Fruits of Toil in the London Missionary Society | Page 8

Directors have recommended the ordination of others, as TAUGA, the Evangelist in charge of the churches in Manua; ELIKANA, the Evangelist of the Lagoon Islands; and ISAIA, the well-known Evangelist of Rarotonga; and five have been ordained in Samoa. In Madagascar a practical Native pastorate grew up in the days of persecution, which was judiciously fostered by Mr. Ellis and his associates, and was placed by them in a most healthy position. Of the five hundred preachers placed over the churches, some twenty may be reckoned of that high standing and independence of management accorded to the other brethren in the ordained lists. The Directors rejoice that, through the wise foresight of Mr. Ellis, the Madagascar pastors receive no support from the Society; they are almost wholly sustained either by their own labour or by the Native Churches. In Travancore, three of the pastors ordained last year have become entirely free of all help from the Society. The Board desire that in all cases the same independence of support from English funds shall be steadily aimed at, though for a time it may be necessary to guarantee a certain salary, and to supplement such portion as the native members give, by an annual grant from the Society's funds. In all the Society's missions the number of these pastors is about eighty. It is desirable that all our native agency shall be of the best kind, and shall be trained in the most efficient way.
[Illustration: ANDRIAMBELO.]

VII.--THE NATIVE CHURCHES.
The high and useful position attained by the Society is further illustrated by the character and importance of the Native Churches. These are our actual converts, the most striking, the most patent, if not the most real among the fruits of our past labours. These churches are unevenly distributed, but the explanation is easy. As a rule, they are largest in fields of labour which have been longest cultivated, and where converts are easily won. They appear, therefore, in inverse ratio to time and difficulty. To the native races of Polynesia, desolated by wars, torn in pieces by faction and strife, Christianity came as the healer and peace-maker, and was welcomed as soon as understood. To the native races of South Africa, and to the people of the West Indies, to the weak who had been crushed and enslaved by the strong, it came with loving smiles as deliverer and friend. By the devil-worshipper of Travancore, ignorant, degraded, friendless, afraid of malignant spirits, it was welcomed for its kindness. To the caste-ridden people of the great cities and towns, to the sudra of South India, to the Brahmins everywhere, it came as an enemy, destroying their social life, breaking up the bonds of Hindooism, smiting the gods, putting down the priesthood, destroying the vested interest, and drying up the wealth produced by centuries. Who can wonder that to the learned, the powerful, the bigoted, it was "foolishness;" while to the despised and poor, accepted in a child-like spirit, it became the power of God unto salvation? As a rule, the converts, who were easy to win, have been hard to raise; and in ordinary Christian life some of the most zealous, the most consistent, the most liberal, the most missionary, have been found among the few converts, drawn by hard struggles and heavy penalties, from the caste population of our Indian towns. It is from such came nearly all our first ordained Native Ministers.
[Illustration: THE GOD BEATER.]
But, whether easily or hardly won, we rejoice in the fact that at this hour the three hundred Churches gathered through the ministry of this Society contain thirty-five thousand members; and that round them, looking to them for instruction, and influenced by their example, lives a population of not less than one hundred and ninety thousand souls, who have given up all idolatry, and call Christianity their religion.
* * * * *
The GENERAL CHARACTER of these church members, their attainments in knowledge, the amount of their moral strength, the enlightenment of conscience, their peculiar deficiencies, are topics frequently dwelt upon in missionaries' letters, and find a conspicuous place in the annual reports. Who can doubt that, should occasion arise, the converts of MADAGASCAR would still emulate the fidelity of the brethren who gave themselves to clanging fetters and the fiery flame rather than deny Christ? When bitterly persecuted by bigoted priests, the Christians of UEA still possess their souls in patience, and with their chapels burnt, their plantations desolated, and their companions beaten, they hold on to the truth as it is in Jesus, and refuse to bow the knee to the Baal of Rome. In the Calcutta Mission last year, as heretofore, converts have been found to bear reproach and shame for Christ rather than be numbered among idolaters. Still do the tried Christians of POKLO show