and soul. He did the work of the generation he lived in, not the work allotted those who followed him. The passion for method in church life, the eager energy in giving and employing money for the coming of the kingdom, the off-hand presentation of truth, and (I speak of it approvingly) the kindergartenism of church life, did not prevail in his time.

Men possessed of capabilities in these directions are the men of this hour, not of his hour. Judged by the only just standard of judgment, that of his generation, Dr. Post has few peers. What he ought to have done as an organizer of educational institutions or the founder of churches can never be answered until has been learned how large a part of the work that he did accomplish would have been left undone, had he given his time and attention to labors belonging either to minds of a different mold or times of a different date.

But what this man did he never would boast of, nor suffer those who loved him to bruit abroad. His only glory was in the Lord, whom he adored and loved. He has written in his own matchless way the relation which he held to Jesus, and with his eloquent tribute of love to the Adorable One this brief sketch of his life shall close:

"I find myself under a system which of itself, unless supplanted by some further revelation, leaves me with no moral deliverance. My moral nature is cold and dead. God is glorious and the universe is beautiful. But I am helpless, hopeless, lost. I sink beneath the glory and the beauty as the desperate swimmer sinks beneath the splendors of the nightly skies in the depths of

ocean.

"But now, as I look around in the very crisis of my despair, lo! the heavens are open, a wondrous person descends from the bosom of the Father, revealing the beauty of his unspeakable love in a human form, that wears for me mortality and suffers and dies for me.

I feel myself

"As I behold, a new spiritual power enfolds me. in a new universe. New life beats through my whole being. Divine love, stooping to my nature and proving itself through suffering, is mightier than my guilt, my fear, my despair. It subdues me to repentance, to faith, to hope, to love. It enravishes me, it transforms me. Cloud and darkness pass from before the Throne. The emerald bow of peace engirds it. The intolerable brightness is shaded into the sweetness of human sympathy. Wide flung are the gates of the city of God. Hands that were pierced for me

hold open its portals; One that has redeemed me, and washed me from my sins in his own blood, that cried on the cross, 'Father, forgive!' bids me come up thither, a saved soul."

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

James G. Merrill.

MISSION WORK IN CHINA.

II.

My two months' stay in China is at an end. What report shall I make concerning my chief object of interest while there, the spread of Christ's kingdom? Never have I been more impressed with the need of patience and a suspense of judgment in reaching conclusions.

There are at work in China, not deducting those at home on furlough, about 600 Protestant missionaries, representing thirtythree societies, British, American, and Continental. In every one of the eighteen provinces, with perhaps a single exception, some of these missionaries are to be found. Besides this, the Roman Catholics are present in force at almost every strategic point. The Greek Church is found at Pekin, Hankow, and possibly elsewhere, but undertakes little.

Of the 600 missionaries, I have met and conversed with about 125, representing twenty-one societies, British, American, and Continental. In fourteen of their central stations I have seen them at work. Those stations were not only on the coast, at such points as Chefoo, Shanghai, Foochow, Amoy, Swatow, and Canton, but lay along two of China's great rivers, - Tientsin, Yungchow, and Pekin, on or near the Peiho; Hankow, Wuchang, Kinkiang, and Wuhu along the Yangtzekiang. Yet, while I have used every opportunity to see and study the mission work, I have realized more and more at every step that my observation was necessarily very superficial, and that my judgment should be extremely cautious.

That ready access to and easy intercourse with native Christians which is so common in Japan is almost unknown in China. The language forms an insuperable barrier to the stranger, and one is largely dependent on the missionaries for his opinions of the work they are doing. Yet both the experiences and the testimonies of missionaries differ widely. The variety of judgment which

always obtains at home is increased here by the immensity and difficulty of the subjects dealt with; by the necessary ignorance of Chinese life and thought; and by the gulf between the Occidental and the Oriental mind. Besides all this, the testimonies of other resident Europeans, especially merchants and consuls, add fresh elements of difficulty, and require separate consideration. It sometimes seems here as if quite contradictory statements were equally true. Ex uno disce omnes must be carefully applied. There is a greater heterogeneousness in China than is generally supposed. Moreover, in the numerous stations I have visited, including the chief centres of Roman Catholic operation, I cannot presume that I have been able to study the mission work in its simplest, best, and most encouraging forms. These are only to be found, for the most part, in the country, away from the open ports, among the substantial peasant class, who form the main hope both for China and the gospel.

Yet superficial and inadequate as my study of this great subject has necessarily been, it has furnished abundant material for certain distinct conclusions, which I give for what they are worth.

