334 TWENTIETH CENTUEY IMPRESSIONS OF HONGKONG, SHANGHAI, ETC. This feeling has manifested itself in the x-arious adjustments of forces that have been carried out. The American Episcopal Mission withdrew from Amoy in favour of the American Board, and that societ>', in turn, made way for the mission of the Dutch Reformed Church. The Church Missionary Society retired from Peking in favour of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. These arrangements, and others like them, demonstrate the oneness of aim which inspires societies, differing widely on questions of government and belief. The most conspicu ous example of co-operation is furnished by the China Inland Mission. That great society unites under one directorate Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Independents, baptizers of infants and adults, and of adults only, natives of the four divisions of the British Isles, and the Colonies, and associated missionaries from Sweden, Norway, Germany, and Finland. Separate spheres are arranged for the different classes of workers, but there is an identity of aim and a unity in operation that is both visible and effective. The unity of the Protestant missionary body in China has been promoted by three general Conferences, in 1877, 1890, and 1907. At the last of these, when every Protestant missionary society in China was represented, it was resolved to form a Christian federation of missionaries working in China, (n) to encourage everything that will demonstrate the existing essential unity of Christians ; and (6) to promote co-operation among the missionary societies in the interests of harmony, efficiency, and economy. The Conference summed up the situation in these words : "We frankly recognise that we differ as to the methods of administration, and Church government. But we unite in holding that these differences do not invalidate the assertion of our real unity in our common witness to the Gospel of the grace of God." And, in order to help forward the union of the various native Churches, the Conference appointed a committee, consisting of three members from each of the following Churches working in China — Baptist, Congregational, Episcopal, Lutheran, and Reformed Methodist, and Presbyterian. The spirit of the Protestant missionary body in China to-day, despite all differences of name, is summed up in the motto of its most recent conference, " Unum in Christo."
Men.
Among the many Protestant missionaries who have worked in China there are some whose lumes call for special mention.* Robert Morrison (1782-1834). The pioneer of Protestant missions in China. Landed in Canton September 7, 1807 ; was appointed Chinese translator to the East Indi.t Company ; finished his Chinese grammar in 1812 ; Chinese New Testament in 1813 ; complete Bible, 1819 ; and dictionary, which was published by the Company, in 1821. He baptized his first convert after seven years' work, and at his death there were ten members in the Church. William Milne (1785-1822). Joined Morrison at Macao in 1813. Next year he wrote, "To acquire the Chinese is a work for men with bodies of brass, lungs of steel, heads of oak, hands of spring-steel, eyes of eagles, hearts of apostles, memories of angels, and lives of Methuselah." Made a tour of the Malay Peninsula, in order to distribute the New Testament among the Chinese settlers there. Was appointed head of the Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca. He estimated
- AngUcan mwriom are dealt with in a separate article.
that one hundred years after the establishment of Protestant missions in China there would be one thousand Christians, children included. The total number in 1907 was reckoned at seven hundred and fifty times Milne's compulation.
Elijah Coleman Bridgman (1801-61), the first American missionary to China, arrived in Canton in 1830. He took a principal part in the formation of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China, the Morrison Education Society (since defunct), and the North China branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, of which he was elected first president.
Samuel Wells Williams (1812-84), arrived in China in 1833, and was secretary to the U.S.A. Legation for sixteen years. Wrote a "Tonic Dictionary of the Canton Dialect," a "Syllabic Dictionary of Chinese," and the "Middle Kingdom."
Peter Parker, M.D. (1804-88). Was sent to Canton in 1834, as the pioneer medical missionary, by the American Board.
William Chalmers Burns (1815-68), reached Hongkong in 1847 ; moved to Amoy in 1851. Afterwards worked in Shanghai, and Peking ; and died in Newchwang, in an endeavour to begin settled work there. His translation of the "Pilgrim's Progress," and his hymns, original and translated, are in use in every mission in China.
