Year: 1870

LETTER FROM REV. M. r. HOUSTON.


HANoHoU, CHINA, January Sd, 10.


THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION IN THE


MISSIONARY WORK.


NV appreciation of the value of these
mission schools has been much increased
since coming to China. They seem to me
almost the only sure hope we can have of
raising up native ministry for this people.
1t is evident that ministry, to be effective,
must be an educated ministry; and yet among
the educated classes of this country the gos-
pei has thus far had but little if any success
All the prejudices of the literary and official
classes of China are arrayed, as you are
aware, against foreign influence and Chris
tianity. On this account, it is true in this
land that to the poor the gospel is preached,
and not many wise, not many noble are
called. Among converts of this class here,
it would be rare to find one who could safely
be raised to the station of minister; and
thus the mission y is driven to the neeessi.
| ty, in the present stage Of the work in thls
land, of educating his own ministry. The
mission school obviously presents the best,
if not the only means of attaining this end
1t is means too, which meets with favor
among the Chinese themselves, as they re-
gard it among the best of their good works
to take up poor children and educate them.
There are two or three native schools of this
kind in Hanchow, under the patronage of
wealthy Chinese. We thus fall in with the
prepossessions of the people in opening these
schools; and, as far as 1 have been able to
observe, there is nothing that has so COM
mended us to the people in this city as the
care they see us taking for the children who
are under our charge. As to native min
istry, it is true, suppose, in almost every
mission field, that this must be looked to as
the main dependence for the evangelization
of the people. Such is especially the case,
however, in China. The peculiar difficult
ties of the language; the strong prejudices
which exist against the foreigner; the ina.
bility of European to appreciate fully the
tastes, the superstitions, the habits of thought
of the people, all combine to point to the
native preacher as the great hope of the
land. The mission schools, as / said, give
the greatest promise of such preachers be-
ing raised up. The best results that have
been achieved in this part of China are
mainly the fruits of such schools; and,
while a missionary must desire, as far as in
him lies, to preach the gospel to every crea-
ture, yet the surest means of attaining this,
it seems to me, is to give part of his atten-
ton to school. have ventured to speak
somewhat fully on this subject, because [ am
aware there are some among intelligent
Christians who are disposed to look with
disfavor on schools as branch of mission
work, regarding this kind of labor as rather
a turning aside from the great commission
to preach. Our Saviour himself, when he
went about preaching in the cities and vii
lagos of Judea, had around him a small
band, intended to be preachers, to whom he
was constantly imparting instruction. Nc
doubt we must initiate this example, to at
tain the greatest results in mission work
not, of course, that we expect all in mis-
sion school to become preachers, but we may
safely trust that some of them will be thus
called.


| PRESENT OCCUPATION.


Besides teaching in the school, have nc
regular work at present, except to preach
some on the Sabbath. Mr.. Inslee kindly
gives me part of the time at the morning
service, when | do what can in this line
The study of the language still requires 8
large portion of my time. After taking
charge of the school, I dropped the Manda
rim dialect, which I had been studying, and
took up the Hanchow local dialect, which is
the one / now use Mr. Converse is also
engaged on this dialect. / find it much bet
ter for general use here than the Mandarin
though the latter would perhaps be regarded
with most favor among the upper classes
There is an unusually great variety of dia
lects in this city, which makes the acquisi
ton of the language somewhat more diff
cult here than it would be in many other
places.


PURCHASE OF A MISSION LoT-sUPERSTI-


TIONs OF THE PEOPLE.


Mr.. Inslee has already told you of our
purchase of land in the city, with view to
erecting mission buildings. We feel that
we have been much favored in securing this
property, though we had to pay pretty
high price for it. 1t is situated on the side
of the hill which is within the city walls,
and is thus removed from the low dampness
which caused sickness and death in our mis-
sion last fall. 1t is close to the most densely
settled part of the city, only few hundred
yards from one of the principal business
streets, yet raised above the din and fetid
air. 1t is a conspicuous object to large
portion of the city, on which it looks down;
and our mission, if once established there,
like city set on hill, cannot be hid. Ii
is large enough for two residences, with
school-buildings attached, and also for a