Fruits of Toil in the London Missionary Society | Page 7

to fulfil the important duties which the charge of them now involves. In addition to considerations such as these, the Directors observed that for some years past their missionary students had been trained in a variety of ways; a few being educated in the ordinary colleges, and the remainder in private Institutions, adopted by the Board, at Bedford and Weston-super-Mare. Aided by a valuable memorandum from the Rev. J.S. Wardlaw, which went fully into the entire question, the Directors, after careful consideration, arranged it on the basis of the following RESOLUTIONS; which have given the students, the missionaries abroad, and the friends of the Society great satisfaction:--
"1. THAT, considering the high position of usefulness now attained by the Society's Missions, and the great importance of the work carried on in the present day, it has become increasingly desirable that the Society's missionary students should all enjoy, as far as practicable, the advantages of a sound and complete College education.
"2. THAT, as any plan for the formation of a separate Missionary Institution, and of affiliating it with any existing College, is found to be impracticable; and as existing colleges have shown themselves so ready and anxious on favourable terms to welcome the Society's students among theirs, it is desirable that our students should be placed in those Institutions in various parts of the country.
"3. THAT, in the judgment of the Directors, a preparatory class may be maintained for the few students who need it.
"4. THAT; for several important reasons, the Directors deem it most desirable to maintain the system by which the Society's students receive a final year of missionary training under the Rev. J.S. WARDLAW, M.A."
The Directors regard it as a matter for great thankfulness, and as a token of continued approval of their work, that they have recently received, as they did in 1867, a large number of offers from young men to enter upon the Society's service. The applicants have presented a great diversity of natural gifts, attainments, and position: some of them are already studying for the ministry in our Theological Colleges. The Directors have during the year accepted no less than eighteen. Amongst them are two of the missionaries' sons. The total number of missionary students in the Society is now forty-two. On the first of May, 1869, they stood thus:--
+-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+------+ |On Probation.|1st Year.|2nd Year.|3rd Year.|4th Year.|5th Year.|Total.| +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+------+ | 6 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 42 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+------+

VI.--NATIVE PASTORS AND MISSIONARIES.
The increase of our Church Members, and the enlargement of their spiritual life, have from time to time placed at the disposal of the Society an increasing number of Christian helpers for the local service of our various Missions. No exact account of them was taken for several years. But from the complete returns recently gathered, it appears that at the present time they are more than twelve hundred in number.
The Christian Assistants not engaged in schools are divided into several classes. Some are READERS, who go from house to house, and explain the Word to families or individuals. Others are preachers of greater or less education, and are more or less trusted, either to work alone, or in company with more experienced brethren. In India and China, these brethren are usually termed CATECHISTS, though in the South Seas the missionaries have retained the title of NATIVE TEACHERS. One class among them, of higher character and education, in whom great trust is reposed, are termed in India EVANGELISTS. These brethren frequently occupy stations by themselves, or are immediate and trusted assistants of the missionaries. Several of the excellent preachers in China belong to this rank; as also others in the South Sea Islands and in Madagascar.
It has from the first been a settled rule with the Society's missionaries that catechists and preachers should be men of known and proved piety; and that all candidates for theological classes shall be members of the church. The Directors believe that it is largely owing to the observance of this sound rule that the Missions have received a great blessing from above, and have been built up on a solid basis. It is the effect of this blessing, and a result of the development of the churches, that a steady improvement has taken place in the general character and fitness of Native Agents. And not the least benefit is that at length it is giving rise to the long-desired class of NATIVE ORDAINED PASTORS.
In 1865 our lists showed twenty such Pastors and Missionaries, not reckoning the Tahitian or Madagascar brethren; and of the twenty, fourteen were in India. During the last three years fifteen have been added in India, and one has died. In the Leeward Islands several of the Tahaa students have been ordained as pastors in Tahiti and the out-stations; the