{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_11754/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_11754","id":"gutenberg_11754","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11754","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Missions -- China","Talmage, John Van Nest, 1819-1892"],"text":"FORTY YEARS IN SOUTH CHINA\n\nThe Life of Rev. John Van Nest Talmage, D.D.\n\nby\n\nRev. John Gerardus Fagg\nMissionary of the American Reformed (Dutch) Church, at Amoy, China\n\n1894\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\nBY REV. T. DE WITT TALMAGE, D.D.\n\nToo near was I to the subject of this biography to write an impartial\nintroduction. When John Van Nest Talmage went, my last brother went.\nStunned until I staggered through the corridors of the hotel in London,\nEngland, when the news came that John was dead. If I should say all that I\nfelt I would declare that since Paul the great apostle to the Gentiles, a\nmore faithful or consecrated man has not lifted his voice in the dark\nplaces of heathenism. I said it while he was alive, and might as well say\nit now that he is dead. \"He was the hero of our family.\" He did not go to\na far-off land to preach because people in America did not want to hear him\npreach. At the time of his first going to China he had a call to succeed\nRev. Dr. Brodhead, of Brooklyn, the Chrysostom of the American pulpit, a\ncall with a large salary, and there would not have been anything impossible\nto him in the matters of religious work or Christian achievement had he\ntarried in his native land. But nothing could detain him from the work to\nwhich God called him years before he became a Christian. My reason for\nwriting that anomalous statement is that when a boy in Sabbath-school at\nBoundbrook, New Jersey, he read a Library book, entitled \"The Life of Henry\nMartyn, the Missionary,\" and he said to our mother, \"Mother! when I grow up\nI am going to be a missionary!\" The remark made no especial impression at\nthe time. Years passed on before his conversion. But when the grace of God\nappeared to him, and he had begun his study for the ministry, he said one\nday, \"Mother! Do you remember that many years ago I said, 'I am going to be\na missionary'?\" She replied, \"Yes! I remember you said so.\" \"Well,\" said\nhe, \"I am going to keep my promise.\" And how well he kept it millions of\nsouls on earth and in heaven have long since heard. But his chief work is\nyet to come. We get our chronology so twisted that we come to believe that\nthe white marble of the tomb is the mile-stone at which a good man stops,\nwhen it is only a mile-stone on a journey, the most of the miles of which\nare yet to be travelled.\n\nThe Dictionary which my brother prepared with more than two decades of\nstudy, the religious literature he transferred from English into Chinese,\nthe hymns he wrote for others to sing, although himself could not sing at\nall, (he and I monopolizing the musical incapacity of a family in which all\nthe rest could sing well), the missionary stations he planted, the life he\nlived, will widen out, and deepen and intensify through all time and all\neternity.\n\nI am glad that those competent to tell of his magnificent work have\nundertaken it. You could get nothing about it from him at all. Ask him a\nquestion trying to evoke what he had done for God and the church, and his\nlips were as tightly shut as though they had never been opened. He was\nanimated enough when drawn out in discussion religious, educational, or\npolitical, but he had great powers of silence. I once took him to see\nGeneral Grant, our reticent President. On that occasion they both seemed to\ndo their best in the art of quietude. The great military President with his\nclosed lips on one side of me, and my brother with his closed lips on the\nother side of me, I felt there was more silence in the room than I ever\nbefore knew to be crowded into the same space. It was the same kind of\nreticence that always came upon John when you asked him about his work. But\nthe story has been gloriously told in the heavens by those who through his\ninstrumentality have already reached the City of Raptures. When the roll of\nmartyrs is called before the Throne of God, the name of John Van Nest\nTalmage will be called. He worked himself to death in the cause of the\nworld's evangelization. His heart, his brain, his lungs, his hands, his\nmuscles, his nerves, all wrought for others until heart and brain, and\nlungs and hands, and muscles and nerves could do no more.\n\nHe sleeps in the cemetery near Somerville, New Jersey, so near father and\nmother that he will face them when he rises in the Resurrection of the\nJust, and amid a crowd of kindred now slumbering on the right of him, and\non the left of him, he will feel the thrill of the Trumpet that wakes the\ndead.\n\nAllelujah! Amen!\n\nBROOKLYN, June, 1894.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\nThe accompanying resolution of the Board of Foreign Missions of the\nReformed Church in America, November 16, 1892, explains the origin of this\nvolume:\n\n\"Resolved, That the Board of Foreign Missions, being firmly convinced that\na biography of the late John V. N. Talmage, D.D., for over forty years\nidentified with the Mission at Amoy, would be of great service to the cause\nof Missions, heartily recommend to the family of Dr. Talmage the selection\nof an appropriate person to prepare such a memoir, and in case this is\ndone, promise to render all the aid in their power in furnishing whatever\nfacts or records may be of service to the author of the book.\"\n\nThe writer raised his pen to this task with hesitancy. He had known Dr.\nTalmage only little more than a year; long enough, indeed, to revere and\nlove him, but not long enough to tell the story of so rich and fruitful a\nlife.\n\nDr. Talmage was a man of unconscious greatness. If he could have been\nconsulted it is doubtful whether a public record of him would have ever\nseen the light. His life to him would have seemed too commonplace and\nunworthy. He was exceedingly careful in the use of language. He could not\nendure exaggeration. Nothing so commanded his admiration as honesty and\naccuracy of statement. That ought to be sufficient to guard any one who\nspeaks of such a man against indiscriminate eulogy.\n\nWe have endeavored as far as possible to make this memoir an autobiography.\nTo carry out this purpose has not been without difficulties.\n\nDr. Talmage did not keep a continuous diary. He did not preserve complete\nfiles of his correspondence as if anticipating the needs of some possible\nbiographer.\n\nThe author's enforced retirement from the mission field in the midst of\ncollecting and sifting material, has been no small drawback.\n\nIt is hoped, however, that enough has been gleaned to justify publication.\nSincerest thanks are due to those brethren who contributed to the\nconcluding chapter, \"In Memoriam.\"\n\nIf these pages may more fully acquaint the Church of Christ with a name\nwhich it should not willingly let die, and deepen interest in and hasten by\nthe least hair-breadth the redemption of \"China's Millions,\" the author\nwill feel abundantly rewarded.\n\nJOHN G. FAGG.\n\nARLINGTON, NEW JERSEY\nOctober 1, 1894.\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\nRev. John Van Nest Talmage\nChinese Clan House\nBuddhist Temple, Amoy\nPagoda near Lam-sin\nChinese Bride and Groom\nTraveling Equipment in South China\nPastor Iap and Family\nThe Sio ke Valley\nGlimpse of the Sio-ke River\nScene in the Hakka Region\nGirl's School; The Talmage Manse; Woman's School. (Kolongsu, opposite Amoy)\nPastor Iap\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nI. The Ancestral Home\nII. Call to China and Voyage Hence\nIII. The City of the \"Elegant Gate\"\n  Description of Amoy and Amoy Island\n  Ancestral Worship\n  Infanticide\n  Is China to be won, and how?\n  Worship of the Emperor\nIV. Light and Shade\n  The Chiang-chiu Valley\n  Breaking and Burning of Idols\n  The Chinese Boat Race and its Origin\n  The Chinese Beggar System\n  Two Noble Men Summoned Hence\nV. At the Foot of the Bamboos\n  Opium\n  Romanized Colloquial\n  Chinese Sense of Sin\n  Primitive Lamps\n  Zealous Converts\n  The Term Question\n  What it Costs a Chinese to become a Christian\n  Persecuted for Christ's Sake\n  \"He is only a Beggar\"\n  Printing under Difficulties\n  Carrier Pigeons\nVI. The \"Little Knife\" Insurrection\n  How the Chinese Fight\nVII. The Blossoming Desert\n  Si-boo's Zeal\n  An Appeal for a Missionary\nVIII. Church Union\n  The Memorial of the Amoy Mission\nIX. Church Union (continued)\nX. The Anti-missionary Agitation\nXI. The Last Two Decades\n  Forty continuous Years in Heathenism\n  Chinese Grandiloquence\nXII. In Memoriam\n  Dr. Talmage--The Man and The Missionary\n    By Rev. W. S. Swanson, D.D.\n  Venerable Teacher Talmage\n    By Pastor Iap Han Chiong\n  Rev. John Van Nest Talmage, D.D.\n    By Rev. S. L. Baldwin, D.D.\n  The Rev. J. V. N. Talmage, D.D.\n    By Rev. Talbot W. Chambers, D.D., LL.D.\n  Rev. John Van Nest Talmage, D.D.\n    By Rev. John M. Ferris, D.D.\nAPPENDIX\n\n\n\n\nI. THE ANCESTRAL HOME\n\nJohn Van Nest Talmage was born at Somerville, New Jersey, August 18, 1819\nHe was the fourth son in a family of seven brothers and five sisters.\n\nThe roots of the Talmage genealogical tree may be traced back to the year\n1630, when Enos and Thomas Talmage, the progenitors of the Talmage family\nin North America, landed at Charlestown, Massachusetts, and afterwards\nsettled at East Hampton, Long Island.\n\nDr. Lyman Beecher represents the first settlers of East Hampton as \"men\nresolute, enterprising, acquainted with human nature, accustomed to do\nbusiness, well qualified by education, circumspect, careful in dealing,\nfriends of civil liberty, jealous of their rights, vigilant to discover,\nand firm to resist encroachments; eminently pious.\"\n\nIn 1725 we find Daniel Talmage at Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Daniel's\ngrandson, Thomas, during the years between 1775 and 1834 shifts his tent to\nPiscataway, New Jersey, thence to New Brunswick, thence to Somerville,\nwhere the stakes are driven firmly on a farm \"beautiful for situation.\"\nThomas Talmage was a builder by trade, and erected some of the most\nimportant courthouses and public edifices in Somerset and Middlesex\nCounties. He was active in the Revolutionary war, holding the rank of\nmajor. It was said of him, \"His name will be held in everlasting\nremembrance in the churches.\" He was the father of seven sons and six\ndaughters.\n\nThe third son, David T., the father of John Van Nest Talmage, was born at\nPiscataway, April 21, 1783. He was married to Catharine Van Nests Dec. 19,\n1803. David T. Talmage was rather migratory in his instincts. The smoke\nof the Talmage home now curled out from a house at Mill stone, now from a\nhomestead near Somerville, then from Gateville; then the family ark rested\nfor many years on the outskirts of Somerville and finally it brought up at\nBound Brook, New Jersey. Though the family tent was folded several times,\nit was not folded for more than a day's wagon journey before it was pitched\nagain. The places designated arc all within the range of a single New\nJersey county.\n\nIn 1836 David T. Talmage was elected a member of the State Legislature and\nwas returned three successive terms. In 1841, he was chosen high sheriff\nof Somerset County. Four of his sons entered the Christian ministry, James\nR., John Van Nest, Goyn, and Thomas De Witt. James R., the senior brother,\nrendered efficient service in pastorates at Pompton Plains and Blawenburgh,\nNew Jersey, and in Brooklyn, Greenbush, and Chittenango, New York. He\nreceived the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Rutgers College, New Jersey,\nin 1864. John Van Nest gave his life to China. Goyn, a most winsome man and\neloquent preacher, ministered with marked success to the churches of\nNiskayuna, Green Point, Rhinebeck, and Port Jervis, New York, and Paramus,\nNew Jersey. He was for five years the Corresponding Secretary of the Board\nof Domestic Missions of the Reformed Church. Rutgers College honored\nherself and him by giving him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1876.\n\nThomas De Witt, the youngest son, still ministers to the largest church in\nProtestant Christendom. What a river of blessing has flowed from that\nhumble, cottage well-spring. The wilderness and the parched land have been\nmade glad by it. The desert has been made to rejoice and blossom as the\nrose. The courses thereof have gone out into all the earth, and the tossing\nof its waves have been heard to the end of the world.\n\nIn November, 1865, Dr. T. De Witt Talmage preached a sermon on \"The Beauty\nof Old Age\"[*] from the words in Eccles. xii. 5, \"The Almond Tree shall\nflourish.\" It was commemorative of his father, David T. Talmage. He says:\n\"I have stood, for the last few days, as under the power of an enchantment.\nLast Friday-a-week, at eighty-three years of age, my father exchanged earth\nfor heaven. The wheat was ripe, and it has been harvested. No painter's\npencil or poet's rhythm could describe that magnificent sun setting. It was\nno hurricane blast let loose; but a gale from heaven, that drove into the\ndust the blossoms of that almond tree.\n\n  [Footnote *: This sermon gives so graphic and tender a portrayal of the\n  father of one of America's most distinguished ministerial families, that\n  the author feels justified in making so lengthy an extract.]\n\n\"There are lessons for me to learn, and also for you, for many of you knew\nhim. The child of his old age, I come to-night to pay an humble tribute to\nhim, who, in the hour of my birth, took me into his watchful care, and\nwhose parental faithfulness, combined with that of my mother, was the means\nof bringing my erring feet to the cross, and kindling in my soul\nanticipations of immortal blessedness. If I failed to speak, methinks the\nold family Bible, that I brought home with me, would rebuke my silence, and\nthe very walls of my youthful home would tell the story of my ingratitude.\nI must speak, though it be with broken utterance, and in terms which seem\ntoo strong for those of you who never had an opportunity of gathering the\nfruit of this luxuriant almond tree.\n\n\"First. In my father's old age was to be seen the beauty of a cheerful\nspirit. I never remember to have heard him make a gloomy expression. This\nwas not because he had no conception of the pollutions of society. He\nabhorred everything like impurity, or fraud, or double-dealing. He never\nfailed to lift up his voice against sin, when he saw it. He was terrible in\nhis indignation against wrong, and had an iron grip for the throat of him\nwho trampled on the helpless. Better meet a lion robbed of her whelps than\nhim, if you had been stealing the bread from the mouth of the fatherless.\nIt required all the placidity of my mother's voice to calm him when once\nthe mountain storm of his righteous wrath was in full blast; while as for\nhimself, he would submit to more imposition, and say nothing, than any man\nI ever knew.\n\n\"But while sensitive to the evils of society, he felt confident that all\nwould be righted. When he prayed, you could hear in the very tones of his\nvoice the expectation that Christ Jesus would utterly demolish all\niniquity, and fill the earth with His glory. This Christian man was not a\nmisanthrope, did not think that everything was going to ruin, considered\nthe world a very good place to live in. He never sat moping or despondent,\nbut took things as they were, knowing that God could and would make them\nbetter. When the heaviest surge of calamity came upon him, he met it with\nas cheerful a countenance as ever a bather at the beach met the incoming\nAtlantic, rising up on the other side of the wave stronger than when it\nsmote him. Without ever being charged with frivolity, he sang, and\nwhistled, and laughed. He knew about all the cheerful tunes that were ever\nprinted in old 'New Brunswick Collection,' and the 'Strum Way,' and the\nsweetest melodies that Thomas Hastings ever composed. I think that every\npillar in the Somerville and Bound Brook churches knew his happy voice. He\ntook the pitch of sacred song on Sabbath morning, and lost it not through\nall the week. I have heard him sing plowing amid the aggravations of a 'new\nground,' serving writs, examining deeds, going to arrest criminals, in the\nhouse and by the way, at the barn and in the street. When the church choir\nwould break down, everybody looked around to see if he were not ready with\nWoodstock, Mount Pisgah, or Uxbridge. And when all his familiar tunes\nfailed to express the joy of his soul, he would take up his own pen, draw\nfive long lines across the sheet, put in the notes, and then to the tune\nthat he called 'Bound Brook' begin to sing:\n\n  'As when the weary trav'ler gains\n  The height of some o'erlooking hill,\n  His heart revives if, 'cross the plains,\n  He eyes his home, tho' distant still:\n\n  Thus, when the Christian pilgrim views,\n  By faith, his mansion in the skies;\n  The sight his fainting strength renews,\n  And wings his speed to reach the prize.\n\n  \"'Tis there,\" he says, \"I am to dwell\n  With Jesus in the realms of day:\n  There I shall bid my cares farewell,\n  And he will wipe my tears away.\"\n\n\"But few families fell heir to so large a pile of well-studied note-books.\nHe was ready, at proper times, for all kinds of innocent amusement. He\noften felt a merriment that not only touched the lips, but played upon\nevery fibre of the body, and rolled down into the very depths of his soul,\nwith long reverberations. No one that I ever knew understood more fully\nthe science of a good laugh. He was not only quick to recognize hilarity\nwhen created by others, but was always ready to do his share toward making\nit. Before extreme old age, he could outrun and outleap any of his\nchildren. He did not hide his satisfaction at having outwalked some one\nwho boasted of his pedestrianism, or at having been able to swing the\nscythe after all the rest of the harvesters had dropped from exhaustion, or\nat having, in legislative hall, tripped up some villainous scheme for\nrobbing the public treasury. We never had our ears boxed, as some children\nI wot of, for the sin of being happy. In long winter nights it was hard to\ntell who enjoyed sportfulness the better, the children who romped the\nfloor, or the parents who, with lighted countenance, looked at them. Great\nindulgence and leniency characterized his family rule, but the remembrance\nof at least one correction more emphatic than pleasing proves that he was\nnot like Eli of old, who had wayward sons and restrained them not. In the\nmultitude of his witticisms there were no flings at religion, no\ncaricatures of good men, no trifling with things of eternity. His laughter\nwas not the 'crackling of thorns under a pot,' but the merry heart that\ndoeth good like a medicine. For this all the children of the community\nknew him; and to the last day of his walking out, when they saw him coming\ndown the lane, shouted, 'Here comes grandfather!' No gall, no acerbity, no\nhypercriticism. If there was a bright side to anything, he always saw it,\nand his name, in all the places where he dwelt, will long be a synonym for\nexhilaration of spirit.\n\n\"But whence this cheerfulness? Some might ascribe it ail to natural\ndisposition. No doubt there is such a thing as sunshine of temperament.\nGod gives more brightness to the almond tree than to the cypress. While\nthe pool putrefies under the summer sun, God slips the rill off of the\nrocks with a frolicsomeness that fills the mountain with echo. No doubt\nconstitutional structure had much to do with this cheerfulness. He had, by\na life of sobriety, preserved his freshness and vigor. You know that good\nhabits are better than speaking tubes to the ear; better than a staff to\nthe hand; better than lozenges to the throat; better than warm baths to the\nfeet; better than bitters for the stomach. His lips had not been polluted,\nnor his brain befogged, by the fumes of the noxious weed that has sapped\nthe life of whole generations, sending even ministers of the Gospel to\nuntimely graves, over which the tombstone declared, 'Sacrificed by overwork\nin the Lord's vineyard,' when if the marble had not lied, it would have\nsaid, 'Killed by villainous tobacco!' He abhorred anything that could\nintoxicate, being among the first in this country to join the crusade\nagainst alcoholic beverages. When urged, during a severe sickness, to take\nsome stimulus, he said, 'No! If I am to die, let me die sober!' The swill\nof the brewery had never been poured around the roots of this thrifty\nalmond. To the last week of his life his ear could catch a child's\nwhisper, and at fourscore years his eyes refused spectacles, although he\nwould sometimes have to hold the book off on the other side of the light,\nas octogenarians are wont to do. No trembling of the hands, no rheum in\nthe eyes, no knocking together of the knees, no hobbling on crutches with\nwhat polite society terms rheumatism in the feet, but what everybody knows\nis nothing but gout. Death came, not to fell the gnarled trunk of a tree\nworm-eaten and lightning-blasted, but to hew down a Lebanon cedar, whose\nfall made the mountains tremble and the heavens ring. But physical health\ncould not account for half of this sunshine. Sixty-four years ago a coal\nfrom the heavenly altar had kindled a light that shone brighter and\nbrighter to the perfect day. Let Almighty grace for nearly three-quarters\nof a century triumph in a man's soul, and do you wonder that he is happy?\nFor twice the length of your life and mine he had sat in the bower of the\npromises, plucking the round, ripe clusters of Eshcol. While others bit\ntheir tongues for thirst, he stood at the wells of salvation, and put his\nlips to the bucket that came up dripping with the fresh, cool, sparkling\nwaters of eternal life. This joy was not that which breaks in the bursting\nbubble of the champagne glass, or that which is thrown out with the\norange-peelings of a midnight bacchanalia, but the joy which, planted by a\nSaviour's pardoning grace, mounts up higher and higher, till it breaks\nforth in the acclaim of the hundred and forty and four thousand who have\nbroken their last chain and wept their last sorrow. Oh! mighty God! How\ndeep, how wide, how high the joy Thou kindles\" in the heart of the\nbeliever!\n\n\"Again: We behold in our father the beauty of a Christian faith.\n\n\"Let not the account of this cheerfulness give you the idea that he never\nhad any trouble. But few men have so serious and overwhelming a life\nstruggle. He went out into the world without means, and with no educational\nopportunity, save that which was afforded him in the winter months, in an\nold, dilapidated school-house, from instructors whose chief work was to\ncollect their own salary. Instead of postponing the marriage relation, as\nmodern society compels a young man to postpone it, until he can earn a\nfortune, and be able, at commencement of the conjugal relation, to keep a\ncompanion like the lilies of the field, that toil not nor spin, though\nSolomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these--he chose an\nearly alliance with one, who would not only be able to enjoy the success of\nhis life, but who would with her own willing hands help achieve it. And so\nwhile father plowed the fields, and threshed the wheat, and broke the flax,\nand husked the corn, my mother stood for Solomon's portraiture, when he\nsaid, 'She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her\nhousehold. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the\ndistaff. She is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her\nhousehold are clothed with scarlet. Her children arise up and call her\nblessed, her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done\nvirtuously, but thou excellest them all.' So that the limited estate of\nthe New Jersey farmer never foundered on millinery establishments and\nconfectionery shops. And though we were some years of age before we heard\nthe trill of a piano, we knew well about the song of 'The Spinning-wheel.'\nThere were no lords, or baronets, or princes in our ancestral line. None\nwore stars, cockade, or crest. There was once a family coat of arms, but\nwe were none of us wise enough to tell its meaning. Do our best, we cannot\nfind anything about our forerunners, except that they behaved well, came\nover from Wales or Holland a good while ago, and died when their time came.\nSome of them may have had fine equipage and caparisoned postillion, but the\nmost of them were only footmen. My father started in life belonging to the\naristocracy of hard knuckles and homespun, but had this high honor that no\none could despise. He was the son of a father who loved God, and kept His\ncommandments. What is the House of Hapsburg or Stuarts, compared with\nbeing son of the Lord God Almighty? Two eyes, two hands, and two feet,\nwere the capital my father started with. For fifteen years an invalid, he\nhad a fearful struggle to support his large family. Nothing but faith in\nGod upheld him. His recital of help afforded, and deliverances wrought,\nwas more like a romance than a reality. He walked through many a desert,\nbut every morning had its manna, and every night it's pillar of fire, and\nevery hard rock a rod that could shatter it into crystal fountains at his\nfeet. More than once he came to his last dollar; but right behind that\nlast dollar he found Him who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and out\nof the palm of whose hand all the fowls of heaven peck their food, and who\nhath given to each one of His disciples a warrantable deed for the whole\nuniverse in the words, 'All are yours.'\n\n\"The path that led him through financial straits, prepared him also for\nsore bereavements. The infant of days was smitten, and he laid it into the\nriver of death with as much confidence as infant Moses was laid into the\nArk of the Nile, knowing that soon from the royal palace a shining One\nwould come to fetch it.\n\n\"In an island of the sea, among strangers, almost unattended, death came to\na beloved son; and though I remember the darkness that dropped on the\nhousehold when the black-sealed letter was opened, I remember also the\nutterances of Christian submission.\n\n\"Another bearing his own name, just on the threshold of manhood, his heart\nbeating high with hope, falls into the dust; but above the cries of early\nwidowhood and the desolation of that dark day, I hear the patriarch's\nprayer, commending children, and children's children, to the Divine\nsympathy.\n\n\"But a deeper shadow fell across the old home-stead. The 'Golden Wedding'\nhad been celebrated nine years before. My mother looked up, pushed back\nher spectacles, and said, 'Just think of it, father! We have been together\nfifty-nine years!' The twain stood together like two trees of the forest\nwith interlocked branches. Their affections had taken deep root together\nin many a kindred grave. Side by side in life's great battle, they had\nfought the good fight and won the day. But death comes to unjoint this\nalliance. God will not any longer let her suffer mortal ailments. The\nreward of righteousness is ready, and it must be paid. But what a tearing\napart! What rending up! What will the aged man do without this other to\nlean on? Who can so well understand how to sympathize and counsel? What\nvoice so cheering as hers, to conduct him down the steep of old age? 'Oh'\nsaid she in her last moments, 'father, if you and I could only be together,\nhow pleasant it would be!' But the hush of death came down one autumnal\nafternoon, and for the first time in all my life, on my arrival at home, I\nreceived no maternal greeting, no answer of the lips, no pressure of the\nhand. God had taken her.\n\n\"In this overwhelming shock the patriarch stood confident, reciting the\npromises and attesting the Divine goodness. O, sirs, that was faith,\nfaith, faith! 'Thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory!'\n\n\"Finally, I noticed that in my father's old age was to be seen the beauty\nof Christian activity. He had not retired from the field. He had been\nbusy so long you could not expect him idle now. The faith I have described\nwas not an idle expectation that sits with its hands in its pockets idly\nwaiting, but a feeling which gathers up all the resources of the soul, and\nhurls them upon one grand design. He was among the first who toiled in\nSabbath-schools, and never failed to speak the praise of these\ninstitutions. No storm or darkness ever kept him away from prayer-meeting.\nIn the neighborhood where he lived for years held a devotional meeting.\nOftentimes the only praying man present, before a handful of attendants, he\nwould give out the hymn, read the lines, conduct the music, and pray. Then\nread the Scriptures and pray again. Then lead forth in the Doxology with\nan enthusiasm as if there were a thousand people present, and all the\nchurch members had been doing their duty. He went forth visiting the sick,\nburying the dead, collecting alms for the poor, inviting the ministers of\nreligion to his household, in which there was, as in the house of Shunem, a\nlittle room over the wall, with bed and candlestick for any passing Elisha.\nHe never shuddered at the sight of a subscription paper, and not a single\ngreat cause of benevolence has arisen within the last half century which he\ndid not bless with his beneficence. Oh, this was not a barren almond tree\nthat blossomed. His charity was not like the bursting of the bud of a\nfamous tree in the South that fills the whole forest with its racket; nor\nwas it a clumsy thing like the fruit, in some tropical clime, that crashes\ndown, almost knocking the life out of those who gather it; for in his case\nthe right hand knew not what the left hand did. The churches of God in\nwhose service he toiled, have arisen as one man to declare his faithfulness\nand to mourn their loss. He stood in the front of the holy war, and the\ncourage which never trembled or winced in the presence of temporal danger\ninduced him to dare all things for God. In church matters he was not\nafraid to be shot at. Ordained, not by the laying on of human hands, but\nby the imposition of a Saviour's love, he preached by his life, in official\nposition, and legislative hall, and commercial circles, a practical\nChristianity. He showed that there was such a thing as honesty in\npolitics. He slandered no party, stuffed no ballot box, forged no\nnaturalization papers, intoxicated no voters, told no lies, surrendered no\nprinciple, countenanced no demagogism. He called things by their right\nnames; and what others styled prevarication, exaggeration, misstatement or\nhyperbole, he called a lie. Though he was far from being undecided in his\nviews, and never professed neutrality, or had any consort with those\nmiserable men who boast how well they can walk on both sides of a dividing\nline and be on neither, yet even in the excitements of election canvass,\nwhen his name was hotly discussed in public journals, I do not think his\nintegrity was ever assaulted. Starting every morning with a chapter of the\nBible, and his whole family around him on their knees, he forgot not, in\nthe excitements of the world, that he had a God to serve and a heaven to\nwin. The morning prayer came up on one side of the day, and the evening\nprayer on the other side, and joined each other in an arch above his head,\nunder the shadow of which he walked all the day. The Sabbath worship\nextended into Monday's conversation, and Tuesday's bargain, and Wednesday's\nmirthfulness, and Thursday's controversy, and Friday's sociality, and\nSaturday's calculation.\n\n\"Through how many thrilling scenes had he passed! He stood, at Morristown,\nin the choir that chanted when George Washington was buried; talked with\nyoung men whose grandfathers he had held on his knee; watched the progress\nof John Adams' administration; denounced, at the time, Aaron Burr's infamy;\nheard the guns that celebrated the New Orleans victory; voted against\nJackson, but lived long enough to wish we had one just like him; remembered\nwhen the first steamer struck the North River with it's wheel buckets;\nflushed with excitement in the time of national banks and sub-treasury; was\nstartled at the birth of telegraphy; saw the United States grow from a\nspeck on the world's map till all nations dip their flag at our passing\nmerchantmen, and our 'national airs' have been heard on the steeps of the\nHimalayas; was born while the Revolutionary cannon were coming home from\nYorktown, and lived to hear the tramp of troops returning from the war of\nthe great Rebellion; lived to speak the names of eighty children,\ngrandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Nearly all his contemporaries\ngone! Aged Wilberforce said that sailors drink to 'friends astern' until\nhalfway over the sea, and then drink to 'friends ahead.' So, also, with my\nfather. Long and varied pilgrimage! Nothing but sovereign grace could\nhave kept him true, earnest, useful, and Christian through so many exciting\nscenes.\n\n\"He worked unwearily from the sunrise of youth, to the sunset of old age,\nand then in the sweet nightfall of death, lighted by the starry promises,\nwent home, taking his sheaves with him. Mounting from earthly to heavenly\nservice, I doubt not there were a great multitude that thronged heaven's\ngate to hail him into the skies,--those whose sorrows he had appeased,\nwhose burdens he had lifted, whose guilty souls he had pointed to a\npardoning God, whose dying moments he had cheered, whose ascending spirits\nhe had helped up on the wings of sacred music. I should like to have heard\nthat long, loud, triumphant shout of heaven's welcome. I think that the\nharps throbbed with another thrill, and the hills quaked with a mightier\nhallelujah. Hail! ransomed soul! Thy race run,--thy toil ended! Hail to\nthe coronation!\"\n\nAt the death of David T. Talmage the Christian Intelligencer of October 25,\n1865, contained the following contribution from the pen of Dr. T.W.\nChambers, for many years pastor of the Second Reformed Church, Somerville,\nNew Jersey, now one of the pastors of the Collegiate Church, New York:\n\n\"In the latter part of the last century, Thomas Talmage, Sr., a plain but\nintelligent farmer, moved into the neighborhood of Somerville, N.J., and\nsettled upon a fertile tract of land, very favorably situated, and\ncommanding a view of the country for miles around. Here he spent the\nremainder of a long, godly, and useful life, and reared a large family of\nchildren, twelve of whom were spared to reach adult years, and to make and\nadorn the same Christian profession of which their father was a shining\nlight. Two of these became ministers of the Gospel, of whom one, Jehiel,\nfell asleep several years since, while the other, the distinguished Samuel\nK. Talmage, D.D., President of Oglethorpe University, Georgia, entered into\nhis rest only a few weeks since. Another son, Thomas, was for an entire\ngeneration the strongest pillar in the Second Church of Somerville.\n\n\"One of the oldest of the twelve was the subject of this notice; a man\nwhose educational advantages were limited to the local schools of the\nneighborhood, but whose excellent natural abilities, sharpened by contact\nwith the world, gave him a weight in the community which richer and more\ncultivated men might have envied. In the prime of his years he was often\ncalled to serve his fellow citizens in civil trusts. He spent some years\nin the popular branch of the Legislature, and was afterwards high sheriff\nof the County of Somerset for the usual period. In both cases he fulfilled\nthe expectations of his friends, and rendered faithful service. The\nsterling integrity of his character manifested itself in every situation;\nand even in the turmoil of politics, at a time of much excitement, he\nmaintained a stainless name, and defied the tongue of calumny. But it was\nchiefly in the sphere of private and social relations that his work was\ndone and his influence exerted. His father's piety was reproduced in him\nat an early period, and soon assumed a marked type of thoroughness,\nactivity and decision, which it bore even to the end. His long life was\none of unblemished Christian consistency, which in no small measure was due\nto the influence of his excellent wife, Catherine Van Nest, a niece of the\nlate Abraham Van Nest, of New York City, who a few years preceded him into\nglory. She was the most godly woman the writer ever knew, a wonder unto\nmany for the strength of her faith, the profoundness of her Christian\nexperience, and the uniform spirituality of her mind. The ebb and flow\ncommon to most believers did not appear in her; but her course was like a\nriver fed by constant streams, and running on wider and deeper till it\nreaches the sea. It might be said of this pair, as truly as of the parents\nof John the Baptist, 'And they were both righteous before God, walking in\nall the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.' Hand in hand\nthey pursued their pilgrimage through this world, presenting an example of\nintelligent piety such as is not often seen. 'Lovely and pleasant in their\nlives, in their death they were not (long) divided.' Exactly three years\nfrom the day of Mrs. Talmage's death her husband received the summons to\nrejoin her on high.\n\n\"These parents were unusually careful and diligent in discharging their\nChristian obligations to their children. The promise of the covenant was\nimportunately implored in their behalf from the moment of birth, its seal\nwas early applied, and the whole training was after the pattern of Abraham.\nThe Divine faithfulness was equally manifest, for the whole eleven were in\ndue time brought to the Saviour, and introduced into the full communion of\nthe Church. Years ago two of them were removed by death. Of the rest,\nfour, James, John, Goyn, and Thomas De Witt, are ministers of the Gospel,\nand one is the wife of a minister (the Rev. S. L. Mershon, of East Hampton,\nL.I.). Without entering into details respecting these brethren, it is\nsufficient to say that, with the exception of the late Dr. John Scudder's,\nno other single family has been the means of making such a valuable\ncontribution to the sons of Levi in the Dutch Church.\n\n\"Mr. Talmage was not only exemplary in the ordinary duties of a Christian,\nbut excellent as a church officer. Shrewd, patient, kind, generous\naccording to his means, and full of quiet zeal, he was ready for every good\nwork; one of those men--the delight of a pastor's heart--who can always\nbe relied upon to do their share, if not a little more, and that in things\nboth temporal and spiritual. He was a wise counselor, a true friend, a\nself-sacrificing laborer for the Master.\"\n\nWe find the following allusion to the life and death of his mother, in a\nsermon by Dr. T. De Witt Talmage:\n\n\"In these remarks upon maternal faithfulness, I have found myself\nunconsciously using as a model the character of one, who, last Wednesday,\nwe put away for the resurrection. About sixty years ago, just before the\nday of their marriage, my father and mother stood up in the old\nmeeting-house, at Somerville, to take the vows of a Christian. Through a\nlong life of vicissitude she lived blamelessly and usefully, and came to\nher end in peace. No child of want ever came to her door, and was turned\naway. No stricken soul ever appealed to her and was not comforted. No\nsinner ever asked her the way to be saved, and was not pointed to Christ.\n\n\"When the Angel of Life came to a neighbor's dwelling, she was there to\nrejoice at the incarnation; and when the Angel of Death came, she was there\nto robe the departed one for burial. We had often heard her, while\nkneeling among her children at family prayers, when father was absent, say:\n'I ask not for my children wealth, or honor; but I do ask that they may all\nbecome the subjects of Thy converting grace.' She had seen all her eleven\nchildren gathered into the Church, and she had but one more wish, and that\nwas that she might again see her missionary son. And when the ship from\nChina anchored in New York harbor, and the long absent one crossed the\nthreshold of his paternal home, she said, 'Now, Lord, lettest Thou Thy\nservant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.'