Tue Statistics of Protestant Missions in China, 1888, so compactly arranged and printed that they only occupy one page in the January number of the Chinese Recorder axe at the same time encouraging and disheartening. They are encouraging as showing that some little progress is being made with the conversion of the Chinese, in response to the vehement efforts made in Euro] and the United States to enlist the sympathies and collect the contributions of the charitable and religions; but they are disheartening when we find that instead of only the seven churches which Dr. Williamson deplores and at which the St. James's Gazette mocks, there are no Jess than forty Protestant bodies competing for converts in this empire. It is curious that the managers of these Protestant bodies have not long since realised the immense advantage over them that the Romish Church, derives from its unity, and that they have not turned their attention before anything else to the perfecting of an organisation that should put. an end to the waste of means and work that this competition involves, and to such scandals as occurred not long since in Hankow, when one Protestant church. accused another of stealing its converts. Well may Dr. Williamson say, " What a waste of strength!" and draw attention to the state of the case, as he does in the following words "First. To begin with, we have the Church of England with' her Thirty-nine Articles, her Prayer Book, and her formularies, all translated, and she is striving and hoping to impose them in all their entirety upon China. Again we have the Presbyterians with the Westminster Confession, their longer jand shorter catechisms, their system of Church government, also. translated, equally zealous and sanguine in their endeavour to lead the Chinese to adopt their system. Further, we have the Methodists with their elaborate organisations, the Congregationalists with their form of government, the Baptists with theirs, the Lutheran Church seeking to produce in China a fac-simile of itself, mothing less or more, the American Episcopal Church with a like aim. And so with other denominations. What a there are many such. No wonder they spectacle to thoughtful Chinamen! And
say tous: 'Agree among yourselves, and then we may listen to you.' 7
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.