BOOK NOTICE.
The Great Value and Success of Foreign Missions. Proved by distinguished witnesses. By Rev. John Liggins, with an introduction by Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D. Published by The Baker and Taylor Co., 740 and 742 Broadway, New York.
This book contains not only leading facts and statistics regarding missionary work which are very valuable to all who are studying this subject, but also the testimony of diplomatic ministers, consuls, naval officers, scientific and other travelers who have witnessed the results of missionary labor in heathen and Mohammedan countries. This testimony from hundreds of representative men and women, among which we find the names of Lew Wallace, James Russell Lowell, R.H. Dana, Charles Darwin, James B. Angell, with English viceroys, governors and military officers, as well as prominent American and English ministers of the gospel, cannot but commend the book to all Christian people, and make it interesting at any page at which one may open it.
NOTES FROM NEW ENGLAND.
BY REV. C.J. RYDER, DISTRICT SECRETARY.
A trip to Ohio this month to attend the State Association and to indoctrinate the new District Secretary into the esoteric mysteries of the American Missionary Association was a delightful experience, and yet one does not get out of New England by going to Ohio. The hills and valleys, and clear mountain brooks are left behind, but New England people are there as much as here. And what grand opportunities there are in these interior States for growth in missionary enthusiasm and benevolence! Congregationalism is taking Ohio. I remember when a boy in the Buckeye State there were few churches of our order off the "Reserve," or "New Connecticut," as the northern counties were called. "Congregationalism was not adapted to those conditions," we learned in our unwritten, uncongregational catechism. But since 1860 it has been discovered that Congregationalism is fitted for any conditions where Christians are seeking the advancement of our Lord's kingdom, and there are souls outside of that kingdom. So Congregationalism has grown in all sections of Ohio.
The beautiful city of Mt. Vernon opened her homes and hearts in large and generous hospitality. The American Missionary Association received an especially cordial welcome, because many remember the golden days when the senior Secretary of the Association was pastor of this Mt. Vernon church. It was he they wanted to present the work of the Association in his old pulpit, but a younger man went because he was younger.