put forward by the committee; but we do so deliberately. Missionary societies, like all other human organizations, have defects and weak points in their construction, and are capable of improvement. It is not generally considered edifying to call attention to a fact of this kind, however transparently evident it may be. The traditional notion has been that nothing must be said or done which could in any way be so interpreted as to reflect upon a society or weaken the confidence of its supporters. Years ago we saw an official letter which had been sent out from an American society, earnestly exhorting the members of a foreign mission not to discuss questions of missionary policy in print. It was assumed by the writer of that letter, as it is generally assumed in all such cases, that public confidence must be retained at any and all hazards, and that it would be extremely perilous for any intimation to get into print that the existing methods were not the best that could be devised, or that the success achieved in the past had not been in every sense satisfactory. Such a course may be natural enough, but it is not wise. Confidence can only be created and retained by treating all parties with absolute honesty. It ought to be assumed from the start that missionary societies, like all other bodies, are capable of improvement; that the missionary enterprise is comparatively new, and that mistakes not only exist but may be expected to exist; and that the best friends of the cause are those who have the courage to point out weak spots in the machinery and to indicate possible methods of improvement. It is certainly a new thing in missionary history to find a great society, not only admitting that its methods may need revision, but inviting the outside public to devote three years to the task of carefully examining these methods, with a view to confirm what is manifestly sound and good, to improve what needs improvement, and to do away with what has been found to be hurtful to the best interests of the work. We do not wish to intimate for a moment that any of the great American missionary societies stand in manifest need of a thorough reconstruction, but it is perhaps not too much to say that every one of them is capable of improvement at certain important points. Instead of shrinking from the mere mention of possible amendments it would be a good 050

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thing if two or three years were devoted to a thorough overhauling of their machinery. The great missionary enterprise is probably about to enter upon a wider stage of action than it has before known. It is barely a century old. With the dawn of another century new and amazing opportunities will be set before all the Churches, and there certainly can be no harm in saying that the organizations which have grown up in the past, however well fitted they may have been found for their own era, are not likely to prove equal to the stupendous tasks of the coming century.

Among the various tasks assigned to this three years' enterprise was that of inducing individuals, families, associations, parishes, or local societies to support individual missionaries in the foreign field. This policy was commended to our own Church in a notable anniversary address* some twenty-five or more years ago; and although it has since received a measure of attention it has on the whole been regarded with disfavor. It is popularly known in some circles as the "living link" policy. In the Church Missionary Society it bears the peculiar title of "own missionaries." The idea is that the general interest would be increased by giving donors as far as possible a personal interest in the work. Whether we all may approve the plan or not, we are confronted by the undoubted fact that a large proportion of givers desire very much to have a personal interest in at least part of the money which they give. They wish to know where it goes, to what purpose or purposes it is applied, and what result will probably flow from their contribution. Finding a desire of this kind beginning to manifest itself, it was proposed in connection with this special movement that an effort be put forth to secure special support for all the new missionaries to be sent out during the then pending year. These missionaries were eighty-five in number. In the month of June, 1896, support had been found for nine of these, and the committee in the published minutes expressed the hope that similar support might be found for all the remainder that is, that private parties or associations would undertake the support of one or more, in whole or in part, so that the entire reinforcement might be promptly sent abroad

*By Dr. W. F. Warren.

without adding to the current expenditure of the Society. By July 14 it was found that seven were going abroad at their own expense, and that supporters had been found for thirty others. Five were provided for by colonial associations, while thirty-five remained without provision. By the middle of August thirteen others had found supporters, and "on the day of the valedictory meeting the Honorary Clerical Secretary had the joy of announcing that for every one of the new missionaries—as the committee had diffidently ventured to suggest four months before-offers of support had been received, and there were in fact a few such offers which had to be allocated to missionaries already on the staff."

