THE MISSIONARY ANNIVERSARY AND HOW TO PREPARE FOR IT. BY THE REV. W. A. COOKE. FI were a seer, and, under the prophetic afflatus, might make known what shall come to pass hereafter, I would tell you whether the Church of the future will continue the missionary anniversary, or whether there shall be a quarterly missionary meeting, or a monthly missionary service, or whether, after apostolic precept, "the collection for the saints" and sinners in the regions beyond will be taken up on the first day of each week. Alas! I am no prophet, and unless the matter has been revealed to you, we must content ourselves to await the event. If I were an ecclesiastical statesman, and in my practical sagacity could make competent and confident judgment as to missionary methods in the home Church, I would at once constitute myself an advocate, and either strongly urge the conservation of the time-honored missionary anniversary, or with the greater enthusiasm that accompanies the emergence of a new idea, I should pour shot and shell into the antiquated, out-grown, inefficient, fossilized missionary anniversary, and urge vehemently upon a convention, called for the very purpose of inaugurating a forward movement in missions, the wisdom, nay, the most absolute necessity, of bringing forward the missionary enterprise into its own rightful, foremost place in the Church's life, and of making every day a missionary day. And, sir, I have to confess that the simple setting forth of the alternative almost compels me into the camp of the reformers. For, with all our reverence for the traditional glories of the missionary anniversary, it is perfectly clear that in view of the stupendous work before our Church in China and Japan, to say nothing of the closer duty to the Canadian aborigines, the policy of annual collections has measurably failed, and one is willing to be "fanatic named, and fool" for saying the "time is ripe, yes, rotten ripe, for change." If, as I have said, I had confidence in my competence, I should spend my half-hour on "The Missionary Anniversary and How to Replace It." However, recanting for the moment of my hesitant heresy, and reserving to myself the privilege of returning, like Cranmer, on fresh accession of courage, to the faith of the Reformers, we will accept the missionary anniversary as an institution in our Church, and consider how to make the best of it. The Purpose of the Anniversary. It is well to set clearly before ourselves the purpose of the missionary anniversary. What do we seek to accomplish by it? The furtherance of God's work at home and abroad. Yes, but in what way? I would say by stirring up spiritual interest in the work, and by gathering up financial principal for the work, and if you would forgive me, I would add that the spiritual interest should be the principal thing. Our holy religion puts highest value on the spirit. Our Lord's first beatitudes are spoken of those who are right in spirit. And in harmony with the genius of our religion, the missionary services should, as of first im portance, teach the right spiritual attitude towards world-evangelization. When our congregations with humbled, wondering minds, stand awed and reverent before the eternal purpose and the everlasting love of God; when God makes known to them, as he did to Paul, the mystery "that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs and fellow-members of the body, and fellowpartakers of the promise in Christ Jesus, through the Gospel "; when the people stand as loyal, obedient disciples in the presence of their Lord, and hear him give his Great Command, then missionary zeal is not "strange fire," but is kindled at the very altar of God. And it will be no profanation of that holy flame if you stir it up by telling the splendid story of the conquering march of the missionary host led by the impetuous Peter, and the incomparable, unconquerable Paul-"a noble army, men and boys, the matron and the maid "--who met the tyrant's brandished steel, the lion's gory mane, who bowed their necks the death to feel," and who in three centuries had proved themselves mightier than the legions of Cæsar. You will add "fuel of fire," as you recount the history of missionary heroism which extends down to our own day, and is the glory of the Church. Then, as you tell of our own great opportunity of honoring our Master's word, the glow of a great enthusiasm should be manifest throughout all the assembly. The glowing heart delights in sacrifice. What is now needed is merely such simple, practical common-sense business methods as shall reap the full harvest. It is not only poor business, it is defective morals, to do the work of God so negligently that even the fragments are lost. We should see to it that the finest and truest spirit expresses itself in the largest and most generous, practical results. For it is true, as a recent Outlook editorial says, "Money and missions are more intimately connected than even our practical Methodism seems willing in a practical way to admit." How to Prepare for It. To make the most of the missionary anniversary, we must make adequate preparation for it. How? 1. Begin early. As soon as my friend, Mr. Farmer, has his wheat stacked in the field, even before he has threshed, I see him striking out his furrows and ploughing his ground in preparation for the next year's crop. A wise man, Mr. Farmer! A forehanded man! He prepares a year ahead. Even so the wise laborer for the Lord will straightway put his hand to the Gospel plough and prepare the ground with a sermon on Paul's vision of the Macedonian," "Come over into Macedonia and help us," and harrow it with an address on the "Famine in Samaria," "We do not well; this is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace; and in due time will sow the good seed of the word of Jesus," "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, unto the uttermost parts of the earth." And he shall reap, it may be thirty, perhaps sixty, or a hundred fold. 2. Encourage the missionary department of the League, and missionary interests in the Sunday-school, and thus be breaking new ground, and preparing for future harvests, besides receiving the not inconsiderable present returns for your labor. Foster the Woman's Missionary Society in its most noble and most wise work. It is more than possible that there is more genuine missionary intelligence and enthusiasm among our sisters of the W.M.S. than could be found in twice the number of men-members in The Missionary Anniversary and How to Prepare for It. 415 church-office. Help these women which labor with us in the Gospel, for though their field is on the other side of the fence, it is the same farm, it is all in the family, and their good husbandry will stimulate their husbands. and sons to better tillage and fuller tills. 