\n\n\"We were gathered from afar to see only the house from which the soul had\nfled forever. How calm she looked! Her folded hands appeared just as when\nthey were employed in kindnesses for her children. And we could not help\nbut say, as we stood and looked at her, 'Doesn't she look beautiful!' It\nwas a cloudless day when, with heavy hearts, we carried her out to the last\nresting-place. The withered leaves crumbled under wheel and hoof as we\npassed, and the setting sun shone upon the river until it looked like fire.\nBut more calm and bright was the setting sun of this aged pilgrim's life.\nNo more toil. No more tears. No more sickness. No more death. Dear\nmother! Beautiful mother!\n\n  \"'Sweet is the slumber beneath the sod,\n  While the pure soul is resting with God.'\"\n\n\n\n\nII. CALL TO CHINA AND VOYAGE HENCE\n\nThe known facts in regard to John Talmage's boyhood and youthful days are\nfew. Of the known facts some perhaps are too trivial, others too sacred to\nbear mention. The sapling grew. Of the inner and outer circles of growth\nthere is but brief record.\n\nHe spent his boyhood at a quiet country hamlet, Gateville, New Jersey. On\nthe ridge swung the toll-gate, and a little beyond might be heard the hum\nand rattle of the grist-mill. His father kept the toll-gate. John was a\nfine horseman, and found great sport in jumping on his horse and chasing\nthe people who had \"cheated the gate\" by not paying their toll. John knew\nthe law and was not afraid to go for them. He went to a private school\nunder the care of a Mr. Morton at the village of Bound Brook, two miles\nfrom home, and generally stood at the head of his class.\n\nHe early became the judge and counselor among his brothers and sisters. In\nany little dispute which arose, John's verdict was usually accepted as\ncorrect and final.\n\nDuring all his missionary career in China, he was an adviser and arbitrator\nwhom foreigners and Chinese alike sought and from whose advice they were\nnot quick to turn away.\n\nIn the midst of the tumult among the men of Medina when they met to elect a\nchief to take the place of Mohammed, who had passed away, the voice of\nHohab was heard crying out, \"Attend to me, attend to me, for I am the\nwell-rubbed Palm-stem.\" The figure Hobab used represented a palm-trunk\nleft for the beasts to come and rub themselves upon. It was a metaphor for\na person much resorted to for counsel. John Talmage never called attention\nto himself, but the Arab chief must have counseled many, and well, to have\ntaken a higher place than did this messenger of Christ at Amoy.\n\nBy the time John Talmage's school days at Bound Brook were completed he had\ndetermined to prepare for college. Preparatory schools then were few and\nfar away. They were expensive. John made an arrangement with his senior\nbrother, Rev. James R. Talmage, then pastor at Blawenburgh, New Jersey, to\nput him through the required course. Here he joined the Church at the age\nof seventeen. From Blawenburgh his brother Goyn and he went to New\nBrunswick, New Jersey, joining the Sophomore class in Rutgers College. John\nand Goyn roomed together, swept and garnished their own quarters and did\ntheir own cooking. Father Talmage would come down every week or two with\nprovisions from the farm, to replenish the ever-recipient larder. Both John\nand Goyn were diligent students and graduated with honorable recognition\nfrom Rutgers College in 1842, and from New Brunswick Theological Seminary\nin 1845.\n\nJohn Talmage had made such substantial attainments in Hebrew and Greek,\nthat when some years afterward the distinguished Dr. McClelland resigned as\nprofessor of these languages in the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick,\nhe was talked of as Dr. McClelland's successor, and but for the conviction\nthat he ought not to be removed from the Amoy Mission, his appointment\nwould have been earnestly advocated by the General Synod.\n\nJohn Talmage had read missionary biographies when a boy in the\nSunday-school at Bound Brook. He had been specially touched by the life of\nHenry Martyn. While at college he kept himself supplied with missionary\nliterature. His parents were already interested in foreign missions. In\nsecret before God his mother had devoted John to this very work. John did\nnot know it. The determining word for him was that spoken in a missionary\naddress, by Rev. Elihu Doty, one of the pioneers of the Amoy Mission. It\nwas plain that he must go to the \"regions beyond.\" He must break the news\nto his mother. John's love of missionary literature and his eager\nattendance upon missionary meetings had filled the family with a secret\nfear that he thought of going. One day he invited his younger sister,\nCatharine, to take a walk with him across the fields. He began to talk\nabout missions to foreign lands. Finally he said, \"Catharine, you must\nhelp me prepare the way to tell mother that I want to go to China.\" Too\novercome with emotion was the sister to reply. They walked home in\nsilence. John sought opportunity when he could quietly tell his mother.\nSaid he, \"Mother, I am going to China.\" In the intensity of a mother's\nlove she replied, \"Oh, John, it will kill me.\" But the grace of God\ntriumphed and again she said, \"I prayed to God for this, how can I object?\"\n\nIn October, 1845, he applied to the American Board of Commissioners for\nForeign Missions, through Dr. Thomas De Witt, the Secretary for the\nReformed Church. The letter is still in possession. An extract from it\nreads:\n\n\"I was twenty-five years of age last August, reside at Somerville, New\nJersey, have been blessed with Christian parents and enjoyed an early\nreligious education. By the assistance of friends and the Church, I have\nbeen enabled to pursue the usual course of study preparatory in our Church\nto entering upon the duties of the Gospel ministry. I graduated at Rutgers\nCollege in the summer of 1842, pursued my theological studies in our\nseminary at New Brunswick, and received from the Classis of Philadelphia,\nJuly last, 'license' to preach the Gospel.\n\n\"Owing doubtless in great measure to the religious advantages I have\nenjoyed, my mind has been more or less under religious impressions from my\nearliest recollection. About eight years ago I united on confession of\nfaith with the Church (Reformed Dutch) at Blawenburgh, New Jersey, of which\nmy brother, Rev. James R. Talmage, was then and still is pastor. Was\nliving in his family at the time, and studying with him preparatory to\nentering college. I am unable to decide when I met with a change of heart.\nMy reason for believing that I have experienced such a change are the\nevidences within me that I love my Saviour, love His cause, and love the\nsouls of men.\n\n\"My reason for desiring the missionary work is a desire for the salvation\nof the heathen. My mind has been directed to the subject for a long time,\nyet I have not felt at liberty to decide the question where duty called me\nto labor until the last month. In accordance with this decision I now\noffer my services to the Board to labor in my Master's service among the\nheathen. As a field of labor I prefer China.\"\n\nOwing to deficiency in funds the Board could not send him that year. He\naccepted an invitation to assist Dr. Brodhead, then pastor of the Central\nReformed Church of Brooklyn. Dr. Brodhead was one of the great preachers\nof his day. In Philadelphia, an earlier pastorate, \"he preached to great\ncongregations of eager listeners, and with a success unparalleled in the\nhistory of that city and rare in modern times.\" John Van Nest Talmage\nmight have been his successor. But no sooner was the Board ready to send\nhim than he was prepared to go. The day for leaving home came. Father\nTalmage and the older brothers accompanied John. They left the house in\nthree carriages. A younger sister (Mrs. Cone) recently said: \"When we saw\nthe three carriages driving down the lane it seemed more like a funeral\nthan anything else.\" Silent were those who drove away. Silent, silent as\nthey could constrain themselves to be, were mother and sisters as they\nstood by the windows and got their last look of the procession as it wound\ndown the road. To go to a foreign land in those days signified to those\nwho went, lifelong exile,--to those who tarried, lifelong separation. The\nonly highways to the far East were by way of the Cape of Good Hope or Cape\nHorn. The voyages were always long and often perilous.\n\nWhen on board the ship Roman, bound for Canton, David Abeel wrote: \"To the\nmissionary perhaps exclusively, is the separation from friends like the\nfarewell of death. Though ignorant of the future he expects no further\nintercourse on earth. To him the next meeting is generally beyond the\ngrave.\"\n\nThe hour of departure was not only saddened by parting from parents and\nbrothers and sisters, but the young woman in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, to\nwhom he had given his affection, could not join him. Once it had been\ndecided that they were to go together, but during the last days the\nenfeebled widowed mother's courage failed her. She could not relinquish\nher daughter to what seemed to her separation for life. Mr. Talmage had to\nchoose between the call of duty to China and going alone, or tarrying at\nhome and realizing his heart's hopes. He went to China. By a special\nProvidence it was not much more than two years after he set sail that he\nwas again in the United States. The mother of Miss Abby Woodruff had died,\nand the union was consummated.\n\nMr. Talmage kept a diary of the voyage. A few extracts will prove\ninteresting.\n\n\"Left Somerville April 10, 1847, via New York to Boston. Sailed from\nBoston in ship Heber, April 15th. Farewell services on board conducted by\nBishop Janes, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Heber is a ship of\n436 tons, 136 feet long, 27 wide. Among the passengers are Rev. E. Doty\nand wife, and Rev. Moses C White and wife, and Rev. I. D. Collins. The\nthree latter are Methodist missionaries bound for Foochow (China).\" They\nwere the pioneers of Methodist missions in China.\n\nOn Thursday evening, the cay of sailing, he writes: \"I am now upon the\nbosom of the mighty deep. But I cannot as yet feel any fear. I am in the\nhands of the Being 'whose I am and whom I serve.' In His hands there is\nsafety. I will not fear though the earth be removed. Besides, there are\nChristian friends praying for me. Oh, the consolation in the assurance\nthat at the throne of grace I am remembered by near and dear friends! Will\nnot their prayers be heard? They will. I know they will. The effectual\nfervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much! When I took leave of my\nfriends, one, and another, and another, assured me that they would remember\nme in their prayers. Yes, and I will remember them.\"\n\nApril 17th. Speaking of Mr. Collins, he says: \"I think we shall much enjoy\nourselves. We shall study, read, sing, and pray together, talk and walk\ntogether. From present appearances we shall feel towards each other as\nDavid and Jonathan did.\" Mr. Collins was a man of intense missionary\nconvictions, who declared if there were no means to send him to China he\nwould find his way before the mast, and work his way there.\n\n\"April 22. We have now been one week on our voyage. We commenced our\nstudies today. Mr. Doty, Collins, and myself have organized ourselves into\na Hebrew class. We expect to have a daily recitation in Hebrew, another in\nGreek, and another in Chinese.\"\n\n\"May 8th. Saturday evening. We have been out 23 days. We have had our\nworship as usual in the cabin. Since then we have spent some time in\nsinging hymns. Have been led to think of home. Wonder where and how my\nmany friends are? Are they happy? Are they well? Are they all alive? Is\nit strange that sadness sometimes steals over my mind, when I think of\nthose whom I love, and remember their weeping eyes and sorrowful\ncountenances at the time of bidding them farewell, perhaps never again to\nsee them in this world.\"\n\nHe had decided to take a text of Scripture for daily meditation, following\nthe order in a little book published by the American Tract Society entitled\n\"Dew Drops.\"\n\n\"The text for today is 1 Pet. ii. 21. 'Christ suffered for us, leaving us\nan example, that we should follow his steps.'\n\n\"Why should the Christian tremble at the prospect of suffering, or be\nimpatient under its existence? 'The servant is not greater than his Lord.'\nThe 'King of Glory' suffered, and shall a sinful man complain? Besides,\nthe Christian should be willing to suffer for the welfare of others. If he\ncan benefit his fellow-men by running the risk of losing his own life,\nshall he hesitate to run that risk?\"\n\n\"May 11. Since Sunday noon have made little progress.\"\n\nOn examining the record of the voyage which Mr. Talmage kept faithfully\nevery day, we find that the ship had made only twenty seven knots in two\ndays.\n\n\"June 18. For the last month we have not made rapid progress. We have\nexperienced much detention from head-winds and calms. About a week ago we\nwere put on an allowance of water, one gallon a day to each one on board.\nThis includes all that is used for cooking, drinking and washing.\"\n\n\"Have had quite a severe storm this afternoon and evening. The waves have\nbeen very high, and the wind--severe almost as a hurricane. This evening\nabout 8 o'clock, after a very severe blow and heavy dash of rain, 'fire\nballs,' as the sailors termed them, were seen upon the tops of the masts,\nand also on the ends of the spars, which cross the masts. They presented a\nvery beautiful appearance.\n\n\"Brother Collins and myself have this week commenced the study of Pitman's\nSystem of Phonography.\" That Mr. Talmage became proficient in the use of\nit is evident from the fact that much of his journal was written in\nshorthand.\n\n\"On the Sabbath Brother Collins and myself spend two hours in the\nforecastle instructing the sailors. Many of them seem perfectly willing,\nsome of them anxious to receive instruction.\"\n\n\"July 17. Saturday evening. Today passed to the eastward of Christmas\nIsland (an island in the Indian Ocean). It is a small island about ten\nmiles square. This is the first land seen since we left Boston. Of\ncourse, we gazed with much interest.\"\n\n\"July 22. About nine o'clock Tuesday evening we anchored off Angier. This\nis a village off the island of Java, bordering on the Straits of Sunda.\nRemained at Angier until Wednesday afternoon. Capt. Patterson laid in a\ngood supply of pigs, geese, ducks, chickens, yams, turtles, water, two\ngoats, and fruits of various kinds in abundance.\"\n\n\"Aug. 6. Friday. Wednesday evening arrived at Macao. This morning set\nsail for Whampoa, twelve miles below Canton.\"\n\nAfter a few days at Canton and Hongkong, Mr. and Mrs. Doty and Mr. Talmage\nembarked for Amoy on the schooner Caroline.\n\n\"Aug 21. The Caroline is a small vessel of about one hundred and fifty\ntons burthen. She was built, I suppose, for the opium trade. Our passage\nfrom Hongkong was not very pleasant. Our quarters were close and our\ncaptain was far from being an agreeable companion. He drank freely and was\nvery profane.\"\n\n\"We left Brother Collins and Brother White and wife at Hongkong. We had\nbeen so long in company with these brethren, that it was trying to part\nwith them. On Thursday, the day before yesterday, we arrived safely at\nAmoy. The brethren gave us a very hearty welcome. The missionary company\nat this place consists of Brother Pohlman, of the A.B.C.F.M.; Mr. Alexander\nStronach and wife, and Brown, of the Presbyterian Board. Mr. John Stronach\nalso belongs to this station. He is at present at Shanghai.\"\n\n\n\n\nIII. THE CITY OF THE \"ELEGANT GATE\"[*]\n\n[Footnote *: the meaning of the two Chinese characters composing the name\nAmoy.]\n\nIn a letter to the Sabbath-school of the Central Reformed Church, Brooklyn,\nMr. Talmage thus describes the southern emporium of the province of Fukien:\n\n\"Amoy is situated on an island of the same name. The city proper or\ncitadel is about one mile in circumference. Its form is nearly that of a\nrhomboid or diamond. It is surrounded by a wall about twenty feet in\nheight, and eight or ten feet in thickness, built of large blocks of coarse\ngranite. It has four gates. The outer city, or city outside of the walls,\nis much more extensive. Its circumference, I suppose, is about six miles.\n\n\"The streets are not so wide as the sidewalks in Brooklyn. Some of them\nare so narrow that, when two persons, walking in opposite directions, meet\neach other, it is necessary for the one to stop, in order that the other\nmay pass on. The most of the streets are paved with coarse granite blocks,\nyet on account of the narrowness of the streets, and the want of\ncleanliness by the great mass of the inhabitants, the streets are usually\nvery filthy.\n\n\"This part of Amoy island is rugged and mountainous, and interspersed with\nlarge granite rocks. Some of them are of immense size. It is in such a\nplace that the city has been built. Many of these rocks are left in their\nnatural position, and overhang the houses which have been built among them.\nThe ground has not been leveled as in Brooklyn, consequently the greater\npart of the streets are uneven. Some of them are conducted over the hills\nby stone steps. Near our residences, one of the public streets ascends a\nhill by a flight of thirty-six steps. On account of this unevenness of the\nstreets as well as their narrowness a carriage cannot pass through the city\nof Amoy. Instead of carriages the more wealthy inhabitants use sedan\nchairs, which are usually borne by two bearers. The higher officers of\ngovernment, called 'Mandarins,' have four bearers to carry them. The\ngreater part of the inhabitants always travel on foot. The place of carts\nis supplied by men called 'coolies,' whose employment is to carry burdens.\nThe houses, except along the wharves and a few pawn-shops farther up in the\ncity, are one story.\n\n\"There are no churches here, but there are far more temples for the worship\nof false gods, and the souls of deceased ancestors, than there are churches\nin Brooklyn.\n\n\"Besides these, almost every family has its shrine and idols and ancestral\ntablets, which last are worshipped with more devotion than the idols. In\nconsequence of their religion the people are degraded and immoral.\nOne-third of all female children born in the city of Amoy are slain. In\nthe villages throughout this whole region, it is supposed that about\none-half are destroyed. They do not exhibit sympathy for each other and\nfor those in distress, which is enjoined by the Bible, and which,\nnotwithstanding all its defects, is the glory of Christian communities. I\nhave seen a man dying on the pavement on a street, almost as densely\nthronged as Broadway, New York, and no one of the passers-by, or of the\ninhabitants of that part of the street, seemed to notice him or care for\nhim more than if he had been a dog.\"\n\n\nDESCRIPTION OF AMOY AND AMOY ISLAND\n\nAnother letter to the same congregation a few months later reads:\n\n\"The first impression on the mind of an individual in approaching the\nshores of China from the south, and sailing along the coast, as far north\nas Amoy, is anything but favorable. So great is the contrast between the\nlovely scenery and dense vegetation of many of the islands of the Indian\nArchipelago, and the barren and worn-out hills which line the southern part\nof the coast of China, that in the whole range of human language it would\nseem scarcely possible to find a more inappropriate term than the term\n'Celestial' whereby to designate this great empire. Neither is this\nunfavorable opinion removed immediately on landing. The style of building\nis so inferior, the streets are so narrow and filthy, the countenances of\nthe great mass of the people, at least to a newcomer, are so destitute of\nintelligent expression, and the bodies and clothing, and habits of the\nmultitudes are so uncleanly, that one is compelled to exclaim in surprise,\n'Are these the people who stand at the top of pagan civilization, and who\nlook upon all men as barbarous, except themselves?' Besides, everything\nlooks old. Buildings, temples, even the rocks and the hills have a\npeculiar appearance of age and seem to be falling into decay. I am happy\nto say, however, that as we become better acquainted with the country and\nthe people, many of these unfavorable impressions are removed. After\npassing a little to the north of Amoy, the appearance of the coast entirely\nchanges. Even in this mountainous region we have valleys and plains, which\nwould suffer but little by comparison with any other country for beauty and\nfertility. I also love the scenery around the city of Amoy very much. The\ncity is situated on the western side of an island of the same name. This\npart of the island in its general appearance is very similar to the coast\nof which I have spoken. It is rocky and mountainous and barren. There\nare, however, among these barren hills many small fertile spots, situated\nin the ravines and along the watercourses, which on account of their high\nstate of cultivation form a lovely contrast with the surrounding\nbarrenness. Wherever the Chinese, at least in this part of the Empire, can\nfind a watercourse, by cultivation they will turn the most barren soil into\na garden. The sides of the ravines are leveled by digging down, and\nwalling up, if necessary, forming terraces or small fields, the one above\nthe other. These small fields are surrounded by a border of impervious\nclay. The water is conducted into the higher of these terraces, and from\nthem conducted into those which are lower, as the state of the crops may\ndemand. Often a field of paddy may be seen inundated, while the next field\nbelow, in which perhaps the sweet potato is growing, is kept perfectly dry.\nAmong the hills there is much of picturesque scenery, and some that is\ntruly sublime. The Buddhists have exhibited an exquisite taste for natural\nscenery, in selecting such places for the situation of many of their\ntemples.\"\n\n\nANCESTRAL WORSHIP\n\n\"Their respect for ancestors is very great, so much so that the species of\nidolatry which has by far the strongest hold upon their minds is ancestral\nworship. This is the stronghold by which Satan maintains his supremacy\nover the minds of the people, and this we may expect will be the last to\ngive way to the power of the Gospel of Christ. One may hold up their gods\nto ridicule and they will laugh at his remarks, but they do not love to\nhear the worship of their ancestors spoken against. This worship, after\nthe period of mourning is over, consists chiefly in offering at stated\ntimes various articles of food to the spirits of the deceased, and in\nburning various kinds of paper, as a substitute for money, by which these\nspirits are supplied with that most convenient article. Natural affection\nand selfishness unite to strengthen their attachment to this worship. It\nis as necessary for the happiness of the souls of the dead, in the opinion\nof the Chinese, as is the saying of the mass in the opinion of a Roman\nCatholic. Without these attentions the souls of the deceased are in a sort\nof purgatory; wandering about in want and wretchedness. But if the desire\nof rendering their ancestors happy be not sufficient to secure attention to\nthese rites, a still more powerful motive addresses itself to their minds.\nThese wandering spirits are supposed capable of bringing misfortune and\ninflicting injuries on their ungrateful and impious descendants. Thus if a\nfamily meet with reverses, the cause is often attributed to the want of\nattention to the souls of the deceased ancestors, or to the fact that the\nsites of their graves have not been judiciously selected, and the\ndissatisfied spirits are taking vengeance for these neglects or mistakes.\nAnother consideration which seems to exert much influence, is that if they\nneglect the spirits of their ancestors, their descendants may neglect them.\n\n\"For the present life they can think of no higher happiness than success in\nacquiring wealth, and the highest happiness after death consists in having\nsons to supply the wants of their spirits. These are the two objects that\nengross the highest aspirations of a Chinaman.\"\n\n\nINFANTICIDE\n\n\"This will account in part for the barbarous custom of infanticide which\nprevails to so lamentable an extent among these heathen. Only female\ninfants are destroyed. While the parents are living the son may be of\npecuniary advantage to them, and after their death, he can attend to the\nrites of their souls, and even after his death, through him the parents may\nhave descendants to perform the ancestral rites. A daughter on the\ncontrary, it is supposed, will only prove a burden in a pecuniary point of\nview, and after she is married she is reckoned to the family of her\nhusband. Her children, also, except her husband otherwise order, are only\nexpected to attend to the spirits of their paternal ancestors.\"\n\n\"Some have denied the existence of the practice of infanticide among the\nChinese, or, they have asserted that if it does exist, the practice of it\nis very unusual. Every village which we visit in this region gives\nevidence that such persons are not acquainted with this part of the empire.\nA few days ago a company of us visited the village of Kokia. It is\nsituated on the northern extremity of Amoy Island, and contains, perhaps,\ntwo thousand inhabitants. After walking through the village we sat down\nfor a short time under the shade of a large banyan tree. A large concourse\nof people soon gathered around us to see the foreigners and hear what they\nhad to say. In this crowd we found by counting nearly a hundred boys, and\nbut two or three girls. Also when walking through the village very few\ngirls were to be seen. The custom of binding the feet of the girls, which\ngreatly affects their power of locomotion, would account for more boys\nbeing seen than girls, but will not account for the disparity noticed. We\ntherefore inquired the cause of this disparity. They answered with\nlaughter that female children are killed. The same question has been asked\nagain and again at the various villages we have visited and the same answer\nobtained. This answer is given freely and apparently without any idea that\nthe practice is wicked, until they are taught so by us. The result of this\none practice on the morals of the people may readily be imagined. It\naccustoms the mind to acts of cruelty and it prepares the way for impurity\nand wickedness in forms that are never dreamed of in Christian countries.\"\n\nIn this connection an extract from Dr. David Abeel's[*] diary may be of\nvalue.\n\n[Footnote *: David Abeel was the founder of the American Reformed Mission\nat Amoy in 1842.]\n\n\"Today had a conversation with one of the merchants who come to Kolongsu\nfor trade, on the subject of female infanticide. Assuming a countenance of\nas much indifference as possible, I asked him how many of his own children\nhe had destroyed: he instantly replied, 'Two.' I asked him whether he had\nspared any. He said, 'One I have saved.' I then inquired how many\nbrothers he had. 'Eight,' was the answer. I asked him how many children\nhis eldest brother had destroyed. 'Five or six.' I inquired of the\nsecond, third and all the rest; some had killed four or five, some two or\nthree, and others had none to destroy. I then asked how many girls were\nleft among them all. 'Three,' was the answer. And how many do you think\nhave been strangled at birth? 'Probably from twelve to seventeen.' I\nwished to know the standing and employment of his brothers. One, he said,\nhad attained a literary degree at the public examinations; the second was a\nteacher; one was a sailor; and the rest were petty merchants like himself.\nThus, it was evidently not necessity but a cold inhuman calculation of the\ngains and losses of keeping them, which must have led these men to take the\nlives of their own offspring.\n\n\"Mr. Boone's teacher's sister with her own hand destroyed her first three\nchildren successively. The fourth was also a girl, but the mother was\nafraid to lay violent hands on it, believing it to be one of the previous\nones reappearing in a new body.\"\n\n\"The names of the five districts in the Chinchew prefecture are Tong-an,\nAn-khoe, Chin-kiang, Hui-an and Lam-an. Amoy is situated in the Chin-chew\nprefect.\n\n\"From a comparison with many other parts of the country, there is reason to\nbelieve that a greater number of children are destroyed at birth in the\nTong-an district than in any other of this department, probably more than\nin any other of this department, probably more than in any other part of\nthe province of equal extent and populousness. In the Tong-an district I\nhave inquired of persons from forty different towns and villages. The\nnumber destroyed varies exceedingly in different places, the extremes\nextending from seventy and eighty percent to ten percent. The average\nproportion destroyed in all these places amounting to nearly four-tenths or\nexactly thirty-nine percent.\n\n\"In seventeen of these forty towns and villages, my informants declare that\none-half or more are deprived of existence at birth.\n\n\"From the inhabitants of six places in Chin-kiang, and of four places in\nHui-an, if I am correctly informed, the victims of infanticide do not\nexceed sixteen percent.\n\n\"In the seven districts of the Chiang-chiu prefecture the number is rather\nmore than one-fourth or less than three-tenths.\n\n\"There is reason to fear that scarcely less than twenty-five percent are\nsuffocated almost at the first breath.\"\n\nIt is altogether probable that this vice is just as prevalent now. The\nscarcity of girls in nearly all the towns and villages and the exorbitant\nrates demanded for marriageable daughters in some districts, only render\nsad confirmation to what Drs. Abeel and Talmage wrote two score and more\nyears ago.\n\n\nIS CHINA TO BE WON, AND HOW?\n\nMr. Talmage continues:\n\n\"I cannot close this letter without saying a word in reference to our\nprospects of success. The moral condition of this people, their spiritual\napathy, their attachment to the superstitious rites of their ancestors,\ntogether with the natural depravity of the human heart, and at the same\ntime their language being one of the most difficult, perhaps the most\ndifficult of acquisition of any spoken language, all combine to forbid, it\nwould seem, all hope of ever Christianizing this empire. But that which is\nimpossible with men is possible with God. He who has commanded us to\npreach the Gospel to every creature, has connected with it a promise that\nHe will be always with us to the end of the world. The stone cut out\nwithout hands, we are told by the prophet, became a great mountain and\nfilled the whole earth. The kingdom which the God of heaven has set up\n'shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand\nfor ever.' Thus, whatever may be the prospect before us, according to\nhuman reasoning, we have 'a more sure word of prophecy.' Resting upon this\nwe can have no doubt in reference to the complete triumph of the cause of\nChrist, even over the land of Sinim. In connection with such prophecies\nand promises we have many facts to encourage us. The people are accessible\nand friendly, and willing to listen to our doctrines. The superiority of\nChristianity to their systems of religion, sometimes from conviction and\nsometimes perhaps only from politeness, they often admit.\n\n\"Already a few converts have been gathered into the visible Church, and\nthere are others who are seeking to know the way of life more perfectly.\nThose who have been received into the Church are letting their light shine.\nThe conduct of some who have heard the truth, reminds us forcibly of the\nconduct of the woman at the well of Samaria, and of the conduct of Andrew\nand Philip when they first found the Messias.\n\n\"It is thus that this empire and most other heathen countries must be\nevangelized. The work must be done by the natives. The Church in\nChristian lands, by her missionaries, can only lay the foundation and\nrender some little assistance in rearing the superstructure. She can never\ncarry forward the work to completion. She can never furnish the heathen\nnations with missionaries of the cross in sufficient numbers to supply them\nwith pastors, neither is it necessary that she should. The Christian is a\nlight shining in a dark place. Especially is it true among the heathen,\nthat every disciple of Christ is as 'a city set on a hill which cannot be\nhid.' His neighbors and acquaintances must observe the change in his\nconduct. He no longer worships their gods. He no longer observes any of\ntheir superstitious rites. He is no longer a slave to their immoralities.\nhis example must tell. But many of the converts will have gifts to make\nknown the Gospel, and will eagerly embrace these gifts in order to rescue\ntheir dying countrymen. Already have we examples of this. Such converts,\nalso, in some respects, may be more efficient than the missionary. They\ncan go where we cannot, and reach those who are entirely beyond our\ninfluence. They are better acquainted with the language. They understand\nthe customs of the people more thoroughly. They remember what were the\ngreatest difficulties and objections which proved the greatest obstacles to\ntheir reception of the Gospel, and they know how these difficulties were\nremoved and these objections answered. Besides, they have all the\nadvantages which a native must be expected to possess over a foreigner\narising from the prejudices of the people.\n\n\"Perhaps it may be necessary to guard against a wrong inference, which\nmight be hastily deduced from the facts just stated. The fact that the\nnatives are to be the principal laborers in evangelizing this empire, does\nnot in the least remove the obligation of the Church to quicken and\nredouble all her efforts, or supersede the necessity for such efforts. It\nwill be many years before this necessity will cease to exist. The Churches\nin Christian lands, in resolving to undertake the evangelization of this\nempire, have engaged in great work. In obedience to the command of their\nMaster they have undertaken to rear a vast superstructure, the foundation\nof which is to be laid entirely by themselves, and on the erection of which\nthey must bestow their care and assistance. This work has been commenced\nunder favorable auspices, but the foundation cannot yet be said to be laid.\nMore laborers must be sent forth. They should be sent out in multitudes if\nthey can be found. They must acquire the language so that they can\ncommunicate freely with the people. They must proclaim the message of the\nGospel from house to house, in the highways and market-places, wherever\nthey can find an audience,-until converts are multiplied. Schools must be\nestablished, and the doctrines of the Gospel be instilled into the minds of\nthe children and youth. We must have a native ministry instructed and\ntrained up from their childhood according to the doctrines of the Gospel\nbefore they will be capable of taking the sole charge of this work. Until\nall this has taken place the churches may not slacken any of their efforts;\nnay, to accomplish this there must be an increase of effort beyond all that\nthe churches have ever yet put forth.\"\n\nDuring the year 1848 he sent a letter to the Society of Inquiry of the\nTheological Seminary, New Brunswick, New Jersey.\n\n\"It is yet a 'day of small things' with us. Our work thus far has been\nchiefly of a preparatory nature. This will probably be the case for some\ntime to come. There have been just enough conversions to teach us that God\nis with us and will own the instrumentality which He Himself has appointed\nfor the salvation of men, and to encourage us not to faint in our work. We\nhave a vast amount of prejudice and superstition to remove--prejudice and\nsuperstition which has been growing and consolidating for forty centuries,\nand has become an essential ingredient in the character of the people and\npart of almost every emotion and conception of their minds. At present\nboth officials and people are very friendly, and we are permitted to preach\nthe Gospel without hindrance. But we cannot tell how long this state of\nthings will continue. When the operation of the leaven has become\nmanifest, we must expect opposition. We cannot expect that the great\nadversary of God and men will relinquish this the strongest hold of his\nempire on earth, without a mighty struggle. We must yet contend with\n'principalities and, powers and spiritual wickedness in high places.'\n\n\nWORSHIP OF THE EMPEROR.\n\n\"The system of idolatry is as closely connected with the civil government\nof China, I suppose, as ever it was with ancient Rome. The emperor may be\ncalled the great High-priest of the nation. He and he only is permitted to\noffer sacrifice and direct worship to the Supreme Being. The description\nwhich Paul has given of the 'man of sin,' with but little variation may be\napplied to him.\n\n\"'He exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so\nthat he as God, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is\nGod.' He has arrogated to himself the title which expresses the highest\nthought of divinity known to the conceptions of the Chinese mind. He is\nsuperior to all gods, except the great Supreme. All others he appoints,\ndesignates their business and dethrones them at his pleasure. In the city\nof Amoy is a temple dedicated to the worship of the emperor and containing\na tablet as representative of his person. On certain days of the year the\nofficers of government are required to repair to this temple, and offer\nthat religious homage which is due to God alone. Now to remove these\nprejudices and superstitions and to carry to the final triumph this\nwarfare, which we must wage with those in 'high places,' will not be the\nwork of a few years. We might well despair of ever possessing the land,\nwhere such 'sons of Anak' dwell, were it not that the ark of God is with us\nand His command has been given, 'Go up and possess it.' But we look to\nyou, my brethren, for assistance and reinforcement in this the cause of our\ncommon Lord, not only to fill the places of those who fall at their post or\nare disabled in the conflict, but also that we may extend our lines and\nconduct the siege with more effect. If you desire a field where you may\nfind scope and employment for every variety of talent, and where you may\nprove yourselves faithful soldiers of Jesus Christ, I know of no place\nwhence can come to you a more urgent call than from this vast empire.\"\n\n\n\n\nIV. LIGHT AND SHADE.\n\n\nTHE CHIANG-CHIU VALLEY.\n\nAmong the jottings in Mr. Talmage's diary for 1847-1848 we find mention of\na tour to Chiang-chiu on September 23, 1847, in company with Messrs.\nPohlman, Doty and Lloyd.\n\nChiang-chiu is a large city of 200,000 inhabitants, situated on a wide\nriver, 30 miles west of Amoy. He writes: \"Wherever we went we were\naccompanied by an immense throng of people. The most of them I suppose had\nnever seen a white face. But few Europeans have visited the city. The\ncity has an extensive wall, wider and I think more cleanly streets, and is\nlarger than Amoy. In the rear of the city there are three watch towers.\nThey are situated on very elevated ground. From these we had a very\ndelightful view of the city and surrounding country. The scenery, it\nseemed to me, was the most beautiful I had ever witnessed. Within the\ncircle of our vision lay that immense city with its extensive walls, its\ntemples and pagoda, its river, bridges and boats, its gardens, its trees\nand shrubbery, and its densely crowded streets. Surrounding the city was\nspread out an extensive valley of some ten or fifteen miles in width and\nsome twenty or twenty-five in length, covered with luxuriant vegetation.\nThrough the midst of the valley might be marked the meandering track of the\nChiang-chiu river, the whole region beautifully variegated with fruit\ntrees, shade trees, and villages. Still further on, in every direction,\nour view was bounded by lofty hills whose cloud capped tops seemed as\npillars on which the heavens rested. Nature had done her best to make this\nregion a terrestrial paradise.\"\n\nOn a subsequent trip to Chiang-chiu, Mr. Talmage writes: \"The valley of the\nChiang-chiu river is one of the most beautiful regions I ever saw. It is\ndensely populated. In every direction are villages, I might almost say\nwithout number, rendered most beautiful by their plentiful supply of large\nbanyans and various other trees of luxuriant foliage. The intermediate\nspaces between the villages are fields covered with vegetation most dense\nand beautiful. Through the centre of this scene may be traced the course\nof the river with its numberless canals, like the Nile of Egypt, giving\nfertility wherever nature or the art of man conducts its waters.