The Arcot Mi—ion in India was organized in 1854, being composed oi the sou- ofthe celebrated missionary, the Rev. John Scudder, M.D., of Madras,^ ith their fami- lies. The (la— is of Arcot wa- formed in 1854, w ilh the clerical missionaries ami three native elders. Accord- ing io the report of 1*77. tin' classis i- composed of twenty churches, with a membership of 764 commu- nicants. With them are connected forty station- and out-stations, the whole number of regular attendants upon the means of grace being 4398. Contributions for religious and benevolent purposes in bs77 amount- ed io $368 in gold. There are six missionaries and eight assistants in this important field of labor, with two native pastors ami twenty-one catechists, twen- ty-six Bible-readers, twenty-eight teachers, and nine-
REFORMED (DUTCH) CHURCH 1005 REFORMED (DUTCH) CHURCH
teen colporteurs. There are two seminaries for males and females, a preparandi school for training native cat- echists and pastors, and thirty-eight day schools with 1233 scholars. The missionaries and native helpers make frequent tours into the surrounding country. The statistics of this work for 18G9 were, C635 sermons preached to 15G,408 hearers, and books and tracts dis- tributed 5035.
The press is used freely to print the Scriptures, cate- chisms, and practical, religious, and educational works. The hospital and medical dispensary at Arcot has received the highest official praise from lord Napier, the governor-general, and an increased allowance from the government. The number of patients treated in 1877 was 9G73, an average of twenty-six per day. A medical class of young natives is connected with it. The Gospel is daily preached to all comers, and portions of the Scriptures, tracts, and good books are offered to all who can read. A simple and brief story of Christ's love to fallen man is carried away by every patient on the printed ticket given to him on his first application, and which he must show at each subsequent visit.
The Japan Mission originated at a monthly concert for prayer for missions held in Feb., 1859, in the South Reformed Church, New York, when one elder offered to give $800 per year to support a missionary in Japan, another made a similar promise, and the Church pledged itself for a third like sum. On May 7, 1859, the Board of Foreign Missions sent out three missionaries — Eev. Samuel H. Brown, M.D. (who had been a missionary in China for several years), Rev. Guido F. Verbeck, and
D. Simmons, M.D., with their wives, and Miss Caroline
E. Adriance — who reached Kanagawa Nov. 1 of that year. Rev. James H. Ballagh was sent out in 1862, and Rev. Henry Stout in 1868. Dr. Simmons and wife resigned in 1860, and Miss Adriance went to Amoy, where she became an assistant missionary, and died in 1863. She always bore her own expenses as a volun- teer missionary. The missionaries engaged chiefly at Yokohama, Nagasaki, and Tokio in teaching the gov- ernment schools, translating the Word of God, circu- lating the Scriptures, tracts, and books in Chinese, and instructing inquirers in the way of salvation. Mr. Bal- lagh began a Japanese religious service in 1866, the average attendance being about twenty persons. The first two native converts, Wakasa, a nobleman, and Ayabe, his younger brother, were baptized by the Rev. G'. F. Verbeck, May 20, 1866, the day of Pentecost, at his residence in Yokohama. Wakasa's attention was first drawn to Christianity by a copy of the New Test, in English, which some Japanese picked up out of the water in the bay of Nagasaki, and which was prob- ably lost overboard from an American or English ship. He did not rest until, five or six years after, he pro- cured a Chinese translation of it, which he eagerly read. Thus this " bread cast upon the waters" was found " after many days" in the soul of the first Japanese convert to Christianity. In March, 1872, the first na- tive Christian Church was organized by the Rev. James H. Ballagh at Yokohama with eleven members. In 1877 it had 145 communicants. The edifice in which it worships cost about $6000, of which the first thou- sand was given by the native Christians of Honolulu. Sandwich Islands. It seats about 450 persons. In January, 1878, there were fifteen organized churches of all Protestant denominations with over 1300 com- muning members. Of these, four churches with 201 communicants belong to the Reformed Church in Amer- ica.
The present missionary force of this Church 'in Ja- pan consists of six missionaries and eleven assistant missionaries, with one native ordained minister and two catechists or preachers. There is one academy at Yoko- hama, the Isaac Ferris Seminary, for girls, of whom there were thirty-seven at latest date. A theological class or school of eleven young men is also established, under the instructions of the Rev. James L. Amerman.
Another school for girls is at Nagasaki. The Rev. Dr. G. F. Verbeck has been for many years connected with the Imperial University at Yeddo, under the auspices of the government, and he has also been engaged with Drs. Brown, Hepburn, and others in the work of trans- lation of English works into Japanese and ot Japanese works into English. Of the large number of Japanese youth who came to this country for education, a score or more were students in Rutgers College and its gram- mar-school. Several of them have united with Chris- tian churches in the United States, and some have gone" back to Japan to preach the Gospel and to serve Christ in other stations. The outlook of this mission work in Japan is full of promise. Dr. Brown has long been en- gaged with Dr. Hepburn and others in translating the Bible into Japanese.