The Rev. T. T. Lew, pu. v., the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Theology in the Peking University, gave an address on "The Church of Christ in China." After an eloquent reference to the work of the missionaries, including a remem-prance of the martyrs' blood, he said that the problem of to-day, which foreigners and Chinese alike are met to discuss, is what sort of church this is to be. There are now 360,000 members who want guidance. Dr. Lew took eight outstanding characteristics that are needful to a worthy Chinese Christian, Church: (1) A fearless fighter against sin; (2) a faithful interpreter of Jesus; (3) a flaming prophet of God; (4) an obedient disciple of the Holy Spirit; (5) a worthy teacher of the Bible; (6) a genuine servant to the Chinese people; a true conservative and a stalwart liberator; (7) a defender of Christian unity and comprehensiveness; (8) a courageous ex-perimeter in cooperation." We Chinese Christians may say one to another and may say to you our brethren in Christ from other lands We are no longer strangers and sojourners, but we are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom each several building, fitly framed together, growth into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom we also (thanks be to God) are builded together (with you) for a habitation of God in the Spirit."
Sratus or Missionaries.
Dr. Lew was followed by one of his colleagues, the Rev.
Evans. Mr. Evans asked what was to be the response of the foreign delegates to Dr. Lew's appeal. "The first matter to be considered is what. is the attitude we take to the whole Chinese nation, which in the* providence of God existed before the Chinese Church. We are witnessing one of the marvels of history—one of the oldest nations of the world is being born again. Until quite recently it was the custom to refer to the churches of Asia and Africa as "native" churches; then we spoke of the "infant" churches. I am inclined to think that the Chinese Church has only now come to the birth. Hitherto it has been a foreign church in China. I mean net that it has been such to Chinese eyes, but that it has been really such. At the Edinburgh Conference the phrase "The Church on the Mission Field" was used. Even this phrase if not obsolete is obsolescent. The Chinese Church ° is no longer to be regarded as an _apbendix to the Churches of the West. The new status of the Church raises, two questions. (1) The status of missionaries. I would humbly sub mit that as far as the Chinese Church is organized the missionary has no ecclesiastical position whatever except by the courtesy of the Chinese Church. A Church is the only authoritative organization known to Christianity. Where a church, or body.of believers in Christ, exists, it must be a sovereign body. What plan then has the Missionary Society? Ought we not to regard it as the organization of the love of the west? (2) The position of the individual missionary. Either (a) the missionary may regard himself as lent by the Church of the West for the time being (b) the missionary may regard himself: as a member of the Chinese Church. The spirit of Christian brotherhood declares emphatically for this second position. As I look back on my early experience I see now more clearly than I saw then that I had a position to which I had no right. I was appointed as a pastor to a church which had never been consulted on the matter. I am ashamed as I look back on my exercise of disciplinary powers to which T had no right. Chinese opinion on this matter is sore and inflamed.
Tae 6,000 Missionaries, "The proportion of missionaries to the Chinese Church is a question that needs consideration. In, one light the fact that there are 6,000 missionaries in China is seen to be too small a force. In another, we have it that it indicates a power over the material matters, the property and the funds of the Church which is not matched by a proportionate preponderance of spiritual force. Our Chairman was once asked a question. He replied with an illustration of a nurse. whose charge was a princess. The nurse is the foreign missionary; the princess. the Chinese Church. I owe a second illustration to My principal, Dr. Lew. The Chinese Church is a bride, the foreign Church the mother-in-law—an illustration more honourable in Chinese than in Western customs. A third illustration comes from one of the greatest prophecies of the Old Testament as it looks forward to the glory of the New. I have just said that the Chinese Church is just now being born. We can say: "For unto us 'a child is born, unto us a son is given." Note how the Scripture goes on. "And the government shall be upon his shoulder."
Dr. Hodgkin led the devotional half hour, which began with* the singing of "For all the saints." For the last three quarters of an hour, sundry delegates took part in: the discussion of Commission LI, Bishop Molony, Mr. Chang of Changsha (United Evangelical Church), the Rev. W. Taylor,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.