As to the coöperation in missionary work, so prominent in Japan, I regret to say that in China there have occurred but few opportunities for this, and of those few but one has, to my knowledge, been thoroughly improved. When the Amoy missionaries of the Reformed Dutch Church reported to their friends at home, some twenty-five years ago, that the Chinese Christians under their charge had effected a union with those under the charge of the English Presbyterians at the same place, there came, as many will remember, prompt remonstrance from the American Synod and an order to sever the union. When the missionaries, to their lasting credit, refused to obey, and appealed to the home churches, the following Synod, better instructed and truer to God's kingdom, left the matter to the discretion of its missionaries. The result was that the classic instance of such coöperation as is prevalent in Japan is to be found to-day at Amoy, and Amoy alone. The venerable Dr. Talmage is still at work there, and uses his influence in behalf of the union of God's people in the same work.

There are hints given of the possible formation here of a Presbyterian Synod by the union of the Amoy, Swatow, and Formosa Presbyteries, the distances and differences in dialect not being so great as to prevent such intercourse. All this shows what is possible under the most favoring circumstances. The country, how

ever, is so vast, the stations are so widely scattered, and the dialects so numerous and divergent, that as yet there are but few instances where different missions of the same denominational family are thrown together. Yet I noted one or two cases where, to a careful observer, it would seem as if a coöperation in mission work were both practicable and desirable.

With the exception of a strong mission at Foochow and a single man in the province of Canton, the field of the American Congregationalists is entirely in North China. The English Congregationalists, also, have efficient missions in Tientsin and Pekin, which are two stations of the American Board. What is there to hinder a union of this work?

There has been some talk of a Christian college at Tientsin or Pekin, under charge of the American Congregationalists. Why not erect it under the combined auspices of London and Boston? Why not connect all the schools and churches of these two missions, and unite all the stations into one association? I can see no real hindrance to this, provided only the laborers are on such personal terms that they can work together, as do all branches of the Presbyterian body in Japan. Dr. McKenzie's splendid hospital at Tientsin, the American training-school at Yung Chow, the schools and churches at Pekin, -think of these bound together, reinforcing one another, building up the Congregational churches of China!

The Northern and Southern Presbyterians are at work separately at Hangchow. Why should they not be united?

It would seem as if the American Methodist work along the Yangtsze might easily be united with the English Wesleyan at Hankow and Wuchang; and also as if the work of Mr. Hagar and any who may reinforce him at Hong Kong and Canton might profitably be combined either with that of the American Presbyterians or the London Congregationalists, both of whom have active missions in the same region. There may be difficulties in the way of which I know nothing, but, so far as is apparent, only gain would be the result of such union.

There is one other point in this connection to be carefully considered by Christians at home. A demand for Western learning must before long spring up throughout China. Modern studies must take their places beside the Chinese classics at the provincial and imperial examinations on which all official promotion depends. When that day comes, it will be important to have the teachings of these branches in the hands of Christians and not of

skeptics. To this end, Christian colleges might well be founded all over China as the germs of future Christian universities. Well would it be if these colleges could be undenominational in character. If that is too much to expect, there might at least be a careful division of territory, instead of a crowding of institutions at a few points, while others equally important are left unprovided for.

It would seem hardly fitting to talk of any one central college or university of China, for the reason that no institution could assume that position any more than could be founded a central college of Europe. China has eighteen provinces, and, it is estimated, a population of 350,000,000. Each of her provinces is, in some sense, a kingdom in itself, with from fifteen to thirty millions of inhabitants, and with such differences of dialect that often those in the same province cannot understand one another. Now, if a Christian college could be provided for each one or two provinces, every such college would be central, and have far more on hand than it could ever accomplish. There might, therefore, be a well-understood agreement between different Mission Boards not to sanction the foundation of a new college in any place where another is already established. At Foochow, for instance, the Northern Methodists have an Anglo-Chinese college which is the germ of a great institution. It would be most unwise and unfortunate for Congregationalists, although they have a mission here, to think of starting another college of like grade and purpose right beside this, and that, too, when the field at Pekin is as yet unoccupied.

At Shanghai there is also an Anglo-Chinese college, which has already cost, I am told, $100,000. It is built, with large aims for the future, by the Southern Methodists, and occupies the field. St. John's College near by, under the charge of the Episcopalians, is also doing much, although its main work, I believe, is soon to be removed to Hankow. It would seem undesirable for the Presbyterians to raise a large amount of money to establish a college at Shanghai, while at Canton, where they are much stronger, there is great need and opportunity for such an enterprise. Let there be a fair division of the field. Let every province be occupied, first by the evangelist, then by the teacher, and finally by the college; but let each Christian who gives to these causes see to it that his money does not go to duplicate labors and institutions which should be broadly distributed.

When I come to the subject of Self-support, I touch that which