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The Japanese Church have again emphasized the wisdom of their leadership. Is it not our privilege to follow in the good path they are going.

PANG CHUANG

Shantung, July 24th, 1886.

Yours,

HENRY D. PORTER.

Dur Book Table.

*THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT. The Second Edition of this valuable work is simply a reprint of the First with additions by the Editor. These additions consist of a Review of the First Edition, written by Mr. Playfair, at the time of its publication; which review may fairly be considered to take the place of a revision. There is of course, an "Introduction to the Second Edition," following which are "Further Addenda and Corrigenda," rendered necessary by changes in the Administration of the Government since the appearance of the First Edition. An index of Chinese titles, arranged alphabetically, according to the author's system of Orthography, adds greatly to the use of the book. The value and utility of the book to all persons caring to read understandingly the current events in the Chinese Empire, is evident from the Title. The author has done his work well, and has prepared a book, which not only greatly assists the student of Chinese affairs, but gives to the general reader a fund of useful information, which could hardly he obtained otherwise excepting by a long course of investigation for which very few Foreign residents have either the time or the inclination.

ROMANIZED JAPANESE READER, by Basil Hall Chamberlain, Professor of Japanese and Philology in the Imperial University of Tokyo. Part I, Japanese Text. Part II, English Translation. Part III, Notes. This Reader has been prepared for those who desire to gain a practical acquaintance with the grammatical forms of written Japanese, without waiting to master the complicated methods of writing that have resulted from the use of Chinese characters, interspersed with the various forms of the Japanese syllabary. For such students no better book has yet appeared. The English translation, and the notes elucidating idioms and giving grammatical and historical explanations, are of the greatest assistance, though there still remain some puzzles to stimulate curiosity. The preface states that;“ This Reader is intended to be studied in connection with the same author's Simplified Grammar of the Japanese Language. The text has been arranged in a graduated order, beginning with the very easy, and passing on to pieces of moderate difficulty. Each of the styles in common use has been exemplified."

J. T. GULICK.

The Chinese Government a manual of Chinese titles categorically arranged and explained, with an Appendix by WILLIAM FREDERICK MAYERS, Chinese Secretary to Her Britannic Magesty's Legation, Peking; Author of the Chinese Reader's Manual etc., etc. Second Edition, with additions by G. M. H. Playfair, Acting Vice Consul, Shanghai. Shanghai, Hongkong and Yokohama: Kelly & Walsh.

Editorial Notes and Missionary News.

Such of our readers as are interested in educational work in China, will be interested in the series of papers on the "Advisability or the Reverse of endeavouring to convey Western knowledge to the Chinese through the medium of their own Language," which form the opening article in the Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. They are from the pens of men eminent in various professions. The diversity of opinion among the writers shows well the difficulties of the question; and while there is a great difference between those who advocate the extreme views on either side, it would be comparatively easy to so arrange the papers that the passage from

one extreme to the other would be very gradual.

Mr. W. S. Moule, B. A., of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, son of Archdeacon A. E. Moule has been accepted for mission work under the C. M. S.

It is announced by the Christian World that the English Presbyterian Synod has accepted Mr. Morton's offer to open a new mission station on the South West borders of China. "Mr. Morton will bear the entire cost for three years, including the sending out and maintaining of four missionaries. Two missionaries, one medical and one ministerial, will be despatched as soon as possible. Mr. Morton, in addition, has offered to purchase a site and build a hopital at Taiwanfoo, Formosa."

We have received a copy of Mr. John's Easy Wen-le Translation of Proverbs.

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August number of China's Millions. From it we gather the following statistics. Provinces occupied, 14; stations, 41; Out-stations, 47; Chapels, 85; Missionaries and Wives, 177; Paid Native Helpers, 114, of whom eight are Ordained Pastors; Communicants, 1314; Additions during the year, 219; Organized Churches, 55; Native Contributions $408.13; Boarding Schools, 10; with 120 pupils; Day-Schools, 10; with 154 pupils; to these are to be added 3 Boarding and 2 DaySchools for English. Hospitals, 3; Dispensaries, 3; and Opium Refuges, 2.

Mr. G. W. Clarke of the China Inland Mission writes to us as follows concerning his work:-"I am glad to be able to tell you, that another station for settled work has been opened in this province. We were received by four of our Brethren who took up their quarters in a good inn.

We arrived here on April 1st, about midnight, being benighted in the large plain south of this city. After much prayer and effort we secured in five weeks, suitable premises on the busiest street of the city. After necessary repairs, we have a comfortable house. The people are friendly and come about us freely, and we seize the opportunity to preach the Gospel to all who will listen. We do what we can to help the sick, but the proclamation of the Gospel is our chief object."