\"\n\n\nBREAKING AND BURNING OF IDOLS.\n\n\"Feb. 27, 1848. Today an old lady and her two sons declared themselves to\nbe worshipers of Jesus by presenting their idols to Bro. Pohlman. On the\nevening of the last day of their last year they had burnt their ancestral\ntablets. It was an interesting sight, said Bro. Pohlman, to see the old\nlady, supported by one of her sons, breaking her idols and making a\nvoluntary and public surrender of them at the chapel.\n\n\"March 1st. When the old lady returned from the chapel on Sunday evening\nshe was full of zeal, and began preaching to her neighbors on the folly of\nidolatry. She was so successful that another old lady living in the same\nhouse with her has made a bonfire and burned all her idols except one.\nThis, being made of clay, was not combustible. This she presented to\nPohlman today. He asked her whether she gave it up willingly. She said\nshe rejoiced to do it. She said she had not yet destroyed her ancestral\ntablets. Pohlman told her he did not wish her to do it rashly. She must\nreflect on the subject, and when she became convinced that the worship of\nthem was a sin against God she must give them up immediately.\n\n\"March 29th. This afternoon Bro. Hickok and wife and Bro. Maclay arrived\nat Amoy on their way to Foochow. They had a long passage from Hongkong,\nhaving been out twenty-nine days.\" The distance from Hongkong to Amoy is\nless than three hundred miles, and is made in twenty-four hours by an\nordinary coast steamer.\n\n\nTHE CHINESE BOAT RACE AND ITS ORIGIN.\n\n\"June 5th. Monday. To-day being the fifth day of the fifth month (Chinese),\nwas the festival of dragon boat-racing. Several dragon boats filled with\nrowers, rather paddlers, were contesting this afternoon in the harbor. The\nwater was thronged with boats filled with Chinese to see the sport. Many\nof these boats, and almost all the junks in the neighborhood, were decked\nwith green branches, also with streamers flying. The origin of this\nfestival is said to be as follows: In very ancient times one of the first\nofficers, perhaps Prime Minister of government, gave offense to the\nemperor. The emperor banished him. He was so downcast on account of the\nemperor's displeasure that he went and drowned himself. The emperor\nafterwards repented of his act, and on inquiry after the man learned that\nhe had drowned himself. He sent out boats in every direction to search for\nhis body, and also to make offerings to his spirit. His body was not\nfound. But from that time to this his body is thus searched for every year\nand his spirit thus appeased. This celebration is universal throughout the\nempire and wherever there are colonies of Chinese, throughout the islands\nof the (East Indian) Archipelago.\n\n\"The same good feeling continues to exist at Amoy as formerly. We are on\nthe best of terms, so far as we can judge, with all classes, the officials\nand people. The mandarins receive our calls and return their cards. All\nof them but one have visited us at our houses. Some of them call on us\nquite frequently. This places us on a high vantage ground. The people\nwill not fear to listen to us, attend our meetings, and visit us at our\nhouses, as they would if the mandarins kept aloof from us. The same good\nfeeling towards foreigners seems to extend far into the interior. At least\nwe go from, village to village wherever we please without hindrance, and\nare always treated with kindness.\"\n\n\nTHE CHINESE BEGGAR SYSTEM.\n\n\"I have to-day been making some inquiries of my teacher concerning the\nsystem by which the beggars of Amoy are governed. The truth seems as\nfollows: There are very many beggars in the city. In each ward there is a\nhead-man or chief called 'Chief of the Beggars.' He derives his office\nfrom the 'Hai-hong,' or the superior local magistrate. Sometimes the\noffice is conferred as an act of benevolence on an individual, who from\nsickness or other causes has met with reverses of fortune. Sometimes it is\npurchased. There being eighteen wards in the city of Amoy, of course there\nare eighteen such head-men. Their office is not honorable, but there is\nconsiderable profit connected with it. The head-men hold their office for\nlife, or until removed for bad behavior. They get certificates of office\nfrom the 'Hai-hong,' and on the change of that functionary it is necessary\nto get the stamp of his successor attached to their certificates. Their\nincome is derived from various sources. Monthly they call on the merchants\nand shopkeepers, who by paying down a sufficient amount are freed from the\nannoyance of beggars during the month. If a beggar enters one of these\nestablishments he is pointed to a card which is posted up in some\nconspicuous place, and is a certificate from the 'chief of the beggars' of\nthat ward that a sufficient amount of beggar money has been paid down for\nthe month. The 'chiefs of the beggars' also receive money from a man or\nhis family when he is about to marry, also from the family of the bride.\nThey also receive money after the death and burial of the parents or any\nold member of a family; also from men who are advanced to literary honors,\nor who receive official promotion In any of the above cases, if any\nindividual fail to agree with the 'chief of the beggars' of his ward and\npay what is considered a sufficient amount of money (the amount varies with\nthe importance of the occasion and the wealth of the parties), he may\nexpect a visit from a posse of beggars, who will give him much annoyance by\ntheir continual demands. The 'chiefs of the beggars' give a part of the\nmoney which they receive to the beggars under them. My teacher thinks\nthere are about two thousand beggars in the city of Amoy. There is a small\ndistrict belonging to the city of Amoy called 'The Beggars' Camp.' The\nmost of the inhabitants of this place are beggars. These beggars go about\nthe city seeking a living, clothed in rags and covered with filth and\nsores, the most disgusting and pitiable objects I ever saw.\"\n\n\nTWO NOBLE MEN SUMMONED HENCE.\n\nOn the 6th of December Rev. John Lloyd, of the American Presbyterian\nmission, died of typhus fever after an illness of two weeks. Mr. Talmage\nmakes this record of him:\n\n\"Dec. 8, 1848. Rev. John Lloyd was born in the State of Pennsylvania on the\nfirst of Oct., 1813, which made him thirty-five years, two months, and five\ndays at the time of his death. He was a man of fine abilities. His mind\nwas well stored with useful knowledge and was well disciplined. He was\nmost laborious in study, very careful to improve his time. He was\nmastering the language with rapidity. His vocabulary was not so large as\nthat of some of the other brethren, but he had a very large number of words\nand phrases at his command, and was pronounced by the Chinese to speak the\nlanguage more accurately than any other foreigner in the place. They even\nsaid of him that it could not be inferred simply from his voice, unless his\nface was seen, that he was a foreigner. He was a man of warm heart, very\nstrong in his friendship, very kind in his disposition, and a universal\nfavorite among the Chinese. I never knew a man that improved more by close\nintimacy. His modesty, which may be called his great fault, was such that\nit was necessary to become well acquainted with him before he could be\nproperly appreciated. But it has pleased the Master of the harvest to call\nhim from the field just as he became fully qualified to be an efficient\nlaborer. What a lesson this, that we must not overestimate our importance\nin the work to which God has called us. He can do without us. It seems\nnecessary that He should give the Church lesson upon lesson that she may\nnot forget her dependence upon Him.\"\n\nEarly in 1849 the brethren were called to mourn the loss of one of the most\ndevoted pioneers of the Amoy mission, the Rev. William J. Pohlman.\n\nMr. Talmage writes: \"Feb. 8th. On Monday night at twelve o'clock I was\ncalled up to receive the sad intelligence that our worst fears in reference\nto Pohlman were confirmed. He perished on the morning of the 5th or 6th\nult. He embarked on the 2d ult. from Hongkong in the schooner Omega. On the\nmorning of probably the 5th, at about two o'clock, she struck near Breaker\nPoint, one hundred and twenty miles from Hongkong. A strong wind was\nblowing at the time, so that every effort to get the ship off was\nunavailing. She was driven farther on the sand and fell over on her side.\nHer long boat and one quarter boat were carried away, and her cabin filled\nwith water. The men on board clung to the vessel until morning. The\nremaining boat was then lowered. Those of the crew who were able to swim\nwere directed to swim to the shore. The captain, first and second\nofficers, and Pohlman entered the boat end those of the crew who could not\nswim also received permission to enter. But a general rush was made for\nthe boat, by which it was overturned, and those who could not swim, Pohlman\namong the number, perished. The captain attempted to reach the shore by\nswimming, and would have succeeded, but was met by the natives. They were\neager for plunder, and seized the captain to plunder him of his clothes.\nWhile they were stripping him of his clothes they dragged him through the\nwater with his head under, by which he was drowned. About twenty-five of\nthe crew succeeded in reaching the shore in safety. After being stripped\nof their clothes, they were permitted to escape. Afterwards, on arriving\nat a village they were furnished with some rags. After suffering much from\nfatigue and hunger they arrived at Canton, overland, on the 17th ult. This\nevent has cast gloom again over our small circle. But one month previous\nto his death, Pohlman with myself had closed the eyes of dear Lloyd. Oh,\nhow deeply we do feel, and shall for a long time feel this loss.\"\n\n\"Feb. 11th. On Sunday afternoon our new church was consecrated to the\nworship of the only true God, the first building built for this purpose in\nAmoy. Mr. Young preached the sermon. It was also a funeral sermon for Mr.\nPohlman. The house was crowded with people. Very many could not get into\nthe building. There was some noise and confusion. I think the majority,\nhowever, were desirous to hear.\"\n\nIn a letter to Drs. Anderson (Dr. Anderson was one of the early Secretaries\nof the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.) and De Witt,\nspeaking of Pohlman's death, he says:\n\n\"Our hearts bleed. God has seen fit to send upon us stroke after stroke.\nOh, when will He stay His hand? But we will not murmur. It is God who\nhath done this. His ways are inscrutable. We gaze upon them in mute\nastonishment. We may quote as peculiarly applicable to our present\ncircumstances the remarks which this brother made at the grave of him who\nwas called away a month previous. 'Death,' said he, 'is always a sad\nevent, and is often peculiarly distressing. It is so in the instance before\nus. There is a sad breach in our little circle at this station. Situated\nas we are here, every member of our small society tells upon the happiness\nof the whole. Our number is limited and less than a score. We have few\nbosom friends, few to cheer and encourage us, few to whom to tell our\nsorrows and our joys. Here we are far away from those we love, away from\ndear friends and kindred and those tender associations which make society\nso delightful at home. Hence we feel deeply any breach made in our little\ncircle. In proportion as our number is diminished in the same proportion is\nthere a decrease in the endearments of friendship and love. More\nespecially is this the case when the departed was possessed of social\nvirtues and qualified to make all around him agreeable and happy. We mourn\nalso for these poor deluded heathen. They have sustained an incalculable\nloss. I feel it impossible to give an adequate description of his\ncharacter. He felt that in laboring for the heathen he was engaged in a\nwork of the highest moment. Thereto he bent every energy of mind and body.\nThat which, by receiving the word of God, we are made theoretically to\nacknowledge, by the dispensations of His Providence-we are made practically\nto feel, that man is nothing-that God is All in All.'\n\n\"God's dealings with this mission would seem to be enough to arouse our\nChurch. Heretofore He has given success to His servants. He has given us\nfavor with the authorities and with the people. The Church has seemed to\nbe satisfied with this. She has thanked God for His smiles, but has made\nlittle effort to increase the number of her laborers as fast as the demand\nfor them increased. Now God is trying another plan. Her laborers are\ndying off and the question comes to her, not merely whether she will\nadvance or not, but, whether she will retain that which she has already\ngained. She has volunteered in a glorious warfare. Will she hold the\npositions she has won, and make further conquests, or will she permit her\nsoldiers to die at their posts without being replaced, and thus retire from\nthe field? Important interests are at stake. The honor of our Church is\nat stake. The salvation of souls is at stake. It is a crisis with our\nmission. We cannot endure the thought that the labors of those faithful\nservants who have been called home shall be in a great measure lost by\nneglect. We have received lately impressive lessons of the uncertainty of\nhuman life. The thought steals over us that we, too, are liable at any\nmoment to be cut down in the midst of our labors. This liability is\nincreased by the amount of labor which necessarily devolves upon us. Now\nwe are only two in number. As for myself I am only beginning to stammer in\nthis difficult language. This, too, in a field where there is labor enough\nto be done to employ all the men you can send us. You will not think it\nstrange then that we plead earnestly.\n\n\"Our new church edifice was completed soon after Brother Pohlman left for\nHongkong. As he had done so much of the work in gathering the congregation\nand had originated the idea of the building and had watched its erection\nwith so much interest, we were desirous that he should be present at its\nconsecration. We therefore delayed opening the building for worship until\nwe received the definite news of his death.\"\n\nIn an address on \"Reminiscences of Missionaries and Mission Work,\"\ndelivered by Dr. Talmage during his later years, he refers to the early\nmissionaries at Amoy in these words:\n\n\"The men God gave the Church were just the men needed to awaken her\nmissionary spirit and shape her mission work. So for laying the foundation\nand shaping the plan of the structure He would have us erect at Amoy He\ngave us three men, just the men needed for the work,-David Abeel, William\nJ. Pohlman and Elihu Doty. The more I meditate on what they said and wrote\nand did and suffered in the early days of that work, and see whereunto it\nis growing, the more am I impressed with the fact that they were wonderful\nmen, just the men for the time, place, and circumstances, and therefore\nevidently God's gift.\n\n\"Dr. Abeel was the pioneer of the Amoy Mission. During the greater part of\nthe years of his manhood, he struggled with disease, and his whole life on\nearth was comparatively short, yet the Lord enabled him to accomplish more\nwork than most men accomplish during a much longer life. His last field of\nlabor was Amoy, entering it in January, 1842, when the port had just been\nthrown open and while the British army was still there, and leaving it in\nJanuary, 1845. In that short time, notwithstanding interruptions from\nsickness and of voyages in search of health, or rather to stave off death\ntill others were ready to take his place, he laid a good foundation, doing\na work that told and was lasting. I met him only once. It was at his\nfather's house in New Brunswick, after his work at Amoy-after all his\npublic work was done and he was only waiting to be summoned home. When I\nafterwards went to Amoy, I found his name very fragrant, not only among\nEuropeans and Americans, but also among the Chinese. He had baptized none,\nbut a goodly number of those afterwards baptized had received their first\nimpressions concerning Christianity and their first instructions therein\nfrom him.\"\n\n\"Messrs. Doty and Pohlman with their families came from Borneo to Amoy,\narriving in June, 1844, about six months before Dr. Abeel was compelled to\nleave. We have heard of places so healthy, that it is said there was\ndifficulty to find material wherewith to start cemeteries. Amoy, rather\nKolongsu, where all the Europeans then resided, in those days was not such\na place. It is said that of all the foreign residents only one escaped the\nprevailing fever. The mortality was very great. In a year and a half from\nthe time of their arrival at Amoy, Mr. Doty was on his way to the United\nStates with two of his own and two of Mr. Pohlman's little ones. The other\nmembers of their families--the mothers and the children, all that was\nmortal of them--were Iying in the Mission cemetery on Kolongsu; and to\n'hold the fort,' so far as our Mission was concerned, Pohlman was left\nalone, and well he held it. He had a new dialect to acquire, yet when\nhealth allowed, he daily visited his little mission chapel, and twice on\nthe Sabbath, to preach the Gospel of Christ. He was a man of work, of\ngreat activity. When I arrived at Amoy in 1847, he was suffering from\nophthalmia. Much of his reading and writing had to be done for him by\nothers. I was accustomed to read to him an hour in the morning from six to\nseven. Another read to him an hour at noon from twelve to one. He was\nstill subject to occasional attacks of the old malarial fever. Besides all\nthis he was now alone in the world, his whole family gone, two of his\nlittle ones in his native land, then very much farther away from China than\nnow, and the others, mother and children, sleeping their last sleep.\n\n\"Yet he was the life of our little mission company. Do you ask why? He\nlived very close to God, and therefore was enabled to bow to the Divine\nwill, to use his own language, 'with sweet submission.' Pohlman's term of\nservice, too, was short. He was called away in his thirty-seventh year.\nHis work at Amoy was less than five years. It, too, much of it, was\nfoundation work, though he was permitted to see the walls just beginning to\nrise. Two of the first converts were baptized by him, and many others\nreceived from him their early Christian instruction. The first, and still\nby far the best church-building at Amoy, which is also the first church\nbuilding erected in China expressly for Chinese Protestant Christian\nworship, may be called his monument. It was specially in answer to his\nappeal that the money, $3,000, was contributed. It was under his\nsupervision that the building was erected. To it he gave very much toil\nand care. The house was nearly ready when he took his last voyage to\nHongkong, and he was hastening back to dedicate it when God took him. His\nreal monument, however is more precious and lasting than church-buildings,\nas precious and lasting as the souls he was instrumental in saving, and the\nspiritual temple whose foundation he helped to lay. There were many who\nremembered him with very warm affection long after he was gone. Among them\nI remember one, an old junk captain, who in his later years, speaking of\nheaven, was wont to say, 'I shall see Teacher Pohlman there; I shall see\nTeacher Pohlman there.'\"\n\n\n\n\nV. AT THE FOOT OF THE BAMBOOS\n\nThe sad and sudden departure of Mr. Pohlman so affected a maiden sister,\nMiss Pohlman, then at Amoy, as to unsettle her mind and necessitate an\nimmediate return to the United States. No lady friend could accompany her.\nIt was decided that Mr. Talmage take passage on the same ship and act as\nguardian and render what assistance he could. The ship arrived at New York\nAugust 23, 1849.\n\nMr. Talmage made an extensive tour on behalf of Missions in China among the\nReformed churches in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.\n\n\"Jan. 15, 1850. Was married at twelve M. in First Presbyterian Church at\nElizabeth, New Jersey, by Dr. N. Murray, to Miss Abby F. Woodruff. Started\nimmediately with my wife on a trip to Seneca County, New York.\"\n\n\"March 16, 1850. In the forenoon accompanied by many dear friends we\nembarked on board the ship Tartar from New York bound for China.\"\n\n\"July 16th. Arrived safely at Amoy, for which our hearts are full of\ngratitude to Him who has watched over us on the deep and conducted us\nsafely through every danger.\"\n\nThough the entire Reformed Mission at Amoy then consisted of only three\nmembers, Mr. Doty and Mr. and Mrs. Talmage, still they believed in\ncolonizing. Mr. Talmage secured a Chinese house and shop a mile or more\naway from the original headquarters and this became the missionary's home\nand preaching place. It was on the north side of the city in a densely\npopulated neighborhood known as \"Tek-chhiu-Kha,\" or \"At the Foot of the\nBamboos.\"\n\nIt fronted one of the main thoroughfares of the city. It was near the\nwater's edge at the mooring-place of junks from the many-peopled districts\nof Tong-an and Lam-an. The house and shop were renovated and capped with\nanother story. Here Mr. Talmage prayed and studied and preached and\nplanned for nearly twenty years. On this spot to-day stands a flourishing\nChinese church.\n\nIn a letter to Drs. Anderson and De Witt, dated Dec. 17, 1850, Mr. Talmage\nthus describes their new home:\n\n\"Our house is pleasantly situated, having a good view of the inner part of\nthe harbor, and of several small islands in the harbor. We also have a\npleasant view of the mainland beyond the harbor. From our house we can\ncount a number of villages on the mainland, beautifully situated among\nlarge banyans. We hope the situation will prove a healthy one. I like the\nsituation most of all because I think it well adapted to our work. We are\nnear the northern extreme of the city along the water's edge, while the\nother missionaries are near the southern extreme. Thus on entering the\nharbor from Quemoy and other islands, near the mouth of the harbor or from\nthe cities and villages on the seacoast, the first foreign residence at\nAmoy, which meets the eye, is the residence of missionaries. On coming to\nAmoy from the cities and villages which are inland, again the first foreign\nresidence which meets the eye is the residence of missionaries. We are in\na part of the city where the Gospel has not yet been preached.\"\n\nIn the same letter he refers to the Opium habit--and to the initiatory\nsteps toward the formation of a Romanized alphabet for the Amoy Vernacular.\nThe Chinese character is learned with great difficulty. It requires years\nof close application. In Southern Fukien not more than one man in a\nhundred can read intelligently. It is doubtful whether one woman in ten\nthousand can.\n\nProtestant Christianity wants men to be able to give a reason for the hope\nthat is in them. It urges our Lord's command, \"Search the Scriptures.\" It\ndemands not only the hearing ear, but the reading eye.\n\nHence this early effort on the part of the missionaries to prepare a\nversion of the Scriptures and a Christian literature in a form more readily\nlearned by the people. Those early efforts were doubtful experiments even\nto some of the missionaries. The Chinese converts at first looked quite\naskance at what appeared to them an effort to supersede their highly\nvenerated Chinese character.\n\nThe Romanized system was gradually perfected. The Chinese were gradually\ndisabused of their prejudices. To-day the most ardent advocates of the\nsystem are Chinese pastors and elders. The whole Bible has been translated\ninto Amoy Romanized colloquial. An extensive literature adapted to\nChristian homes and Christian schools has grown up through the years and is\ncontributing to the strength and progress of the Chinese Church to-day.\n\n\nOPIUM.\n\n\"Independent of the reproach which the opium traffic casts on the Christian\nreligion, we find it a great barrier in the way of evangelizing this\npeople. We cannot put confidence in an opium smoker. A man who smokes it\nin even the smallest degree we should not dare to admit into the Christian\nchurch. More than one-half of the men at Amoy are more or less addicted to\nthe habit. Of this half of the population the missionary can have\ncomparatively but little hope. We know the grace of God can deliver from\nevery vice and there have been examples of reformation even from this. Yet\nfrom experience when talking to an opium smoker we always feel discouraged.\nAlthough this be a discouraging feature in our operations here, it should\nonly be a stimulus to the Church to send more laborers and put forth\ngreater efforts to stem the tide of destruction which the Christian world\nis pouring in upon the heathen. Independent of the principles of\nbenevolence, justice demands of Christendom that the evil be stayed, and\nreparation if possible be made for the injury already done. If nothing\nmore, let there be an equivalent for whet has been received from China. It\nis a startling fact, that the money which Christian nations have received\nfrom China for this one article, an article which has done to the Chinese\nnothing but incalculable injury, far, far exceeds all the money which has\nbeen expended by all Protestant churches on all Protestant missions in all\nparts of the heathen world since the days of the Reformation.\n\n\nROMANIZED COLLOQUIAL.\n\n\"The question whether there is any way by which this people can be made a\nreading people, especially by which the Christians may be put in possession\nof the Word of God, and be able to read it intelligently for themselves,\nhas occupied much thought of the missionaries here. At present most of the\nchurch members have no reading for the Sabbath and for private meditation.\nThey may have family worship, but they cannot at their worship read the\nHoly Scriptures. Some of us are now trying an experiment whether by means\nof the Roman alphabet the Sacred Scriptures and other religious books may\nnot be given to the Christians and to any others who cannot read, but who\ntake enough of an interest in Christianity to desire to read the Scriptures\nfor themselves. By the use of seventeen of these letters we can express\nevery consonant and vowel sound in the Amoy dialect, and by the use of a\nfew additional marks we can designate all the tones. Dr. James Young, an\nEnglish Presbyterian missionary physician, has commenced teaching the\ncolloquial, as written with the Roman alphabet, in his school, a school\nformerly under the care of Mr. Doty. From his present experience he is of\nopinion that boys who are at all apt in acquiring instruction, in less than\nthree months may be prepared for reading the Scriptures, with\nunderstanding. I have a class of three or four adults an hour an evening\nfour evenings in the week, receiving instruction in the colloquial. They\nhave taken some half dozen lessons and are making good progress. At\npresent we have no printed primers or spelling-books, and are compelled to\nteach principally by blackboard. We are of opinion that almost every\nmember of the church can soon learn to read by this system. Arrangements\nhave been made to print part of the history of Joseph in colloquial. These\nare but experiments. If they succeed according to our present hope, it may\nbe worth while to have the whole Bible and other religious books printed in\nthis manner. A little more experience will enable us to speak with more\nconfidence for or against the plan.\"\n\n\"Dec. 23. Yesterday morning my chapel was opened, according to\nappointment. I preached to the people my first regular sermon from the\ntext, 'There is one God and one Mediator,' etc. The room was crowded. It\nwill seat about one hundred comfortably.\"\n\n\nCHINESE SENSE OF SIN.\n\nMarch 17, 1851. To his brother, Goyn.\n\n\"I think the Chinese are very different in their religious feelings from\nmany other (perhaps from the most of other) heathen people. We have often\nheard of the great sacrifices which the heathen of India will make and the\ngreat sufferings they will impose on themselves in order to make atonement\nfor their sins and appease the anger of the gods. There may occasionally\nbe something of the kind among the Buddhists of China. But I rather\nsuppose that where there are any self-mortifications imposed (which is very\nrare in this part of China), they are imposed to secure merit, not to atone\nfor sin. I do not remember ever to have met with an individual among the\nChinese who had any sense of sinfulness of heart, or even any remorse for\nsinfulness of conduct except he was first taught it by the Gospel. It is\none of the most difficult truths to convey to their minds that they are\nsinners against God. We have had a few inquirers who have expressed a deep\nsense of sinfulness. But this sense of sinfulness has come from hearing\nthe Gospel. The way the most of those, whom we doubt not are true\nChristians, have been led on seems to be as follows: They hear the Gospel,\npresently they become convinced of its truth. Their first impulses then\nseem to be those of joy and gratitude. They are like men who were born\nblind, and had never mourned over their blindness, because they had no\nnotion of the blessing of sight. Presently their eyes begin to be opened\nand they begin to see. They only think of the new blessings which they are\nreceiving, not of the imperfections which still remain in their vision. A\nsense of these comes afterwards. Was not this sometimes the case in the\ndays of the apostles? It was not so on the day of Pentecost. The\nmultitude were 'pricked in their hearts' because the moment they were\nconvinced that Jesus was the Christ they were filled with a sense of their\nwickedness in crucifying Him. So it is with persons in Christian lands\nwhen their minds become interested in the truth; they are made to feel\ntheir wickedness in so long resisting its influences. But the case seems\nto have been different when Philip first carried the Gospel to Samaria. The\nfirst effect there seems to have been that of 'great joy.'\n\n\"It seems to be thus in Amoy. The conviction of deep sinfulness comes by\nmeditating on the Gospel, the work of Christ, etc.\n\n\"It is the doctrine of the cross of Christ, after all, which should be the\ntheme of our discourses.\"\n\nMarch 18, 1851. To his brother, Goyn.\n\n\"They say in regard to preaching, that when a man has nothing more to say\nhe had better stop. If this rule were carried out in conversation and\nletter-writing, there would be much less said and written in the world,\nthan is now the case.\n\n\"You seem to think that we missionaries can sit down at any time and write\nletters, always having enough matter that will be interesting to you at\nhome. This is a good theory enough, but facts do not always bear it out.\n\n\"Our missionary work moves on usually in the same steady manner without\nmany ups and downs or interesting episodes (rather a mixture of figures you\nwill say), which we think worthy of note. I wish you folks at home could\nsend us more men to drive on the work a little faster. The door of access\nat Amoy still continues as wide open as ever, and now seems to be the time\nfor the Church to send her men and occupy the post, which the Master offers\nto her. But the Church at home cannot, it seems, look at this matter as we\nwho are on the ground....\n\n\nPRIMITIVE LAMPS\n\n\"We have no good lamps yet for the church, consequently cannot open it in\nthe evening. But I have prepared some lamps for my chapel. I think you\nwould laugh to see them. They are four in number. Two of them are merely\nsmall tumblers hung up by wires and cords. By means of another wire a wick\nis suspended in each tumbler and the tumbler filled with oil. The other\ntwo are on the same principle, but the tumblers are hung in a kind of glass\nglobe which is suspended by brass chains. These look considerably more\nornamental than the first two. Whether you laugh at them or not, they\nanswer a very good purpose. They do not make the room as light as would be\nrequired in a church, in as large a city as Amoy is, in the United States,\nbut by means of them my chapel is open on Sunday evenings and on every\nother evening in the week except one. The church and chapel are both open\nalmost every afternoon in the week, and sometimes in the mornings. One,\ntwo, three, or more of the converts are always ready to hold forth almost\nevery afternoon and evening. Besides this, they go to other thoroughfares\nfrequently and preach the Gospel as well as they are able. For much of the\nwork these converts are perhaps better adapted than ourselves. They\nunderstand the superstitions of the people in their practical working,\nbetter than we probably will ever be able to learn them.\"\n\n\nZEALOUS CONVERTS.\n\n\"April 14, 1851. There are now in connection with our church thirteen\nconverts. In connection with the church of the London brethren there are\neight. Two of our members, although compelled to labor with their hands\nfor the sustenance of themselves and their families, yet devote the\nafternoons and evenings of almost every day in the week, in making known\nthe way of salvation to their countrymen. They spend the Sabbath also,\nonly omitting their labors long enough to listen to the preaching of the\nmissionary and to partake of their noonday meal, from early in the morning\nuntil bedtime, in the same way, publishing the Gospel to their countrymen.\"\n\n\nTHE TERM QUESTION.\n\nIt was at this time that the translation of the Bible into the Classic\nChinese Version, or \"Delegates' Version\" as it was afterwards called, was\ngoing on. A long and heated controversy had arisen as to the proper terms\nin the Chinese language to be used in translation of the words \"God\" and\n\"Spirit.\" Missionaries in different parts of the empire took most opposite\nviews and held them with the greatest tenacity. The Missionary Boards and\nBible Societies in Great Britain and America were deeply interested\nspectators. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and\nthe American Bible Society became participators. On what they considered\nsatisfactory evidence they declared in favor of certain Chinese words and\ncharacters to be used in preaching the Gospel and in translating the\nScriptures. They advised their missionaries and Bible distributors of\ntheir decision.\n\nThe missionaries at Amoy, Messrs. John and Alexander Stronach, London\nMission, and Messrs. Doty and Talmage, had very strong convictions on this\nsubject. Their views agreed. Rev. John Stronach was one of the Committee\nwho prepared the \"Delegates' Version.\" The views of the brethren at Amoy\nwere diametrically opposed to the decisions of the American Board and\nAmerican Bible Society. In a long letter of eighty four pages, addressed\nto Drs. Anderson and De Witt, Oct. 31, 1851, Mr. Talmage sets forth their\nside of the question. No man can read that document, weighty with learning\nand charged with moral earnestness, but must feel the profoundest respect\nfor the writer, however he may dissent from his arguments. He concludes as\nfollows:\n\n\"Such are our views concerning the use of the words 'Shin' and 'Ling' as\ntranslations of the words 'God' and 'Spirit.' While we hold ourselves open\nto conviction, if it can be proved that we are wrong, we at present hold\nthese views firmly. We may not have succeeded in convincing the Prudential\nCommittee that our views are correct, yet we trust we have convinced them\nthat we have given due attention to the subject. We now ask, Can the\nPrudential Committee expect of us, while we hold such views, to conform to\ntheir decision? Would they respect us if we did? We could not respect\nourselves. If we could thus trifle with conscientious views on subjects of\nsuch importance, we certainly should regard ourselves as being unworthy to\nbe called missionaries of the A. B. C. F. M. or any other Protestant\nassociation, and we think the Prudential Committee would also lose\nconfidence in us. We now feel called upon to state our views in reference\nto the propriety of the various missionary societies and Bible societies\nand other institutions deciding for us what terms we shall use and what\nterms we shall not use in preaching the Gospel to the heathen. We shall\nstate our views with the utmost kindness and with all due deference to\nthose from whom we differ. We cannot doubt that the Prudential Committee\nare willing also and desire us to state our views with the utmost\nfrankness. If our views are incorrect, we desire that others use the same\nfreedom in pointing out our errors. Our views are these:--The societies\nin the United States and England are not called upon, at least at the\npresent time, to decide this question for us. Those societies which have\nmade such decision have acted prematurely. In deciding this question\nauthoritatively, they are assuming a responsibility which we think they are\nnot called upon to assume. This responsibility belongs properly to the\nmissionaries, and they, we say it with all due respect, are much better\nqualified to bear this responsibility; for they are better qualified to\njudge of the evidence and discover the truth in the case. If they are not,\nthen they are not qualified to be missionaries. But whether better\nqualified or not, they are accountable to a higher power than that of any\nsociety under whose patronage they may labor. Whatever be the decision of\nsuch society, they are still bound, in preaching the Gospel, to conform to\ntheir conscientious views of truth. The only way to produce agreement\namong Protestant missionaries is not by authoritative decisions or even by\ncompromise, but by producing evidence sufficient to convince the judgment.\nWe must have evidence. In selecting men for China or any other heathen\nfield, missionary societies should first examine whether they have mental\nability to acquire the language of the people to whom they are going. If\nthey are deficient in this respect they should not be sent, and if\nmissionaries on the ground are found deficient in this respect they should\nbe recalled.\"\n\nThe \"term question\" has not been settled to this day.\n\nJan. 22, 1852. To Dr. Anderson.\n\n\"I made another effort to extend our influence by going out towards evening\ninto the streets and selecting eligible situations from which to preach to\nthose who would assemble. In this manner I often had opportunity to\npublish the glad tidings more widely than we can do in our houses of\nworship. I found much encouragement in this work. If we had the physical\nstrength we might thus preach day after day, from morning to night, and\nfind multitudes ready to listen.\"\n\n\nWHAT IT COSTS A CHINESE TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN.\n\nIn the same letter, speaking of ten converts received, he says: \"One of\nthem was gaining a mere living from the profits of a small shop, in which\nhe sold paper and candles to be used in idolatrous worship. As he became\nacquainted with the Gospel, he soon found that his business was opposed to\nthe doctrines of Christianity. A hard contest ensued, but the power of the\nGospel finally triumphed. He gave up his business and with it his only\nprospect of making a livelihood and for some months had no other prospect\nbefore him and his family but beggary or starvation, except such a hope as\nGod afforded. Another held a small office of government, the requirements\nof which were inconsistent with obedience to the Gospel, but the\nperquisites of which were his only means of sustaining his family,\nincluding an aged father. In his case the conflict seemed yet more fearful\nand lasted a much longer time. We hoped that the truth had taken a deep\nhold on him, but we began to tremble for the result. The love of Christ,\nas we trust, finally gained the victory. He gave up his office, gave up\nhis living, gave up the world, that he might find the salvation of his soul\nand confess Christ before men. So also with the most of the others. They\nwere called to sacrifice their worldly prospects, in order to embrace the\nGospel. Christians in our beloved land hardly know what it is to take up\nthe cross and follow Christ. The ridicule and obloquy with which they\nmeet, if indeed they meet with any, is not a tithe of that to which the\nnative convert here is exposed. Besides, they are seldom called to suffer\nmuch temporal loss for the sake of Christ, but it is very different with\nhim. If he belong to the literary class, he must give up all hope of\npreferment. If he be in the employ of the government, he may expect to be\ndeprived of his employment, if indeed he be not compelled to give it up\nfrom conscientious motives. If he be a shopkeeper, his observance of the\nLord's day will probably deprive him of many of his customers, and if he be\nin the employ of others the same reason will render it very difficult for\nhim to retain his situation.