From Our OwN Conesroxsese Bishop Curtis of Chekiang spoke London, Sept. 26.
op. "The C. M. 8, in China" at the niarning session yesterday of the Church. Missionary Society Congress which is being held in London this 1op Holden, of the Kuang: Hunan diocese was to be the speal er, but he had left for his dice: give his audience some mathe-maties, In the good old days when they were taught Euclid they worked things out by the method of reduetio ad absurcin, When he had received the invitation to speak at this meeting he had been in Ireland, "He had been delighted to accept, and had: set off on a tour over Ireland with' two small chile dren without their mother, ko had taken, part in a mary campaign, in Ireland and had tried to sella motor ear. He had been asked by. GIN. 8. to furnish in advance nates of what he was going' to say. He had arrived back in London night before, with his pockets full of tickets and passports, He w now coming to the point—to be asked in advance what he was going to say—"It is absurd!" (Loud Jaughter.)
The Bishop said that his first point was this—that the C. M.S. in China to-day were heirs of heroic traditions, Ho then traced the history of Christianity in China from its very beginning, specially mentioning the German missionary Gutzler, 10 penetrated China when people were saying that it was impossible to enter that country. Reformed Christianity began in' China in the 29th Century, and China was mentioned in the first C. M. 8. publication, The Bishop paid a tribute "that wonderful Irishman," Robert Stewart, No calamity had been allowed to extinguish the work of.C: M.S, in China, he: Bishop's second point was that the C, M.S, were heirs to a witlesproad, a successful and a jqd-approved work, He said he Wid: not think people had any idea of. the distances in China, and he {Wed to bring home to th audience ist evea which they were work-Ing in Chine, Tu 1896 the Rest mis: siavary had gone out to China, He had: come back eighteen mont} afterwards, saying "Nothing doing." After the Treaty of Nanking, hae, was w possibility of work be lone there, and: one who described: hiniself"as "less then the Toast" gave £6,000 to.the @. M; S. China Mission Fund-—in 1842 or 43.
That: was the beginning of C. M. S. insGhina. An appeal had been made to the Universities for men to go to China, and out. of the eight "who want, four had been men from Trinity: College, Dublin (the Bishop's own, College). In fact there were to-many, Irishmen in China, that the. Fukien Mission was sometimes called the paddy field (laughter), At was not until 88 that there was an offshoot of the Chekiang Miscion and work was started the: wild west, the West China Missian being started. From 1860 to 1680 the C. M. 8. was doing pioneer At present it was worked: by their brethren, of the PG, but it was the C. M.S. who blazed the trail. So they could Jodk upon the C. M: 8. as pioneers efvall Anglican work in China, He asked them to think of the 10 years. between 1850 and 1860, The C: M.S. had said that they sonar shut up the Fokien Mission—30 years, and nothing had been done, But a missionary, called Smith, had said "Give us one more year." And they had done this and {ha Mission had turned out to be successful: The Bishop referred: to the: Synod and tho: Jarge number. of Chtinese: clergy that there were. SMe also paid a tribute to the smedieal mission at Hangchow for which Dr. Duncan Main had done ro much. That had. been made passible by an. injured conscience.
lish. man in China had' been jing in opium;" his: conscience smitten him, however, and: he iven-his life savings to: Hangchow, and the wonderful medical work there was largely owing to the injured conscience of this man who could not bear that the name Britain should be stained Then the Bishop paid another tribute to the family of Stewarts, and he said that he had heard that Colonel Philips Stewart, on his retirement from the Army, had gone to Hongkong to help missionary work there. It looked as though this family of Stewarts were all doing missionary work in China, They had heard. why Bishop Holden had had to go back—because his diocese had been evacuated by, the missionaries, and he had thought that he ought to.be on the spot in. his war-swept diocese. The Bishop that he thought had proved his second point—that C. M, S. are heirs to a widespread, a successful and a God-approved work.
He would now talk about a problem and suggest a corollary. The problem, of course, was present-day. China. Therefore, if his first and second points had been established in the face of present difficulties, they might take courage and go forward. There were difficulties at present. There were political difficulties, but there were a great, many parts of China where work could be carried on, He gave a very brief survey of the position, and said that they did not know] jghat "weld: happen frum: dey: lay, Another problem was that of educational work. Schools had to be registered with the Government. The answer to the petition they had made was, in effect, that until the last three years before Mat ation no Christian teaching in the schools or in connection with the schools could be allowed. It was a big problem they were up against; they had schools all over China, With great delight they had been handing over the work to Chinese workers. They wanted guidance with regard to that—that the right) people might be put into these responsible posts, year ago they wore ordered fron headquarters to close work in the Tai Chow Mission, That} retreat. They wanted that other sort of retreat—where they saw the Chinese working, and self-supporting, so they, could hand over: the responsible work to the Chinese. They had reunion. problems, and they hoped that they might get together as their brethren had done in Southern India, 'The Bishop then referred. to the Five Years' Movement, and ended. up on the note that. they might take courage, in. spite of present difficult ties, and go forward.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.