I have in view (two at least) of young Christian native ladies fearlessly threading the mazes of native towns, without insult, their only visible protection being their own modesty under English dress. I speak plainly because my conscience says I must. No one admires the white chaddar more than I do, when it is white. It is most graceful and becoming, and I have heard it also styled picturesque. I quite endorse all this, and yet-Do we come here to see that our native Christian women look graceful or picturesque? Is this any part of our work? I would impose no pressure with regard to dress, but just let the matter quietly act of itself. But if, on consideration, it shall appear that such a simple thing as a slight change of costume would place at the disposal of heads of Missions a large staff of workers, whose services must otherwise be lost to them, or available only in a very mutilated form, surely we cannot, dare not, hesitate to permit or even to advise the change, following our Divine Master's example in thus esteeming the matter of dress, together with all other matters, purely external, as the small dust of the balance. MRS. MCGREW, M. E. C., Cawnpore, said:-Speech-making is not included in my accomplishments. Yet, as a doctor, I have a few thoughts to give expression to in reference to the training of native agents in Medical Mission work. The Society with which I am connected bears the palm in point of priority, having had the honour of sending the pioneer female medical Missionary to India. Contemporaneously a class of a dozen or more native students was organized. A year before that, Dr. Humphrey, who addressed the last Decennial Conference, had a mixed class. Of this latter class I found one carrying on creditable medical work at Moradabad on my arrival in 1874. Another worked very efficiently in Bareilly. One from Miss Dr. Swain's class has been carrying on in my old station a medical work larger, I am proud to say, than I had in hand. Through a variety of circumstances this training work has not been carried on as it might have been, yet there has not been a time when there were not two or three pupils. I recall with gratitude the valuable assistance of one who had but one year's training when cholera visited Bareilly. The Civil Surgeon bore unqualified testimony to her obedience, practical insight, and general efficiency. I believe that our native agency is to be fully equipped in every way for the great opportunities God is now giving us. Female Medical Missions. MRS. MAJOR TUCKER, of the Salvation Army, said:-I had Zenana work not thought of speaking, but when asked to do so I could not refuse. I have been watching this zenana work a long time: when my husband was in the Civil Service and we went about through the villages, I often gathered the women by the hundred and spoke to them of Christ. And I have often seen these earnest zenana Missionaries. In the Punjab I have seen my aunt Miss Tucker [A. L. O. E.] gather together women and children for religious instruction, and my heart has been in the work. Looking upon A grand work. these poor heathen women, and slightly changing the words, I have often sung "Shall I whose heart is lighted With wisdom from on high, The lamp of life deny ?" The other day a native gentleman said to me, "These Missionary ladies are so good and doing such a grand work :" and I want to say to these sisters here to-day, you are doing a grand work. The men are planting the strong guns, the rifled cannon, and directing these against the citadel: you are undermining the walls. The word preached in the zenana is not powerless. Many a time in the Punjab have I seen small boys crowd in among the women and girls, and sit at the feet of the Zenana Missionary, looking up into her face as if she were an angel. Men sometimes object to women preaching. Let me remind you of the words of the preaching. Master, "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister and mother." Women Deborah. As for my own experience, once I was not willing to speak for Christ: I said " O God, don't use me." I said many bitter things: but at last it came to me as a duty and I have taken up the work. Let God fill your heart and show you these women, and you'll follow God. Look at Deborah The children of Israel had done evil and the Lord had sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan this man had nine hundred chariots of iron and oppressed the Israelites. God told Deborah to do a certain work: did she refuse? No. The men were faint-hearted: Barak the king was timid: but Deborah said " Up!" Sisera was slain, and while his mother and her ladies were looking forth from the palace windows and anticipating the spoils he would certainly bring, Deborah was singing a song of victory. She had followed God and He had not left her: at His command the clouds dropped water and the subterranean fires of earth were kindled; God gave the victory to a woman. Deborah, I think, was a Majoress in the Salvation Army. Jael, the wife of Heber, took the hammer and slew her foe. If God puts the hammer into my hand I'll not let a single enemy of God go. God uses the weak things very often. Before our marriage my husband and I agreed that if God should call either of us to work, the other should not stand in the way. When Major Tucker joined the Salvation Army it seemed hard at first, but God came to my heart and took out a great deal of worldliness and selfishness, and then I was ready for work: He put great joy into my heart. MRS. LEWIS, C. M. S. Palamcottah, said :-Forty-three years have passed since I came to India, during this time there has been wonderful progress in Zenana work, for which I bless God. I rise especially to read a paper sent me by Mrs. Duthie of the Church Missionary Society, Nagercoil. "In Nagercoil, our head station, (besides the boarding school Schools for for the girls of the district carried on by Mr. Lee) we have Christians. a good day school for the children of our native Christians. The people, at their own expense, erected a fine, large building for us about three years