\"\n\n\nPERSECUTED FOR CHRIST'S SAKE.\n\nApril 6, 1852. To his brother, Goyn.\n\n\"I promised to give some account of the young man who was baptized on the\nSabbath before the last. His name is Khi (pronounced like the letter 'X'\nof the Greek alphabet). Early last year I noticed a young man who began to\nbe quite regular in attending service at my chapel. I inquired of him\nwhere he lived and why he came. He said he was employed in burning lime at\na lime-kiln not far off from my house. That I had met him in the street\nand invited him to come to the chapel. Of this I remembered nothing, but I\noften thus invite persons to come and hear the Gospel. He said he came in\nconsequence of that invitation. But having heard the doctrine, he found it\nto be good, and had embraced it. This man has since been baptized. I soon\nlearned that he had been persuading his fellow-workmen to come along with\nhim. One of these workmen was Khi. He soon determined to obey the\ndoctrines of the Scriptures. One of these doctrines brought him into\nimmediate collision with his employer. This doctrine was, 'Remember the\nSabbath day to keep it holy.' He refused to work on the Sabbath day. His\nemployer told him if he did not work he would discharge him. Khi was not\nto be moved from his determination and was finally dismissed. After a few\nineffectual efforts to get employment, he returned to visit his father's\nfamily; They reside a day's journey from Amoy. While home he was taken\nill. It was two or three months before he returned again to Amoy. When he\ncame back I conversed with him concerning his conduct while away. He had\nas yet but little knowledge of the doctrines of the Bible. But I was much\ngratified at the simplicity of piety which his narration manifested. He\nhad not only endeavored to serve God himself, but had endeavored to\npersuade others also to turn unto God. After his return, all his efforts\nto get employment failed. I spoke to a mason who has done much work for\nus, and who employs many workmen, and requested him to employ Khi for the\ncarrying of bricks and mortar and such work, if he had an opening for him.\nHe consented to do so and employed him for a short time. But Khi's fellow\nworkmen did not like his religion and succeeded in getting him discharged.\nIn consequence of the dampness of the climate, it is not safe for\nforeigners to live on the first floor. We always live above stairs.\nTherefore I have rooms in the lower part of my house unoccupied. Khi asked\nme if he might sleep in one of these rooms. I of course consented. He had\nno bed or bedding. I had some empty boxes in the room. He put these\ntogether, and laid some straw and a straw mat on them for his bed. After\nhe was discharged by the mason, he endeavored to make a living by carrying\npotatoes about the street for sale. His profits were from two to four\ncents a day. He made no complaint. He lived on potatoes. Winter came on;\nhe had no means of buying clothing, or better food. The consequence was\nthat he became ill. The room in which he slept was directly under my\nstudy. Almost every night I would hear his voice engaged in prayer, before\nhe retired to his straw. Sometimes he would pray for a long, long time.\nThe first thing in the morning again I would hear his voice in prayer. I\nknew that he was destitute, but as he never complained, I knew not how\ngreat his destitution was, and did not dare to help him lest it would throw\nout inducements for others to profess Christianity. We are continually\ncompelled to guard against this danger. Many of these poor people would\nprofess Christianity for the sake of a living. One Sabbath evening I heard\nhis voice in prayer, much earlier than usual, and therefore it attracted\nparticular attention. Presently word came to me that Khi was ill. I went\ndown to see him. It made my heart bleed to see a fellow-creature in such\ndestitution, one, moreover, who I hoped was a brother in Christ Jesus. I\nhad had no idea that his destitution was so great. He seemed to be\nsuffering under a severe attack of colic. On inquiry as to how he usually\nfared, I did not wonder that he was ill. I gave him a little medicine,\ntook means to get him warm and he was soon relieved.\n\n\"I then had some good food prepared for him. I was peculiarly struck with\nthe meekness and patience wherewith he bore his sufferings. There was not\na murmuring word from his lips, but many words of an opposite character.\nThe next day I called him into my study to give him a little money with\nwhich to buy clothing and food. But I had great difficulty in persuading\nhim to take it. He said his sufferings were of no consequence. They were\nmuch less than he deserved. The sufferings of this world were all only for\na short time. They were sent upon us to teach us not to love the world.\nMuch more he said to this effect. I had to call upon one of the native\nconverts to intercede with him, before he would take the money. But I must\nnot dwell on this subject longer. From what I have said about our\nmissionary work, you will understand why the missionary loves his work and\nwhy he would not leave it for any other work, unless duty compels him.\"\n\n\n\"HE IS ONLY A BEGGAR.\"\n\nNov. 27, 1852. To the Sunday-school of the Reformed Church at Bound Brook,\nNew Jersey.\n\n\"There is very much poverty and misery among the heathen. They do not pity\neach other and love each other as some Christians do. Those who have the\ncomforts of life seem to have very little pity for those who are destitute.\nTherefore they have no poorhouses where the poor may be taken care of.\nConsequently very many steal, very many beg, and very many starve to death.\nIn going from my house to church on the Sabbath I have counted more than\nthirty beggars on the streets. The most of them were such pitiable looking\nobjects as you never saw. I have seen persons who are called beggars in\nthe United States, but I never saw a real beggar till I came to Amoy. Some\nof them are covered with filth and a few filthy rags. Some of them are\nwithout eyes, some without noses, some without hands, and some without\nfeet. Some crawl upon their hands and feet, some sit down in the streets\nand shove themselves along, and some lie down end can only move along by\nrolling over and over. On Sunday before last, while I was preaching, a\nblind girl came into the chapel. She was led by a string attached to a boy\ngoing before her. He could see, but could not walk. He crept along on his\nhands and knees. A month or two ago, during a cold storm, late in the\nevening, just as I was going to bed, I heard some one groaning by my front\ndoor. I went out to see what was the matter. I found an old man with\nwhite beard Iying in the mud and water, and with very little clothing. He\nwas shivering from cold. He was unable to speak. I had him carried into\nmy house, and covered over with some mats. We prepared some warm drink and\nfood for him, as speedily as possible, hoping that thus we might save his\nlife. But before we could get it ready he died. He had probably been\ncarried by some persons and laid at my door to die, that they might be free\nfrom the trouble and expense of burying him.\n\n\"A week or two ago when walking through the streets I saw a beggar Iying a\nlittle distance off. I inquired whether he was already dead. Some men,\nwho stood near, said 'Yes.' I then asked why they did not bury him. 'Oh,\nhe is of no use.' I inquired, 'Is he not a man ?' 'No,' they said, 'he is\nonly a beggar.' 'But,' I asked again, 'is he not still a man?' They\nlaughed and answered, 'Yes.' A few days after, walking with Mrs. Talmage\nby the same place, we saw another beggar Iying nearly in the same spot. I\ninquired of the persons who were near whether he was dead. They answered,\n'Yes.' Close by sat a beggar who was still alive. He was scarcely grown\nup. But his face was so deformed from suffering that we could not guess\nhis age. He held out his hands for alms. We gave him a few cash and went\non. The next day we passed that way again. We saw two beggars lying\ntogether, both dead. We went to them. One was the lad to whom we gave the\ncash the day previous. On Sunday in coming from church we again passed by\nthat sad spot, and there was still another beggar lying dead directly in\nthe road. This gives you, in part, a picture of what heathenism is.\"\n\nParts of two letters written in 1852 to his sister Catharine will prove\ninteresting.\n\n\nPRINTING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.\n\n\"Our work here is continually growing on our hands. Besides our usual\nmissionary work, I do a little teaching, a little book-making, and a little\nprinting. You did not know, perhaps, that I am a printer. We are teaching\na few persons to read the colloquial (or spoken) language of Amoy. But in\norder to teach this, it is necessary that this spoken language be committed\nto writing. It is necessary to have books printed in it. We have no\nprinting press at Amoy. I have had some types cut on bone or horn. With\nthese I print a copy. This is handed to the carver. He pastes it upside\ndown on a block and carves the words on the block. This block is then\ninked and is made to print other copies. It is a slow process, but the\nonly one we have at Amoy at present. I have thus prepared a spelling-book\nin the Amoy colloquial. It is not all completed yet. The carver is busy\nwith the last two or three sheets. A few of the first sheets were struck\noff some weeks ago and made up into small books, which we have been using\nto teach those who are learning to read, until the whole book is complete.\nOur printing is not very pretty. When the caners get more experienced in\ntheir work, they will be able to do their part better. Our plan of\nteaching is as follows: On Monday afternoon we have a meeting for women at\nour house. Before and after the service we teach them (those of them who\nwish to learn) to spell. On Tuesday afternoon, Mrs. Doty meets those who\nwish to learn, in a room connected with the church. On Wednesday, Mrs.\nDoty has a meeting for women at her house. She also spends a little time\nthen in teaching them. On Friday, Abby and I go to the church and spend\nabout an hour in teaching. We cannot expect them to make very rapid\nprogress in this manner of teaching, but it is the best we can do for them\nat present. There are two little girls who have been coming to our house\nevery day for more than a month. They are beginning to read.\"\n\n\"I must tell you a little of what I have been doing to-day. This forenoon,\namong other things, I doctored a Yankee clock. I bought it in Amoy nearly\na year ago for three dollars. Sometimes it goes, and sometimes it stands\nstill. But it stands still much more than it goes. This morning I took it\nall apart, every wheel out, rubbed each wheel off, and put the clock\ntogether again. It has been running ever since, but how long it will\ncontinue to run, I cannot tell.\n\n\nCARRIER PIGEONS.\n\n\"Our cook, 'Lo,' takes care of our pigeons. Some have died and a few have\nbeen stolen, but they have continued gradually to increase. They now\nnumber twenty. They are very pretty, and very tame. They spend much of the\ntime on the open veranda in front of our house. Some of them are of a dark\nbrown color, some are perfectly white, some are black and white. We shall\nsoon have enough to begin eating pigeon pies, but I suppose we shall be\nloth to kill the pretty birds. Some of them are of the Carrier pigeon\nspecies. We might take them to a good distance from Amoy and they would\ndoubtless find their way home again. The Chinese have a small whistle\nwhich they sometimes fasten on the back of the pigeons near the tail. 'Lo'\nhas some attached to some of our pigeons. When they fly swiftly through\nthe air, you can hear the whistle at a great distance. The noise often\nreminds us of the whistle of a locomotive.\n\n\"The gold-fish in the lamp continue much as when I wrote before. We have\nmade some additions to our flower-pots and flowers this spring. Our open\nveranda is being turned into a sort of open garden. We now have from sixty\nto seventy pots, from the size of a barrel down to the size of a two-quart\nmeasure. Some of them are empty and some of them are not. Besides\nflowers, we have parsley, onions, peppers, mint, etc., etc. Our garden\ndoes not flourish as well as it would, if I had time to attend to it.\nBesides this, the pigeons are very fond of picking off the young sprouts.\nLest you should think us too extravagant, I ought to tell you the cost of\nthe flower-pots. Those which were presented to us, did not cost us\nanything. Those we bought, cost from a cent apiece to sixpence. Some two\nor three cost as high as fifteen or twenty cents apiece. But you will never\nunderstand how nice and how odd we have it, unless you step in some day to\nlook for yourself.\"\n\n\n\n\nVI. THE \"LITTLE KNIFE\" INSURRECTION\n\nChina has maintained her integrity as an empire for hundreds of years. But\nnot without struggle. There have been rebellions and dynastic overthrows\nthat threatened to cleave the empire to its foundations. Indeed rebellion\nhas often had the sanction of religion in China. Let a government be\nunsuccessful; let a dynasty see the gaunt hand of famine, or the poison\nhand of pestilence laid on the land, that is the mute voice of Heaven\nspeaking against those who rule. And what nobler than to be self-chosen\nexecutors of Heaven's vengeance. Green-eyed envy in imperial pavilion and\ncourtrooms has often stood sponsor to the wildest lawlessness. A base and\nextortionate government has often driven men in sheer self-defence to\ntearing down yamens and hunting down the \"tiger\" mandarin.\n\nThe present Manchu dynasty seized the Dragon throne in 1644. For one\nhundred and fifty years China enjoyed comparative peace and prosperity.\nThe emperor Kang-hi and his grandson Keenlung, each reigned sixty years, to\nthe Chinese a manifest token of Heaven's favor. The past one hundred years\nhave been troublous. There has been internal strife. There have been\nmomentous issues to settle in the opening of China's gates to the outside\nworld. When she needed Emperors of the broadest statesmanship, she has had\nto blunder along with mediocre men or bend an unwilling neck under the sway\nof puppets. Had it not been for her great Prime Ministers, such as Prince\nKung and Li Hung Chang, the days would have been fuller of dark-presaging\nomens and their disastrous fulfillment.\n\nThe beginning of this century found a secret society in existence known as\nthe \"Triads,\" whose avowed object was the expulsion of the Manchus and the\nrestoration of the Mings. In 1803 the emperor Kiaking was attacked in open\nday while being carried in a chair of state through the streets of Peking.\nHe was saved by his attendants, several of whom lost their lives.\n\nIn 1851 the Tai-ping Rebellion began. The fuel that fed the flame was\nvarious. It was reaction against oppressive government. It was iconoclasm\ninspired by a spurious Christianity. It was pride of race that would not\ntolerate a Manchu on the throne. For fourteen years China staggered under\nthis awful scourge. Whole provinces were devastated and almost\ndepopulated. For a long time the issue was uncertain. At length the\nunited strength of foreigners and Chinese battered the serpent's head and\ndestroyed its vitals.\n\nWhile the boa of rebellion was stretching itself across the heart of the\nempire a whole brood of little serpents were poisoning and devouring other\noutlying provinces. An insurrection was organized in the neighborhood of\nAmoy early in 1853. Mr. Talmage writes fully concerning it.\n\n\nTHE \"LITTLE KNIFE\" INSURRECTION.\n\nJan. 25, 1853. To the Sunday-school, Flushing, New York.\n\n\"The streets of Amoy are very narrow. The widest are only a few yards\nwide. At very short distances apart, there are gates across the streets.\nThe object of these gates, and the principal cause of the streets being so\nnarrow, are to protect the inhabitants from gangs of thieves. In the\nwinter season, when men have more leisure and more temptation to plunder,\nthese gates are closed every night. During the present winter the people\nseem to have had more fear of robbers than usual. Old gates have been\nrepaired and many new gates have been built. The inhabitants of a\nChristian land, like America, do not fear to live alone in the country\nwithout any near neighbors. But in this region a house standing alone in\nthe country is scarcely ever seen. The people always collect together in\nvillages or towns or cities. The villages are usually provided with small\nwatchtowers, built of stone or brick, in which a few men may sleep as\nsentinels to give notice of the approach of robbers, and to fire on them.\nEven in the towns and cities you seldom see a dwelling-house with an\noutside window. If there be such a window, it is usually guarded by slabs\nof granite, or by mason-work with only small openings, like the windows of\na prison, so that a person cannot pass through.\"\n\n\nJune 3, 1853. To Dr. Anderson.\n\n\"In March last one of the members of our church, Chheng-choan, requested\nthat he might be sent in company with the colporteur on a trip to the city\nof Chiangchiu to preach the Gospel and distribute tracts. He said that his\nheart was very ardent to go and make known the Gospel. He was willing to\ngive the time and bear his own expenses. He is a native of the city of\nChiangchiu.\"\n\n\"They made two visits, one in company with Rev. W. C. Burns. Many of the\npeople requested them to establish a permanent place. Houses were offered\nthem for rent. A few days after their return to Amoy two men who had been\nmuch interested in their preaching came down and spent several days with us\nin order that they might learn the way of the Lord more perfectly.\"\n\n\"On the 3d of May we called a meeting of the male members of our church, to\ntake into consideration the subject of immediately sending two of their\nnumber to Chiangchiu, to commence permanent operations. The members were\nunanimous in the opinion that the Master had opened the way before us, and\nwas calling us to go forward. It was decided that if two men qualified for\nthe work would volunteer, they should immediately be sent. It was then\nsuggested that if two more men were ready perhaps it would be well to\nappoint them for the region north of us, to carry the Gospel to the\nvillages and towns between Amoy and Chinchew and see whether the way might\nnot be open to begin operations in that city. Chinchew is an important\ncity near the seacoast, about one-third of the way from Amoy to Foochow.\nThe suggestion concerning the appointment of men for Chinchew was new to\nus. Everything seemed favorable for adopting the new suggestion. Four men\nimmediately offered themselves for the work, two for Chiangchiu, and two\nfor the region of Chinchew. They were men whom we thought well qualified\nfor the work, probably just the men we would have chosen.\n\n\"The evangelist U, and the colporteur Lotia, left Amoy on their mission to\nChiangchiu, May 12th. A few days after their arrival, about midnight on\nthe 17th of May, the insurrection broke at Chiangchiu, which interrupted\ntheir labors. The evangelist thought that quiet would soon be restored and\ntherefore resolved to remain a few days. The people rushed upon the\ninsurgents, wrested their arms from them, and slew many of them. The\ninsurgents finding themselves overpowered attempted to flee. The gates of\nthe streets were closed against them. The people along the streets\nattacked them by throwing missiles from the tops of the houses. All\nstrangers in the city were in great danger of being suspected and treated\nas insurgents. The evangelist in leaving the city was seized by some of\nthe mob. Some said he was one of the insurgents, others said he was not.\nHe succeeded in making his escape to the house of a friend outside of the\ncity walls. The colporteur made his escape over the wall of the city and\nfled to the house of some friends in the suburbs near the river-side. By\nmy letter of May 19th, it will be seen that Amoy was attacked by the\ninsurgents on the morning (May 18th), after they entered the city of\nChiangchiu. The insurgents are members of a secret society. For very many\nyears there has existed in this region a society by the name of\n'Thian-te-hoe,' Heaven and Earth Society. This is the name by which the\nmembers designate their society. But as the members are generally provided\nwith knives or small swords, the society is designated by the people as\n'Sio-to-hoe,' Small Sword Society. The professed object of this society\nhas been the overthrow of the present Tartar dynasty. Between this and\nChiangchiu the members of this society are very numerous. After the\nbreaking out of the insurrection at Hai-teng, and Chioh-be (cities fifteen\nand eighteen miles from Amoy, half way to Chiangchiu), the whole populace\nappeared to sympathize with the movement. Large bodies of the insurgents\nmoved up the river to Chiangchiu, others came down the river to Amoy. At\nthe same time there was a rising of the insurgents at Tong-an and An-khoe,\ndistricts to the north of Amoy. At the first outbreak the officials and\nsoldiers fled. The people of Amoy have been in continual excitement and\nfear. They are afraid to engage in business. On Sabbath morning we went\nto our chapels as usual. Shortly after commencing services, news came that\na fleet of war junks under the command of the Admiral was anchoring a short\ndistance from the city. Soon the whole city was in commotion. About noon a\ndetachment of a thousand soldiers was landed from the junks. They marched\nwith very little opposition through the town to the gates of the city.\nThey were attacked simultaneously by the insurgents from within, and by\nthose in ambush without. The insurgents were victorious.\n\n\"By three o'clock in the afternoon the city was comparatively quiet, and we\nrepaired to our church. Most of the church members were assembled. Our\nchurch edifice is situated on the great thoroughfare which had been the\nprincipal scene of excitement. It was thought best to suspend the usual\nexercises, to close the street doors, and hold if possible a quiet\nprayer-meeting. It was a solemn time. The 'confused noise' of war had\njust been heard, human blood had been flowing, the angry passions of men\nwere not yet calmed, and we knew not what the end would be. We felt it a\nsuitable time to draw near to God and make Him our refuge. This afternoon\nwe received tidings from Chiangchiu. The evangelist was arrested by twelve\nmen, delivered to an official and beheaded.\"\n\n\"June 10, 1853. The state of affairs through the whole of this region\nremains very unsettled. The insurgents are endeavoring to regain\npossession of the city of Chiangchiu. They have command of the whole\nregion, between this place and that city. They still are in possession of\nAmoy. We are almost daily expecting an attack by the government\nauthorities.\n\n\"Amoy is cut off from all trade with the large towns around. The\ninsurgents probably would not permit goods to be carried to Chiangchiu and\nother places with which they are at war. Besides, this whole region is\ninfested with pirates. It is only at great risk that any merchant junk can\nat present come to or depart from Amoy. We cannot yet form any definite\nopinion as to the final result of this movement. The forces of the\ninsurgents are none of them drilled soldiers. Their appearance is that of\nan armed mob. Their weapons are mostly spears, and knives and matchlocks.\n\n\"At the time the insurrection broke out in our neighborhood and while we\nwere expecting an attack on our city by the insurgents, we felt some\nanxiety. We had no means of deciding how they would feel towards\nforeigners. We supposed they would feel it to be for their own interest\nnot to meddle with foreigners. They knew that they would have enough to do\nto contend with their own government, without at the same time involving\nthemselves with foreign powers. More than all this, we had the doctrines\nand promises of God's word on which to rely. These we feel at all times\ngive us the only unfailing security. They are worth more than armies and\nnavies. It is only when God uses armies and navies for the fulfillment of\nHis own promises that they are worth anything to us.\"\n\n\nHOW THE CHINESE FIGHT.\n\nJuly 28, 1853. To his brother, Daniel.\n\n\"I suppose you will feel more desirous to learn about the state of politics\nand war at Amoy. At present everything is quiet. Three weeks ago another\nattempt was made by the Mandarins to retake Amoy. They landed a body of\ntroops on the opposite side of the island. These were to march across the\nisland (about ten miles) and attack the city by land. Simultaneously an\nattack was to be made on the city from the water side by the Mandarin\nfleet. It is said that the land forces amounted to about 10,000. The\nfleet consisted of about forty sail. On Wednesday morning (July 6th),\nabout daybreak, the troops were put in motion. They were met with about an\nequal number of rebel troops. They fought until the Mandarin soldiers\nbecame hungry (about eight or nine o'clock). Not being relieved at that\ntime, as they expected, they withdrew to cook their rice. The Mandarin in\ncommand considering that his life was much more important than that of the\nsoldiers, kept himself at a safe distance from the scene of action. At\nabout breakfast-time he started to go down in his sedan chair nearer the\nscene of action. When he saw that his troops were retiring to cook their\nbreakfast, he supposed that they were giving way before the enemy.\nPrudence being the better part of valor, he ordered his chair-bearers to\nface about and carry him in the other direction. The soldiers, finding\nthat their chief officer had fled, thought there was no further need of\nrisking their lives, so they all retired. I cannot vouch for the truth of\nthe whole of the above statement. Such, however, is the story soberly\nrelated by some of the Chinese. We could see the smoke and hear the\nreports of the guns from the top of our house. The fighting commenced very\nearly. We thought that the Mandarin troops were gradually approaching the\ncity, until about Chinese breakfast-time (eight to nine o'clock), when the\nfiring ceased. We know not how many lives were lost in the engagement.\nThe rebels brought into the city some seventeen or eighteen heads which\nthey had decapitated. I know not whether these were all killed in the\nfight or whether they were the heads of some villagers on whom the rebels\ntook vengeance for assisting the Mandarins.\"\n\n\"Now for the engagement on the water. The rebel forces on the water were\nmuch inferior to the Mandarin forces, but the Chinese say they fought more\ndesperately. The engagement opened on Wednesday about noon and lasted\nuntil nearly evening. Towards evening the Mandarin fleet withdrew a few\nmiles and came to anchor. On Thursday at high-tide (about noon) the\nengagement was renewed. Towards evening the Mandarin fleet again withdrew\nas before. On Friday the engagement was again renewed with similar\nresults. On Saturday the Mandarin fleet withdrew entirely and left the\nharbor.\n\n\"During the three days of the fight, as you would expect, there was much\nexcitement in Amoy. The tops of the houses and the hills around about, at\nthe time of the engagement, were thronged with people, and there was a\ncontinual discharge of cannon. But I have not given the number of the\nkilled and wounded in the three days' naval action. Reports, you know, are\noften much exaggerated on such occasions. According to the most reliable\nstatements (and I have not yet heard of any other statement), the list\nstands thus:\n\n  \"Killed-None!\n  \"Wounded-None!\n  \"Prisoners-None!\n\n\"It is said that one ball from a Mandarin junk did strike a rebel junk, but\ndid not hurt any one. During the fighting the vessels kept so far apart\nthat the balls almost always fell into the water between them. On the\nsecond day of the fight, a boat from the city in which were three men, who\nwere not engaged in the fight, was captured by the Mandarin fleet, and the\nthree men were beheaded. War is too serious a matter to be laughed at, but\nthe kind of war we have thus far seen at Amoy is only like children's\nplay.\"\n\nNov. 1, 1853. To his brother, Daniel.\n\n\"Our war still continues, fighting almost every day. The day I sent off my\nlast package to you, two more balls struck our house. One came through the\nroof of an unoccupied part of the premises. I did not weigh it, but\nsuppose it was about a six-pounder. The other struck against a pillar in\nthe outside wall and fell down and was picked up by some one outside of the\nhouse, so that I do not know the size of it. It was a merciful Providence\nthat it struck the pillar. If it had struck on either side of the pillar,\nit would have come into a room in which many Chinese were collected. On\nSunday last there was much fighting again. A small ball came into our\nveranda. A small ball entered Mr. Doty's house, one entered Mr. Alexander\nStronach's house, several entered Dr. Hirschberg's house; other houses also\nwere struck. Dr. Hirschberg's house has been the most exposed. We have\nall been preserved from harm thus far. He, who has thus far preserved us,\nI trust will continue to preserve us. The fighting is more serious than at\nfirst. A little more courage is manifested and more execution is done.\nBut I do not see any prospect of either party being victorious. The party\nwhose funds are completely used up first, will doubtless have to yield to\nthe other. I cannot tell which that will be. I shall be heartily glad\nwhen one of the armies withdraws from Amoy. The country around Amoy is\nbecoming desolated. Houses and whole villages are plundered and burned. In\nAmoy suffering abounds, and I suppose is increasing. When I go out into\nthe street I usually put a handful of cash into my pocket to distribute to\nthe beggars.\"\n\nIn November, 1853, Imperial authority asserted itself.\n\n\"The Imperial forces having collected from the neighboring garrisons,\nappeared in such overwhelming strength that the insurgents hastily put off\nto sea. Many succeeded in escaping to Formosa and Singapore. The leader\nwas accidentally shot off Macao. The restoration of Imperial authority was\nfollowed, however, by terrible scenes of official cruelty and\nbloodthirstiness. The guilty had escaped, but the Emperor Hienfung's\nofficials wreaked their rage on the helpless and unoffending townspeople.\nHundreds of both sexes were slain in cold blood, and on more than one\noccasion English officers and seamen interfered to protect the weak and to\narrest the progress of an undiscriminating and insensate massacre.\"\n\n\n\n\nVII. THE BLOSSOMING DESERT.\n\n\"In tropical lands, when the rain comes, what was barren baked earth, in a\nday or two is rich meadow, all ablaze with flowers, and the dry torrent\nbeds, where the stones lay white and glistening ghastly in the hot\nsunshine, are foaming with rushing streams and fringed with budding\noleanders.\" Such a spiritual transformation it was the glad privilege of\nour missionaries to witness in the region of Amoy during the years 1854 and\n1855. Until then, to the eye of man only an occasional seed had burst its\nway through the stone-crusted earth and given a shadow of harvest hope.\nThe first four years of prayer and testimony from 1842-1846 were definitely\nand visibly rewarded with only two converts.\n\nWhen Mr. Talmage arrived at Amoy in 1847 the total church membership was\nthree. By 1850 it had grown to five. By the end of 1851 the seed had\nbrought forth nearly fourfold. There were nineteen converts. This was the\nharbinger of brighter days. Even during the troublous times of 1853 signs\nof awakening appeared. In the midst of war and rumors of war the native\nbrethren had proposed to enter the \"regions beyond\" Chiangchiu and\nChinchew. The faithful preaching of Doty and Talmage in the chapels and on\nthe streets of Amoy city, among the towns and villages of Amoy Island and\nthe mainland; the apostolic labors of William Burns, whose joy it was to\nsow beside all waters,-these had found acceptance with God and with the\npeople. Inquirers multiplied at the chapels. They came from among the\nshopkeepers and boatmen of Amoy, from cities and towns along the arms of\nthe sea and up the inland rivers, from remote country hamlets beyond the\nmountains.\n\nMr. Talmage's letters during 1854 and 1855 tell of the great awakening.\n\n\"This year (1854), thus far, has been one of unusual blessing, a year 'of\nthe right hand of the Most High.' Early in January, knowing that there were\na few individuals desirous of receiving Christian baptism, we appointed a\nmeeting for the examination of such, and also for personal conversation\nwith all others who might feel an especial interest in Christianity. We\nwere agreeably surprised to find the number of inquirers and candidates for\nbaptism much greater than we had supposed. We also found among the\ninquirers an unusual tenderness of conscience, and sense of sinfulness, and\nanxiety for the salvation of the soul. Seeing such evidence that the Holy\nSpirit was shedding abroad His quickening influences among this people, we\nappointed a similar interview for the week following.\n\n\"These meetings for the examination and instruction of inquirers we have\ncontinued almost every week, and occasionally twice a week, till the\npresent time. Sometimes the inquirers present have numbered thirty or\nforty, perhaps more. At times, moreover, the depth of feeling manifested\nhas been such that the eyes of every one present have been suffused with\ntears. These meetings, we trust, have been very profitable, as well as\ninteresting.\"\n\n\"On Sabbath, March 26th, we were permitted to receive into the fellowship\nof the Christian Church ten individuals, eight men and two women, the\neldest a widow woman aged sixty-eight, the youngest a young man aged\ntwenty.\" \"On the last Sabbath in May, we again received nine persons, six\nmen and three women, the eldest an old man aged seventy-four, the youngest\na young man aged twenty-three.\"\n\n\"On the thirtieth of July (Sabbath), we again baptized nine others, four\nmen and five women, the eldest a widow aged fifty-one, the youngest a girl\naged sixteen. Thus the whole number of adults baptized by us at Amoy\nduring the present year, thus far, is twenty-eight.\"\n\nHe cites individual cases. Speaking of an aged widow he says:\n\n\"She lives at a village some fifteen miles or more from Amoy. Boats coming\nfrom that place to this place land at a wharf near my house. On one\noccasion, when she arrived here a few months ago, she resolved to come to\nmy house, and see how the foreigners lived. On entering, she was met by\nthe Christian who has charge of the chapel. He asked her business. She\nsaid that she only came for amusement. He replied, 'This is not a place to\nvisit for amusement, but to hear the doctrine.' 'Well,' says she, 'then I\nwill hear the doctrine.' He explained to her something of the truths of\nChristianity. He told her also that after breakfast I should be in the\nchapel for morning worship. She went back to the neighbor's house whence\nshe had come, to wait until after breakfast. But the new doctrine which\nshe had heard, took so deep a hold on her mind, that she desired no\nbreakfast for herself. Soon she again came to hear more. She was deeply\nimpressed with the truth and importance of the things which she heard. She\nreasoned with herself thus: 'The myriads of people I meet with do not know\nwhat is in my heart, but these people tell me what is in my heart and in my\nbones. This doctrine cannot be of man. It must be the great power of\nGod.' She was poor and lived at a distance from Amoy. She learned that\nthe Christian who had charge of the chapel was of the same surname with\nherself. She inquired whether she might not come down next Saturday, and\nlodge with his family. She said she would bring with her some dried\npotatoes for her food. Of course her request was readily granted. From\nthat time to the present, she has come the whole distance from her village\nto Amoy almost every week, in order to hear the Gospel. She has two sons\nand one daughter. She has brought both her sons with her, desiring that\nthey also may become Christians. The eldest, aged seventeen, is among our\ninquirers. She has also brought some of her neighbors with her to hear the\nWord. She has met with much opposition and persecution; but so far as we\ncan learn, she has borne all with the meekness of a true disciple of\nChrist. Since her baptism, she has rented a room in Amoy, that she may\nlive within sound of the Gospel. When she told me of this, I asked her how\nshe expected to maintain herself, and whether she thought she should be\nable to earn a living at Amoy. She replied that she trusted in God. If\nshe could not get as good food as others, she would eat coarser food.\n\n\"There is still a goodly number of inquirers at Amoy. In our meeting for\nconversation with them to-day; we met with two very affecting cases. They\nare lads, the elder being in his seventeenth year, and the younger in his\nthirteenth. Their parents and friends bitterly oppose them in their\ndetermination to follow Christ.\n\n\"They have been severely beaten. The elder was severely scourged\nyesterday. This morning he was again tied up in a very painful manner, and\nbeaten by his cruel father. He carried the marks of his sufferings on his\narms, which we saw. We were told that he had scars also on other parts of\nhis body. We trust that they are 'the marks of the Lord Jesus.' A\nbrother, still younger than themselves, we are told, also worships Jesus.\nIf they are, indeed, lambs of Christ's flock, the blessed Saviour will take\ncare of them; but their severe afflictions should call forth much sympathy\nand prayer in their behalf.\n\n\"The conduct of our church members continues to give us much comfort. They\nare not free from faults. They need much careful oversight and exhortation\nand instruction. In consequence of this, our cares, anxieties, and labors\nmust necessarily increase as the converts increase. But if allowance be\nmade for their limited knowledge, only a short time having elapsed since\nthe most of them first heard the Gospel, there are probably but few\nchurches, even in our own beloved country, compared with which the\nChristian character of this little flock would suffer. Were it not for the\nChristian activity of our members, so many of them abounding in good works,\nour operations here would necessarily be confined within much narrower\nlimits. Almost every one seems to be impressed with the truth, that he or\nshe is to improve every opportunity to speak a word for Christ. Many of\nthem are quite effective speakers. The heathen are often astonished to\nhear men from the lower walks of life, who previously had not had the\nbenefit of any education, and are yet perhaps unable to read, speak with\nsuch fluency, and reason with such power concerning the things of God, as\nto silence all their adversaries, even though they be men of education.\"\n\nSpeaking of the awakening at Peh-chui-ia, a market-town once under our\ncare, now under the care of the English Presbyterians, Mr. Talmage\ncontinues:\n\n\"We have been specially interested in their lively faith, their praying\nspirit, their earnestness in the study of the Holy Scriptures, and, as a\nconsequence of all this, their joy in the Holy Ghost.\n\n\"The house first rented was found too small and uncomfortable for our work.\nThe adjoining house, of about the same size, and the upper part of the next\nhouse, have since been rented, and doors opened through the walls. Thus we\nhave several rooms for lodging and conversation, and also for holding more\nprivate meetings than we could in the chapel. The members and inquirers\nspend the greater part of the Sabbath at the mission premises studying the\nScriptures, listening to the preaching of the Word, and in religious\nconversation and prayer. They go home only for their meals, and some not\neven for that. A part of them spend much of their time there in similar\nemployments on other days of the week. When we have been with them, we\nhave been much gratified by seeing their earnestness in the study of the\nScriptures. They are continually coming to us for explanation of passages\nwhich they cannot understand. Often the voice of prayer will be heard from\nall parts of the house at once. They are but babes in Christ; yet their\nknowledge of the Scriptures is remarkable. We feel it good for our own\nsouls to be among them.