The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-09-09
CALL FOR MISSIONS.

The time is at hand for the newly appointed workers to. gather at the rooms of the American Foreign Mis- sionary Society in Boston and receive their week of instruction and sugges- ton. September 9 they must meet each other for the first time, and for i've days labor earnestly not only with the officers of the society, but with those who have been in the foreign field for years and have come home on furlough. September 16 will find them in Worcester. Mass, at the First Church, where the farewell service will be held and the little party break up, every portion of the globe receiv- ing some members.
 Every effort has been made to do .herculean work this year. At no time has the outlook been brighter. it is said, and yet mission work is not four ishing as it should. The field is so vast and the demands so exhausting that only e continual inflow of money and an notwithstanding stan of work" CTS can meet the call of the far cor ners of the globe.
 Bishop J. c. HartzelL the tireless missionary leader of the Methodist Episcopal Church, looks upon Africa as the greatest and most promising country for the new mission laborer.
 s"Therc has been during thesiast few years a manifest Improvement in the efficiency of all the church organlza- tions in South Africa" he said while discussing the question. Tt fs an in teresting fact that among the Dutch there has been an advance in mls- sionary sentiment since the South Afri- can war.
 sarhere have been. of course. mission ary effort among them for many years, but these efforts have been confined to Cape Colony and adjacent parts. Now, however, there are scores or young Dutchmen who are by education ana religious training seeking to quSlify themselves for missionary work, not only among the whites, but also among the native races.
 Among what may be called the mis- sionary churches, that is, the churches that are initiated and helped by for eign and colonial agencies, there has been progress of most remarkable character since the war. To take only one instance, the Wesleyans have shown the most astonishing enterprise in the matter of church building. Since the peace was settled they have erect ed over 200 new churches in the Trans- vaal alone Other churches are also active. though not in so striking manner as the Wesleyans. ssThe native. churches are also be- coming strong, healthy and vigorous and with wise guidance these churcnes are bound to become a great power ln l the land There is no immediate sisn of a controversy between the blacks and the whites in the religious sphere | but the question of Black Church oI a White Church for South Africa is | sure to come in the future.
 The London Missionary Society, now l ta hest HTOFt8 to m | dia and China, but even in these coun, | trtea if must soon curtail expenses anc | withdraw workers unless more money l is forthcoming. Two years ago spe' cial appeal was made for SsV,OOV m crease in income annually. but inste@t there has been a deficiency or $lfO'VVV which has been taken rom the re serve. The budget for this year al lows an expenditure of $TSo'OOO, ol sso 600 more than last year. but it fl mot known if this expense can be main tained another year.
 The British officer in India IS oftei A most ardent promoter or missions and through him the societies nav been able to open stations, the ofnce defrayinE the cost while he oeIriena and helps the missionaries OIteh h joIns the mission committee return to England and gives his leisure tim to the service. but with all this tn London Missionary Society finds itsei pressed harder and harder.
 ''The proportion of foreign mission aries including wives and single Wo man ia one to each 65,000 of tn worlds non Christian population an it is argued from this that tn churches are not doing their duty II regard to missions.
 The Bible Christians, meeting Portsmouth, England, decided that ST more workers were needed in Chin and will try to find means Tor sendlnl them out.
 But with all this activity abroad an as much in America, more men ar needed to cultivate new fields or tax ] tha places of those who have oeel forced to drop by the wayside.
 Take Bishop Reeve of the Diocese O Mackenzie River in Northwest Canada as an example of the man who ha utterly worn himself out by his work I,aat wear he visited all the missionar stations in his own and the neighbor ing Dioceses of Athabasca. He tray eIed 200 miles in a York boat lOO II a freight wagon. 800 in boat towe by A tug, 400 in a canoe, S'5OV Tn thre difeerent steamers, thirty-two on blackboard, 250 in a scow. went horse bacI, 100 miles and drove 500
 The secretary of the Mission to Dee saa Fishermen is now in Norway q nurchase a herd of reindeer Tor pr Grenfell in his missionary journeys il Labrador.
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