The following is the testimony of Sir Bartle Frere, governor of Bombay :
"I speak simply as to matters of experience and obser- vati<m, and not of opinion— just as a Roman prefect might nave reported to Trajan or the Antonines— and I assure you that, whatever you may be told to the contrary, the teaching of Christianiti) among the one hundred and sixty millions of civilized, industrious Hind'isand Mohamme- dans in India is effecting changes, moral, social, and politi-
cal, lohich, for extent and rapiditti of effect, are far more extraordinary than anything you or your fathers have wit- nessed in modern Europe."
To the above may be fitly added the following sim- ilar authoritative testimonies :
" I believe, notwithstanding all that the English people have done to benefit India, the m,issionaries have done more than all other agencies combined.
"Lord Lawkenoe, viceroy and governor-general." .
"In many places an impression prevails that the mis- sions have not produced results adequate to the efforts which have been made ; but I trust enough has been said to prove that there is no real foundation for this impres- sion, and those who hold such opinions know but little of tlie reality. Sir Donald M'Leod,
"Lieutenant-goveruor of the Punjaub."
In the light of such competent and unequivocal tes- timony it would seem impossible for any reasonable mind to doubt the grandeur or the beneficence of the results accomplished by Christian missions during the current century, or to question their still greater prom- ise iu time to come. The above notices of missionary work in India may serve as a sample of similar testi- mony which might be adduced from various other coun- tries. In nearly all cases the most that has been done is to be regarded as in a large measure preparatory to greater efforts and successes hereafter.
The great empire of China affords another remarkable example. That most populous country of all the earth had for ages maintained a rigid system of non-inter- course with the people of foreign nations, whom it in- discriminately stigmatized as outside barbarians. Until within a little more than thirty years all Christian ef- forts in behalf of China had to be made outside of the empire, or stealthily if within its borders. On the open- ing of the '• Five Ports" to commerce in 1842 missions also entered, and, notwithstanding multiplied obstacles, have since made wonderful progress. Already there are ten thousand native Christians in China. The princi- pal great cities of the empire have become recognised centres of missionary effort, from Canton on the staif h to the old Tartar capital, Peking, on the north. "\Miat is perhaps most interesting of all is the demonstrated fact that, nothwithstanding the peculiarities of the Chinese character, the power of the Gospel has proved itself ad- equate to its complete transformation and renewal after the New-Testament model. Many ministers of the Gos- pel have already been raised up. The native churches are also developing both the capacity and the disposition for self-support. Thus all the elements of a successful and progressive establishment of Christianity through- out the empire of China seem now to be happily at worl^.
In Japan a few recent years have witnessed extraor- dinary changes in favor of Christianity. Not less than eleven Protestant missionaries, of whom nine are Amer- ican, are now energetically but peacefully at work with- in the empire, from whose borders, owing to passions and prejudices, excited by the Jesuit missionaries of the IGth century, Christianity had long been excluded by the most barbarous decrees. Native churches have al- ready been formed, and converted Japanese are becom- ing apostles to their countrymen, while a system of ed- ucation, indirectly under Christian influence, promises to elevate the general intelligence and character of the nation at an early day. The old edicts against Ciiris- tians, if not formally repealed, are practically set aside, and a favorable sentiment towards Christianity has be- come very general in various grades of society.
In South Africa a mission was commenced by the IMoravians as early as 1737 ; but it was withdrawn in 17-44, and not effectively resumed till 1792. In 1798 the London Missionary Society entered the field, in 1812 the Wesleyan, and since various others. Although Hot- tentots and Kaffirs are not promising subjects for mis- sionary influence, yet the Gospel, through missionary agency, has not been wanting in glorious triumphs among them, as well as other native tribes of South Africa, while it has made substantial progress among
MISSIONS
382
MISTLETOE
the Dutch and English colonists who now permanently occupy that portion of the African continent.
In 1815 the Church of England Missionary' Society first turned its attention to the countries on the eastern border of the Levant. In 1819 the American Board commenced its work in the same regions. The missions in Greece, Turkey, and Persia have been mainly ad- dressed to the nominal Christians of those lands. As a result, thousands have been converted, and a large num- ber of evangelical congregations have been established both in European and Asiatic Turkey. Most interest- ing and promising also have been the results of the edu- cational etforts made in connection with the Protestant missions in the Orient.
IX. General MUsionaiij Literature. — Notwithstand- ing the numerous references in this article to books re- lating to the several fields of missionary effort through- out the world, the subject of missions as a whole would be but imperfectly delineated without allusion to its general literature, which embraces several classes of valuable works not heretofore named, and which can now be but briefly indicated.