The 130th Report "Boy's Own Paper" One of Its- Many Publications: Great Names Linked with China We have received the annual Report~of the R-T.S. for the 130th year of its existence, the year dating from March 1928 to March of the present year. We think it will be interesting to our readers to learn something of the work of this unique organization.
The Society, as we see, was found.
dark' and stormy time: Napoleon, like a colossus, bestrode Burope and England was passing through one of the darkest periods of her history when a little band of enthusiasts, under the leadership of the Rey. George Burder, a Conrogational minister, met and form-fed themselves into' a society for the production and religious and wholesome literature, A Great Publishing House 'The Society thus formed grew and prospered until its operations became world wide and at the present day it publishes literature in 296 languages and dialects being second, in the universality of its output, only to' its sister, the British and Foreign Bible Society. The BTS, is one of the greatest pub-Ushing houses in London, Its show-oom, which is now at No. 4 Bouverie. Street but was for many years in No, 66 St, Paul's Churchyard, shows an amazing display of illustrated Bibles, commentaries, books on farchwology and fiction, many of them superbly illustrated by pictures drawn by the Society's artist, Holy In 1807 Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to China, arrived in Canton. He set himself to the study of the language but, when able to speak; found himself; debarred from public utterance, as much by the restrictions of his own and the Chinese governments, as In 1813 he wrote to the Religious Tract Society in London and asked for financial help that] he might produce tracts that would be silent messengers to carry the story that he was forbidden to tell. The RTS. appealed to its subscribers to contribute to " China fund and £414 was sent to China as fa result. Thus the work of pro-dueing books and tracts in China was begun by the RTS, and has continued, without intermission, to this day. In this year William Milne was sent to China by the IMS. to be Dr. Morrison's colleague. He was an Aberdeenshire Ind and when received by the Directors of the Mission in ce mittee his appearance was so uncouth that the Directors asked if} he would be willing to go to China as Dr. Morrison's assistant, not a3 'a missionary. He replied, "I would go to black his boots if he wished me to do a He went and, before the end of is career, won the magic letters D. D. after his name. wrote a booklet in Chinese call "The Two Friends—A dialogue It has been reprinted many times and, with its language modernized, is still in circulation, Beginning of Societies in China mteo to its customers that the will be of] high literary standard, that its contents will be interesting and its statements true to the limits of ascertained knowledge. Selected copies of its publications find their way into every European language and The time came when missionaries} felt the need of establishing publishing houses for the supply of literature to be used in their work. The RTS. gave generous aid and Tract societies are now located in Shanghai, Hankow, Tientsin, Foochow, Chungking, Amoy, and Hon kong: Tientsin and Shanghai have unsettled the country is and the fact that missionaries must "pursue their itinerary work in peril from robbers, as well as in the discomforts incidental to travel in interior China, it will be seen that, great as the work now is, it has' potentilities of expansion—given reason-Jable security for life and work—that are almost unlimited. A small proportion of this circulation may consist of tracts; given gratis by the missionary or colporteur, but} that is but an infinitesimal fraction of the whole. The tracts are purchased by the non-Christian hearers who listen to the preacher by the! wayside or, maybe, in a temple courtyard. The books and pictures, for the Society carries a large stock of painted scripture 1g such subjects; as the Prodigal son, the lost sheep etc,, are bought, and paid for, by converts and inquirers who desire] to understand better the principles! of the new religion which they have] embraced.
"The Advance"
The title of the report Which we have been reviewing is "The A vance." This is because the R-TS. of London realizes that a wide of opportunity is opening Before it and it desires to take. more advantage of its opportunities. Tt plans to initiate another. forward! movement and, by_ permission of the Lord Mayor of London, a meeting in the Mansion House was due to. be held on October 2, It has! doubtless already passed into history though the report of what! was said and done has not yet reached us. But the title itself is an inspiring one. How different the position of the R-T.S. to-day to what it was 150 years ago. Then a few men founded a Sociey which would distribute good litera~ ture in the poorer parts of London and, maybe, spread out to other ci in England. To-day there is searce-a nation or people or tongue in which its literature does not cir culate. And the ultimate goal? 'There. is no ultimate goal, except' that the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, Jsome of its books in the English amalgamated with Hankow as the) AMERICAN MISSIONARY
Language may be found on the counters of Chinese bookshops in Shanghat. The R.P. izes on the production of Pilgri Progress." It has published that immortal allegory in no less than 122 Tanguages and last year, being the 800th anniversary of the birth of John Bunyan, it produced an illustrated volume of his great, book, which was sold for six pence, one year 200,000 copies were sold.
Beside the vast array of book: lasted by this Society, publish RTS, for China and all the} branches named are subsidised by the parent society in London. Tracts and books now began to pour from the press, The Mission ary-Conference, held in Shanghai in 1800, asked that a commentary, on the whole Bible should be prepared and this was produced by the RTS. and was named "The Conference Commentary." It is process of lay, it is the only com-ete commentary on the Scriptures ied in China,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.