MISSIONARY FIGURES FOR 1912

(See insert facing page 1)

THE Statistical Table of Protestant Foreign Missionary Societies of the World for 1912 has been built entirely anew. It includes only the actual Foreign Missionary Work of Protestant Foreign Missionary Societies throughout the earth, an attempt having been made to report only that part of the work of the societies which, after careful investigation, was found to be "Foreign Work." Thus, for instance, the great work of the Canadian Methodists among the Indians of the Canadian Northwest has not been counted; nor has the work of the five societies with headquarters in Spain and Italy, which receive their support from Great Britain and America. These are only doing that which in the real sense of the word must be called "Home Missionary Work."

The tables have been prepared with all possible care. Every society throughout the earth was requested to send its latest report to the compiler, who made a careful study of the reports, and, after having gathered from each report the figures, submitted them to the secretaries of the societies. The great majority of the societies responded at once with the latest reports (those who did not are marked with a cross in the table), and the busy secretaries cooperated in a splendid manner with the writer, for which cooperation he hereby renders his heartiest thanks. A considerable number of the secretaries have asked for blanks that they may be able to secure from the field better information for next year's statistics. Thus we are quite sure that next year we will have a still more complete Table

of Statistics than we have now. No effort has been made to fill out blank spaces by estimates of any kind. Wherever the reports furnished no figures, and wherever the secretaries reported personally "no information at hand," the writer simply left a blank space, thinking that the discerning reader would rather have blank spaces than mere estimates. The main columns pertaining to Incomes and to the number of Foreign Missionaries and Native Workers, and to Stations, Hospitals, and Dispensaries, will be found perfect, while those in regard to Schools, Communicants, etc., show more or less numerous blank spaces this year. In leaving these blank spaces, the writer has followed the example of The World Atlas of Missions.

Inasmuch as the tables this year have been prepared on a little different basis from that followed in former years; we have omitted the usual comparison with the figures published one, five and ten years ago. We can, however, note the following facts:

The table shows a healthy increase of missionary activity throughout the earth. It reveals growing liberality of the Christian forces. A greater number of men and women are willing to go out into the field, and the increasing numbers of converts and communicants and of the pupils in the missionary schools prove clearly that the Spirit of the Lord is at work, and the seed sown is bringing forth fruit abundant unto Eternal Life, but, at the same time, a glance at the table shows that after all only a small part of the work which ought to be done by the Christian Church among the multitudes of non-Christians throughout the earth is being

performed, and that prayer should be made without ceasing that the Lord stir up His Church to greater zeal, to greater activity, to greater liberality and to greater consecration in the service of the Master.

THE OUTLOOK IN TURKEY

WITHOUT doubt one of the

most significant events of the year in its influence on the kingdom

of God is the war of Greece and the Balkan Kings against the Turk in Europe. This subject is dealt with more fully elsewhere in this number and we here call attention to only one or two salient facts. The Turk has, for many years, been a barrier and a menace to Christianity. Oppression, bribery, persecution, massacre have characterized the Ottoman dealing with Christians, so that the prayer of missionaries has been that God would "turn and overturn" the evil rule of the Sultan's Government. This prayer has been abundantly answered in the uprising of the Young Turks and now in the victories of the Balkan armies. We can not doubt that God has in view great and blessed changes that will come out of this terrible bloodshed. The Ottoman Empire is suffering for the misdeeds of centuries, and out of the trouble and turmoil the hand of God is surely working out beneficent results.

In spite of the promises of religious freedom given by the reform. government it has been as difficult as ever to obtain permission to establish Christian institutions; open-air Protestant meetings were stopt in Cæsarea, the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut has been denied permission to take over purchased property for church or school use; permission was also refused to build a

hospital in Konia and other missionstations make similar complaints.

In spite of Government opposition, however, the people of Turkey have been welcoming, more than ever, the opportunities offered by Christian missions. There are more Moslems in the college at Beirut, altho attendance at Bible-classes and chapel worship is strictly enforced. Turks and Kurds are attending mission-schools in large numbers; many hundreds of Bibles and Testaments are being sold to Moslems-in the city of Konia (Ancient Iconium) alone 1,500 were sold to Moslems in the last 12 months. The influence of Protestant

schools and colleges is being more widely recognized and after the present war is over we believe that they will be more than ever patronized by all sects. Temptations will come to the Christian because of increased lib

erty and opportunity to secure wealth and advancement in the State. With education also may come growing self-sufficiency and rationalism-already it has begun to creep into Protestant pulpits-followed by infidelity in the pew. The faith of Moslems in their prophet and in the Koran is being shaken; will the faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, take its place? Imans and Mullahs are calling down curses in vain on those who disregard tradition and sacred law; will rever

ence for the law of God as revealed

in the Bible take the place of that which is discarded? The day of Will the opportunity is dawning. Christian Church be ready to take advantage of it?

A YEAR OF THE REPUBLIC IN CHINA

IN October the republic of China had

been in existence for a year, altho it has not yet been "recognized" and

many predicted that it would not last six months, probably not six weeks. At the expiration of a year from the declaration of a "republic" the men who began the work and who put it through are still to the front. Dr. Sun Yat Sen (Sun Wen, or Sun Chung Shan) unquestionably did more than any other single individual to bring about this mighty change. He has given himself with energy to the task of traveling through China, studying its conditions and its needs, and by his presence, his stirring addresses and his earnest private exhortations doing a great work of unification. Dr. Sun is an avowed socialist, a specialist in economic reforms, and is enthusiastic in regard to the necessity for a vast network of railways to overspread all China..

The National Assembly has risen to its duties in a way which no most ardent friend of China would have

Chinese hitherto untouched by Christian influences are moved to inquire what Christianity is. The Y. M. C. A. student summer conferences, followed up by other methods later in the year, are interesting incidents of this enlightening process. The Chinese churches tend more and more to call themselves "independent," but the meaning of this term is by no means as yet clear even to themselves. The great question is whether these bodies are able to stand for a positive faith, and to maintain true Christian standards among their members.

While perhaps the republic is not assured, it is on its feet, and shows its ability to remain there indefinitely. The capacity of the Chinese people is unlimited both for government and for social order.-A. H. Smith.

HALF A CENTURY IN SUMATRA

tions of the utmost intricacy and difficulty with an offhand air of extreme confidence. As an avenue for accomplishing things the National Assembly leaves the American Congress out of sight.

The national system of education, much interrupted by the revolution, is once more in operation, with ideals which are gradually becoming elevated, but with resources which probably bear no relation to the magnitude of the vast task to be undertaken.

It is the general testimony that the Chinese are now more open-minded toward religion than at any previous period within foreign experiences. This does not mean a readiness to accept foreign dogmas or to accept anything, but it means that classes of

1861, four Christian men counseled together concerning the work of God in the highlands of Si Pirok, on the island of Sumatra. Two, Klammer and Heine, were messengers of the Rhenish Missionary Society; Betz and Van Asselt were missionaries of a Dutch Society, but ready to aid the Rhenish missionaries in the new great task of taking the Gospel to the Bataks. This was the first conference of Rhenish missionaries that marked the opening of the first mission upon Sumatra.

Fifty years have passed and a flourishing native Church has arisen among the Bataks. Her members number 103,000, and out of her have come 29 ordained ministers and 659 missionary teachers and helpers. The one station of fifty years ago has grown to 41