ago at a cost of £350. In this school there are 150 girls and 4 teachers. The two first classes learn English with Miss Duthie. The children are frequently at the bungalow, and meet always on the Sunday for Christian instruction. The school, being close at hand, has the advantage of much careful personal oversight, and has greatly improved during the last few years. "We have also two caste schools. One is situated near the Brahmin street of the heathen village of Nagercoil. At present we have 43 girls on the roll; 6 of these are Brahminis and the rest Sudras. We employ two teachers. One is a well educated Christian woman who conducts the classes on the Sunday, the other, a Sudra man, is chiefly employed in collecting the children. Our chief difficulty is in keeping the girls after they reach the 1st class; but many are willing, after they leave school, to read in their homes, and are taken up by the Bible women. The other caste school is at Vadaserry, half a mile from Nagercoil, and was "We have now ten Zenana teachers carrying on work in eight different towns and villages, where the number of heathen women and children is estimated at no less than 9000. "Our two chief centres of work are Kottar and Vadaserry. During the year 252 houses have been visited and 335 women, of whom about the half are Sudras and Vellalas and are now learning. Our register shows that 80 of these women are able to read the Bible. 461 Lesson Books and Scripture portions have been sold and distributed during the year. Two of our Zenana teachers are partly engaged in teaching sewing and fancy work, and one we specially employ as a Bible woman for reading and explaining the Scriptures. During the year she has visited 11 villages; distributed hundreds of tracts and handbills; and spoken of Christ to upwards of 1,400 heathen women." Afternoon Session. The Mahomedans of India. Their number ork amongst Mahomedans. FIRST PAPER BY THE REV. E. M. WHERRY, A. P. M., According to the latest Census there are about 41,000,000 Muslims in India ;* this is about one-sixth of the whole population, and more than one fifth of the whole number of the followers of Mahomed, in the world. Thus it appears that the Empress of India rules over more of the faithful than does the Sultan of Turkey, the Khalifah of Islam. I. The first thing, therefore to which we would direct attention in the discussion of the subject before us, is, THE VASTNESS OF THE FIELD. Forty-one millions of Muslims have been brought within the reach of the Gospel, and that too under most favourable circumstances. Scarcely anything interferes with the freedom of individual thought and action among such excepting the social bann; we believe therefore that the progress of learning, the spread of Western science, the appliances of travel, the increasing facilities of intercommunication by post and telegraph, the publication of a multitude of newspapers and periodicals, and the very powerful influence of the English people resident in India, combine to make the Muslims of India, of all the followers of Mahomed in the world, the most amenable to the inaccessibility. fluence of the Gospel. A thousand cities and towns invite the evangelist to proclaim the Gospel to their Mahomedan inhabitants; more than this, many of the followers of Islam, shaking off the shackles of a by-gone age, are, in the spirit of the times, boldly examiring the ground-work of their ancestral faith. The Bible is read, and even studied with the aid of commentaries, multitudes listen respectfully to the words of the evangelist, even and The returns of the recent census we believe will, when published, show the number to exceed 50,000,000. Ed. the doors of the zenana have been opened to admit the Missionary lady, so that the light of the Sun of righteousness pierces even the thick darkness of the harem. workers. Under these circumstances, opportunities for Mission Number of work among Muslims in India are well nigh countless. This will be seen when we consider that to supply this vast multitude with one Missionary to each 8,000, would require not less than 5,000 ministers. Besides these, we should want almost an army of teachers, readers, colporteurs, and other workers. Or, to put it in a different light, to supply these 41,000,000 of Muslims with a proportionate number of the Protestant Missionaries now labouring in India, we ought to have 120 foreign Missionaries, and a larger number of native ministers, besides teachers, especially set apart for this work. So much then for the size of the field inviting us to labour, a field which has already given the earnest of a rich harvest of immortal souls. II. The next point we observe in discussing this sub- Vast amount ject is, THE VAST AMOUNT OF WORK ALREADY DONE FOR of work done. MUSLIMS IN INDIA. (1.) First, we mention the translation of the Bible into Translation the Hindustani language. This language may be called of the Bible. the Muslim language of India. By translating the Bible into it, the word of God was rendered accessible to the great majority of Indian Muslims. The Persian and Arabic translations would suffice for the educated classes, but the Hindustani translation reaches the common people. (2.) Again, a large number of tracts and books have been published in the Hindustani language, which are specially suited to Muslims. In 1870, the number of tract publications catalogued by Dr. Murdoch for the Urdu language amounted to two hundred and sixty, and the number of books to 136: the number is no doubt much larger now. Though many of these publications are of general interest, yet some of them were specially written for the Mahomedans, notably the works of Dr. Pfander, Maulvies Safdar Ali and Imaduddin, Babu Ramchundar, and others. So decided has the influence of this literature been that modern Muslims have been obliged to adopt the tactics of European unbelief in order to make a stand at all. For this reason these works, some of which were published many years ago, are hardly suited to the style of Muslim opposition prevalent among the Christian literature. |