Mission Notes

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 16, 1902

Of every 1,000 males in the Madras presidency, 26 are Christians; but of every 1,000 males who can read and write, 45 are Christians. Among Christians, 1 in 15 knows English; among Hindus, 1 in 132; among Mohammedans, 1 in 157. But the pre-eminence of Christians over other classes is especially seen in the returns on female education. Taking an average of 10,000 women in each community, the number who can read and write is, for the Hindus, 70; for the Mohammedans, 86; for the Christians, 913. In the Madras presidency there are 20,314 women who can read and write English. Of these, 77 are Mohammedans, 1,770 Hindus, and 18,442 Christians.

The Missionary Herald gives a very interesting account of the life of Edward Chester, M. D., who spent forty-three years in a mission in India. The amount of work accomplished by him, aside from his medical duties, would be considered enough to employ the time of one man. But in addition to ministerial work he had charge of the Madura hospital and dispensary. The attendance steadily advanced from thirty-one hundred the year before he took charge, till the last year it had reached fifty-one thousand, more than twenty-two thousand of whom were new cases. To each of these and the thousands more of accompanying friends, the gospel was daily preached; a leaflet, which served also as a dispensary ticket, was given, containing the ten commandments and the Lord’s prayer, accompanied with a brief statement of saving truth.