Rev. M. A. Throop on Some of the, Present Day Difficulties These explanations were not. satisfactory and the men were handed over to the Japanese Cone sulate-General, where they are present, awaiting trial, a meeting: of the Shanghai Missionary Associati held at: the Baptist compound oad, on Tuesday afternoon, the xetiring president, the Rev.
'Throop, delivered a very inter address. 'The members and visitors were the guests of the ladies of the Baptist Mission, who served tea 'h] and refreshments. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Rev. G. W. Sheppard, agent' for the British Foreign Bible Society, was clecssd president for the ensuing year.
In the course of his address, Mr. Throop expressed his thanks for the cordial ce-operation and the cour~ tesy which he had received from all members of the Association. He mentioned the hindrances to the success of missionary—movement, which, he said, were matters of life and death, There were obstacles to the winning of China for Christ. The first and greatest was the lack of unity. If the missionary forces were divided, their strength was very much diminished, In this connexion Mr. Throp referred to the chasm dividing the Christians of the Roman Catholic Church and the reformed churches, and cleavages even within the reformed churches, as well as the distinction between the so-called liberals and conservatives. The second was the shallowness and conventionality of fe, The greatest need for jon aries as well as alli Christians was a vital connexion with God. Tt was necessary to have a first-hand and direct grip upon spiritual things.
The third thing which hindered the missi jovement was the lack of spit the lack of a definite objective, which must restarted and become not only more definite but more inclusive. They could not rest contented merely with preaching to men, but rather must they try to make them disciples in the full sense of the word, as the Master commanded. They must set before their eyes the building up of strong Christian community, self supporting, self governing and self propagating, which involved the conversion of individuals to Christ that they may have an active part and a real part in the work of God's Kingdom on earth.
There were _a number of other hindrances to the progress of mis. sionary work but missionaries must never lose confidence in its ultimate success. They were sure of that because of the universal nature of the Christian faith; it was a religion not of one race but of the whole world. The speaker in conclusion. suggested that the missionaries" "motto. should: be "God willy it."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.