3. When Neil Dow, of imperishable memory, was asked how they managed to carry Prohibition. in Maine, he answered that they sowed the State knee-deep with temperance literature. Among all the many interests of human life, it is doubtful whether there is one that lends itself so readily to interesting literary treatment as the missionary enterprise; and already there is a supply of attractive leaflets, pamphlets and books, the circulation of which would help much in preparing for the anniversary. The new Forward Movement in our Church for missionary indoctrination is a movement in the right direction, and we are not any of us in imminent danger of forgetting the value of the printed page. 4. When the day of the missionary anniversary is drawing near, proclaim it from the house-tops. Modern business can teach the Christian Church many things, and one of the things we may wisely learn is the value of advertisement. In this matter it is certain that the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. Richard Baxter has very truly said, "The work of the Church is exceedingly retarded by our unworthy retiredness." If there is to be only an annual missionary meeting, it should be a "big thing," or, with dignity more worthy of its importance, let us say it should be a great occasion. A small Methodist church in a Territorial town secured the services for missionary day of a brilliant returned missionary, they hired the large town hall and flooded the town with handbills, filled the building, filled the plates, and left all former givings far behind. A prominent and successful worker in Sunday-school conventions recently gave a short but sure recipe for a good convention: "Prepare a splendid meal, then ring the bell, and don't forget to ring the bell!" 66 5. But the best of all, better than the dinner bell, louder than the church bell, higher than the belfry, out of the clear heavens comes our surest help. Our "help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth." "The emulous heaven yearns down, makes effort to reach the earth," and we should do our best by prayer to "scale the sky." When Christ saw the widespreading fields, His word to His disciples was, "Pray." Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest." Pray," said Paul to the Thessalonians, "pray that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified." Brethren, let us pray. Let us seek to come into the fellowship of the fervency and passion of Isaiah. "For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. . I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." He who hath never a conflict hath never a victor's palm, THE NEOPHYTE. BY MISS C. CAMERON. An incident in the life of Martin Luther. At the vespers monks were singing In his lowly cell was kneeling For the light of long-dead ages, And within his bosom thronging Locked in darkness, closed and sealed. Fear his spirit was assailing, To subdue the ghostly terror Shadows seemed to close around him, Unto Christ I now petition. He hath won the victory! Shalt thou make on high for me. To the noble paths of right. "By the ways that Thou has brought me, And the truths that Thou hast taught me, Guide it through the vale of terror, Into everlasting light." Then with accents deeper, warmer, Cried, once more, the Great Reformer "Strong, through never-ending ages True and steadfast is thy name! "And with Thee to stand beside me, Nought I dread what shall betide me; I will ope the long-shut pages, And their deathless truth proclaim. "Pope and Emperor, Church and laymen Fruitlessly shall strive to stay them. They will spread through every nation Emanating from Thy throne." And this final sentence uttered, In his breast the pulses fluttered, Down he sank in pale prostration On the chilly pavement-stone. There, by morning's dawn, they found him, And the brethren gathered round him Gazing on those pallid features Radiant with a peace unknown. HE Chinaman is a being decidedly utilitarian in his ways of thinking and acting. He, scorns appearances, if he can by any means attain his end, which is to secure as large a measure of draught power with as little trouble to himself as may be. A bullock and a donkey in the shafts, or driven tandem; a large horse and a small mule yoked together; or even, sometimes, a man or woman harnessed with an ass, are among the arrangements which astonish the traveller from the West. Wheelbarrows abound, and the labor of propulsion is assisted, if the weather be favorable, by the hoisting of a sail, or, if not, by attaching a mule in front. Could the reader witness such a scene as this and keep his gravity ?-two pompous Chinese gentlemen, elegantly attired, sitting on a barrow, thumping along the uneven road, their round cheeks trembling like a jelly, while two pant ing and perspiring coolies endeavor to steady the handles of the machine, and a melancholy mule drags it along by means of a rope, or a whole group of Chinese girls on a barrow, as shown in one of our cuts. A hundred such strange sights may be seen in a day. It is very strange that among an ancient people like the Chinese, who certainly have had time enough to make inventions, and who are notably skillful in copying any invention they see, there should be no carriages that one can travel in with comfort. Wherever it is possible to do so the natives travel in boats on rivers or canals; but where they must go by land, sedan chairs, carried by men, or wheelbarrows, are used. The principal mode of travelling is by the sedan chair. These are used in all the cities where the streets are too narrow for other conveyances to pass. But some of the larger cities, especially Pekin, have queer-looking carts called chariots. They are not only rudely built, but they are very uncomfortable. They are entirely destitute |