ERRATUM.

fourth line of third paragraph, for On page 312, (Recorder for August) "have long vowels," read "have short vowels." This distinction The Report of the Twentieth involves the sole point of the article, Anniversary of the China Inland says Mr. Parker, but in it we have mission comes to hand in the July-"followed copy," literally. EDITOR.

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BIRTHS.

AT the Presbyterian Mission, Chin-
kiang, July 16th, the wife of Rev.
S. I. WOODBRIDGE, of a son.
Ar Amoy, August 2nd, the wife of
Rev. R. M. Ross, London Mission,
of a son.

AT the London Mission, Tientsin,
August 26th, the wife of Rev. THOS.
BRYSON, of a son and daughter.
AT Amoy, August 26th, the wife of
Rev. G. H. BONDFIELD of a daugh-
ter.

Ar Fatshan, August 30th, the wife of
Mr. A. ANDERSON, of a son,
AT Newchwang, on 21st September
1886, the wife of Mr. F. HARMON,
B. and F. Bible Society, of a son.

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wood, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., July 6th, Rev. George Smith HAY, sunder appointment as Missionary to Chefoo, China, to FANNY CULBERTSON CORBETT; daughter of Rev. Hunter Corbett, the officiating clergyman.

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CONTEMPORARY researches into primitive Christianity suggest a strong contrast between recent persecutions of Christians in eastern Asia and those which took place in the Roman empire in the first three centuries.

The ten general persecutions under the emperors of Rome were imperial and official. The persecutions of Christians in China now are local and popular. The ancient martyrdoms were extremely numerous, but during the last years of the Stuart dynasty in England an attempt was made by Dodwell a leader of the sceptics to bring into discredit the authenticity of the narrative. Last century Voltaire adopted the idea of Dodwell and in writing on the Ten Persecutions of the Christians from Nero to Constantine declared it to be the result of his inquiries that they had never taken place. The Roman emperors he said were tolerant. The opinions of Marcus Aurelius were favorable to individual liberty, and it is not credible that he would persecute as certain passages in history say that he did. We must judge of the statements of historians by an appeal to probability. If events said to have occurred are violently opposed to the spirit of the times we must reject the statements. For example there are passages in the letter of Pliny the younger to the emperor Trajan and in the works of Suetonius and Tacitus, declaring that there was persecution and giving details. It is more likely that these passages were interpolated than that the persecutions took place. An opinion of this sort was very agreeable to Voltaire because he had embarked in an enterprise to establish a rational freedom of thought on the ruins of Christianity. France

The

honored him as a mighty man of genius, the apostle of liberty, an enchanter at the touch of whose wand the fabric of religious superstition which many centuries had admired, had perished in a moment. The fact is however that his criticism was superficial, as M. Gaston Boissier in an article on the subject of the early persecutions of Christianity, which has appeared in a late number of the Revue des Deux Mondes has conclusively shewn. theory he wished to establish influenced his researches unfairly. His tendency to seepticism in religion rendered him sceptical in history also and weakened greatly the value of his results. When he comes to those parts of history, where religion enters as a factor he can amuse the unbeliever by sarcasms. He cannot pour useful light on the path of the honest investigators. His writings however have had a useful effect in this way. He has induced many students to examine the history of the persecutions of the Christians and the result has been it is now agreed that they took place as history tells, and that Suetonius Tacitus and Pliny have not been tampered with by later writers.

Our knowledge of the history of the Nestorian missions in China enables us to estimate rightly the value of Voltaire's criticisms on the facts of Christian history. He said that the discovery of the tablet as Si-an-fu descriptive of the spread of the Nestorian missions must be an invention of the Jesuits. This opinion he probably did not trouble himself in any way to confirm by evidence. It was probably with him at first said in jest and then exalted to the dignity of a hypothesis. As to the inscription we know that it is genuine. His opinion is of no value in the estimation of any one at the present time and this instance of erroneous judgment shows how little we can rely on the correctness of Voltaire in matters requiring historical research and how little we can expect him to be impartial in any matter affecting the credit of religion.

The lesson we may draw from this inquiry which has been made into the actuality of the persecutions in the Roman empire in the first three centuries is that God's providence works in our time plainly for the place of the missions. Rome became a powerful foe to Chistiainty almost from the first. There was no international law to restrain Rome and protect the Christians in those days and they were given up as sheep to the slaughter. China has repeatedly persecuted Christianity also but in our days the European system by which states agreeing to be friends also favor religious liberty has spread out its broad wings over eastern Asia. These countries China, Annam, Corea, and Japan are now brought into such a

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