J. Hudson Taylor (1832-1905). Having graduated in medicine, he arrived in China, in 1854, and worked for a time, with William Burns, inland from Shanghai, and in Swatow. Intending to take up work at the latter place, he was led to devote himself to the evangelisation of Inland China, and formed the China Inland Mission in 1866, when he sailed with sixteen others in the Lammernittir. This mission has developed work in all of the eighteen provinces except Kwangtung and Kwangsi.
James Legge (1814-98). Appointed Principal of the Anglo-Chinese College in Malacca, he removed to Hongkong in 1843. He issued the first volume of his translation of the Chinese Classics in 1861, and completed the work in seven volumes. He translated, also, the "Book of Rites," the "Book of Changes," the "Texts of Taoism," &c. He was appointed to the Chair of Chinese Studies at Oxford in 1876.
Alexander Wylie (1815-87), arrived in China in 1847 to superintend the printing press of the London Missionary Society in Shanghai. Afterwards he was agent for the British and Foreign Bible Society. He wrote "Memorials of Protestant Missionaries," and " Notes on Chinese Literature," a descriptive catalogue of the most important Chinese writings.
James Gilmour (1843-91), was celebrated for his work among the Mongols, concerning which he wrote two books.
Aim.
The aim of missions in China is to proclaim the Evangel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mission operations stand to be judged by the faithfulness and efficiency with which they do that work. Converts, scholars, hospitals, printing presses. Bibles, and newspapers, all have their places as auxiliary to this end, and are viewed in relation to it.
Methods.
The methods in use to compass this end are various. First comes preaching. Every missionary is first of all a preacher — not often from the pulpit, nor always with the tongue. In the hospitals the preaching is done in "deeds More strong than all poetic thought." The missionary evangelist goes out to the villages, or into the streets of the cities ; and on the ferries, and by the wayside ; he speaks as he has learned, and, as far as the difficulties of the language and the convolutions of minds, alien to his in all but their humanity and common need, will allow. None is more conscious than he of his limitations, and it is a mighty uplift when one and another (of their honesty let the section on results tell) responds, and he can begin to train native evangelists. It has been accepted on all hands that China can only be evangelised properly by the Chinese. Acting upon that assumption most missions have devised methods for training their native preachers. Some missionaries, as Mackay of Formosa, take their students with them on their itinerations ; others gather promising men at centres, and train them there. A training school and theological college is a feature of every well-found mission to-day. The work in such institutions is developing in two directions. Amalgamation of separate colleges has been accomplished in Soochow, Nanking, Mukden, Amoy, and other places, in the interests both of efficiency and economy. The standard of education is being gradually raised, in order that students may be prepared to assume the charge, as pastors, of the native churches. Simpler courses equip men who through age, or defective education, are unfitted to grapple with the subjects of an advanced curriculum ; but young and well-educated men are taught all the subjects, with the exception of Greek and Hebrew, which a student in a home theological college studies, though not as yet with the same thoroughness. When native evangelists are equipped and sent out the number of converts grows rapidly. The next stage, then, is the organisation of native churches. In this matter each mission follows the Church order to which it belongs. In some places there are bishops, priests, and deacons ; in others ministers, elders, and deacons ; in others again, no settled ministry is recognised ; but, in all, there are congregations gathering from Sunday lo Sunday for worship, preaching, and the celebration of Holy Communion. The diversity of forms is not as confusing to a Chinese as it is to a Western mind. All differences are blurred to him by that haze of strangeness that covers everything connected, however indirectly, with the foreigner.
But the desire of the missionaries is that these divisions shall not be perpetuated. The recent Conference declared that the foreign missionaries "desire only to plant one Church,' that they recognise "the liberty . . . of the Churches in China," and that they eagerly anticipate the time when these Churches "shall pass beyond the guidance and control " of the foreign missionary. The Conference also declared for " the right of the Churches in China ... to organise themselves in accordance with their own views of truth and duty." What form of government or variety of doctrine the Church of China will adopt, no one would venture to predict to-day. The missionaries have made it clear to their converts that they stand to them in the relation of nursing-fathers, and only desire that the new Church, when it comes, shall be true to its Lord, and true to all that is best in the genius and character of the Chinese race.
Schools.
The organisation of Churches implies the education of the children of Christians. The system of missionary schools has been
