Until about twenty years ago committees on foreign missions were appointed by presbyteries and synods without much regard to the qualifications of those who composed them. The conception of their functions and duties was limited to little beyond the making of a report once a year; and the report was often a perfunctory affair, very brief, and reading as if it were prepared simply because something must be offered to justify the committee's existence. Seldom were the members even called together for conference; and as to any work outside of the meetings of the church courts, or during the intervals, it was hardly thought of. As a consequence, the conscience of church members and others was not aroused nor was the high privilege of participation in missions appreciated; prayers and gifts for the foreign work were in no degree commensurate with its vital importance.

In New Jersey, a change was inaugurated largely through the instrumentality of the Rev. William H. Belden, who earnestly advocated a repetition of the Simultaneous Meetings of the Church Missionary Society of England, and, with his associates, successfully accomplished the movement in 1887 and again in 1889. The organization made necessary by this enterprise started the home church upon new lines in which the Synod of New Jersey is believed to have been the pioneer. Not only were hundreds of communities visited and addressed on missionary topics; quite an extensive literature was created, some of it well

worthy of permanent preservation, c. g., "The Planting of the Kingdom, a Synopsis of the Missionary Enterprise," by an honored member of the Synod's committee, Rev. Dr. Philo E. Leavens, lately deceased. To his trenchant pen I attribute a passage from the report to Synod in 1891, which reveals the new conception of the work of Foreign missions committees:

"We may wisely advert to Synod's theory of prosecuting the home side of foreign missions and developing its share of supplies. The Synod of New Jersey was the first to introduce in America the device of simultaneous meetings. It made the experiment more elaborately than any other constituency has done. The effect was beneficial and the example has been imitated far and wide. The best result within the Synod may prove to be our more effective organization, or rather, mobilization, for the main purpose. First, Synod's committee is enlarged and spread over our whole area and incited to be active throughout the whole interim between Synod's meetings. Should it not be all that an itinerant District Secretary is for a missionary society? Nay, might it not be much more efficient, and without cost? Next, Presbyterial committees are aroused and desired to become, within their sphere, champions and advocates of the cause they stand for; to awaken the dormant; to answer objectors; to encourage the faint and to provoke the churches to holy emulation. Then, committees in Sessions are approved, and appointed in some Presbyteries. Would it not

be well if every church had its elder who is the recognized leader and willing errandworker of this cause among his brethren and in the eyes of the youth? Prosecuting the home side of foreign missions through the courts of the church is a policy so apt and obvious that all would applaud it. But it is more than a policy. It is principle. It is the church acting in her ecclesiastical capacity to do the Lord's greatest service. To this hour, the Church of England, though so highly organized for all other purposes, is constrained to do her foreign work through voluntary societies. So do all the churches on the Continent and nearly all in America. There is no church on the globe so well adjusted in theory at least, to mission work through church agencies, as the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. And this Synod of New Jersey will be worthy to be held up as an example if it can show how the church can be mobilized so as to start its last member and make him do his best."

A little later, the following circular letter. which embodies the new aspect of the work of committees, was sent to the several Presbyteries.

"The work of Presbyterial committees properly embraces:

I. ORGANIZATION.

Committees should be called together at least once a year, to survey the field, to plan and pray. They should secure a correspondent in each congregation, to have the cause of foreign missions especially at heart and to be their medium of communication with that congregation. An occasional meeting of such correspondents with the committee might be made of great service.

2. SUPERVISION.

This involves oversight of the separate churches, including their societies and Sabbathschools; commendation of particular instances of diligence and liberality; stimulus, in case of backwardness.

3. EDUCATION.

They should inform themselves as to the observance of the monthly concert and the circulation of magazines and literature in the several churches. By exchange of pulpits and

occasional conventions, especially in rural districts, they should stir up the people, giving special attention to objections commonly made against missions and to the wonderful results already realized. The question of systematic giving, as both honoring the Lord and best promoting His cause, should be kept in some way before the people. The machinery of missions should be explained and the relation of the churches to the Board and of the Board to the missions more fully understood. In short, the Presbyterial committees should be, for the imparting of instruction and the gathering of funds, the agents of the church and the Board within the several Presbyteries."

While these methods were being pushed in New Jersey, other Synods were moving in similar lines. More attention was given to the fitness of members of committees, state and local gatherings were assembled for instruction and discussion, and New Jersey was finding it difficult to keep up with the rapid pace of some of the synods farther west, notably, Ohio and Indiana. In several states, as in New Jersey, campaigns of education have been conducted each year, missionaries on furlough co-operating with the Secretaries of the Board and members of the committees, to visit and address congregations in different localities. Recently, more thorough work is being attempted; presbyteries are divided into districts and reached from centers in which periods of several days are given to mission-culture.

