IN INDIA.

In India two hundred millions of people are placed under the indirect jurisdiction or the direct rule of the Queen of England. The empire is divided into many great provinces, in which are spoken ten principal languages. All along the great rivers are scattered great cities, surrounded by hundreds of large towns, and thousands of populous villages. Many of them are centres of a trade growing greater every year, and many are also headquarters of Mohammedanism and of Hindoo idolatry. The endowments and vested interests of idolatry are of enormous value; the Brahmin families may be counted by millions; the Hindoo religious books were commenced 1200 years B.C., and the system itself goes back a thousand years farther still. Such a system is a formidable antagonist and the barriers it raises against change are very strong. Yet even Hindooism, so powerful, so rich, so ancient, is giving way at every point. In the external life of the Empire, a just government, providing for every one of its subjects complete security of person and property, and giving them perfect religious liberty, is adapting its public laws and forms of administration more fully to the circumstances of the time; and is introducing the natives more numerously to those posts of duty and of usefulness for which they become fitted. The order and peace of the country, encouraging production and trade, have raised the wages of labour, and given the peasant a command of comfort which he never knew before. Englishmen have done many wrong things in India, for which they have been justly chastised. But a new spirit has entered into the public government of the Empire, and during the last seven years, a degree of improvement and a solid advance have taken place, in the course of legislation and in the material wealth of the empire, of which none, except men who have seen it, have any idea. Three Universities, whose annual examinations in the English and native languages draw hundreds of native students, stand at the summit of a sound system of education which is spreading more widely every year.

BANGALORE INSTITUTION.

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 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 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."