\"\n\nThis market-town owed much to the earnest labors of Rev. W. C. Burns, whose\nwords and manner of life are still a fragrant memory among the brethren\nthere. He was the first English Presbyterian missionary to China. He\narrived in 1847. For the first four years he carried on evangelistic work\nat Hongkong and Canton. He came to Amoy in 1851.\n\nMr. Talmage alludes to a family at Peh-chui-ia who had endured much for\nChrist's sake.\n\n\"This family have been twice plundered. Once their house was set on fire\nby a band of robbers, and everything was destroyed, themselves only\nescaping with their lives by a remarkable providence.\" (So intense is the\nhatred of some of the officials against Christianity that bold robberies\nwill take place with their connivance, sometimes at their instigation.)\n\"These afflictions seem to have been employed by the Spirit of God in\npreparing their hearts for the reception of the Gospel. On the first\nannouncement of the Word, they were deeply impressed with its truth. The\nfather, however, had a hard struggle; and the opposition from his neighbors\nwas too much for him at the first. At one time, he resolved to run away\nfrom the place altogether. At another time he meditated drowning himself.\nWhile in this state of mind, he derived much benefit from the counsel and\nearnest entreaties of his wife. She exhorted and besought him to exhibit\nthe meekness and endurance taught by the meek and suffering Saviour. He\nwho never suffers His people to be tempted above that they are able to\nbear, at length raised him above the fear of man, and established his\ngoings. On one occasion, when we were conversing with him, it was\nsuggested that he might again be robbed. He replied that he did not\nbelieve he should be, for he now trusted in God. We suggested, 'Perhaps\nthe very fact that you have turned from idols to the service of the true\nGod, may lead the enemies of the Gospel to band together and plunder you.'\nHe answered, 'I do not believe that they will. They will not, except it be\nthe will of God. If it be His will, I also am willing.' On one occasion\nit was suggested that he might even be brought before magistrates because\nof the Gospel. He answered that he had no anxiety on that subject. When\nthe time came the Holy Ghost would teach him what to speak. He has since\nhad his faith put to the test, but his confidence was not disappointed.\nThe enemies of the Gospel banded together to demand of him money as his\nshare of the expenses of some idolatrous celebration, resolving, if he\nrefused to pay the money, to plunder his establishment. A crowd collected\nat his door to carry the resolution into effect. They made their demand\nfor the money. But he was enabled to speak to them with such power that\nthey trembled in his presence, it is said, and were glad to leave him\nalone.\"\n\nMr. Talmage writes of the great change in a man notoriously wicked, who at\nfifty-one years of age yielded to Christ.\n\n\"For thirty-one years he was addicted to the smoking of opium. When the\nbrethren first saw him, he seemed just ready to fall into the grave. He\nalso had a bad reputation throughout the town, being accustomed to meddling\nwith other people's business. He was a man of good natural abilities, and\nthe people feared him. He has given up his opium and his other vile\npractices. His whole character seems to have undergone a change. He also\nhas been called, as have all the others in that town, to experience\npersecution. His enemies are those of his own house. His opium-smoking,\nand all his other wickedness, they could endure; but they cannot endure his\nChristianity, his temperance, his meek and quiet spirit. One of my visits\nto Peh-chui-ia was on the day after his friends had been manifesting,\nespecial opposition to him. I found him greatly rejoicing that he had been\ncalled to suffer persecution for Christ's sake, and that he had been\nenabled to bear it so meekly. He said the Holy Scriptures had been\nverified, referring to Matthew v.11, 12. He said that he had been enabled\nto preach the Gospel to those who had met to oppose him for two hours,\nuntil his voice failed him. He was still quite hoarse from his much\nspeaking. He had told them of the change which he had experienced through\nthe power of the Holy Spirit on his heart; but he also said he knew they\ncould not understand his meaning, when he spoke of the work of the Holy\nSpirit in the heart. If they would worship Jesus, however, and pray to the\nHoly Spirit to change their hearts, as his had been changed, then they\nwould understand him.\"\n\n\nSI-BOO'S ZEAL.\n\nAn interesting case narrated in the life of W. C. Burns is that of Si-boo,\nwho afterwards went as an evangelist among his own countrymen at Singapore.\n\n\"On Mr. Burns' first visit to Pechuia, he found amongst the foremost and\nmost interesting of his hearers, a youth of about eighteen or twenty,\ncalled Si-boo.\n\n\"Of stature rather under the average of his countrymen, with an eye and\ncountenance more open than usual, and a free and confiding manner, he soon\nattracted the attention of the missionary. His position in life was above\nthe class of common mechanics, and his education rather good for his\nposition. His occupation was to carve small idols in wood for the houses\nof his idolatrous countrymen, of every variety of style and workmanship,\nsome plain and cheap, and some of the most elaborate and costly\ndescription. Had Si-boo been of the spirit of Demetrius, he would have\nopposed and persecuted Mr. Burns for bringing his craft into danger. But\ninstead of that, he manifested a spirit of earnest, truthful inquiry,\nalthough that inquiry was one in which all the prepossessions, and\nprejudices, and passions of mind and heart were against the truth--an\ninquiry in which all the influence of friends, and all his prospects in\nlife, were cast into the wrong balance. By the grace of God he made that\nsolemn inquiry with such simplicity and sincerity, that it soon led to an\nentire conviction of the truth of our religion, and that to a decided\nprofession of faith at all hazards; and these hazards, in such a place as\nPechuia, were neither few nor small-far greater than at Amoy, where the\npresence of a large body of converts, and a considerable English community,\nand a British flag, might seem to hold out a prospect of both protection\nand support in time of need, though such protection and temporal aid have\nnever been relied on by even our Amoy converts, still less encouraged.\n\n\"One of the first sacrifices to which Si-boo was called was a great one.\nHis trade of idol-carver must be given up, and with that his only means of\nsupport; and that means both respectable and lucrative to a skillful hand\nlike his. But to his credit he did not hesitate. He at once threw it up\nand cast himself on the providence of God, and neither asked nor received\nany assistance from the missionary, but at once set himself to turn his\nskill as a carver in a new and legitimate direction. He became a carver of\nbeads for bracelets and other ornaments, and was soon able to support\nhimself and assist his mother in this way. One advantage of this new trade\nwas, that it was portable. With a few small knives, and a handful of\nolive-stones, he could prosecute his work wherever he liked to take his\nseat, and he frequently took advantage of this to prosecute his Master's\nwork, while he was diligent in his own. Sometimes he would take his seat\non the 'Gospel Boat' when away on some evangelistic enterprise; and while\nwe were slowly rowing up some river or creek, or scudding away before a\nfavorable wind to some distant port, Si-boo would be busy at work on his\nbeads; but as soon as we reached our destination, the beads and tools were\nthrust into his pouch, and with his Bible and a few tracts in his hand, he\nwas off to read or talk to the people, and leave his silent messengers\nbehind him.\"\n\nDuring the same year (1854), Mr. Doty wrote a letter to Mr. Burns while in\nScotland, in regard to the awakening at Chioh-be, a large town of 30,000\ninhabitants, eight miles northwest of Peh-chui-ia. An extract reads as\nfollows:\n\n\"But what shall I tell you of the Lord's visitation of mercy at Chioh-be?\nAgain, truly, are we as those that dream. The general features of the work\nare very similar to what you witnessed at Pechui-ia. The instrumentality\nhas been native brethren almost entirely. Attention was first awakened in\none or two by I-ju and Tick-jam, who went to Chioh-be together.\n\n\"This was two or three months ago. This was followed up by repeated visits\nof other brethren from Pechui-ia and Amoy. Shortly the desire to hear the\nWord was so intense, that there would be scarcely any stop day or night;\nthe brethren in turns going, and breaking down from much speaking in the\ncourse of three or four days, and coming back to us almost voiceless.\"\n\n\nAN APPEAL FOR A MISSIONARY.\n\nOn the 30th of August, 1854, Mr. Talmage wrote, enclosing the subjoined\nappeal of the church at Peh-chui-ia for a missionary. It is addressed to\nthe American Board, which these brethren call \"the Public Society.\" A\nduplicate letter was sent at the same time to Mr. Burns to be presented to\nthe Board of Foreign Missions of the English Presbyterian Church. \"They\ntell us,\" says Mr. Talmage, \"that every sentence has been prayed over.\nAccording to their own statement, they would write a sentence, and then\npray, and then write another sentence, and then pray again.\"\n\n\"By the mercy and grace of God, called to be little children of the Saviour\nJesus, we send this letter to the Public Society, desiring that God our\nFather, and the Lord Jesus Christ, may bestow grace and peace on all the\nsaints connected with the Public Society. We desire you to know the\nboundless grace and favor of God towards us, and in behalf of us, little\nchildren, heartily to thank God because that the announcement of God's\ngrace has been conveyed by your nation to our nation, and to our province,\neven to Amoy, and to our market-town Peh-chui-ia. We desire the Public\nSociety to be thoroughly informed, so that they may very heartily thank God\nand the Lord Jesus Christ; for we at Peh-chui-ia originally dwelt in the\nregion of death and gloomy darkness, a place under the curse of God, and\nwere exposed to God's righteous punishment. But many thanks to God's\ncompassion and mercy, the Holy Spirit influenced the pastors of your nation\nto send holy brethren (Amoy native Christians), in company with the English\npastor, the teacher, William Burns, unto our market town, to unfold the\nholy announcement of grace, and preach the Gospel. Many thanks to God,\nwhose grace called several brethren, by day and by night, to listen to the\npreaching of the Gospel, for the space of four months. Many thanks to the\nHoly Spirit, who opened our darkened hearts, and led us unto the Saviour\nJesus, whose precious blood delivers from sin. By the grace of God five\npersons were received into the Church and baptized. Again, two months\nafterwards four persons were received into the Church and baptized. There\nare still some ten persons and more, from different quarters, not yet\nbaptized, who have been operated on, so that they listen to the preaching\nwith gladness of heart.\n\n\"By the will of God, the English pastor has been called to return to his\nown nation. Our place is distant from Amoy by water, several tens of\n'lis,' [One li is about one-third of a mile] so that it is difficult to\ncome and go. The two pastors of your nation at Amoy (Messrs. Doty and\nTalmage) have not a moment to spare from labor, for the holy brethren there\nare many; and it is difficult for them to leave home.\n\n\"We, the brethren of the church at our market town, with united heart pray,\nearnestly beseeching God again graciously to compassionate us, and send a\npastor from the Public Society of your nation, that he may quickly come,\nand instruct us plainly in the Gospel.\n\n\"It is to be deplored-the brethren having heard the teacher William Burns\npreach the Word for a few months, their spiritual nature only just born\nagain, not yet having obtained firmness in the faith, that just at this\ntime, in the seventh month, the pastor should be separated from us.\n\n\"Day and night our tears flow; and with united heart we pray, earnestly\nbeseeching God graciously to grant that of the disciples of the Lord Jesus\na pastor hastily come, and preach to us the Gospel, this food of grace with\nits savoriness of grace, in order to strengthen the faith of us, little\nchildren. Moreover, we pray God to influence the saints of your nation\nthat they may always keep us little children in remembrance. Therefore, on\nthe 28th day of the seventh month (August 21, 1854) the brethren with\nunited heart have prayed earnestly beseeching God that this our general\nletter may be conveyed to the great Public Society, that you may certainly\nknow these our affairs, and pray God, in behalf of us, that this our\nrequest may be granted. Please give our salutation to the brethren.\n\n   KONG-BIAU,\n   TEK-IAM,\n   TEK-EIAN,\n   U-JU,\n   SI_BU,\n   JIT-SOM,\n   KI-AN,\n   LAM-SAN,\n   KIM KOA,\n \"The disciples of Jesus at Peh-chui-ia.\n\n\"Presented to the Public Society that all the disciples may read it.\"\n\nMr. Talmage concludes a letter speaking of the \"times of refreshing\" in\nthese words:\n\n\"This remarkable work may well fill our hearts with gratitude and\nencouragement. Heretofore, we have always been obliged to wait a long time\nbefore we were permitted to see much fruit of our labor; and we were almost\nled to the conclusion that such must always be the case, in carrying the\nGospel to a heathen people. Now we see that such need not be the course of\nevents. We should preach the Gospel with larger expectations, and in the\nhope of more immediate fruit. He who commanded the light to shine out of\ndarkness, can shine into the darkest minds, 'to give the light of the\nknowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus' on the first\nannouncement of the truth as it is in Jesus. When the proper time comes,\nand His Church is made ready for the great accession, it will be an easy\nthing for Him to accomplish the expectation that a nation shall be born at\nonce.\"\n\n\n\n\nVIII. CHURCH UNION.\n\nMissionary work in its initial stage has only to do with first principles.\n\nGiven shelter, food, power of utterance in a foreign tongue, a preaching\nspot, a company of hearers, and you have bounded the horizon for the\npresent.\n\nNo sooner, however, is a goodly company of believers gathered, but\nproblems, numerous and weighty, confront the missionary.\n\nHow shall the company of believers be organized and governed? Shall it be\nexactly on the model of the church which the missionary represents? If\nnot, what modifications shall be made? Shall the seedling ten thousand\nmiles away be roped to the mother tree or shall it be encouraged to stand\nalone? What advantages in independence? What perils? What shall be the\nstatus of the foreign missionary before the native church just organizing?\nWhat relation shall he sustain to the home church?\n\nThe answers to these questions have been as various as the denominations\nrepresented in Oriental lands. The answers of missionaries representing\nthe same denomination have not even tallied.\n\nAfter the gracious awakening and ingathering at Amoy and in the region\nabout, had taken place, the question of church organization became\nforemost. The missionaries gave the subject earnest thought. Men like\nElihu Doty and John Van Nest Talmage and Carstairs Douglas, were not likely\nto come to conclusions hastily.\n\nBut they were born pioneers. Conservative enough never to lose their\nequilibrium, they had adaptability to new circumstances.\n\nQuite willing to follow the beaten path so long as there was promise of\nharvest returns, they were prepared nevertheless to blaze a new road into\nthe trackless forest if they were sure some of God's treasure-trove could\nbe brought back on it. There was no divergence of view as to what the\nfoundation of the new church-structure must be. 'For other foundation can\nno man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.' So long,\nhowever, as the general proportions were the same, there was no fear that\nthe new edifice would topple over if it did not conform exactly in height\nand length and breadth, in column and pilaster and facade, to the venerated\nmodel in the mother countries. The brethren expressed their views to the\nchurches in the home land. They did more. They plead their cause and\nhoped for endorsement. The following is part of a lengthy but very\ninteresting communication written by Mr. Talmage and sent to the Synod of\nthe Reformed Church in 1856:\n\n\"Amoy, China, Sept. 17, 1856.\n\n\"To the General Synod of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church.\n\n\"Fathers and Brethren: We your missionaries at Amoy, China, have, by the\nblessing of the Head of the Church on our labors, arrived at a stage of\nprogress in our work which imposes on us weighty responsibilities, and we\nfeel the need of counsel and advice. It will be proper for us to give a\nbrief account of our Mission, of our work, of the blessing of God on our\nlabors, of our peculiar circumstances, and of the principles on which we\nhave acted hitherto, and which we think should still guide us in our\nefforts to establish the Kingdom of Christ in this land, that you may\npraise God in our behalf and in behalf of this people, and assist us by\nyour sympathies, prayers, and counsels. Our Mission was commenced at Amoy\nby the late Rev. David Abeel, D.D. Mr. Abeel arrived at Amoy in company\nwith the Rev. (now Bishop) Boone, on the 24th of February, 1842. On the\n22d of June, 1844, Rev. E. Doty and Rev. Wm. J. Pohlman arrived at Amoy\nfrom Borneo. In Dec., 1844, Mr. Abeel in consequence of continued and\nincreasing ill health left Amoy on his return to the United States. Mrs.\nPohlman and Mrs. Doty having been removed by death, Mr. Doty left Amoy for\nthe United States, Nov. 12, 1845, with his own and Mr. Pohlman's children.\nRev. J. V. N. Talmage accompanied Mr. Doty on his return to Amoy, arriving\nAug. 19, 1847. Mr. Pohlman was lost at sea Jan. 5, or 6, 1849. Mr.\nTalmage was away from Amoy from March 24, 1849 to July 16, 1850. Rev. J.\nJoralmon arrived at Amoy, April 21, 1856.\n\n\"Mr. Boone, of the Episcopal Church of the United States, was at Amoy but a\nshort time. After him there have been no missionaries of that church at\nAmoy. The mission of the American Presbyterian Board at Amoy was commenced\nby the arrival of Rev. T. L. McBryde, in June, 1842. He left Amoy in\nJanuary, 1843. James C. Hepburn, M.D., arrived in 1843, and retired in\n1845. Rev. John Lloyd arrived in Dec., 1844. Rev. H. A. Brown arrived in\n1845 and left Amoy for the United States in Dec., 1847. Mr. Lloyd died in\nDec., 1848. Since then that mission has not been continued at Amoy.\n\n\"W. H. Cumming, M.D., a medical missionary, but not connected with any\nmissionary society, arrived at Amoy, June, 1842, and left Amoy in the early\npart of 1847. The London Missionary Society's Mission at Amoy was\ncommenced by the arrival of Rev. Messrs. J. Stronach and William Young, in\nJuly, 1844. Since then other agents of that society have arrived, some of\nwhom have again left and some still remain. They now number three\nministers of the Gospel and one physician.\n\n\"The Mission of the English Presbyterian Church at Amoy was commenced by\nthe arrival of James H. Young, M.D., in May, 1850. Rev. W. C. Burns\narrived in July, 1851. Rev. James Johnston arrived in Dec., 1853. Dr.\nYoung and Mr. Burns left Amoy in August, 1854. Mr. Johnston left Amoy in\nMay, 1855. Rev. C. Douglas arrived at Amoy in July, 1855. He is now the\nonly member of that Mission at Amoy. All the members of this Mission,\nalthough sent out by the English Presbyterian Church, were originally\nmembers of the Free Church of Scotland.\n\n\"The present missionary force at Amoy are three ministers and one physician\nof the London Missionary Society (in their ecclesiastical relations they\nare Independents), one minister of the English Presbyterian Church, and\nourselves, three ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church.\n\n\"The first converts received into the Christian Church at Amoy were two old\nmen, baptized by Mr. Pohlman in April, 1846. The next converts received\nwere two men baptized by Mr. A. Stronach, of the London Missionary Society,\nin March, 1848. A few months later Mr. Stronach baptized one more. Since\nthen every year has witnessed additions to the church. We received into\nour church by baptism in 1849 three persons; in 1850 five; in 1851 eight;\nin 1852 two; in 1853 six; in 1854 including those baptized at Peh-chui-ia,\nfifty-three; in 1855 including Peh-chui-ia and Chioh-be, seventy-two;\nduring the present year thus far, also including Pehchui-ia and Chioh-be,\nfifty. The whole number now connected with our church at Amoy is one\nhundred and twenty-one. The number at Peh-chui-ia is forty-two. The\nnumber at Chioh-be is thirty-one. In all, the number is one hundred and\nninety-four. The London Mission has also been greatly blessed. They now\nhave in connection with their church at Amoy and in vicinity one hundred\nand fifty-one members. After acquiring the language of this people, we\nhave felt that our great work is to preach the Gospel. Every other\ndepartment of labor must be entirely secondary to this. The Scriptures are\nclearly in favor of these views, and our own experience has confirmed these\nviews until they have become very decided. We have already mentioned the\nname of Mr. Burns as uniting in labors with our church members. The\nbrethren of the English Presbyterian Church, in the providence of God, have\nbeen brought very near to us. We have rendered each other much assistance\nand often have labored together almost as one Mission.\n\n\"When Mr. Burns arrived at Amoy, providentially he found and secured a room\nnot far from our church edifice, and near to the residences of several of\nour church members. As soon as he was able to use the dialect of Amoy,\nmany of our church members and inquirers were glad of the privilege of\nmeeting with him daily for the study of the Scriptures and for prayer. Mr.\nBurns came to Amoy for the simple purpose of preaching the Gospel. He did\nnot wish to take the responsibility of organizing a separate church. He\nwas ready to co-operate with us or with the London brethren. He often\nrendered them assistance likewise. When he became able to use the language\nwith freedom, he often preached in our church. When he went out for street\npreaching, or went out to visit the towns and villages around, he always\ntook with him native Christians, usually the members of our church, having\nbeen providentially placed among them. Early in the year 1854, Mr. Burns\nwith some of our church members visited the region of Peh-chui-ia. Much\ninterest was awakened in that region in the subject of Christianity. A\ngoodly number, we trust, were born of the Spirit. Mr. Burns did not wish\nto take the responsibility of a pastor, desiring to keep himself free for\nevangelistic labors wherever a door might be opened before him. He\nrequested us to examine the candidates for baptism and receive those whom\nwe deemed worthy, and take the pastoral care of them. We yielded to the\ndesires of Mr. Burns and took charge of Pehchui-ia.\n\n\"Mr. Burns continued to spend much of his time in that place and vicinity\nuntil he was called to leave Amoy. Shortly after the departure of Mr.\nBurns, learning that the English Presbyterians would have been glad to\nretain Peh-chui-ia, and Mr. Johnston (E. P.) being willing to take charge\nthere as far as he was able, we very willingly relinquished it to them. He\nwas still unable to use the language with freedom, so we continued to visit\nthe place as often as we could. Before Mr. Johnston's knowledge was\nsufficient to relieve us of the pastoral care of that interesting church,\nhis ill-health compelled him to return to his native land. His place was\nsoon supplied by the arrival of Mr. Douglas. We have continued the same\npastoral care of that church. Lately our visits to the place have become\nless frequent, as Mr. Douglas has become better acquainted with the\nlanguage.\n\n\"In the latter half of the year 1851, some of the Christians from\nPeh-chui-ia went to the large town of Chioh-be on business and preached the\nGospel as they had opportunity. They found a few persons who listened to\ntheir message with interest and manifested a desire to hear more. When\nthis fact, on their return, was reported to the churches of Peh-chui-ia and\nAmoy, other Christians went to Chioh-be. A great interest was awakened. A\nsmall house was rented for a chapel. This house was thronged every day\nthroughout the day and evening. Soon as we had opportunity we visited the\nplace to converse with inquirers and examine candidates for baptism. In\nJanuary, 1855, the first converts at that place were baptized. The\ninterest continued to increase. We found the premises we had rented\nentirely too small. As soon as a larger and more suitable place could be\nfound it was secured. Soon after this a violent persecution broke out.\nThe immediate effect was greatly to hinder the work. Only those who were\nsufficiently interested in the Gospel to raise them above the fear of man\ndared attend the place of worship. Still there has been constant progress.\n\n\"If the churches gathered by us are to be organized simply with respect to\nthe glory of God and their own welfare, there is a fact in our\ncircumstances which should have great weight in forming this organization.\nThis fact is the intimate relation and hitherto oneness of the churches\nunder our care and under the care of the missionaries of the English\nPresbyterian Church. In the foregoing short history of our work it will be\nseen that we have been and are closely connected with the missionaries of\nthat Church. From the first we have had the pastoral care of their church\ngathered at Peh-chui-ia and in the surrounding region. They have not\nattempted the organization of any church at Amoy. By far the greater\nproportion of their influence and labors at Amoy has been in the direction\nof assisting us in our work. They have acted as though they thought it was\nof no importance whatever whether converts were received into church\nfellowship by us or them. Doubtless the church members, although perfectly\naware that we and our English Presbyterian brethren are of different\nChurches and different countries, suppose that they form but one Church.\nWhen the time had arrived for a regular organization of our church in Amoy,\nthe question presented itself: Shall we invite Mr. Douglas, then and still\nthe only English Presbyterian missionary at Amoy, to unite with us in our\ndeliberations? By the providence of God our missions had been brought\nclosely together. We had been laboring together in the work of the Lord,\nwere one in sympathy, held the same views in theology, and did not differ\nin regard to church polity. But one answer could be given to this\nquestion. We cordially invited him. He as cordially accepted of our\ninvitation, and heartily engaged with us in our church meetings, held in\nreference to the election of church officers. He voted with us and our\nchurch members. He united with us in setting apart the officers-elect to\ntheir respective offices, and since then has usually united with us in our\ndeliberations in our consistorial meetings. Surely in this matter we have\nacted according to the leadings of Providence and the spirit and\ninstructions of the Gospel of Christ; for in Christ Jesus there is no\ndistinction of nationalities. Our labors having thus far been so\nintermingled and our churches so intimately related and united together, we\ncan see no sufficient reason for separation. If there be any advantage in\nthe association of churches by the organization of Classes or Presbyteries,\nwhy should we deprive these churches in their infancy and weakness of this\nadvantage? We have always taught our people to study the Word of God and\nmake it their rule. Can we give them a sufficient reason for such\nseparation? Doubtless if we were to tell them, that the churches by which\nwe are sent out and sustained desire separate organizations, and therefore\nshould recommend such organizations to them, they would acquiesce. They\nknow that they cannot stand alone. Gratitude, also, and ardent affection\nfor those churches by whose liberality they have been made acquainted with\nthe Gospel, would lead them to do all in their power to please those\nchurches. We can hardly suppose, however, that such separation would\naccord with their judgment, or with those Christian feelings which they\nhave always exercised towards each other as members of the same Church.\nBut we do not suppose that either our Church or the English Presbyterian\nChurch will recommend such a separation. The Dutch Church in North America\nhas always manifested an enlarged Christian spirit, and therefore we cannot\ndoubt but that she will approve of an organization by which the churches\nhere, which are one in doctrine and one in spirit, may also be one in\necclesiastical matters. Neither do we doubt but that the English\nPresbyterian Church will also approve of the same course. We do not know\nas much of that Church as we hope to know in the future. Yet we know\nenough of her already to love her. But if separation must come, let not\nour Church bear the responsibility.\n\n\"Another question of importance may arise. What shall be our relation as\nindividuals to the Dutch Church in America? We see no reason and desire\nnot to change the relation we have always sustained. We were set apart by\nthat Church to do the work of evangelists. This is the work in which we\nstill wish to be engaged. We must preach the Gospel. As God gives success\nto our labors we must organize churches, and take oversight of them as long\nas they need that oversight. When we find suitable men, we must 'ordain\nelders in every city.' Such is the commission we hold from our Church, and\nfrom the great Head of the Church. Theoretically, difficulties may be\nsuggested. Practically, with the principles on which we have thus far\nacted, we see no serious difficulties in our way. We must seek for Divine\nguidance, take the Scriptures for our rule, and follow the leadings of\nProvidence. We are all liable to err. But with these principles, assisted\nby your counsels, and especially by your prayers, we have reason to\nbelieve, and do believe, that the Spirit of truth will guide us in the way\nof truth.\"\n\nDr. Talmage also sent a communication to Dr. Thomas De Witt, then\nCorresponding Secretary for the Reformed Church in co-operation with the\nAmerican Board. It reads:\n\n\"Oct. 1, 1856. There are some other facts arising out of the circumstances\nof this people, and of the nature of the Chinese language, which have a\ncertain importance and perhaps should be laid before the Church. No part\nof the name of our Church, peculiar to our denomination, can be translated\nand applied to the church in Chinese without inconvenience or great\ndetriment. The words, Protestant and Reformed, would be to the Chinese\nunintelligible, consequently inconvenient. The only translation we can\ngive to the name Dutch Church, would be Church of Holland. This, besides\nconveying in part an incorrect idea, would be very detrimental to the\ninterests of the Church among the Chinese. The Chinese know but little of\nforeign nations and have for ages looked upon them all as barbarians. Of\ncourse the views of the native Christians are entirely changed on this\nsubject. But our great work is to gather converts from the heathen. We\nshould be very careful not to use any terms by which they would be\nunnecessarily prejudiced against the Gospel. It is constantly charged upon\nthe native Christians, both as a reproach and as an objection to\nChristianity, that they are following foreigners or have become foreigners.\nThe reproach is not a light one, but the objection is easily answered. The\nanswer would not be so easy if we were to fasten on the Christians a\nforeign name.\"\n\nAt the meeting of the General Synod, held in the village of Ithaca, New\nYork, June, 1857, the following resolutions recommended by the Committee on\nForeign Missions, Talbot W. Chambers, D.D., Chairman, were adopted:\n\nTHE MEMORIAL OF THE AMOY MISSION.\n\n\"Among the papers submitted to the Synod is an elaborate document from the\nbrethren at Amoy, giving the history of their work there, of its gradual\nprogress, of their intimate connection with missionaries from other bodies,\nof the formation of the Church now existing there, and expressing their\nviews as to the propriety and feasibility of forming a Classis at that\nstation. In reply to so much of this paper as respects the establishment\nof individual churches, we must say that while we appreciate the peculiar\ncircumstances of our brethren, and sympathize with their perplexities, yet\nit has always been considered a matter of course that ministers, receiving\ntheir commission through our Church, and sent forth under the auspices of\nour Board, would, when they formed converts from the heathen in an\necclesiastical body, mould the organization into a form approaching, as\nnearly as possible, that of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Churches in our\nown land. Seeing that the converted heathen, when associated together,\nmust have some form of government, and seeing that our form is, in our\nview, entirely consistent with, if not required by the Scriptures, we\nexpect that it will in all cases be adopted by our missionaries, subject,\nof course, to such modifications as their peculiar circumstances may for\nthe time render necessary. The converts at Amoy, as at Arcot and\nelsewhere, are to be regarded as 'an integral part of our Church,' and as\nsuch are entitled to all the rights and privileges which we possess. And\nso in regard to the formation of a Classis. The Church at home will\nundoubtedly expect the brethren to associate themselves into a regular\necclesiastical organization, just as soon as enough materials are obtained\nto warrant such measure, with the hope that it will be permanent. We do\nnot desire churches to be prematurely formed in order to get materials for\na Classis, nor any other exercise of violent haste, but we equally\ndeprecate unnecessary delay, believing that a regular organization will be\nalike useful to our brethren themselves and to those who, under them, are\nin training for the first office-bearers in the Christian Church on heathen\nground. As to the difficulties suggested in the memorial, respecting the\ndifferent Particular Synods to which the brethren belong, and the delays of\ncarrying out a system of appellate jurisdiction covering America and China,\nit is enough to say:\n\n\"1. That the Presbyterian Church (Old School) finds no insuperable\ndifficulties in carrying into operation her system, which comprehends\nPresbyteries and Synods in India as well as here; and, 2. That whatever\nhindrances may at anytime arise, this body will, in humble reliance upon\nthe Divine aid and blessing, undertake to meet and remove them as far as\npossible. The Church at home assumes the entire responsibility of this\nmatter, and only ask the brethren abroad to carry out the policy held\nsteadily in view from the first moment when our Missions began.\n\n\"The following resolutions are recommended:\n\n\"Resolved, 1. That the Synod view with great pleasure the formation of\nchurches among the converts from heathenism, organized according to the\nestablished usages of our branch of Zion.\n\n\"2. That the brethren at Amoy be directed to apply to the Particular Synod\nof Albany to organize them into a Classis, so soon as they shall have\nformed churches enough to render the permanency of such organization\nreasonably certain.\"\n\n\n\n\nIX. CHURCH UNION (CONTINUED).\n\nThis utterance of the General Synod, while made with the best intentions,\nfell with exceedingly painful echo on the ears of the missionaries at Amoy.\nWas the flock they had gathered with so much prayer and effort, and reared\nwith such sedulous care, to be thus summarily divided and perhaps in\nconsequence scattered? The missionaries felt persuaded that their brethren\nin the United States could not fully appreciate the situation or there\nwould be no such action.\n\nMr. Talmage again took up his pen in behalf of his Chinese flock. If it\nhad been dipped in his own blood his utterances could not have been more\nforceful-could not have palpitated with a heartier affection for his\nChinese brethren's sake.\n\nOn Dec. 23, 1857, he wrote to Dr. Isaac Ferris, who, since the separation\nfrom the A.B.C.F.M. at the last Synod, had become the Corresponding\nSecretary for the Board of Foreign Missions of tile Reformed Church.\n\n\"So far as we can judge from the report of the proceedings of General Synod\nas given in the Christian Intelligencer, one of the most important\nconsiderations, perhaps altogether the most important mentioned, why the\nchurch gathered by us here should not be an integral part of the Church in\nAmerica, was entirely overlooked. That consideration relates to the unity\nof Christ's Church. Will our Church require of us, will she desire that\nthose here who are altogether one,-one in doctrine, one in their views of\nchurch order, and one in mutual love,-be violently separated into two\ndenominations? We cannot believe it. Suppose the case of two churches\noriginally distinct, by coming into contact and becoming better acquainted\nwith each other, they find that they hold to the same doctrinal standards,\nand they explain them in the same manner; they have the same form of church\ngovernment and their officers are chosen and set apart in the same way;\nthey have the same order of worship and of administering the sacraments;\nall their customs, civil, social, and religious, are precisely alike, and\nthey love each other dearly; should not such churches unite and form but\none denomination? Yet such a supposition does not and cannot represent the\ncircumstances of the churches gathered by us and by our Scotch brethren of\nthe English Presbyterian Church. Our churches originally were one, and\nstill are one, and the question is not whether those churches shall be\nunited, but shall they be separated? Possibly the question will be asked,\nwhy were these churches allowed originally to become one? We answer, God\nmade them so, and that without any plan or forethought on our part, and now\nwe thank Him for His blessing that He has made them one, and that He has\nblessed them because they are one.\n\n\"Our position is a somewhat painful one. We desire to give offense to no\none, and we do not wish to appear before the Church as disputants. We have\nno controversy with any one. We have neither the time nor inclination for\ncontroversy. We are 'doing a great work,' and cannot 'come down.' Yet our\nduty to these churches here and to the Church at home and to our Master\ndemands of us imperatively that we state fully and frankly our views. We\nhave the utmost confidence in our church. We have proved this by\nendeavoring to get our views fully known.\"\n\nThe subject did not come up again for discussion before the General Synod\nuntil 1863.\n\nMeanwhile the churches grew and multiplied. The Amoy church, which in 1856\nhad been organized by \"the setting apart of elders and deacons,\" was\nseparated into two organizations in 1860, \"preparatory to the calling of\npastors.\"\n\nTwo men were chosen by the churches in 1861. In 1862 an organization was\nformed called the \"Tai-hoey,\" or \"Great Elders' Meeting,\" consisting of the\nmissionaries of both the English Presbyterian and Reformed Churches and the\ndelegated elders from all the organized congregations under their united\noversight. The two men chosen as pastors were examined, ordained, and\ninstalled by this body.\n\nDuring that year Mr. Talmage was called to stand by the \"first gash life\nhad cut in the churchyard turf\" for him. His beloved wife, Mrs. Abby\nWoodruff Talmage, was called to her reward, leaving Mr. Talmage with four\nmotherless little ones. He was compelled to go to the United States to\nsecure proper care for his children. He came in time to attend the General\nSynod of 1863. There he advocated most earnestly the course which the\nbrethren at Amoy had taken.