It has been objected to this scheme that the pledges of support given may fail at any time; that the parties thus supported may be expected to demand special rights and privileges; and that patrons will often attempt to interfere in the work of those who are supported by them. These possible drawbacks may, however, be easily guarded against. It should be an invariable law in every foreign mission that all workers occupy a common basis of subordination to the administration of the mission. One missionary may, for instance, have private means and support himself, the salary of another may be furnished by a private party, while a third is simply dependent on the common treasury; but as working missionaries all should be placed on a common basis. The fact that a man supports himself should not entitle him to independence of action. If he cannot work in the ranks like an ordinary missionary he should not be connected with any missionary society. Then, as to patrons withdrawing their pledges of support, no difficulty need be experienced. If the policy becomes once well understood it will be found that quite as many new offers of support will be received as notices of withdrawal given by former patrons. A list of general supporters of the work will show a tendency to enlarge rather than to shrink, and a very moderate amount of foresight will suffice to prevent any serious embarrassment from arising in the work.

No logic is so invincible as that of facts. We are here brought face to face with some missionary facts of a very astonishing character. At a time of general missionary depres

sion we have our attention drawn to a spectacle which seems to contradict all theories and defy all fears. By remaining absolutely true to its divine mission, by exhibiting in practical work the courage which only faith inspires, and by carefully, prayerfully, and wisely cooperating with the convictions implanted in the hearts of earnest believers, we see a great missionary society moving steadily forward, bidding defiance to financial panics and political changes, and accomplishing what might almost literally be called impossible tasks.

In

If space permitted we would like to notice other points of great interest, but can only add a few words concerning the care which is exercised in the selection of missionaries. the most literal sense this Society lays its hand suddenly on no man. First of all, there is a winnowing of the candidates who present themselves, and next a careful assorting of those accepted and a course of study assigned to them suited to their present standing and future work. Rarely, indeed, is anyone sent abroad without having been under close inspection for at least a year at home. As a rule young men do not marry until they have been three or more years in the foreign field, by which time their ability to endure a strange climate and their general fitness for permanent work are usually fully tested. Practical experience has convinced the managers of the Society that this is a valuable rule and one which adds to the prob- · ability of protracted and permanent service in the field. The term "brotherhood" is not favorably regarded by the Society, but several bands of associated workers known as "communities" have been sent abroad. Young men of this class receive half pay, and, living together as they do, can enjoy about as much comfort as others. Their agreement is limited to five years. As a general rule the agents of the Society are cultured and devoted men, and, as before intimated, there has been for some years past a somewhat marked improvement in the general tone and efficiency of the service.

JM. Shoburn

ART. II.-A GLORY OF OUR CENTURY.

In the order of the ages the nineteenth century takes its place bright with a luster of its own, the radiance of emancipation. In no other have bonds so been broken and bondmen so gone free. The majestic utterance of our first State paper —66 "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; . . . that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men❞—may have been framed in England and, heard across the echoing straits in France, may thence have been caught up and spoken in far-off America; but the world has taken it for the processional chant of this last hundred years. At the end of our century it may hush for lack of occasion, involuntary servitude being at last unknown.

Human slavery is prehistoric. It already exists when society first becomes traceable, and there is no record of its origin. And so was it in accord with "the hardness of their hearts," and so interwoven with social conditions, that those earlier times of its prevalence "God winked at," nor in the Gospel did he command men everywhere to abolish it. He but gave orders mitigating what he did not directly attack. Only by evolution-the continuous activity of secondary causes energized by the abiding First Cause, the Holy Ghost who patiently moved upon the face of Christendom-was the wrong of slavery unfolded, and emancipation urged as a duty upon the human conscience. At length came the fullness of the time, when the revival under Wesley had quickened the life of England's piety. A planter brought from the West Indies to Liverpool a slave, Benjamin Somerset. Ben fell sick, and his master turned him adrift. Granville Sharp cared for the poor alien. On his recovery his master reclaimed him. Lord Mansfield held that slavery, now for ages unknown to English soil and gone from English usage, could be established by statute alone. There was no such statute; and hence slavery did not exist on English soil, and Somerset was free. This, given in June, 1772, was a decision for the ages and generations, and Somerset-a lonely alien, free by the grace of God through Sharp's humanity and Mansfield's justice-walks in

2-FIFTH SERIES, VOL. XIV.