cted with our
missions, so far as reported, is 596. The number concerning whom we
may hope that they have been led to Christ during the past year is 60,
making the total number of whom this hope has been cherished, and who
have given "credible evidence of faith in Christ" from the first more
than 1,100. How many of these will appear in the church of the
first-born "clothed in white robes" it is not for human judgment to
decide. Sometimes the human, the frail, we may almost say the
_devilish_ crops out in a way to put hope and courage to a test that
is terribly severe, but never anything to compare with that which Paul
had to confront in those at Corinth, whom he nevertheless denominates
"the sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints." The Good Shepherd
knows his sheep, and those thus given to him by the Father shall
_never perish_, neither shall anyone pluck them out of his Father's
hands.

The limits of our space forbid that we follow the report into its
accounts of the year's work in each one of these missions. Two points
deserve special notice. One of these has been referred to in a
previous number of THE MISSIONARY. More attention must be
given to preaching in the street and in our schoolrooms, which make
very comfortable little chapels. The other is that many Chinese
children--native-born Americans--are growing up not only in the great
centers, but also in interior villages, and we must open the doors of
our schools to these; make such arrangements as will secure their
attendance, and so bring it about by the grace of God that they grow
up not in darkness, but under the healing beams of Him who said, "I am
the light of the world."

* * * * *

OFFERINGS OF OUR BRETHREN.--It is not possible to segregate
their gifts to our treasury with perfect accuracy, but we are within
the truth when we place them at $1,905.40. In addition to this they
have given for the local expenses of their several Associations
$1,134.10, for Missionary Work in China $675.65, for their Worldwide
Missionary Society (through the American Board) $63.60, and for relief
to needy brethren and others $358, making an aggregate of $5,136.75 as
their offerings for the year; and this, be it understood when the
pressure of the times cannot but be felt by them, on the average, more
severely than by any others. The goods a Chinaman has to sell are
likely to be those that in hard times we dispense with. If wages are
to be r