\n\nDr. Isaac Ferris brought the subject before the Synod in these words:\n\n\"In 1857 the Synod met at Ithaca, and a most remarkable Synod it was.\nAccording to the testimony of all who were present the Spirit of God\nunusually manifested His gracious presence. A venerable minister on his\nreturn remarked, 'It was like heaven upon earth.' That Synod, under this\nextraordinary sense of the Divine presence and unction, judged that the\ntime had arrived for the Church to take the responsibility of supporting\nits foreign missionary work upon itself, and, accordingly, in very proper\nresolutions, asked of the American Board to have the compact which had been\nin operation since 1832 revoked, and the Mission transferred to our Foreign\nBoard.\n\n\"It was at that meeting that a memorial of our brethren at Amoy on the\nsubject of organization, very ably drawn, and presenting fully their views\nand reasonings, was read and deliberated on. Their work had been\nwonderfully blessed, and the whole Church was called to thanksgiving, and\nthe time seemed at hand to realize the expectations of years. The brethren\nasked advice, and the Synod adopted the carefully-drawn report of a\ncommittee of which the President was chairman, advising the organization of\na Classis at as early a day as was practicable. Our brethren at Amoy were\nnot satisfied with this advice, and considered the subject as not having\nhad a sufficient hearing.\n\n\"In the progress of their work they have deemed it proper to form a\ndifferent organization from what the Synod advised, and which was in\nharmony with the constant aim of our Church on the subject. The Board of\nForeign Missions, when the matter came before them, could only kindly\nprotest and urge upon the brethren the action of the Synod of 1857. Not\nhaving ecclesiastical power, they could only argue and advise. They would\nhave it remembered that all has been done in the kindest spirit. They have\ndiffered in judgment from the Mission, but not a ripple of unkind feeling\nhas arisen.\n\n\"The question now before the Synod is, whether this body will recede from\nthe whole policy of the Church and its action in 1857 or reaffirm the same.\nThis Synod, in its action on this case, will decide for all its missions,\nand in all time, on what principles their missionaries shall act, and hence\nthis becomes probably the most important question of this session. It is\nin the highest degree desirable that the Synod should give the subject the\nfullest the most patient and impartial examination, and that our brother,\nwho represents the Amoy Mission, be fully heard.\"\n\nMr. Talmage next addressed the Synod and offered the following resolution:\n\n\"Resolved, That the Synod hear with gratitude to God of the great progress\nof the work of the Lord at Amoy, and in the region around, so that already\nwe hear of six organized churches with their Consistories, and others\ngrowing up not yet organized, two native pastors who were to have been\nordained on the 29th of March last, and the whole under the care of a\nClassis composed of the missionaries of our Church and of the English\nPresbyterian Church, the native pastors, and representative elders of the\nseveral churches. It calls for our hearty gratitude to the great Head of\nthe Church that the missionaries of different Churches and different\ncountries have been enabled, through Divine grace, to work together in such\nharmony. It is also gratifying to us that these churches and this Classis\nhave been organized according to the polity of our Church, inasmuch as the\nSynod of the English Presbyterian Church has approved of the course of\ntheir missionaries in uniting for the organizing of a church after our\norder; therefore, this Synod would direct its Board of Foreign Missions to\nallow our missionaries to continue their present relations with the\nmissionaries of the English Presbyterian Church, so long as the present\nharmony shall continue, and no departure shall be made from the doctrines\nand essential policy of our Church, or until the Synod shall otherwise\ndirect.\"\n\nThere were speeches for and against, by distinguished men in the Church.\nDr. T. W. Chambers, President of the Synod, made the concluding address, as\nfollows:\n\n\"If there be any one here who has a deep and tender sympathy with our\nbrother Talmage and his senior missionary colleague (Mr. Doty), I claim to\nbe the man.\n\n\"Mr. Doty was my first room-mate at college thirty-one years ago, and ever\nsince we have been fast friends. As to the other, his parents-themselves\namong the most eminent and devoted Christians ever known-were long members\nof the church in New Jersey, of which I was formerly in charge. For\nseveral years I was his pastor. I signed the testimonials of character\nrequired by the American Board before they commissioned him. I pronounced\nthe farewell address when he left this country in 1850. I have watched\nwith intense interest his entire career since, and no one welcomed him more\nwarmly when he returned last year, bearing in his face and form the scars\nwhich time and toil had wrought upon his constitution. It is needless to\nsay, then, that I love him dearly for his own sake, for his parents' sake,\nfor his numerous friends' sake, but, more than all, for that Master's sake\nwhom he has so successfully served. Nor is there anything within reason\nwhich I would not have the Church do for him. He shall have our money, our\nsympathy, our prayers, our confidence-the largest liberty in shaping the\noperations of the Mission he belongs to.\n\n\"But when we come to the matter now at issue, I pause. Much as I love our\nbrother, I love Christ more. Nor can I surrender, out of deference to our\nmissionaries, the constitution, the policy, the interests of our\nChurch,--all of which are involved in this matter. Nay, even their own\nwelfare, and that of the mission they are so tenderly attached to, demand\nthat we should deny their request. What is this request? That we should\nallow our brethren at Amoy, together with the English Presbyterian\nmissionaries there, to form with the native pastors and the delegates from\nthe native churches, an independent Classis or Presbytery, over whose\nproceedings this body should have no control whatever, by way of appeal, or\nreview, or in any other form. Now, the first objection to this is, that it\nis flatly in the face of our constitution and order. A 'self-regulating\nClassis' is a thing which has never been heard of in the Dutch Church since\nthat Church had a beginning. It is against every law, principle, canon,\nexample, and precedent in our books. Perhaps the most marked feature of\nour polity is the subordination of all parts of our body, large or small,\nto the review and control of the whole as expressed in the decisions of its\nhighest ecclesiastical assembly. I submit that this Synod has no right to\nform or to authorize any such self regulating ecclesiastical body, or to\nconsent that any ministers of our Church should hold seats in such a body.\nIf we do it, we transcend the most liberal construction which has ever been\nknown to be given to the powers of General Synod. How, then, can we do\nthis thing? Whatever our sympathies, how can we violate our own order, our\nfundamental principles, the polity to which we are bound by our profession,\nby our subscription, by every tie which can bind religious and honorable\nmen?\n\n\"Moreover, the thing we are asked to do contravenes our missionary policy\nfrom the beginning. As far back as 1832, when we made a compact with the\nAmerican Board, one essential feature of the plan was that we should have\n'an ecclesiastical organization' of our own. Without this feature that\nplan would never have been adopted; and the apprehension that there might\nbe some interference with this cherished principle was at least one of the\nreasons why the plan, after working successfully for a quarter of a\ncentury, was at length abrogated. And so when, in 1857, we instituted a\nmissionary board of our own, this view was distinctly announced.\n\n\"It was my privilege to draw up the report on the subject which has been so\noften referred to. That report did not express merely my view, or that of\nthe committee, but the view of the entire Synod. Nor from that day to this\nhas there been heard anywhere within our bounds even a whisper of objection\nfrom minister, elder, or layman in regard to the positions then taken. It\nis our settled, irreversible policy. Deep down in the heart of the Church\nlies the conviction that our missionaries, who carry to the heathen the\ndoctrine of Christ as we have received it, must also carry the order of\nChrist as we have received it. Certain unessential peculiarities may, from\nthe force of circumstances, be left in abeyance for a time, or even\npermanently, but the dominant features must be retained. It is not enough\nto have genuine Consistories, we must have genuine Classes. And, under\nwhatever modifications, the substantive elements of our polity must be\nreproduced in the mission churches established by the blessing of God upon\nthe men and means furnished by our Zion.\n\n\"Further, Mr. President, it is to be remembered that we are acting for all\ntime. It is not this one case that is before us. We are settling a\nprecedent which is to last for generations. Relax your constitutions and\nlaws for this irregularity and you open a gap through which a coach and\nfour may be driven. Every other mission, under the least pretext, will\ncome and claim the same or a similar modification in their case, and you\ncannot consistently deny them. The result will be an ecclesiastical chaos\nthroughout our entire missionary field. Let us begin as we mean to hold\nout. Let us settle this question now and settle it aright. We direct our\nmissionaries what Gospel to preach, what sacraments to administer, what\ninternal organization to give to single churches. Let us, in the same\nmanner and for the same reasons, say what sort of bonds shall unite these\nchurches to each other and govern their mutual relations and common\ninterests.\n\n\"I know we are told that the hybrid organization which now exists is every\nway sufficient and satisfactory; that it is the fruit of Christian love,\nand that to disturb it would be rending the body of Christ. Here one might\nask how it came to exist at all, seeing that this Synod spoke so plainly\nand unambiguously in 1857. And I for one cordially concur in the remark of\nthe Elder Schieffelin, that the brethren there 'deserve censure.' We do\nnot censure them, nor do we propose to do so, but that they deserve it is\nundeniable. But the point is, how can our disapproval of the mongrel\nClassis mar the peace of the Amoy brethren? There is already a division\namong their churches. Some are supported by our funds, others by the funds\nof the English Presbyterians. Would it alter matters much to say, and to\nmake it a fact, that some of those churches belong to a Classis and others\nto a Presbytery? Some have an American connection and others an English.\nBut this would break Christian unity! Would it, indeed? You observed, Mr.\nPresident, the affectionate confidence, blended with reverence, with which\nI addressed from the chair the venerable Dr. Skinner. The reason was that\nwe both belong to an association of ministers in New York which meets\nweekly for mutual fellowship, enjoyment, and edification in all things\nbearing on ministerial character and duties. Ecclesiastically we have no\nconnection whatever. I never saw his Presbytery in session, and I doubt if\nhe ever saw our Classis; yet our brotherly, Christian, and even ministerial\ncommunion is as tender, and sacred, and profitable as if we had been\ncopresbyters for twenty years. Now, who dare say that this shall not exist\nat Amoy? Our brethren there can maintain precisely the same love, and\nconfidence, and co-operation as they do now, in all respects save the one\nof regular, formal, ecclesiastical organization.\n\n\"But I will not detain the Synod longer. I would not have left the chair\nto speak, but for the overwhelming importance of the subject. It is\npainful to deny the eager and earnest wishes of our missionary brethren,\nbut I believe we are doing them a real kindness by this course. Union\nchurches here have always in the end worked disunion, confusion, and every\nevil work. There is no reason to believe that the result would be at all\ndifferent abroad. A division would necessarily come at some period, and\nthe longer it was delayed, the more trying and sorrowful it would be. I am\nopposed, therefore, to the substitute offered by Brother Chapman, and also\nto that of Brother Talmage, and trust that the original resolutions, with\nthe report, will be adopted. That report contains not a single harsh or\nunpleasant word. It treats the whole case with the greatest delicacy as\nwell as thoroughness, but it reaffirms the action of 1857 in a way not to\nbe mistaken. And that is the ground on which the Church will take its\nstand. Whatever time, indulgence, or forbearance can be allowed to our\nbrethren, will cheerfully be granted. Only let them set their faces in the\ndirection of a distinct organization, classical as well as consistorial,\nand we shall be satisfied. Only let them recognize the principle and the\ndetails shall be left to themselves, under the leadings of God's gracious\nprovidence.\"\n\nThe report of the Committee on Foreign Missions, E. S. Porter, D.D.,\nchairman, was adopted. Part of it reads as follows:\n\n\"The missionaries there have endeared their names to the whole Christian\nworld, and especially to that household of faith of which they are loved\nand honored members.\"\n\n.... \"No words at our command can tell what fond and flaming sympathies\nhave overleaped broad oceans, and bound them and us together.\n\n  \"'Words, like nature, half reveal,\n  And half conceal the soul within.'\n\n.... \"Your committee are unable to see how it will be possible to carry the\nsympathies and the liberalities of the Church with an increasing tide of\nlove and sacrifice in support of our missionary work, if it once be\nadmitted as a precedent, or established as a rule, that our missionaries\nmay be allowed to form abroad whatever combinations they may choose, and\naid in creating ecclesiastical authorities, which supersede the authorities\nwhich commissioned them and now sustain them.\"\n\n\"The committee are not prepared to recommend that any violent and coercive\nresolutions should be adopted for the purpose of constraining our brethren\nin Amoy to a course of procedure which would rudely sunder the brotherly\nties that unite them with the missionaries of the English Presbyterian\nChurch. But a Christian discretion will enable them, on the receipt of the\ndecision of the present Synod, in this matter now under consideration, to\ntake such initial steps as are necessary to the speedy formation of a\nClassis.\n\n\"Much must be left to their discretion, prudence and judgment. But of the\nwish and expectation of this Synod to have their action conform as soon as\nmay be to the resolutions of 1857, your committee think the brethren at\nAmoy should be distinctly informed. They therefore offer the following:\n\n\"'I. Resolved, That the General Synod, having adopted and tested its plan\nof conducting foreign missions, can see no reason for abolishing it; but,\non the contrary, believe it to be adapted to the promotion of the best\ninterests of foreign missionary churches, and of the denomination\nsupporting them.\n\n\"'II. That the Board of Foreign Missions be, and hereby is, instructed to\nsend to our missionaries at Amoy a copy or copies of this report, as\ncontaining the well-considered deliverance of the Synod respecting their\npresent relations and future duty.\n\n\"'III. That the Secretary of the Foreign Board be, and hereby is, directed\nto send to the Rev. Dr. Hamilton, of London, Convener of the Presbyterian\nCommittee, a copy of this report, with a copy of the action of 1857, and\nthat he inform him by letter of the wishes and expectations of the Synod\nrespecting the ecclesiastical relations which this body desires its\nchurches in Amoy to sustain to it.'\"\n\nIn the report of the Foreign Committee of the English Presbyterian Church\nfor 1863, the following language is used in reference to the Union Chinese\nChurch of Amoy:\n\n\"We are hopeful, however, that on further consideration our brethren in\nAmerica may allow their missionaries in China to continue the present\narrangement, at least until such time as it is found that actual\ndifficulties arise in the way of carrying it out. 'Behold, how good and\npleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unify,' and there are few\nbrethren towards whom we feel closer affinity than the members of that\nChurch, which was represented of old by Gomarus and Witsius, by Voet and\nMarck, and Bernard de Moore, and whose Synod of Dort preceded in time and\npioneered in doctrine our own Westminster Assembly. Like them, we love\nthat Presbyterianism and that Calvinism which we hold in common, and we\nwish to carry them wherever we go; but we fear that it would not be doing\njustice to either, and that it might compromise that name which is above\nevery other, if, on the shores of China, we were to unfurl a separate\nstandard. We would, therefore, not only respectfully recommend to the\nSynod to allow its missionaries to unite presbyterially as well as\npractically with the brethren of the Reformed Dutch Church; but we would\nexpress the earnest hope that the Synod of the sister Church in America may\nfind itself at liberty to extend to its missionaries a similar freedom.\"\n\nThese sentiments were unanimously adopted by the Synod of the English\nPresbyterian Church.\n\nThe cause which Mr. Talmage was advocating was too near his heart, and his\nconvictions were too strong to permit silence. He prepared a pamphlet,\nsetting forth more clearly the position of the Mission at Amoy, as well as\nanswering objections made to it. [The exact standing of missionaries in\nthe Union Chinese Church of Amoy was also explained by Dr. Talmage in a\nlater pamphlet, for the contents of which see Appendix.] A few quotations\nread:\n\n\"In reference to it, i.e., the report of the Committee on Foreign Missions,\nwe would make three remarks: (1) It (Resolution III.) seems rather a\ncavalier answer to the fraternal wish of the Synod of the English\nPresbyterian Church, as expressed in their action. (2) The action of Synod\nis made to rest (Res. I.) on the fact that Synod had 'tested' this 'plan of\nconducting foreign missions.' If this be so, and the plan had been found\nby experiment unobjectionable, the argument is not without force. But how\nand where has this test been applied and found so satisfactory? Our Church\nhas three Missions among the heathen-one in India, one in China, and one in\nJapan. Has it been tested in Japan? No. They have not yet a single\nnative church. Has it been tested in China? If so, the missionaries were\nnot aware of it. The test applied there has been of an opposite character\nand has been wonderfully successful. The test has only been applied in\nIndia, and has only begun to be applied even there. There, as yet, there\nis but one native pastor. Their Classis is more American than Indian. We\nmust wait until they have a native Classis before the test can be\npronounced at all satisfactory. (3) No consideration is had for the\nfeelings, wishes or opinions of the native churches. The inalienable\nrights of the native churches, their relation to each other, their absolute\nunity-things of the utmost consequence-are not at all regarded, are\nentirely ignored.\"\n\nIn reply to the advantages claimed to flow from the plan advocated by\nGeneral Synod, Mr. Talmage says:\n\n\"1. The most important advantage is, or is supposed to be, that there will\nthus be higher courts of jurisdiction to which appeals may be made, and by\nwhich orthodoxy and good order may be the better secured to the Church at\nAmoy.\n\n\"Such advantages, if they can be thus secured, we would by no means\nunderrate. There sometimes are cases of appeal for which we need the\nhighest court practicable-the collective wisdom of the Church, so far as it\ncan be obtained; and the preservation of orthodoxy and good order is of the\nfirst importance. Now, let us see whether the plan proposed will secure\nthese advantages. Let us suppose that one of the brethren feels himself\naggrieved by the decision of the Classis of Amoy and appeals to the\nParticular Synod of Albany, and thence to General Synod. He will not be\ndenied the right to such appeal. But, in order that the appeal may be\nproperly prosecuted and disposed of, the appellant and the representative\nof Classis should be present in these higher courts. Can this be secured?\nIs the waste of time, of a year or more, nothing? And where shall the\nthousands of dollars of necessary expense come from? Now, suppose this\nappellant to be a Chinese brother. He, also, has rights; but how, on this\nplan, can he possibly obtain them? Suppose that the money be raised for\nhim and he is permitted to stand on the floor of Synod. He cannot speak,\nread, or write a word of English. Not a member of Synod can speak, read,\nor write a word of his language, except it be the brother prosecuting him.\nI ask, is it possible for him thus to obtain justice? But, waiving all\nthese disadvantages, the only point on which there is the least probability\nthat an appeal of a Chinese brother would come up before the higher courts,\nare points on which these higher courts would not be qualified to decide.\nThey would doubtless grow out of the peculiar customs and laws of the\nChinese, points on which the missionary, after he has been on the ground a\ndozen years, often feels unwilling to decide, and takes the opinion of the\nnative elders in preference to his own. Is it right to impose a yoke like\nthis on that little Church which God is gathering, by your instrumentality,\nin that far-off land of China? But it is said that these cases of appeal\nwill very rarely or never happen. Be it so; then this supposed advantage\nwill seldom or never occur, and, if it should occur, it would prove a\ndisadvantage.\"\n\nIn regard to keeping the Church pure in doctrine:\n\n\"Sure I am that the Church in China cannot be kept pure by legislation on\nthis, the opposite side of the globe. But we expect Christ to reign over\nand the Holy Spirit to be given to the Churches, and the proper\necclesiastical bodies formed of them in China, as well as in this land. Why\nnot? Such are the promises of God. The way to secure these things is by\nprayer and the preaching of the pure Gospel, not by legislation. Let the\nChurch be careful in her selection of missionaries. Send only such as she\nhas confidence in-men of God, sound in faith, apt to teach-and then trust\nthem, or recall them. Don't attempt to control them contrary to their\njudgment. Strange if this, which is so much insisted on as the policy of\nour Church, be right, that she cannot get a single man, of all she sends\nout to China, to think so. Can it be that the missionary work is so\nsubversive of right reason, or of correct judgment, or of\nconscientiousness, that all become perverted by engaging in it?\n\n\"2. Another supposed advantage is the effect it will have in enlisting the\nsympathies of the Church in behalf of the Mission at Amoy. Our people do\nnot first ask whether it be building ourselves up, before they sympathize\nwith a benevolent object. We believe the contrary is the exact truth. It\nrequires a liberal policy to call forth liberal views and actions. As\nregards the enlisting of men, look at the facts. Every man who has gone\nout from among you to engage in this missionary work begs of you not to\nadopt a narrow policy. So in regard to obtaining of funds. Usually the\nmen who are most liberal in giving are most liberal in feeling.\n\n.... \"However powerful the motive addressed to the desire to build up our\nown Church, there are motives infinitely more powerful. Such are the\nmotives to be depended upon in endeavoring to elevate the standard of\nliberality among our people. If our people have not yet learned, they\nshould be taught to engage in the work of evangelizing the world, not for\nthe sake of our Church in America, but for the sake of Christ and His\nChurch, and when the Church thus built up is like our own they should be\nfully satisfied. We believe they will be satisfied with this.\n\n\"Now let us consider the real or supposed evils of carrying out the\ndecision of Synod.\n\n\"1. It will not be for the credit of our Church. She now has a name, with\nother Churches, for putting forth efforts to evangelize the world. Shall\nshe mar this good name and acquire one for sectarianism, by putting forth\nefforts to extend herself, not her doctrines and order-they are not\nsectarian, and her missionaries esteem them as highly as do their brethren\nat home-but herself, even at the cost of dividing churches which the grace\nof God has made one? The decision of the last Synod may not be the result\nof sectarianism among the people of our Church. We do not think it is.\nBut it will be difficult to convince our Presbyterian brethren and others\nthat it is not so. By way of illustration I will suppose a case. A. is\nengaged in a very excellent work. B. comes to him, and the following\ndialogue ensues:\n\n\"B. 'Friend A., I am glad to see you engaged in so excellent a work. I\nalso have concluded to engage in it. I should be glad to work with you.\nYou know the proverbs, 'Union is strength,' and 'Two are better than one.'\n\n\"A. 'Yes, yes, friend B., I know these proverbs and believe them as\nthoroughly as you do. But I have a few peculiarities about my way of\nworking. They are not many, and they are not essential, but I think they\nare very useful, and wish to work according to them. Therefore, I prefer\nworking alone.'\n\n\"B. 'Yes, friend A., we all have our peculiarities, and, if they be not\ncarried too far, they may all be made useful. I have been making inquiries\nabout yours, and I am glad to find they are not nearly so many, or so\ndifferent from mine, as you suppose, and as I once supposed. The fact is,\nI rather like some of them, and though I may not esteem them all as highly\nas you do, still I am willing to conform to them; for I am fully persuaded\nthat, in work of this kind, two working together can do vastly more than\ntwo working separately, and the work will be much better done. Besides\nthis, the social intercourse will be delightful.'\n\n\"A. 'I appreciate, friend B., your politeness, and am well aware that all\nyou say about the greater efficiency and excellence of united work and the\ndelights of social intercourse is perfectly true. But--but--well, I prefer\nto work alone.'\n\n\"2. It will injure the efficiency of the Church at Amoy. Besides the\nobjection furnished by the increase of denominations, which the heathen\nwill thus, as readily as the irreligious in this country, be able to urge\nagainst Christianity, it will deprive the churches of the benefit of the\nunited wisdom and strength of the whole of them for self-cultivation and\nfor Christian enterprise, and will introduce a spirit of jealous rivalry\namong them. We know it is said that there need be no such result, and that\nthe native churches may remain just as united in spirit after the\norganization of two denominations as before. Such a sentiment takes for\ngranted, either that ecclesiastical organization has in fact no efficiency,\nor that the Chinese churches have arrived at a far higher state of\nsanctification than the churches have attained to in this land. Do not\ndifferent denominations exhibit jealous rivalry in this land? Is Chinese\nhuman nature different from American?\n\n\"In consequence of such division the native Churches will not be so able to\nsupport the Gospel among themselves. Look at the condition of our Western\ntowns in this respect. Why strive to entail like evils on our missionary\nchurches? ....\n\n\"But may not the Church change or improve her decisions? Here is one of\nthe good things we hope to see come out of this mistake of the Church.\nJesus rules, and He is ordering all things for the welfare of His Church\nand the advancement of His cause. Sometimes, the better to accomplish this\nend, He permits the Church to make mistakes. When we failed in former days\nto get our views made public, it gave us no anxiety, for we believed the\ndoctrine that Jesus reigns. So we now feel, notwithstanding this mistake.\nThe Master will overrule it for good. We do not certainly know how, but we\ncan imagine one way. By means of this mistake the matter may be brought\nbefore our Church, and before other Churches, more clearly than it would\notherwise have been for many years to come, and in consequence of this we\nexpect, in due time, that our Church, instead of coming up merely to the\nstandard of liberality for which we have been contending, will rise far\nabove anything we have asked for or even imagined, and other Churches will\nalso raise their standard higher. Hereafter we expect to contend for still\nhigher principles. This is the doctrine. Let all the branches of the\ngreat Presbyterian family in the same region in any heathen country, which\nare sound in the faith, organize themselves, if convenient, into one\norganic whole, allowing liberty to the different parts in things\nnon-essential. Let those who adopt Dutch customs, as at Amoy, continue, if\nthey see fit, their peculiarities, and those who adopt other Presbyterian\ncustoms, as at Ningpo and other places, continue their peculiarities, and\nyet all unite as one Church. This subject does not relate simply to the\ninterests of the Church at Amoy. It relates to the interests of all the\nmissionary work of all the churches of the Presbyterian order in all parts\nof the world. Oh, that our Church might take the lead in this catholicity\nof spirit, instead of falling back in the opposite direction-that no one\nmay take her crown! But if she do not, then we trust some other of the\nsacramental hosts will take the lead and receive, too, the honor, for it is\nfor the glory of the great Captain of our salvation and for the interests\nof His kingdom. We need the united strength of all these branches of Zion\nfor the great work which the Master has set before us in calling on us to\nevangelize the world. In expecting to obtain this union, will it be said\nthat we are looking for a chimera? It ought to be so, ought it not? Then\nit is no chimera. It may take time for the Churches to come up to this\nstandard, but within a few years we have seen tendencies to union among\ndifferent branches of the Presbyterian family in Australia. In Canada, in\nour own country, and in England and Scotland. In many places these\ntendencies are stronger now than they have ever before been since the days\nof the Reformation.\n\n\"True, human nature is still compassed with infirmities even in the Church\nof Christ. But the day of the world's regeneration is approaching, and as\nit approaches nearer to us, doubtless the different branches of the\nPresbyterian family will approach still nearer to each other. God hasten\nthe time, and keep us also from doing anything to retard, but everything to\nhelp it forward, and to His name be the praise forever. Amen.\"\n\nSo strong was the feeling of the entire Amoy Mission, that in September,\n1863, the following communication was sent to the Board of Foreign\nMissions:\n\n\"Dear Brethren: We received from you on the 22d ultimo the action taken by\nthe General Synod at its recent session at Newburgh with regard to the\nproposed organization of a Classis at Amoy. Did we view this step in the\nlight in which Synod appears to have regarded it, we should need in this\ncommunication to do no more than signify our intention to carry out\npromptly the requirements of Synod; but we regret to say that such is not\nthe case, and that Synod, in requiring this of us, has asked us to do that\nwhich we cannot perform. We feel that Synod must have mistaken our\nposition on this question. It is not that we regard the proposed action as\nmerely inexpedient and unwise; if this were all, we would gladly carry out\nthe commands of Synod, transferring to it the responsibility which it\noffers to assume. But the light in which we regard it admits of no\ntransfer of responsibility. It is not a matter of judgment only, but also\nof conscience.\n\n\"We conscientiously feel that in confirming such an organization we should\nbe doing a positive injury and wrong to the churches of Christ established\nat Amoy, and that our duty to the Master and His people here forbids this.\nTherefore, our answer to the action of General Synod must be and is that we\ncannot be made the instruments of carrying out the wishes of Synod in this\nreport; and further, if Synod is determined that such an organization must\nbe effected, we can see no other way than to recall us and send hither men\nwho see clearly their way to do that which to us seems wrong.\n\n\"We regret the reasons which have led us to this conclusion. We have\nthought it best that each member of the Mission should forward to you his\nindividual views on this subject, rather than embody them in the present\ncommunication.\n\n\"We accordingly refer you to these separate statements which will be sent\nto you as soon as prepared.\n\n\"Commending you, dear brethren, to our common Lord, whose servants we all\nare, and praying that He will guide us into all truth, we are as ever,\n\n  \"Your brethren in Christ\n\n    E. DOTY,\n    A. OSTROM,\n    D. RAPALJE,\n    LEONARD W. KIP,\n    AUG. BLAUVELT.\n\n  \"AMOY, Sept. 16, 1863.\"\n\nThe last action taken by the General Synod was in June, 1864, and reads as\nfollows:\n\n\"Resolved, That while the General Synod does not deem it necessary or\nproper to change the missionary policy defined and adopted in 1857, yet, in\nconsideration of the peculiar circumstances of the Mission of Amoy, the\nbrethren there are allowed to defer the formation of a Classis of Amoy\nuntil, in their judgment, such a measure is required by the wants and\ndesires of the Churches gathered by them from among the heathen.\"\n\nAt the Centenary Conference on the Protestant Missions of the World, held\nin Exeter Hall, London, 1888, Rev. W. J. K. Taylor, D.D., for many years a\nmost efficient member of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed\nChurch in America, read a paper on \"Union and Cooperation in Foreign\nMissions,\" in which he said:\n\n\"Actual union has been happily maintained at Amoy, China, for more than a\nquarter of a century between the missionaries of the Reformed (Dutch)\nChurch in America and those of the Presbyterian Church of England. Having\nlabored together in the faith of the Gospel, gathering converts into the\nfold of Christ, and founding native churches, these brethren could not and\nwould not spoil the unity of those infant churches by making two\ndenominations out of one company of believers nor would they sow in that\nvirgin soil the seeds of sectarian divisions which have long sundered the\nProtestant Churches in Europe and America. The result was the organization\nof the Tai-Hoey, or Great Council of Elders, which is neither an English\nPresbytery nor a Reformed Church Classis, but is like them both. It is not\nan appendage of either of these foreign Churches, but is a genuine\nindependent Chinese Christian Church holding the standards and governed by\nthe polity of the twin-sister Churches that sent them the Gospel by their\nown messengers. The missionaries retain their relations with their own\nhome Churches and act under commissions of their own Church Board of\nMissions. They are not settled pastors, but are more like the Apostolic\nEvangelists of New Testament times,--preachers, teachers, founders of\nChurches, educators of the native ministry, and superintendents of the\ngeneral work of evangelization.\n\n\"This Tai-Hoey is a child of God, which was 'born, not of blood, nor of the\nwill of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.' It is believed to\nbe the first ecclesiastical organization for actual union and co-operation\nin mission lands by the representatives of churches holding the Reformed\nfaith and Presbyterial polity. Its history has already been long enough to\ngive the greatest value to its experience.\"\n\nFor seven years, by tongue and pen, Mr. Talmage advocated the establishment\nof an independent Chinese Union Church of the Presbyterian order. Even\nthen the Reformed Church was not fully persuaded and did not give her\nhearty assent. The resolution of 1864 was only tentative. It was a plea\nfor toleration. This was not strange. It was one of the earliest efforts,\nif not the earliest, for church union and separate autonomy on heathen\nsoil. It was a new departure. But the battle was really won. The\nquestion was never broached again. The strongest opponents then are the\nwarmest friends of union and autonomy now. Thirty years of happiest\nexperience, of hearty endorsement by native pastors and foreign\nmissionaries are sufficient testimony to the wisdom of the steps then\ntaken.\n\nIn November, 1864, Mr. Talmage married Miss Mary E. Van Deventer, and\nforthwith proceeded to China, where he arrived early in 1865.\n\nIn 1867, Rutgers College, New Jersey, recognized Mr. Talmage's successful\nand scholarly labors in China for a period of full twenty years, by giving\nhim the degree of Doctor of Divinity.\n\n\n\n\nX. THE ANTI-MISSIONARY AGITATION.\n\nPrince Kung, at Sir Rutherford Alcock's parting interview with him in 1869,\nsaid: \"Yes, we have had a great many discussions, but we know that you have\nalways endeavored to do justice, and if you could only relieve us of\nmissionaries and opium, there need be no more trouble in China.\"\n\nHe spoke the mind of the officials, literati, and the great masses of the\npeople. Heathenism is incarnate selfishness. How can a Chinese understand\nthat men will turn their backs on the ancestral home, travel ten thousand\nmiles with no other object but to do his countrymen good? The natural\nChinaman cannot receive it. He suspects us. And he has enough to pillow\nhis suspicion on. Let him turn the points of the compass. He sees the\ngreat North-land in the hands of Russia. He sees the Spaniard tyrannizing\nover the Philippine Islanders. He sees Holland dominating the East Indies.\nHe sees India's millions at the feet of the British lion. \"What are these\nbenevolent-looking barbarians tramping up and down the country for? Why\nare they establishing churches and schools and hospitals? They are trying\nto buy our hearts by their feigned kindness, and hand us over to some\nWestern monarch ere long.\" So reasons our unsophisticated Chinese. He is\nheartily satisfied with his own religion or utterly indifferent to any\nreligion. He has no ear for any new doctrine except as a curiosity, to\ngive momentary amusement, and then to be thrown to the ground like a\nchild's toy.\n\nThe missionary appears on the scene in dead earnest. \"Agitation is our\nprofession.\" We are among those \"who are trying to turn the world upside\ndown.\"\n\nThe Spirit of God touches and dissolves the apathy, melts the ice, breaks\nthe stone, and we see men alive unto God; \"old things are passed away,\nbehold all things are become new.\" What a change in the recipient of God's\ngrace.\n\nA change, too, takes place in him who resists. Icy apathy becomes burning,\nbitter hatred. The whole enginery of iniquity is set in motion to sweep\noff this strange foreign propaganda. Malicious placards are posted before\nevery yamen and temple. Basest stories are retailed. \"The barbarians dig\nout men's eyes and cut out men's hearts to make medicine of them.\" The\nthirst for revenge is engendered, until, like an unleashed tiger, the mob\nsprings upon the missionary's home, and returns not till its thirst has\nbeen slaked with the blood of the righteous. That is the dark shadow\nhanging over missionary life in nearly every part of the Chinese Empire.\n\nWe have had no name to add to the foreign missionary martyr list, from the\nregion of Amoy.\n\nChinese martyrs there may have been. Men who have endured the lifelong\nlaceration of taunt and sneer and suffered the loss of well nigh all\nthings, there have been not a few. Though the fires of persecution have\nburned with fiercer intensity in other parts of China, yet we have not\nescaped having our garments singed in some of their folds.