Fruits of Toil in the London Missionary Society

by Unknown

The Christian Assistants not engaged in schools are divided into several classes. Some are READERS, who go from house to house, and explain the Word to families or individuals. Others are preachers of greater or less education, and are more or less trusted, either to work alone, or in company with more experienced brethren. In India and China, these brethren are usually termed CATECHISTS, though in the South Seas the missionaries have retained the title of NATIVE TEACHERS. One class among them, of higher character and education, in whom great trust is reposed, are termed in India EVANGELISTS. These brethren frequently occupy stations by themselves, or are immediate and trusted assistants of the missionaries. Several of the excellent preachers in China belong to this rank; as also others in the South Sea Islands and in Madagascar.

It has from the first been a settled rule with the Society's missionaries that catechists and preachers should be men of known and proved piety; and that all candidates for theological classes shall be members of the church. The Directors believe that it is largely owing to the observance of this sound rule that the Missions have received a great blessing from above, and have been built up on a solid basis. It is the effect of this blessing, and a result of the development of the churches, that a steady improvement has taken place in the general character and fitness of Native Agents. And not the least benefit is that at length it is giving rise to the long-desired class of NATIVE ORDAINED PASTORS.

In 1865 our lists showed twenty such Pastors and Missionaries, not reckoning the Tahitian or Madagascar brethren; and of the twenty, fourteen were in India. During the last three years fifteen have been added in India, and one has died. In the Leeward Islands several of the Tahaa students have been ordained as pastors in Tahiti and the out-stations; the Directors have recommended the ordination of others, as TAUGA, the Evangelist in charge of the churches in Manua; ELIKANA, the Evangelist of the Lagoon Islands; and ISAIA, the well-known Evangelist of Rarotonga; and five have been ordained in Samoa. In Madagascar a practical Native pastorate grew up in the days of persecution, which was judiciously fostered by Mr. Ellis and his associates, and was placed by them in a most healthy position. Of the five hundred preachers placed over the churches, some twenty may be reckoned of that high standing and independence of management accorded to the other brethren in the ordained lists. The Directors rejoice that, through the wise foresight of Mr. Ellis, the Madagascar pastors receive no support from the Society; they are almost wholly sustained either by their own labour or by the Native Churches. In Travancore, three of the pastors ordained last year have become entirely free of all help from the Society. The Board desire that in all cases the same independence of support from English funds shall be steadily aimed at, though for a time it may be necessary to guarantee a certain salary, and to supplement such portion as the native members give, by an annual grant from the Society's funds. In all the Society's missions the number of these pastors is about eighty. It is desirable that all our native agency shall be of the best kind, and shall be trained in the most efficient way.

ANDRIAMBELO.

VII.—THE NATIVE CHURCHES.

The high and useful position attained by the Society is further illustrated by the character and importance of the Native Churches. These are our actual converts, the most striking, the most patent, if not the most real among the fruits of our past labours. These churches are unevenly distributed, but the explanation is easy. As a rule, they are largest in fields of labour which have been longest cultivated, and where converts are easily won. They appear, therefore, in inverse ratio to time and difficulty. To the native races of Polynesia, desolated by wars, torn in pieces by faction and strife, Christianity came as the healer and peace-maker, and was welcomed as soon as understood. To the native races of South Africa, and to the people of the West Indies, to the weak who had been crushed and enslaved by the strong, it came with loving smiles as deliverer and friend. By the devil-worshipper of Travancore, ignorant, degraded, friendless, afraid of malignant spirits, it was welcomed for its kindness. To the caste-ridden people of the great cities and towns, to the sudra of South India, to the Brahmins everywhere, it came as an enemy, destroying their social life, breaking up the bonds of Hindooism, smiting the gods, putting down the priesthood, destroying the vested interest, and drying up the wealth produced by centuries. Who can wonder that to the learned, the powerful, the bigoted, it was "foolishness;" while to the despised and poor, accepted in a child-like spirit, it became the power of God unto salvation? As a rule, the converts, who were easy to win, have been hard to raise; and in ordinary Christian life some of the most zealous, the most consistent, the most liberal, the most missionary, have been found among the few converts, drawn by hard struggles and heavy penalties, from the caste population of our Indian towns. It is from such came nearly all our first ordained Native Ministers.

THE GOD BEATER.

But, whether easily or hardly won, we rejoice in the fact that at this hour the three hundred Churches gathered through the ministry of this Society contain thirty-five thousand members; and that round them, looking to them for instruction, and influenced by their example, lives a population of not less than one hundred and ninety thousand souls, who have given up all idolatry, and call Christianity their religion.