SEVENTY YEARS IN CHINA.
By The Missionary Herald
IN the report of the London Missionary Society presented in May last, some striking facts are given, showing the contrast between the condition of affairs in China at the present time and seventy years ago, at the time of Dr. Morrison's death. Then there was one station, that at Canton, but no missionary. The two Chinese Christians employed by Dr. Morrison were in exile on account of their faith, and the severest persecution followed all who had sympathy with the foreign religion. In 1836 Dr. Medhurst, who had voyaged along the coast to discover, if possible, means for direct intercourse with the people, reported that visits on shore were tolerated, and civility would be shown those who distributed tracts. But Dr. Medhurst said, "The mandarins told me repeatedly that their orders from the government were always to treat strangers with politeness, and supply them with necessaries at the public expense, but to get them away as soon as possible." And he added, "I think it entirely out of the question for a missionary to think of taking up his residence in any part of China, except Canton." Not long after Dr. Medhurst's trip an imperial edict was issued, charging the foreigners with having shown a wish "to distribute foreign books, designing to seduce men with lies," and declared that "if they again indulge their own desires, and act thus irregularly, they [naming the foreigners] must be immediately driven out of the port, and no longer allowed commercial intercourse." But seventy years has witnessed a mighty change. Not only the cities on the coast are open, but Hankow, 700 miles up the Yangtze River, is now a central point for churches, having nearly eight thousand members; while Chung King, the capital of the great province of Sz-Chuan, 700 miles farther up the great river, is another center of wide influence. In place of the two imprisoned disciples in Dr. Medhurst's day, there are now scores and thousands of Chinese Christians, whom the missionaries of the London society declare to be "self-reliant, independent, aggressive, and generous in a remarkable degree," and that from among them "a number of Christian leaders who are already proving, under the guidance of the European missionaries, splendid pioneers and faithful and able pastors."