\n\nPerhaps the most widespread anti-missionary uprising in China occurred\nduring the years 1870 and 1871.\n\nIt was during the summer of 1870 that Dr. Talmage was compelled to go to\nChefoo, North China, for much-needed rest and change.\n\nOn August 8th he wrote to Dr. J. M. Ferris:\n\n\"The next day after my arrival at Chefoo the news was received of the\nterrible massacre at Tientsin on June 21st. (Tientsin is the port of\nPeking, and has a population of upwards of one million.) Nine Sisters of\nCharity, one foreign priest, the French consul and other French officials\nand subjects, and three Russians--in all, twenty-one Europeans--were\nmassacred. Many of them were horribly mutilated. Especially is this true\nof all the Sisters. Their private residences and public establishments, as\nwell as all the Protestant chapels within the city, were destroyed.\"\n\nNot long after, the American Presbyterian Mission at Tung chow, Shantung\nProvince, North China, was broken up, for fear of an intended massacre.\nThe missionaries were helped to Chefoo by two vessels sent by the British\nAdmiral, Sir Henry Kellet.\n\nAt Canton, vile stories about foreigners distributing poisonous pills were\ngotten up, and such was the seriousness of the crisis that two German\nmissionaries had to flee for their lives, one having his mission premises\nutterly destroyed. A people whose credulity is most amazingly developed by\nfeeding on fairy tales and demon adventures from their childhood, are\nprepared to believe anything about the \"ocean barbarians\" whose name is\nnever spoken without mingled fear and hatred and suspicion.\n\nThe ferment, started at Canton, spread along the coast. The people of Amoy\nwere inoculated with the virus.\n\nOn the 22d of September, 1871, Dr. Talmage addressed a letter to General Le\nGendre, U. S. Consul at Amoy, informing him of the state of affairs in and\nabout Amoy. The missionary knowing the language and having constant\ndealings with the people would be more likely to know the extent and\ngravity of any conspiracy against foreigners than the Consul. A part of\nthe letter reads:\n\n\"In July last inflammatory placards were extensively posted throughout the\nregion about Canton, stating that foreigners had imported a large quantity\nof poison and had hired vagabond Chinese to distribute it among the people;\nthat only foreigners had the antidote to this poison and that they refused\nto administer it, except for large sums of money or to such persons as\nembraced the foreigner's religion. In the latter part of July some of\nthese placards and letters accompanying them were received by Chinese at\nAmoy from their Canton friends. They were copied, with changes to suit\nthis region, and extensively circulated. The man who seems to have been\nmost active in their circulation was the Cham-hu, the highest military\nofficial at Amoy under the Admiral. He united with the Hai-hong, a high\ncivil official, in issuing a proclamation, warning the people to be on\ntheir guard against poison, which wicked people were circulating. This\nproclamation was not only circulated in the city of Amoy, but also in the\ncountry around.\n\n\"It did not mention foreigners, but the people by some other means were\nmade to understand that foreigners were meant. The district Magistrate of\nthe city of Chiang-chiu issued a proclamation informing the people of the\ndanger of poison, especially against poison in their wells. Two days later\nhe issued another proclamation, reiterating his warnings, and informing the\npeople that he had arrested and examined a man who confessed that he, with\nthree others, had been employed by foreigners to engage in this work of\npoisoning the people.\n\n\"Their especial business was to poison all the wells. This so-called\ncriminal was speedily executed.\n\n\"A few days afterwards a military official at Chiang-chiu also issued a\nproclamation to warn the people against poison, and giving the confession\nof the above-mentioned criminal with great particularity. The criminal is\nmade to say that a few months ago he had been decoyed and sold to\nforeigners. In company with more than fifty others--he was conveyed by\nship to Macao. There they were distributed among the foreign hongs, one to\neach hong. (Hong is pigeon English for business house.)\n\n\"That afterwards he with three others was sent home, being furnished with\npoison for distribution, and with special direction to poison all the wells\non their way. They were to refer all those on whom the poison took effect\nto a certain individual at Amoy, who would heal them gratuitously, only\nrequiring of them their names. This, doubtless, is an allusion to the\nhospital for the Chinese at Amoy, where the names of the patients are of\ncourse recorded and they receive medicine and medical attendance\ngratuitously.\n\n\"In this confession foreigners are designated by the opprobrious epithet of\n'little'--that is, contemptible--'demons.' This, by the way, is a phrase\nnever used to designate foreigners in this region except by those in the\nmandarin offices. Besides the absurdity of charging foreigners with\ndistributing poison, the whole confession bears the evidence not only of\nfalsehood, but, if ever made, of having been put into the man's mouth by\nthose inside the mandarin offices and forced from him by torture, for the\nexpress purpose of exciting the intensest hatred against foreigners.\n\n\"In consequence, excitement and terror and hatred to foreigners, and\nconsequently to native Christians, became most intense, and extended from\nthe cities far into the country around. Wells were fenced in and put under\nlock and cover. People were called together by the beating of gongs to\ndraw water. The buckets were covered in carrying water to guard against\nthe throwing in of poison along the streets. At the entrances of some\nvillages notices were posted warning strangers not to enter lest they be\narrested as poisoners. In various places men were arrested and severely\nbeaten on suspicion, merely because they were strangers. The native\nChristians everywhere were subjected to much obloquy and sometimes to\nimminent danger, charged with being under the influence of foreigners and\nemployed by them to distribute poison.\n\n\"Even at the Amoy hospital, which has been in existence nearly thirty\nyears, the number of patients greatly decreased; some days there were\nalmost none.\"\n\nIn the large cities of Tong-an and Chinchew placards were posted in great\nnumbers. They averred that black and red pills were being sold by the\nagents of foreigners under presence of curing disease and saving the world.\n\nInstead they were causes of terrible diseases which none but the foreign\ndogs or their agents could cure. And to get cured, one must join the\nforeign religion or else give great sums. It was asserted that all this\npoison emanated from the foreign chapels, was often thrown into wells, and\nsecretly put into fish or other food in the markets.\n\nA preacher, sixty miles from Foochow, one hundred and fifty miles north of\nAmoy, barely escaped with his life. He was pounded with stones while the\nbystanders called out, \"Kill the poisoner, the foreign devils' poisoner!\"\n\nThe whole object of this diabolical calumniating was to kindle the people\ninto a frenzy against foreigners, especially missionaries, and to make\nforeign powers believe that the people are so anti-foreign that the\nauthorities cannot secure a foreigner's safety outside of the treaty ports.\n\nEven when these reports were traveling like wildfire there were those among\nthe Chinese who knew better, and it was often said, \"It cannot be the\nmissionaries and native Christians, for have they not been going in and out\namong us all these years and they never did us any harm?\"\n\nSpeaking of the \"Political State of the Country,\" Dr. Talmage says:\n\n\"With the atrocities committed at Tientsin the world is acquainted, though\nmany seem still to be under the grievous error that these atrocities were\ndesigned only against Romanism and the French nation.\n\n\"If this were the fact, it would be no justification. Others are under an\nerror equally grievous, that the Chinese Government has given reasonable\nredress. It has given no proper redress at all. Instead of reprobating\nthe massacre, it has almost, and doubtless to the ideas of the Chinese,\nfully sanctioned it. The leaders in the massacre have not been brought to\njustice. The Government has readily given life for life--a very easy\nmatter in China--but it has so highly rewarded the families of the victims\nthus sacrificed to placate the barbarians, and put so much honor on the\ncorpses of these martyrs to foreign demands, that it has encouraged similar\natrocities whenever a suitable time shall arrive for their perpetration.\nThe Imperial proclamation stating even this unsatisfactory redress, which\nthe Government solemnly promised should be published throughout the land,\nhas not been published except in a few instances where foreigners have\ncompelled it. The massacre at Tientsin is known throughout the empire, but\nit is not known generally that any redress at all has been given.\n\n\"Instead of the publication of this proclamation the vilest calumnies--too\nvile to be even mentioned in Christian ears--have been circulated secretly,\nbut widely throughout the land. Throughout the coast provinces of this\nsouthern half of the empire the people have been warned of a grand\npoisoning scheme gotten up by foreigners for the destruction of the\nChinese.\n\n\"Because the foreign residents in China report the truth in regard to the\nfeeling of hatred to foreigners, and warn the nations of the West of the\ncoming war and designed extirpation of all foreigners, for which China is\nassuredly preparing with all its might, we are charged as being desirous of\nbringing on war. We know that the Church will not impute such motives to\nher missionaries. But the testimony of missionaries agrees in this respect\nwith that of other foreign residents. We see the evidence, as we walk the\nstreets, in the countenances and demeanor of the literati and officials,\nand somewhat in the countenances and demeanor of the masses.\n\n\"We see it in the changed policy of the local magistrates toward the\nChristians; we learn it from rumors which are circulated from time to time\namong the people; we see it in the activity manifested in forming a proper\nnavy and in preparing the army.\n\n\"We learn it from the secret communications, some of which have reached the\nlight, passing to and fro between the Imperial Government and the higher\nlocal authorities, and we fear that we have another proof in the barbarous\ntreatment of a shipwrecked crew some two weeks ago along the coast a little\nto the north of Amoy.\n\n\"A British mercantile steamer ran ashore in a fog. She was unarmed. The\nnatives soon gathered in force and attacked the vessel. The people on\nboard attempted to escape in their boats. These boats were afterwards\nattacked by a large fleet of fishing-boats and separated.\n\n\"One boat's company were taken ashore, stripped naked, wounded, and robbed\nof everything. They finally made their way overland to Amoy. The other\nthree boats, after the crew and passengers had been stripped and robbed,\nwere let go to sea. They providentially fell in with a steamer which took\nthem to Foochow. Such atrocities were once common here.\n\n\"We do not believe that any large proportion of the foreign residents in\nChina wish war. We do wish, however, the rights secured to us by treaty.\nThese, with a proper policy, can be secured without war. We wish most\nheartily to avoid war. Besides all its other evils it would be a sad thing\nfor our work and our churches. We still hope that God in His providence\nwill ward it off. He will do it in answer to our prayers if so it be best\nfor His cause. This is our only hope, and it is sufficient.\"\n\nThe threatening war cloud did blow over, and a restraint, at least\ntemporary, was laid upon the officials and the people in their treatment of\nforeigners.\n\n\n\n\nXI. THE LAST TWO DECADES.\n\nDr. Talmage was a man of strong convictions, at the same time possessed of\na spirit of genuine catholicity. The brethren connected with the London\nand English Presbyterian Missions recognized him as a true friend. In his\nlater years he became the Nestor of the three Missions, the venerated\npatriarch, the trusted counselor.\n\nIt will not be inappropriate to give two letters expressive of his\ngood-will toward his fellow laborers. The one was written on the occasion\nof Rev. John Stronach's return to England:\n\n\nFORTY CONTINUOUS YEARS IN HEATHENISM.\n\n\"March 16, 1876. Today we said farewell to the veteran missionary, Rev.\nJohn Stronach.\n\n\"He has been laboring many years at this place in connection with the\nLondon Missionary Society. This morning he left us for his native land by\na new route.\n\n\"Each of the three Missions has one or more boats employed exclusively in\ncarrying missionaries and native preachers on their trips to and from the\nvarious outstations accessible by water. These boats are called by the\nnative Christians 'hok-im-chun,' which means 'Gospel boat.' Mr. Stronach\nembarked on one of these 'Gospel boats.' He expected to land at one of the\nMission stations on the mainland northeast from Amoy, and then travel\noverland on foot or by sedan-chair to Foochow. He will spend the remaining\nnights of this week and the Sabbath at various stations under the care of\nthe Missions at Amoy, and say some parting words to the native Christians.\n\n\"He expects early next week to meet one of the Methodist missionaries of\nFoochow, and in company with him to pass on to that city, spending the\nnights at stations under the care of the Foochow Missions. We may now\ntravel overland from Amoy to Foochow (a distance of one hundred and fifty\nmiles) and spend every night, sometimes take our noonday meals, at a\nChristian chapel. Does this look as if missions were a failure in this\nregion? At Foochow Mr. Stronach will take steamer for Shanghai, thence to\nYokohama and San Francisco.\n\n\"All the missionaries of Amoy and many Chinese Christians accompanied Mr.\nStronach to the boat. It is very sad to say farewell to those with whom we\nhave been long and pleasantly associated.\n\n\"Mr. Stronach left England in 1837, thirty-nine years ago, to labor as a\nmissionary in the East Indies.\n\n\"He came to Amoy in 1844, shortly after this port was opened to foreign\ncommerce and missionary labor. He was soon sent to Shanghai as one of the\nCommittee of Delegates on the translation of the Scriptures into the\nChinese language. If he had done nothing more for China than his share in\nthis great work, the benefit would have been incalculable. After the\ncompletion of this work in 1853, he returned to Amoy, where he has labored\ncontinuously, with the exception of a short visit a few years ago to\nHongkong and Canton, and a shorter one last year to Foochow. Very rarely\nhas he been interrupted in his work by illness. In the history of modern\nmissions few instances can be found of missionaries who have been permitted\nto labor uninterruptedly for nearly forty years, not even taking one\nfurlough home.\n\n\"In the case of Mr. Stronach the language concerning Moses may be literally\napplied, 'His eye is not dim, nor his natural force abated.' He does not\nyet have occasion to use spectacles, and the route he has taken proves him\nstill full of mental and physical vigor. Think of the discoveries and\ninventions during the last forty years! Will Mr. Stronach recognize his\nnative land? The good hand of the Lord be with him and make his remaining\nyears as happy as his past ones have been useful.\"\n\nThe other letter, to Rev. John M. Ferris, D.D., was written on the occasion\nof the death of the Rev. Carstairs Douglas, LL.D., one of the most\naccomplished and scholarly men ever sent to any mission field:\n\n\n\"AUGUST 8, 1877.\n\n\"By this mail we have sad news to send. It relates to the death of Rev.\nCarstairs Douglas, LL.D., of the English Presbyterian Mission at Amoy. He\nwas the senior member of that Mission, having arrived at Amoy, July, 1855,\ntwenty-two years ago.\n\n\"Dr. Douglas, two weeks ago to-day, was in apparent good health. On that\nday he made calls on several members of the foreign community. To some of\nthem he remarked, concerning his health, that he had never felt better.\nThat evening he was in his usual place in our weekly prayer-meeting. The\nnext morning at four o'clock he began to feel unwell, but did not wish to\ndisturb others, so called no one until about half past six. Then some\nmedicine was given him and he sat down at his study-table for the morning\nreading of his Hebrew Bible. About an hour after this he became much worse\nand the doctor was sent for. On his arrival the physician pronounced his\ndisease to be cholera of the most virulent type, and the case to be almost\nwithout hope of recovery.\n\n\"In consequence of our long and close intimacy word was soon sent to me. I\nhastened to see him. He was already very weak and could not converse\nwithout great effort. Everything was done for him that could be done. But\nhe continued failing until about a quarter before six in the afternoon,\nJuly 26th, when he breathed his last. He knew what his disease was and\nwhat would probably be its termination, but evidently the King of Terrors\nhad no terror for him. His end was peace. He retained his consciousness\nnearly to the last.\n\n\"He was to have preached in our English chapel to the foreign community on\nthe following Sabbath morning. He told us his text was Romans vi. 23, 'The\nwages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus\nChrist our Lord.' The text was so suitable to the occasion that I took it,\nand in his place on the next Sabbath morning preached his funeral sermon\nfrom his own text.\n\n\"By overwork he had worn himself out, and made himself an old man while he\nwas yet comparatively young in years. He came to China quite young and at\nthe time of his death was only about forty-six years of age, and yet men\nwho had recently become acquainted with him thought him over sixty. Is any\none inclined to blame him too much for this, as though he wore himself out\nand sacrificed his life before the time? If so, he did it in a good cause\nand for a good Master. Besides this, he did more work during the\ntwenty-two years of his missionary life than the most of men accomplish in\ntwice that time. And then, he reminds us of One, who when only a little\nover thirty years of age, from similar causes, seems to have acquired the\nappearance of nearly fifty (John viii. 57).\n\n\"Recently, especially during the last year, it was manifest, at least to\nothers, that his physical strength was fast giving way. Yet he could not\nbe prevailed upon to leave his field for a season for temporary rest, or\neven to lessen the amount of his work.\n\n\"I never knew a more incessant worker. He was a man of most extensive\ngeneral information. I think I have never met with his equal in this\nrespect. He was acquainted with several modern European languages and was a\nthorough student of the original languages of Holy Scripture, as witness\nthe fact of his study of the Hebrew Bible, even after his last sickness had\ncommenced. As regards the Chinese language, he was already taking his\nplace among the first sinologues of the land. We were indebted more to\nhim, perhaps, than to any other one man for the success of the recent\nGeneral Missionary Conference (at Shanghai).\n\n[At this first General Conference of the Protestant missionaries of China,\nheld at Shanghai in May, 1877, Dr. Talmage preached the opening sermon and\nread a paper, the title of which was, \"Should the native churches in China\nbe united ecclesiastically and independent of foreign churches and\nsocieties?\"]\n\n\"As a member of the Committee of Arrangements he labored indefatigably by\nwriting Ietters and in other ways to make it a success, and though\ncomparatively so young, he well deserved the honor bestowed on him in\nmaking him one of the presidents of that body. 'Know ye not that there is\na prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?'\n\n\"This is a great blow to the English Presbyterian Mission in this place.\nIt is also, because of the intimate relations of the two missions and the\noneness of the churches under our care, a great blow to us. It is a great\nblow to the whole mission work in China--greater, perhaps, than the loss\nof any other man. You will not wonder that I, from my long intimacy with\nhim, feel the loss deeply, more and more deeply every day and week, as the\ndays and weeks pass away without him.\"\n\n\nCHINESE GRANDILOQUENCE.\n\nAn episode in connection with the visit to China in 1878 of Dr. Jacob\nChamberlain, of the Arcot Mission, is described in a letter to Dr. Goyn\nTalmage, as follows:\n\n\"Dear Goyn: I suppose I told you about the pleasant visit we had from Dr.\nChamberlain and family. The Doctor went with me to Chiang-chiu. While\nthere his carpet-bag was stolen out of the boat. We reported the case to a\nmilitary officer, and told him that we wanted the bag very much, and if he\ncould get it for us, we should make no trouble about having the thief\npunished. In a few days after our return to Amoy the bag was sent to us\nwith all its contents complete. We bought an umbrella--a nice silk\none--and sent it up to the officer as a present. Perhaps you would like to\nsee a translation of the letter he sent in reply. It will illustrate\nChinese politeness. The letter reads as follows:\n\n\"'When the flocks of wild geese make their orderly flight,--the glorious\nautumnal season deserving of laudation,--my thoughts wander far away to\nyou, Teacher Talmage, whose noble presence is worthy to be saluted with bow\nprofound, and whose dignified manners invite to close intimacy. Alas, that\nour acquaintance should have been formed at this late day!--and that, too,\nwhen, by wafting and by the plying of oars, having arrived at 'the stream\nof the fragrant grain fields' (poetic name for the region of Chiang-chiu),\nyou met with the mishap of doggish thieves taking advantage of your want of\nwatchfulness! Truly, the blame of this rests on me. How, then, can I have\nthe hardihood to receive from you a present of value! A reward of demerit,\nhow can I endure it! During the three stages of life, (youth, middle age,\nand old age,) I shall not be able to repay. It is only by inheritance (not\nby my own merit) that I obtained the imperial favor of office. Thus, my\ndeficiency in the knowledge of official laws and governmental regulations\nhas subjected you to fear and anxiety. Shame on me in the extreme! shame\nin the extreme! Only by the greatest stretch could I hope to meet with\nforbearance, how then could you take trouble and manifest kindness by\nsending a present. Writing cannot exhaust my words, and words can not\nexhaust my meaning. It will be necessary to come and express my thanks in\nperson. Such are my supplications and such is my sense of obligation. May\nthere be golden peace to you, Teacher Talmage, and will your excellency\nplease bestow your brilliant glance on what I have written!'\n\n\"Is not that a specimen of humility? The stealing was because of his\nneglect of duty, and his neglect of duty was because of inability, having\nobtained his office through the merit of his father or grandfather. Of\ncourse he kept the umbrella.\"\n\nAugust 18, 1887, marked the fortieth anniversary of Dr. Talmage's arrival\nin China. He said so little about it, however, that it was not known by\nthe friends of the other missions until the very day dawned.\n\nThe members of the English Presbyterian Mission--ladies and\ngentlemen--immediately concluded to secure some suitable memento expressive\nof their regard for Dr. Talmage and his work. A set of Macaulay's History\nof England, bound in tree calf, and a finely bound copy of the latest\nedition of the Royal Atlas, were sent for. In connection with the\npresentation the following letter from Rev. W. McGregor was read:\n\n\"Amoy, April 3, 1888.\n\n\"Dear Dr. Talmage:\n\n\"When on the 18th of last August we learned that that day was the fortieth\nanniversary of your arrival in China, the news came upon us unexpectedly.\nWe wished we had had more forethought and kept better count of the years,\nso that we might have made more of the occasion. Each of us felt a desire\nto present you with some token of our regard, and it seemed to us for many\nreasons best that we should do so unitedly as members of the English\nPresbyterian Mission in Amoy. We had at the time nothing suitable to offer\nyou, but we agreed on certain books to be sent for,--not as having any\nspecial relations to the work in which you have been engaged, but as being\neach a standard work of its kind. The books have now arrived, and I have\nmuch pleasure in sending them to you as something that may be kept in your\nfamily as a memorial of the day and a small token of our high esteem for\nyourself personally and of the great value we attach to the work you have\ndone in the service of our common Lord.\n\n\"I am, yours truly,\n\n\"Wm. McGregor.\n\n\"On behalf of the members of the English Presbyterian Mission, Amoy.\"\n\nDr. Talmage was blessed with a most vigorous physical constitution, but\nyears of struggle with one of the complaints peculiar to the tropics,\nfinally compelled his retirement from the Mission field.\n\nIn the summer of 1889, Dr. and Mrs. Talmage embarked on the steamship\nArabia for the United States. Dr. Talmage turned his face to the old\nhome-village, Bound Brook, New Jersey, all the time cherishing the hope of\none more return to China and his laying down the shepherd's crook and robe\namong the flock he had gathered from among the heathen. That hope was not\nto be realized. Though he had left Amoy, yet he ceased not to do what he\ncould for the work there. Though compelled to lie on his back much of the\ntime, making writing difficult, he sent letters to the Chinese Monthly\nMagazine and to not a few of the pastors, encouraging them in their labors.\nChiefly did he devote himself to the completion of a Character Colloquial\nDictionary in the Amoy language, intended to be of special service to the\nChinese Christian Church. It was intended to facilitate the study of the\nChinese Character, especially those Characters used in the Chinese Bible.\nIt was also calculated to promote the study of the Romanized Colloquial\nVersion of the Scriptures as well as other Romanized Colloquial literature.\n\nIn the midst of multiplied duties and many distractions he had wrought on\nit for upwards of a score of years. He was eager to make it thoroughly\nreliable. He spared no pains to that end. He always felt very much out of\npatience with any one who would give to the public an inaccurate book; and\nit was the desire to make his dictionary as accurate as possible that kept\nhim from having it published some years since.\n\nHe consulted Chinese literary men. He pored over Chinese dictionaries. He\nbrought it home with him, requiring, as he thought, still further revision,\nand his last labors were the completion of it with the valued assistance of\nthe Rev. Daniel Rapalje, of the Amoy Mission. It is now going through the\npress and will soon be at the service of missionaries and native brethren\nwho have eagerly awaited its appearance for many years.\n\nHis strength gradually failed and on August 19, 1892, in his seventy-third\nyear, he quietly breathed his last at Bound Brook, New Jersey.\n\nThe mortal tent loosened down and folded was laid away in the family plot\nnear Somerville, New Jersey. Most of his living, working years he had\nspent far away from the ancestral home. It was God's will that his dust\nshould find a place next to the kindred dust of father and mother, sister\nand brother, in the peaceful God's acre but a few miles from the old\nhomestead.\n\nDr. Talmage left a wife, two daughters and three sons, and a goodly circle\nof relatives and friends to mourn his departure. Mrs. Talmage has since\nreturned to the Talmage Manse at Amoy and taken up afresh her chosen work\nin educating the ill-privileged and ignorant women of China. The two\ndaughters, Miss Katharine and Miss Mary, are rendering most faithful and\nefficient service, too, among China's mothers and daughters. Rev. David M.\nTalmage fills a pastorate with the Reformed Church of Westwood, New Jersey.\nMr. John Talmage is a rice merchant at New Orleans, Louisiana. Rev. George\nE. Talmage ministers to the Lord's people at Mott Haven, New York.\n\nWhen the sun of Dr. Talmage's life set, it was to the Chinese brethren at\nAmoy, like the setting of a great hope. The venerable teacher had left\nthem two years before, but he had not spoken a final farewell. They and he\nlooked for one more meeting on earth. He was known to the whole Chinese\nChurch in and about Amoy for a circuit of a hundred miles. He sat at its\ncradle. He watched its growth until within two years of the day when it\nwent forth two bands united in one Synod with twenty organized,\nself-supporting churches, nineteen native pastors, upwards of two thousand\ncommunicants and six thousand adherents.\n\nIn the many breaks that occur in the missionary constituency, his life was\nthe one chain of continuity. The Churches had come to feel that whoever\nfailed them, they had Teacher Talmage still. His departure was like the\nfalling down of a venerable cathedral, leaving the broken and bleeding ivy\namong the dust and debris. The Chinese Christians had leaned hard upon\nhim. They loved and revered him as a father. Since he passed away his\nname has seldom been mentioned in any public assembly of the Church by any\nof the Chinese brethren without the broken and trembling utterance that has\ncalled forth from a listening congregation the silent, sympathetic tear.\n\nGreat and good man, fervent preacher, inspiring teacher, wise and\nsympathetic counselor, generous friend, affectionate father,--farewell,\ntill the morning breaks and we meet in the City of Light. \"And behold these\nshall come from far, and lo, these from the north, and from the west, and\nthese from the land of Sinim.\"\n\n  \"Oh then what raptured greetings,\n  What knitting severed friendships up,\n  Where partings are no more.\"\n\n\n\n\nXII. IN MEMORIAM.\n\n\nDR. TALMAGE-THE MAN.\n\nBY REV. W. S. SWANSON, D.D.\n\n[Dr. Swanson was for twenty years a valued member of the English\nPresbyterian Mission at Amoy, and subsequently Secretary of the Board of\nForeign Missions of the Presbyterian Church of England until his death,\nNovember 24, 1893]\n\nMy first meeting with Dr. Talmage took place in the early days of July,\n1860, and from that day till the day of his death he was regarded as not\nonly one of the best and most valued friends, but I looked up to him as a\nfather beloved and respected.\n\nOne cannot help recalling now the impressions of those early days. There\nwas a marked individuality about this man that made you regard him whether\nyou would or not. You felt that he was a man bound to lead and to take the\nforemost place amongst his brethren and all with whom he came in touch.\nThere was a firmness of tread, and the brave courage of conviction, united\nwith a womanly tenderness, that were unmistakable.\n\nYou saw he had made up his mind before he spoke, and that when he did speak\nhe spoke with a fullness of knowledge that few men possessed. He was every\ninch of him a man.\n\nAnd what touched us very much, who were young men, was the tender\nforbearance with which he always treated us. We saw this more clearly as\nthe years passed on, and learned how much, perhaps, he had to bear from\nsome of us whose assertiveness in some matters was in the inverse ratio of\nour knowledge. The reference here is to matters and methods regarding our\nwork as missionaries to the Chinese. He bore with us, and knew well the\nday would come when, with increasing knowledge, there would come increasing\nhesitation in pronouncing too hastily on the problems we had to face; and\nhe knew well that day would come if there was anything in us at all.\n\nIn my own study of the Chinese language he and another who also has gone to\nthe \"better land\"--the Rev. Dr. Douglas--assisted in every possible way;\nand to both in this line am I indebted for what was the most important\nfurnishing in the first instance for every missionary to China. I can well\nremember the plane upon which Dr. Talmage placed this study of the\nlanguage.\n\nIt was our work for Christ, at this stage a far more important one than any\nother. He encouraged us to use whatever vocables we had got, no matter\nwhether we were met with the wondering smile of the Chinaman in his vain\nendeavor to understand us, or to keep from misunderstanding us.\n\n\"Use whatever you have got, be glad when you are corrected, but use your\nwords.\" To some of us the advice was invaluable.\n\nAnd in other ways the same spirit was manifest. He did all he could to get\nus to attend every Christian gathering, to sit and listen to the business\nof the Sessions, and to show the Chinese as soon as possible that we were\none with them, and he succeeded. There was an enthusiasm and warmth\ndistinguishing these early days of the Amoy church that were formative in a\nvery high degree, and that are now a precious memory.\n\nThen Dr. Talmage was a scholar, with a very wide range of scholarship. We\nlooked up to him and we respected him, with an esteem few men have ever\nwon. And in conjunction with his scholarly furnishing there was an\nabsorbing, consuming zeal for Christ and His kingdom, and an intense love\nfor the Chinese people. If he had not this latter, he could not have been\nthe unmistakably influential and successful missionary he was. These,\ncoupled with a Christian walk and devotion, formed the furnishing of this\nman of God.\n\nHe was also a true gentleman, a Christian gentleman in every sense of the\nword. The best proof of this was that we loved him, and if the foreign\nladies in Amoy who knew him were asked what they thought of him--many of\nthem have gone to rest--they would hardly get words to tell out all their\nrespect and love for him. His visits in our houses were most welcome, and\nwhen he spent an evening with us there was always sunshine where he was.\nHe was essentially a happy man, and nothing pleased him more than to see\nall happy around him.\n\nThere is still one point to which reference must here be made.\nMissionaries were not the only foreign residents in Amoy. There was also a\nconsiderable number of American and European merchants. Unfortunately the\nmissionaries and the merchants did not always see eye to eye. Dr. Talmage\nwas a favorite with every one of them. They esteemed him, they would have\ndone anything to serve him; and at no cost of principle or testimony he won\nthis place with them.\n\nAnd to those who know the conditions of life in China, it will be at once\nunderstood what a man he must have been to win such a position.\n\nIt may not be generally known that in Amoy we have a \"Union English\nChurch,\" with regular Sabbath services in English. These services were\nconducted by the missionaries in turn. And we fear it may also not be\nknown what Dr Talmage's powers as a preacher were. He was a very prince\namong English preachers; and if he had remained in America this would very\nsoon have been acknowledged. There were no tricks or devices of manner or\nwords employed by him for winning the popular ear. He never seemed to\nforget the solemnity and responsibility of his position in the pulpit. He\nhesitated not \"to declare the whole counsel of God.\" He stands before me\nnow as I listen with bated breath to the fire of his eloquence, denouncing\nwhere denunciation was needed, contending with a burning earnestness that\nnever failed to carry us with him, for \"the faith once delivered to the\nsaints,\" and then with exquisite tenderness seeking to draw his hearers to\nHim who is Saviour and Brother. He never failed to think and speak as much\nabout temptation as about sin. It was a real feast to attend the English\nservice when it was conducted by him. And during all my time in Amoy,\nthere was always a large congregation when Dr. Talmage was the preacher.\n\nHe was not all tenderness. He would only have been a one-sided man if this\nwere all. He was as strong as he was tender; a keen and powerful opponent\nin discussion. And we often had very warm and keen discussions; keener and\nwarmer than I had ever seen before I went to Amoy, or have ever seen since.\nWe had to discuss principles and methods of translation, hymnology, Church\nwork, Church discipline, and many other subjects. And there was no mincing\nof matters at these discussions. Foremost amongst us was Dr. Talmage,\ntenaciously and persistently advocating the view he happened to have taken\non any question. There were men of very strong individuality among us, and\nthese gave as good as they got. I can recall these scenes, but I cannot\nrecall a single word he said that involved a personal wound or left a barb.\nWhen it was all over he was the same loving brother, and not an atom of\nbitterness was left behind. By us, the brethren of the English\nPresbyterian Mission, he was looked up to as a revered father, just as much\nas he was by the brethren of his own Mission. This will be seen more fully\nfurther on, and a simple statement of the fact is all that is necessary\nhere.\n\nThere is another and most sacred relation--his position as the head of a\nfamily,--the veil of which it seems almost sacrilege to uplift. But it\nmust be said, and it is only a well-known fact, that few happier homes\nexist than his home was. He was there what he was elsewhere, the man of\nGod.\n\nDr. Talmage was not perfect. He was essentially a humble man, and he would\nbe the first to tell us that of every sinner saved by grace, he was the\nmost unworthy. And when he said it, he felt it. And he had not the very\nmost distant idea how great a man he was. Sometimes one fears that this\nvery modesty pushed to an extreme prevented others who did not know his\nlife and his work from accurately gauging his real work. Better perhaps,\nhe would say, that it should be so; better to think of the work than of the\nworkers. To hold up Christ and to be hidden behind Him is the highest\nprivilege of those engaged in the service of this King. And this, his\nuniform bearing, made him all the greater.\n\n\nDR. TALMAGE-THE MISSIONARY.\n\nIt would be useless speculation to lay down here what should be the special\nqualifications of a missionary to the Chinese. The better way is to find\nthem in the concrete, so far as you can do so in an individual, and set Him\nforth as an example for others. The friend of whom we write would\ndeprecate this, but it is the only way in which we can see him as he was\nand account for the singularly prominent place he occupied amongst us.\n\nI do not need to say here that he was a man of faith and prayer, earnest\nand zealous for the spread of Christ's Kingdom; in the face of difficulties\nand dangers, of disappointments and failures, maintaining an unwavering\nfaith that the Kingdom must come and would yet rule over all.\n\nHe had both an intense love for his work and enthusiasm in carrying it on.\nHe came with a definite message to the people to whom the Master had sent\nhim. There was no apologizing for it, no watering it down, no uncertain\nsound about it with him. Christ and Christ alone can meet the wants and\nwoes of humanity,--Chinese or American or British. He had no doubt about\nit whatever; and hereby some of us learned that if we had not this message\nit would have been far better for us to have stayed at home. And this\nfeature marked him all over his course. You felt as you listened to his\npleadings that sin and salvation were terms brimful of meaning to him. He\nhad traveled this road, and all his pleadings seemed to be summed up in the\none yearning cry, \"Come with us and we will do thee good.\" \"This is a\nfaithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into\nthe world to save sinners.\" And he would have gone to the end, \"of whom I\nam chief.\"\n\nThen he had a great love for the people. He made himself acquainted with\nthe family and social conditions of the people. He had not come to\nAmericanize but to Christianize the Chinese. And for this he equipped\nhimself. I never saw him so happy as when he was surrounded by them. He\nwas then in his real element, answering their questions, solving their\ndifficulties, opening up to them the Scriptures, and meeting them wherever\nhe thought they needed to be met. And go to his study when you liked, you\nalmost always found some Chinese Christians there. He was the great\nreferee, to whom they carried home difficulties and family trials, assured\nthat his sympathy and advice would never be denied them. This endeared him\nto them in an extraordinary manner. We never on such occasions found a\ntrace of impatience with him. What would have annoyed others did not seem\nto annoy him, and the consequence was that the whole church loved him.