Of the committeeman of to-day it is expected that he will be reasonably well acquainted with the theory and history of missions, and more or less familiar with the rapidly increasing literature upon the subject; that he will be able to inaugurate and superintend plans for missions-instruction and support among the churches; that he will give time and strength to the active prosecution of such plans and that he will himself be an example of liberal giving to the cause. He must be able to say, not only Go, but Come. Such a one will project himself far beyond the limits of his own parish, and country; he will be a promoter-at-large of the glorious kingdom of

Christ.

as a result of my experience as a Presbyterial Chairman of Foreign Missions. I think that very much depends upon the personnel of the Committee. First, it should have a Chairman who is willing to devote much time and thought to keeping Foreign Missions continually before the churches. The wisest plans will fail, if they are not vigorously pushed. This is the

Presbyteries should place a fund in the Committee's hands, large enough to defray travelling expenses of its members to conference meetings. It is enough to ask of them to give

secret point of weakness in many Presbyteries; the Chairman puts no work into his office, and consequently has no faith in his work, and no optimism as to results.

Second, the Committee should meet occasionally; frequently, if practicable, to plan for the Report in Presbytery, and the popular meeting to accompany it, which should be a fixed order for at least one stated meeting of the year. This should be supplemeted by a Foreign Mission Institute, or at least a service, in every church of the Presbytery, under the control of the Committee, and presided over by one of

their time. Thorough-going plans involve expense, and the lack of a fund, not necessarily large, often defeats the best of plans.

Third, every Presbytery should have some definite work in hand, say, the support of a particular missionary or station. The Forward Movement will suggest how to undertake this wisely. With a wide-awake Committee, and a liberal use of the Board's excellent up-to-date literature, and a "living link" between the home church and the field, the problem of Foreign Missions in a Presbytery should be in fair way of successful solution.

field? No one denies that we have ample resources both of men and means. Either we must evangelize or evacuate the field; if we are not prepared to do what we have undertaken, we ought in common honesty, to retire and leave the field to those whose faith and faithfulness are greater than our own.

Happily, signs are not lacking that the church is waking up to the possibility of evangelizing our field. Synod after Synod has recently set a worthier standard for the contributions of the current year. The action of Illinois is but typical of what many of the other Synods have set out to accomplish; viz: to secure, on an average, a contribution of $5.00 a year from every member, not falling short in any event, for this year, of $1.50 per capita, in accordance with the recommendation of the last General

Assembly. Of course, it is understood that this cannot be accomplished by merely passing resolutions. A campaign is on in earnest, in that Synod and in others, with a view to realizing this result. Synodical and Presbyterial Committees have been reorganized. The services of furloughed missionaries are being utilized more systematically and effectively. The men of the church are putting the brain and brawn of their manhood into the enterprise as never before. A Forward Movement is on indeed. The Parish Abroad is to be evangelized. And as we thus obey His bidding "Go ye," we can in confidence claim His promise "Lo I am with you always, even unto the consummation of the age." Thus at last shall come the revival which we have so long delayed by our own disobedience.

The Board of Foreign Missions looks in two directions, to the foreign field, the scant manned firing line, and to the home churches, which constitute its base of supplies. It is no outside scheme that seeks the support of the Church, but merely the instrument that enables each congregation the more effectively to discharge the obligation laid upon it by the Great Commission. One of the Secretaries of the Board is Home Secretary, whose function is to keep in touch with the home constituency, and associated with him are several special secretaries who look after different phases of the work. The Educational Department employs the entire time of two of these, and its held is the systematic study of foreign mis

sions.

The experience of several years has indicated that the most practicable way to secure an effective study of missions is by means of the mission study class. The main effort of the Educational Department has therefore been to increase the quantity and improve the quality of these classes. Its field has been mainly among the young people and the women of the Church. The men have been little represented because they were hard to secure; and the children, because altogether suitable textbooks for them have not yet appeared. These

two classes must receive earnest attention in the future.

The Women's Foreign Missions Boards have united in an agreement that the Educational Department shall be regarded as their agent and that all classes shall report to it their organizations and methods. It is understood that the Educational Department does not thereby supersede any existing agencies, but only co-ordinates and supplements them.

The activities of the Educational Department are along three lines: (1) editorial; (2) correspondence; (3) field work. The first includes the preparations of manuals for leaders on methods of mission study, of pamphlet helps to accompany the text-books, containing specific instructions for the conduct of each session, and of other literature for circulation among organizers, members, and those it is desired to interest. Most of this literature is mentioned in the list of leaflets given on another page. It is based on a careful study of the principles of modern education, and it is believed that in this respect it will compare favorably with the publications of any other Board. Text-books have heretofore been adopted from those issued for inter-denominational use.

The correspondence with leaders of classes