MISSIONARY ITEMS | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 6, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 18.

MISSIONARY ITEMS.

THE Times of India says that from August, 1895, to January, 1896, there were 9,835 deaths in Bombay from the bubonic plague. The government reports are said to greatly understate the mortality. Friends of the sick ones would hide them in their homes, to prevent their being segregated by the authorities. Thus the disease was fostered by the people rather than have their sick friends separated from them. But there were very few, not more than half a dozen, it is said, of the native Christians who fell victims to the disease.

A LETTER from Miss Hess, of Marash, Turkey, to the Missionary Herald, shows that persecution has not quenched the ardor of many of the Christians in that quarter. She says: "The Second Church, whose pastor was imprisoned and tortured, has been thoroughly repaired by the people. Gifts in memory of slain friends have been made by some who in a few months would be dependent upon charity themselves; all gave, and the building is filled to overflowing with congregations of Armenians, Gregorians, and Protestants, all eagerly listening to the Gospel, new to so many of them. In the schools connected with this church are 500 children, 300 of whom are Gregorians. A kindergarten has been started among them, and they seem thoroughly awake to the advantages of an education."

WITHIN the last five years no less than fifty-two new versions have been added to the list of languages and dialects in which some portions of the Bible are printed. The total number in which some portion is printed is 381, while the entire Bible has been translated into 107 languages and dialects. During the year ending April 1, 1896, the British and Foreign Bible Society issued 3,970,439 Bibles, Testaments, and portions. The society was organized in 1804, and within the ninety-two years it has issued 147,366,669 copies.—Missionary Herald.

IT is said that one of the most pressing needs in eastern Turkey is a supply of agricultural implements, and especially of oxen for plowing. To provide for this, the British consul at Van has given funds to send to Persia for the purchase of 1,000 oxen. It is estimated that through this means 25,000 people can be provided for in the year to come, at a cost of about $8,000.

THE Friend, of Honolulu, says that three boxes of New Testaments in the Ponapean language, which the Morning Star was permitted to land, were in great demand, and many were disappointed in being unable to procure copies. Last autumn a new church building was dedicated by the Metalanim tribe, and natives from all parts of the island came to the service.

Of the rinderpest, a correspondent of the Missionary Herald says: "We can have little conception in this country of the desolation caused by the cattle plague now prevailing in Africa. The disease has appeared over a vast territory, extending from north of the equator to Cape Colony. It strikes at the great source of subsistence and wealth in the native tribes. It attacks not only domestic cattle but the wild beasts of the forests."