Tux first article in this number of the Recorder is a reprint from the Missionary Heciew of a sketch by Professor H. B. Hulbert, of Seoul, of the Roman Catholic movement in Cores, We noticed the other day a longer article on the same subject by Mr, E, H. Parker, in the China Review. Mr. G. Spurgeon Medhurst gives some Tease in defence of Mr. Hudson Taylor's tricts; but paradox, "that the best spiritual work in connection with all missions is to be found at out-stations from a distance, rather than at the station where the missionary resides." He discusses intelligently what he ds as the three great obstacles to the success of the missionary in the place where he lives:—1. His daily expenditure. 2. His prejudicial neighbours. 3. His loquacious servants, The missionary necessarily demoralised the people round him by his expenditure, which seems to them, as compared with their own, un-
opposition by the surreptitious way in roanable, He evokes an, unfortunate wich he rents his house, und the obstinacy with which he rotal Lastly, his servants see and tell too much of his home life. If therefore work prospers best at a distance from the missionary's residence, the multiplication f stations must be a mistake, He addi Of course T am well aware that many years' residence in one place will often overcome the obstacles I have referred to, and that in such cases successful mission work in a place is quite compatible with the residence of the missionary there, but is still a grave question how often the victory gained is worth the loss sustained, Might not the years consumed in breaking down the opposition of the natives to the residence of the foreigner in their midst have frequently been more effectively spent in more direct evangelistic effort Dr. Wheeler defends the Bible, pure and simple, against those who insist on the necessity of annotations. 'The difficulty in the way of publishing an annotated Bible is, that each sect scents heterodoxy in the arivalsect. In Dr. Wheeler's 'To make definitions that are most needed, and acceptable to all, where there are so' many ethnic and denominational differences, would be a vast and doubtful undertaking." As to the misapprehension: consequent on faulty translation, they, it is hoped, will be obviated in the proposed union version It is devoutly to be hoped that when the Shanghai General Conference declared in favour of a union version, and set a divine 1 to the act by singing' with full hearts, Praise God from whom all blessings flow,"
id not resolve in vain. The movement ignified something larger than the possibility of uniting the consecrated scholarship of China in rearing a monument that shall stand for the next hundred years. The influence thus happily inaugurated, allowed to take its course, would make for brotherhood and charity, which are incarnations of Christianity and potent factors in the problem of success, Indeed, it is doubtful if Protestant missions can ever become a conquering power until in some such practical way a union of sentiment and a massing of forces can be brought to bear upon the solid front of paganism, The Rev. G.G. Warren examines Mr. King's paper in the September Recorder on the observance of Sunday, and he restates the arguments for the Sabbatarian view. He does not disguise the difficulty that lies in telling converts to do no work on Sunday, and concludes with the words I should personally be glad of practical help from our fathers on the mission field as to how to employ the members on the Sunday. It would be sad if they learned simply to do no work and did not keep the day holy unto the Lord. Enforced idleness was certainly not the aim of the law. What is the best way to lead our brethren to show an example of Sabbath-keeping which shall appear " honourable" to their neighbours, who see them when at home The next paper is a reprint from the Presbyterian of an article by the Rev. B.
Henry on the expediency of the wearing of Chinese dress by missionaries. There is of course much to be said in favour of the adoption of Chinese dress in remote dis-is worn, the wearers should respect the prejudices of the Chinese, and not behave with the freedom—particularly fas to the intercourse between the sexes—, in which foreigners feel free to indulge. Ifa man and a woman walk about arm in arm in foreign dress, the native spectator understands at once that they are foreigners and that their manners are therefore nut to be questioned; but when a man and a woman do it in Chinese dress, they give a shock to the native susceptibility which it must take much proof of their intrinsic goodness to overcome.
The Rev. John G. Fagy's address on "Recent Criticisms of Missionaries and Missionary Methods" is an attractively-written paper. It begi Within the past two years the eyes of the world have been turned with special surprising intensity upon the preachers of Christianity in heathen lands, The petition of the Negro lad; when, asked to lead ® prayer-meeting, "Lord, I beseech thee, make thy servant conspicuous," has been granted ts without our asking." We have been prominent in the Nineteenth Century and the Contemporary Review. We have figured in the London Times and the New York World, A thousand magazines and papers of lesser repute have in turn derided our follies or. sung our praises, We have been told that we are wasting our brains, exhausting our spirits and squandering ten million dollars annually in propagating failure, Luxuriously-housed and sumptuously-fed divines have denounced our extravagances and exhorted us tu asceticism. We, our dress, our fare, our homes, our ponies, our conduct, our methods have all been under scrutiny.
On this World's Investigation Committee we find the names of statesmen and diplomuatists, geographers and philologists, generals and admirals, distinguished preachers ubiquitous globe-trotters, Some have sed nut ut hatred, others out of prejudice, others out of ignorance, others, minimum, out of genuine sympathy und goodwill. We are not here to bewail and moan our condi tic We are not here to daub our discussions with sables and glooms. God we are getting it be by the battering The revival of Hin-ud of Buddhism in Japan, is unquestioned proof that Christian setting hold of the heart of In n's millions, Men do not she arrows into space, They want a target.
The writer recognises that he is a poor soldier who does not learn from his enemies as well as his allies."
An appreciative notice of the late Revs E, Abbey is followed by a Story of 1 in China, Karl Tsong of Zeng, which is to be continued. We natica an acute sentence or two in it, which partly account fur the Chinese toleration of imperial misgovernment; Just as the overthrow of the Feudal Lord in England, in Europe, tended to the liberty of the masses, so the Chinese empire to-day—and from the beginning it has been so—secures to the masses of the Chinese people freedom from war and anarchy, and a large measure of personal liberty. The empire is a distinct recognition of the democracy.
The correspondence columns are taken up with the dispute about the union version of the Bible, while the chief matter in the editorial notes is the announcement that the Rev. G. F. Fitch now hands over charge of the journal to the Rev. Dr. N. Wheeler, wite will no doubt keep it up to the high standard attained by Mr. Fitch. Finally we note that with this number the Recorder attains its majority, having completed its twenty-first y @utports
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.