Fruits of Toil in the London Missionary Society | Page 8

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 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