\nThere was an inexhaustible well of tenderness in the man's nature, and it\nwas sweetened by the grace of God in his heart.\n\nWe sometimes thought he erred by excess in this particular. He was\nunwilling to think anything but good of them, and was thus apt to be\ninfluenced too much by designing and astute Chinamen. Often we have heard\nit said, \"Well, if you won't listen to us, Dr. Talmage will.\" But, looking\nback to-day over it all, if it was a fault, it was one that leant to\nvirtue's side. He was wonderfully unsuspicious: and so far as his fellow\nmen were concerned, Chinese or Westerns, the mental process which he almost\ninvariably employed was to try to find out what good there was in a man.\nAnd now one loves him all the more for such a Christlike spirit.\n\nDr. Talmage was thoroughly acquainted with the spoken language of Amoy.\nFew men, if any, had a more extensive knowledge of its vocables. He spoke\nidiomatically and beautifully as the Chinese themselves spoke, and not as\nhe thought they should speak. There was no slipshod work with him in this\nparticular. Here was the indispensable furnishing and he must get it. And\nhe did get it in no average measure. This was the prime requisite, and\nthrough no other avenue could he get really and honestly to work. There is\nno royal road to the acquisition of the Chinese language. It is only by\ndint of hard, plodding, and persevering study one can acquire an adequate\nacquaintance with it.\n\nAnd till the last he never gave up his study of it. He was not satisfied,\nand no true missionary ever will be satisfied with such a smattering of\nknowledge as may enable him to proclaim a few Christian doctrines. Such\nsuperficiality was not his aim or end. And when he first acquired Chinese,\nit was more difficult to do so. There were no aids in the way of\ndictionaries or vocabularies.\n\nIt may be his knowledge of the language was all the more accurate on this\naccount. He got it from the fountain-head, and not through foreign\nsources. He was thus qualified to take a prominent place in all the\nvaried work of a mission--in translation, in revision, and in\nhymnology--departments as important and as influential for attaining the\nend in view as any other possible department in the Mission.\n\nAs a preacher to the Chinese he was unrivaled. The people hung on his lips\nand never seemed to lose a word. He was in this respect a model to every\none of us younger men.\n\nThe ideal of the church in China which he had set before him, the goal he\ndesired to reach, was a native, self-governing, self-supporting, and\nself-propagating church. This is now axiomatic.\n\nIt was not so in those early days. The men in Amoy then were men for whom\nwe have to thank God--men ahead of their time, with generous and\nfar-reaching ideas; not working only for their own present, but laying the\nfoundation for a great future. Side by side with him were the brethren of\nthe English Presbyterian Mission, with whom he had the fullest sympathy,\nand they had the fullest sympathy with him. It is difficult to say who\nwere foremost in pressing the idea of an organized native church. All were\nequally convinced and strove together for the one great end. After many\nyears of waiting the church grew. Congregations were formed and organized\nwith their own elders and deacons, and in this he took the first steps. He\nwas a born organizer. And then came the next great step, the creation of a\nPresbytery and the ordination in an orderly manner of native pastors. Some\ncongregations were ready to call and support such pastors, and the men were\nthere, for the careful training of native agents had always been a marked\nfeature of the Amoy Mission. But how was it to be done? Common sense led\nto only one conclusion. This church must not be an exotic; it must be\nnative, independent of the home churches. And there must be kept in view\nwhat was a fact already--the union between the Missions of the \"Reformed\nChurch\" and of the \"English Presbyterian Church.\" It must be done, and done\nin this way, and so it was done.\n\nThe Presbytery was created with no native pastor in the first instance, but\nwith native elders and the missionaries of both Missions. Then came a\nstruggle that would have tried the stoutest hearts.\n\nThe \"Reformed Church\" in America declined to recognize this newly-created\nPresbytery. Dr. Talmage went home and fought the battle and won the day.\n\nTo its great honor be it said, the General Synod of the \"Reformed Church\"\nrescinded its resolution of the previous year, and allowed their honored\nbrethren, the missionaries, to take their own way. So convinced were the\nmissionaries of the wisdom, yea, the necessity, of the course they had\ntaken, that they were prepared to resign rather than retrace their steps.\n\nBut that painful step was not necessary. The Synod of the English\nPresbyterian Church gave their missionaries a free hand. There is this,\nhowever, to be said for the General Synod of the \"Reformed Church.\" It was\nonly love for their agents and deep interest in this Mission that prompted\ntheir original action. They feared that by the creation of this native and\nindependent church court, the tie that bound them to the men and the work\nmight be loosened; and when they saw there was no risk of that, they at\nonce acquiesced. But it was Dr. Talmage's irresistible pleadings that won\ntheir hearts.\n\nThe native church has grown. About twenty native pastors have been\nordained, settled, and entirely supported by their own congregations. The\nPresbytery has grown so large that it has to be divided into two\npresbyteries; and these, with the Presbytery of Swatow, where brethren of\nthe \"English Presbyterian Church\" are working, will form the Synod of the\nnative Presbyterian Church in those regions of China.\n\nIn connection with all this we must mention another name--the name of one\nvery dear to Dr. Talmage, and of one to whom he was very dear. They were\none in heart and soul about this. We refer to the Rev. Dr. Douglas, of the\nEnglish Presbyterian Mission. They stood side by side during all their\nwork in Amoy.\n\nDr. Talmage was by a good many years the predecessor in the field. They\nwere both great men, men of very different temperament, and yet united.\nNot on this point, but on many another, they failed to see eye to eye, but\nthey were always united in heart and aim. True and lasting union can only\nexist where free play is given to distinct individualities.\n\nAnd so it has always been with this union, the first, I believe, between\nPresbyterian Churches in any mission field. And when the history of the\nAmoy Mission comes to be written, these two men will have a leading place\nin it; for to them more than to any others do we owe almost all that is\ndistinctive there in union and in methods of work.\n\nAnd when our beloved father Talmage passed from earth to heaven, what\nthankfulness must have filled his heart. In the night of his first years\nin China there were labor and toil, but there was no fruit for him. The\ndawn came and the first converts of his own Mission were gathered in. When\nhe went to rest, there was a native church; there were native pastors;\norderly church courts; a well equipped theological college, the common\nproperty of the two Missions; successful medical missionary work, woman's\nwork in all its branches, and a native church covering a more extensive\nregion than he had in the early days dreamt of. And there was another\nhonored Mission in Amoy--that of the London Missionary Society, whose\noperations have been followed by abundant and singular success. To this\nMission he was warmly attached; and he never, so far as we can remember,\nceased to show the deepest interest in its work, and the heartiest\nrejoicing at its success.\n\nAnd now he has gone, the last, we may say, of the men who began the work of\nthe Presbyterian Mission of Christ in China; but ere he passed away, he\nknew that men of God were still there with the old enthusiasm and the old\nappetite for solid and substantial work.\n\nWe cannot part with him now without one fond and lingering look behind.\nBurns, Sandeman, Doty, Douglas, and Talmage; what a galaxy these early\npioneers in Amoy were. Few churches have had such gifts from God, few\nfields more devoted, whole-hearted missionaries. It was a privilege to\nknow them, to work with them, to learn at their feet, unworthy though some\nof us may be as their successors.\n\nMay the Lord of the Harvest rouse His own Church by their memories to\ngreater energy and self denial in the spread of His Kingdom.\n\nTheir memories will never die in China. Those who have lately visited Amoy\ntell us that they who knew them among the Chinese Christians speak lovingly\nand fondly of those early heroes. And they will tell their children what\nthey were and what they did, and so generation after generation will hear\nthe story, and find how true it is that workers die, but their work never\ndies. \"Their works do follow them.\"\n\n\nVENERABLE TEACHER TALMAGE.\n\nTRIBUTE OF PASTOR IAP HAN CHIONG.\n\n[Pastor Iap was the first pastor of the Chinese Church]\n\nTeacher Talmage was very gentle. He wished ever to be at peace with men.\nIf he saw a man in error he used words of meekness in convincing and\nconverting the man from his error. Whether he exhorted, encouraged or\ninstructed, his words were words of prudence, seasoned with salt, so that\nmen were glad to receive and obey.\n\nTeacher Talmage was a lover of men. When he saw a man in distress and it\nwas right for him to help, he helped. In peril, he exerted himself to\ndeliver the man; in weakness, in danger of falling, he tried to uphold;\nsuffering oppression, he arose to the defense, fearing no power, but\ncontending earnestly for the right.\n\nTeacher Talmage was very gracious in receiving men, whether men of position\nor the common people. He treated all alike. If they wished to discuss any\nmatter with him and get his advice, he would patiently listen to their\ntale. If he had any counsel to give, he gave it. If he felt he could not\nconscientiously have anything to do with the affair, he told the men\nforthwith.\n\nHe could pierce through words, and see through men's countenances and judge\nwhat the man was, who was addressing him.\n\nTeacher Talmage had great eloquence and possessed great intelligence. His\nutterance was clear, his voice powerful, his exposition of doctrine very\nthorough. Men listened and the truth entered their ears and their hearts\nunderstood.\n\nTeacher Talmage was grave in manner. He commanded the respect and praise\nof men. His was a truly ministerial bearing. Men within and without the\nChurch venerated him.\n\nSometimes differences between brethren arose. Teacher Talmage earnestly\nexhorted to harmony. Even serious differences, which looked beyond\nhealing, were removed, because men felt constrained to listen to his\ncounsel.\n\nTeacher Talmage was exceedingly diligent. When not otherwise engaged,\nmorning and afternoon found him in his study reading, writing, preparing\nsermons, translating books.\n\nHe preached every Sabbath. He conducted classes of catechumens. He\nfounded the Girls' School at the Church \"Under the Bamboos.\" He founded\nthe Theological Seminary. Others taught with him, but he was the master\nspirit. He was ten points careful that everything relating to the\norganization and administration of the Church should be in accordance with\nthe Holy Book.\n\nOnly at the urgent request of two physicians did he finally leave China.\nHe was prepared to die and to be buried at Amoy. And this was not because\nhe was not honored in his ancestral country, or could find no home. No, he\nhad sons, he had a brother, he had nephews and nieces, he had many\nrelatives and friends who greatly reverenced and loved him.\n\nBut Teacher Talmage could not bear to be separated from the Church in\nChina. Surely this was imitating the heart of Christ. Surely this was\nloving the people of China to the utmost.\n\n\nREV. JOHN VAN NEST TALMAGE, D.D.\n\nBY REV. S. L. BALDWIN, D.D.,\n\n[Recording Secretary of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal\nChurch.]\n\nMy memory of Dr. Talmage dates back to the year 1846. I was then but\neleven years old, but I remember distinctly the earnestness of his manner,\nas he preached early in that year in the Second Reformed Church of\nSomerville, New Jersey. His missionary zeal was of the most intense\ncharacter.\n\nI was present at the Missionary Convention, at Millstone, New Jersey,\nAugust 26, 1846, and saw him ordained. The Rev. Gabriel Ludlow preached\nfrom 2 Timothy ii. I, and the charge to the candidate was given by the Rev.\nElihu Doty, of Amoy. Mr. Doty, at a children's meeting in the afternoon,\nasked us whether we would come to help in the missionary work, and asked us\nto write down the question and think and pray about it, and when we had\nmade up our minds to write an answer underneath the question. I did \"think\nand pray about it,\" and some weeks afterward, under a sense of duty, wrote\n\"Yes\" under it. From that time on, it was not a strange thought to me, to\ngo to China as a missionary; and when the call came in 1858, I was ready.\nIn 1860, on my first visit to Amoy, I renewed old acquaintanceship, and\nduring my twenty-two years in China was several times a guest in Dr.\nTalmage's family.\n\nHe was in the very front rank of missionaries. For ability, for fidelity,\nfor usefulness, he had few equals. As a preacher, he was clear, forceful,\nfearless. As a translator, his work was marked by carefulness and\naccuracy. In social life, old-fashioned hospitality made every one feel at\nhome, and one would have to travel far to find a more animated and\ninteresting conversationalist. He held his convictions with great\ntenacity, and was a powerful debater, but always courteous to his\nopponents.\n\nMany missionaries fell by his side, or were obliged to leave the field; and\nin the providence of God he remained until he was the oldest of all the\nAmerican missionaries in China. His was a most pure and honorable record,\nand his death was universally lamented. From little beginnings, he was\nprivileged to see one of the most flourishing of the native communions of\nChina arise and attain large numbers and great influence among the\nChristian churches of the empire.\n\nSuch a history and such a record are to be coveted. May the Head of the\nChurch raise up many worthy successors to this true and noble man!\n\n\nTHE REV. J. V. N. TALMAGE, D.D..\n\nBY REV. TALBOT W. CHAMBERS, D.D., LL.D.,\n\n[Pastor of the Collegiate Reformed Church, New York City.]\n\nMy acquaintance with Dr. Talmage began at a very early period. During the\nyears 1842-5 his father was Sheriff of Somerset Co., N. J., and resided at\nSomerville. While there he and his wife were members in communion of the\nSecond Reformed Dutch Church, of which I was pastor; and from them I heard\nfrequently of their son John, who was then a student in New Brunswick.\n\nHe prosecuted his studies in the College and Theological Seminary with zeal\nand success, and was duly licensed, and then, while awaiting the arrival of\nthe period when he would be sent to join the mission in China, he accepted\nthe position of assistant to the Rev. Dr. Brodhead, who at that time was\nminister of the Central Church of Brooklyn. Here his services were very\nacceptable, and the training under such an experienced man of God was of\ngreat value to him. His course was what might have been expected of one\nreared in a peculiarly pious household. His father was a cheerful and\nexemplary Christian, and his mother was the godliest woman I ever knew.\nHer religion pervaded her whole being, and seemed to govern every thought,\nword, and deed, yet never was morbid or overstrained. The robust common\nsense which characterized her and her husband descended in full measure\nupon their son John. His consecration to the mission work was complete,\nand his interest in the cause was very deep, but it never manifested itself\nin unseemly or extravagant ways.\n\nSo far as I can recall, there was nothing particularly brilliant or\noriginal in the early sermons or addresses of the young missionary--nothing\nof those wondrous displays of word-painting, imagination, and dramatic\npower which have made his brother, Dr. T. De Witt Talmage, famous. But\nthere was a mental grasp, a force and a fire which often induced the remark\nthat he was too good to be sent to the heathen, there being many at that\ntime who labored under the mistake that a missionary did not require to be\na man of unusual ability, that gifts and acquirements were thrown away on a\nlife spent among idolaters. Still, while this was the case, none of his\nfriends expected that he would develop such marked and varied power as was\nseen in his entire course at Amoy. I remember the surprise with which I\nheard the late Dr. Swanson, of London, say from his own observation during\nten years of the closest intercourse at Amoy, that Dr. Talmage was equally\ndistinguished and efficient in every part of the missionary's work, whether\nin preaching the Word, or translating the Scriptures, or creating a\nChristian literature, or training native workers. Nothing seemed to come\namiss to him; everywhere he was facile princeps. I suppose that the\nexplanation is found in his thorough and unreserved consecration. He was\ngiven heart and soul to the work. Whatever he did was done with his whole\nmind. There was no vacillation or indecision, but a deliberate\nconcentration of all his faculties upon the task set before him. Nor did\nhe work by spurts or through temporary enthusiasm, but with a steady,\nunyielding determination. So he went on through life without haste and\nwithout rest, doing his best at all times and in every species of service,\nand thus earning the brilliant reputation he acquired. The same qualities\nrendered him as wise in counsel as he was efficient in working. He was\nable to look on both sides of a given problem, was not inclined to snap\njudgments, but preferred to discriminate, to weigh, and, if need be, to\nwait. Yet, when the time came, the decision was ready.\n\nHe perceived earlier than his brethren at home the true policy as to\nchurches in heathen lands, that is, that they should not be mere\ncontinuations of the denomination whose missionaries had been the means of\nfounding them, but should have an independent existence and grow upon the\nsoil where they were planted, taking such form and order as Providence\nmight suggest. When the proposal was made in accordance with these views\nto build up a native Chinese Church strictly autonomous, there was an\nimmediate revulsion. The General Synod in 1863 emphatically declined to\nconsent, not, however, from denominational bigotry, but on the ground that\nthe new converts must have some standards of faith and order, and, if so,\nwhy not ours, which had been tested by centuries? And, moreover, if they\nwere to be regarded as an integral part of the Church at home, that fact\nwould prove to be a powerful incitement to prayer and liberality on the part\nof our people. But the rebuff did not dishearten Dr. Talmage. He renewed\nthe appeal the next year, and had the satisfaction of seeing it succeed.\nFull consent was given to the aim to build up a strong, self-governing,\nand, as soon as might be, self-supporting body of native churches in China,\nwho should leave behind the prejudices of the past, and form themselves\nunder the teaching of God's Spirit and Providence in such way as would best\nmeet the demands of the time and be most efficient in advancing the Kingdom\nof God upon the earth. The consequences have been most happy. The\nmissionaries of the Presbyterian Church have cordially co-operated in\nrenouncing all denominational interests and giving all diligence to the\nforming of what might be called a Chinese Christian Church, freed from any\nexternal bond and at liberty to shape its own character and course under\nthe guidance of the Divine Spirit. The experiment has been entirely\nsuccessful, and stands conspicuous as a testimony to the true policy of\ncarrying on missionary work in countries where there is already an antique\ncivilization and certain social habits which need to be taken account of.\n\nDr. Talmage always kept himself in touch with the Church at home by\ncorrespondence or by personal intercourse. His visits to America were in\nevery case utilized to the fullest extent, save when hindered by impaired\nhealth.\n\nIt is matter of joyful congratulation that he was permitted to finish the\nusual term of man's years in the missionary field. Others of our eminent\nmen, such as Abeel, Thompson, Doty, and Pohlman, were cut off in the midst\nof their days. But he spent a full lifetime, dying not by violence or\naccident, but only when the bodily frame had been worn out in the natural\ncourse of events. Our Church has been signally favored of God in the gifts\nand character and work of the men she has sent into the foreign field--and\nthis not merely in the partial judgment of their denominational brethren,\nbut in the deliberate opinion of such competent and experienced observers\nas the late Dr. Anderson, of the American Board, and the late S. Wells\nWilliams, the famous Chinese scholar; [One remark of Dr. S. Wells Williams\nis worth reproducing: \"I think, myself, after more than forty years'\npersonal acquaintance with hundreds of missionaries in China, that David\nAbeel was facile princeps among them all.\"--Presb. Review, II. 49.] but I\nthink that none of them, neither Abeel nor Thompson, surpassed Dr. Talmage\nin any of the qualities, natural or acquired, which go to make an\naccomplished missionary of the cross. I enjoyed the personal acquaintance\nof them all, having been familiar with the progress of the work from the\ntime when (October, 1832) our Board of Foreign Missions was established,\nand therefore am able to form an intelligent opinion. Our departed brother\ncan no more raise his voice, either at home or abroad, but his work\nremains, and his memory will never die. For long years to come his name\nwill be fragrant in the hearts of our people; and his lifelong consecration\nto the enterprise of the world's conversion will prove an example and a\nstimulus to this and the coming generation. The equipoise of his mind, the\nsolidity of his character, the strength of his faith, the brightness of his\nhope, the simple, steadfast fidelity of his devotion to the Master, will\nspeak trumpet-tongued to multitudes who never saw his face in the flesh.\nThe unadorned story of his life, what he was and what he did by the grace\nof God, will cheer the hearts of all the friends of foreign missions, and\nwin others to a just esteem of the cause which could attract such a man to\nits service and animate him to such a conspicuous and blessed career.\n\n\nREV. JOHN VAN NEST TALMAGE, D.D.\n\nBY REV. JOHN M. FERRIS, D.D.,\n\n[Editor of the \"Christian Intelligencer\" and ex-Secretary of the Board of\nForeign Missions of the American Reformed Church.]\n\nCircumstances which tested character, ability, and attainments brought me\ninto intimate relations with Rev. Dr. John V. N. Talmage. The impressions\nI received are these: He was eminently of a sunny disposition. A smile was\non his face and laughter in his eyes almost all day long. He was\nconspicuously cheerful and hopeful. The strength of his character was\nunusual and would bear victoriously very severe tests. Mental and moral\nability of a very high order marked his participation in public exercises\nand his demeanor in social life. It seemed to me that in mind and heart\nthere were in him the elements of greatness. Greatness he never sought,\nbut avoided. Still, from the time succeeding the opening years of his\nministry, he was a leader among men until seized with the long illness\nwhich terminated his useful life. Those who knew him appointed him one of\ntheir chief counselors and guides, and in any assembly where he was\ncomparatively unknown he was accepted as a leading mind as soon as he had\ntaken part in its discussions. A wide range of knowledge was his. It was\nsurprising how he had maintained an acquaintance with the research and\ndiscovery of his day while secluded in China from the life of the Western\nnations. With all this his intercourse with men was marked by modesty and\nthe absence of ostentatious display. The deference with which he treated\nthe opinions of others and of his manner in presenting his knowledge and\nconvictions to an audience was extraordinary. He was courteously\ninquisitive, seeking from others what they knew and thought, and this\noftentimes, perhaps habitually, with men much his inferiors. Such a man\nwould be expected to be tolerant of the opinions of others, and this he was\neminently, although his own convictions were clear, strongly held,\nearnestly presented and advocated. How often we heard him say, \"So I\nthink,\" or \"So it seems to me, but I may be wrong.\"\n\nAccuracy in statement was sought for by him constantly, sometimes to the\ndetriment of his public addresses. When we who were familiar with him were\nhumorous at his expense, it was almost invariably in relation to this\nconstant endeavor to be accurate, which led now and then to qualifications\nof his words that were decidedly amusing. He was animated, earnest, and\nstrong in public addresses. His mind was active; apt to take an\nindependent, original view, and vigorous. His sermons were often very\nimpressive and powerful. Few who heard in whole or in part his discourse\non the words, \"The world by wisdom knew not God\"--an extemporaneous\nsermon--will forget the terse, vigorous sentences which came from his lips.\nIt was, I believe, the last sermon he prepared in outline to be delivered\nto our churches in this country. It was full of power and life.\n\nDr. Talmage was a Christian and a Christian gentleman everywhere and\nalways. It seemed as natural to him to be a Christian as to breathe.\nConscientious piety marked his daily life.\n\nHe was a delightful companion through his gentleness, sympathy, wide range\nof knowledge, cheerfulness, animated and earnest speech, vigor of thought\nand expression, deference for the opinions and rights of others, and\nunselfishness. He asked nothing, demanded nothing for himself, but was\nalert to contribute to the enjoyment of those around him. The work of his\nlife was of inestimable value. He was abundant in labors. Only the life\nto come will reveal how much he accomplished which in the highest sense was\nworthy of accomplishment. Those who knew him best, esteemed, loved, and\ntrusted him the most.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\nEcclesiastical Relations of Presbyterian Missionaries, especially of the\nPresbyterian Missionaries at Amoy, China.\n\nBY REV. J. V. N. TALMAGE, D.D.\n\nWe have recently received letters making inquiries concerning the Relations\nof the Missionaries of the English Presbyterian Church, and of the American\nReformed Church to the Tai-hoey [Presbytery, or Classis,] of Amoy; stating\nviews on certain points connected with the general subject of the\norganization of ecclesiastical Judicatories on Mission ground; and asking\nour views on the same. We have thought it best to state our answer so as\nto cover the whole subject of these several suggestions and inquiries, as\n(though they are from different sources) they form but one subject.\n\nOur views are not hasty. They are the result of much thought, experience\nand observation. But we are now compelled to throw them together in much\nmore haste than we could wish, for which, we trust, allowance will be made.\n\nAs preliminary we remark that we have actual and practical relations both\nto the home churches, and to the churches gathered here, and our\nEcclesiastical relations should correspond thereto.\n\n1. Our Relation to the Home Churches. We are their agents, sent by them to\ndo a certain work, and supported by them in the doing of that work.\nTherefore so long as this relation continues, in all matters affecting our\nqualifications for that work,--of course including \"matters affecting\nministerial character,\"--we should remain subject to their jurisdiction.\nIn accordance with this we retain our connection with our respective home\nPresbyteries or Classes.\n\n2. Our Relation to the Church here. We are the actual pastors of the\nchurches growing up under our care, until they are far enough advanced to\nhave native pastors set over them. The first native pastors here were\nordained by the missionaries to the office of \"Minister of the Word,\" the\nsame office that we ourselves hold. In all subsequent ordinations, and\nother ecclesiastical matters, the native pastors have been associated with\nthe missionaries. The Tai-hoey at Amoy, in this manner, gradually grew up\nwith perfect parity between the native and foreign members.\n\nWith these preliminary statements we proceed to notice the suggestions made\nand questions propounded. \"To extend to the native churches on mission\nground the lines of separation which exist among Presbyterian bodies\" in\nhome lands is acknowledged to be a great evil. To avoid this evil and to\n\"bring all the native Presbyterians,\" in the same locality, \"into one\norganization,\" two plans are suggested to us.\n\nThe first plan suggested (perhaps we should say mentioned for it is not\nadvocated), we take to be that the missionaries become not only members of\nthe ecclesiastical judicatories formed on mission ground, but also amenable\nto those judicatories in the same way, and in every respect, as their\nnative members, their ecclesiastical relation to their home churches being\nentirely severed. This plan ignores the actual relation of missionaries to\ntheir home churches, as spoken of above. Surely the home churches cannot\nafford this.\n\nPerhaps we should notice another plan sometimes acted on, but not mentioned\nin the letters we have now received. It is that the missionaries become\nmembers of the Mission Church Judicatories as above; but that these\nJudicatories be organized as parts of the home churches, so that the\nmissionaries will still be under the jurisdiction of the home churches\nthrough the subjection of the Mission Judicatories to the higher at home.\nThis plan can only work during the infancy of the mission churches, while\nthe Mission Church Judicatories are still essentially foreign in their\nconstituents. Soon the jurisdiction will be very imperfect. This\nimperfection will increase as fast as the mission churches increase.\nMoreover this plan will extend to the native churches the evil deprecated\nabove.\n\nThe second plan suggested we take to be that the missionaries, while they\nremain the agents of the home churches, should retain their relation\nrespectively to their home churches, and have only an advisory relation to\nthe Presbytery on mission ground. This is greatly to be preferred to the\nfirst plan suggested. It corresponds to the relation of missionaries to\ntheir respective home churches. It takes into consideration also, but does\nnot fully correspond to the relation of the missionaries to the churches on\nmission ground, at least does not fully correspond to the relation of the\nmissionaries to the native churches at Amoy. Our actual relation to these\nchurches seems to us to demand that as yet we take part with the native\npastors in their government.\n\nThe peculiar relationship of the missionaries to Tai-hoey, viz., having\nfull membership, without being subject to discipline by that body,--is\ntemporary, arising from the circumstances of this infant church, and rests\non the will of Tai-hoey. This relationship has never been discussed, or\neven suggested for discussion in that body, so that our view of what is, or\nwould be, the opinion of Tai-hoey on the subject we gather from the whole\ncharacter of the working of that body from its first formation, and from\nthe whole spirit manifested by the native members. Never till last year\nhas there been a case of discipline even of a native member of Tai-hoey.\nWe do not know that the thought that occasion may also arise for the\ndiscipline of missionaries, has ever suggested itself to any of the native\nmembers. If it has, we have no doubt they have taken for granted that the\ndiscipline of missionaries belongs to the churches which have sent them\nhere. But we also have no doubt that Tai-hoey would exercise the right of\nrefusing membership to any missionary if necessary.\n\nIt is suggested as an objection to the plan that has been adopted by the\nmissionaries at Amoy, that \"where two Presbyteries have jurisdiction over\none man, it may not be always easy to define the line where the\njurisdiction of the one ends and the other begins; and for the foreign\nPresbyter to have a control over the native Presbyter which the native\ncannot reciprocate, would be anomalous, and contrary to that view of the\nparity of Presbyters which the Scriptures present.\"\n\nFrom our last paragraph above it will be seen that the \"line\" of\ndemarcation alluded to in the first half of the above objection has\ncertainly never yet been defined by Tai-hoey, but it will be seen likewise\nthat we have no apprehension of any practical difficulty in the matter.\nThe last half of the objection looks more serious, for if our plan really\ninvolves a violation of the doctrine of the parity of the ministry, this is\na very serious objection--fatal, indeed, unless perhaps the temporary\ncharacter of the arrangement might give some sufferance to it in a\ndeveloping church. It does not, however in our opinion, involve any such\ndoctrine. It does not touch that doctrine at all.\n\nThe reason why Tai-hoey does not claim the right of discipline over the\nmissionaries is not because these are of a higher order than the other\nmembers, but because the missionaries have a most important relation to the\nhome churches which the other members have not. The Tai-hoey respects the\nrights of those churches which have sent and are still sending the Gospel\nhere, and has fullest confidence that they will exercise proper discipline\nover their missionaries. Whether they do this or not, the power of the\nTai-hoey to cut off from its membership, or refuse to admit thereto, any\nmissionary who might prove himself unworthy, gives ample security to that\nbody and secures likewise the benefits of discipline. If time allowed us\nto give a full description of our Church work here it would be seen that\nthe doctrine of the parity of all who hold the ministerial office so\nthoroughly permeates the whole, that it would seem impossible for mistake\nto arise on that point.\n\nIn connection with this subject it is also remarked \"that where two races\nare combined in a Presbytery, there is a tendency to divide on questions\naccording to the line of race.\"\n\nWith gratitude to God we are able to bear testimony that at Amoy we have\nnot as yet seen the first sign of such tendency. We have heard of such\ntendency in some other mission fields. Possibly it may yet be manifested\nhere. This, however, does not now seem probable. The native members of\nTai-hoey, almost from the first, have outnumbered the foreign. The\ndisproportion now is as three or four to one, and must continue to\nincrease. It would seem, therefore, that there will now be no occasion for\njealousy of the missionaries' influence to grow up on the part of the\nnative members.\n\nBut, it may be asked, if the native members so far outnumber the foreign,\nof what avail is it that missionaries be more than advisory members? We\nanswer: If we are in Tai-hoey as a foreign party, in opposition to the\nnative members, even advisory membership will be of no avail. But if we\nare there in our true character, as we always have been, viz., as\nPresbyters and acting pastors of churches, part and parcel of the church\nJudicatories, on perfect equality and in full sympathy with the native\nPresbyters, our membership may be of much benefit to Tai-hoey. It must be\nof benefit if our theory of Church Government be correct.\n\nOf the benefit of such membership we give one illustration, equally\napplicable also to other forms of government. It will be remembered that\nassemblies conducted on parliamentary principles were unknown in China. By\nour full and equal membership of Tai-hoey, being associated with the native\nmembers in the various offices, and in all kinds of committees, the native\nmembers have been more efficiently instructed in the manner of conducting\nbusiness in such assemblies, than they could have been if we had only given\nthem advice. At the first, almost the whole business was necessarily\nmanaged by the missionaries. Not so now. The missionaries still take an\nactive part even in the routine of business, not so much to guard against\nerror or mistake, as for the purpose of saving time and inculcating the\nimportance of regularity and promptitude. Even the earnestness with which\nthe missionaries differ from each other, so contrary to the duplicity\nsupposed necessary by the rules of Chinese politeness, has not been without\ngreat benefit to the native members. Instead of there being any jealousy\nof the position occupied by the missionaries on the part of the native\nmembers, the missionaries withdraw themselves from prominent positions, and\nthrow the responsibility on the native members, as fast as duty to Tai-hoey\nseems to allow, faster than the native members wish.\n\nWe now proceed to give answers to the definite questions propounded to us,\nthough answers to some of them have been implied in the preceding remarks.\nWe combine the questions from different sources, and slightly change the\nwording of them to suit the form of this paper, and for convenience we\nnumber them.\n\n1. \"Are the missionaries members of Tai-hoey in full and on a perfect\nequality with the native members?\"\n\nAnswer. Yes; with the exception (if it be an exception) implied in the\nanswer to the next question.\n\n2. \"Are missionaries subject to discipline by the Tai-hoey?\"\n\nAnswer. No; except that their relation to Tai-hoey may be severed by that\nbody.\n\n3. \"Is it not likely that the sooner the native churches become\nself-governing, the sooner they will be self-supporting and\nself-propagating?\"\n\nAnswer. Yes. It would be a great misfortune for the native churches to be\ngoverned by the missionaries, or by the home churches. We think also it\nwould be a great misfortune for the missionary to refuse all connection\nwith the government of the mission churches while they are in whole or in\npart dependent on him for instruction, administration of the ordinances,\nand pastoral oversight. Self-support, self-government, and\nself-propagation are intimately related, acting and reacting on each other,\nand the native Church should be framed in them from the beginning of its\nexistence.\n\n4. \"Is it the opinion of missionaries at Amoy that the native Presbyters\nare competent to manage the affairs of Presbytery, and could they safely be\nleft to do so?\"\n\nAnswer. Yes; the native Presbyters seem to us to be fully competent to\nmanage the affairs of Presbytery, and we suppose it would be safe to leave\nthem to do this entirely by themselves, if the providence of God should so\ndirect. We think it much better, however, unless the providence of God\ndirect otherwise, that the missionaries continue their present relation to\nthe Tai-hoey until the native Church is farther developed.\n\n5. \"Is it likely that there can be but one Presbyterian Church in China?\nor are differences of dialect, etc., such as to make different\norganizations necessary and inevitable?\"\n\nAnswer. All Presbyterians in China, as far as circumstances will allow,\nshould unite in one Church organization. By all means avoid a plurality of\nPresbyterian denominations in the same locality. But differences of\ndialect and distance of separation seem at present to forbid the formation\nof one Presbyterian organization for the whole of China. Even though in\nprocess of time these difficulties be greatly overcome, It would seem that\nthe vast number of the people will continue to render such formation\nimpracticable, except on some such principle as that on which is formed the\nPan-Presbyterian Council. One Presbyterian Church for China would be very","title":"Forty Years in South China: The Life of Rev. John Van Nest Talmage, D.D.","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":56518}