Fruits of Toil in the London Missionary Society | Page 7

complete fitness for the important duties
which those positions involve. It is an injustice to the Society that the
training of its missionaries should be incomplete. And it is an injustice
to the Missions generally, should they be placed in the hands of men
who are unable, from defective education, rightly to comprehend their
claims, and 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