EXTRACTS FROM THE ANNUAL REPORT.

819

of £4,000! Less than one penny per week from each member of our Churches would produce this amount, and it is for the friends assembled in such large numbers at this Annual Meeting to decide whether this standard shall be secured.

In the evangelization of Orissa, a much larger sum is expended than is contributed by our own Churches. The Female Education Society supports three lady agents at Cuttack. The Tract Societies in England and America largely and mainly supply the paper and funds for Oriya tracts and books. The British and Foreign Bible Society, and the Bible Translation Society, provide the funds for printing and binding the Oriya Scriptures; while, recently, the former Society has offered to contribute for two years, in the first instance, £12 a year each for the support of twelve Bible-women. Large sums of money are also given by private individuals. Dr. Stewart, who a year or two ago contributed £1,000 towards the new School-rooms at Cuttack, is now erecting a handsome block of buildings for Mission purposes, at a cost of between £3,000 and £4,000. These expressions of liberality on the part of others should encourage our own Churches to abound more and more.

ROME.

During another year your devoted missionary, Mr. Shaw, has faithfully prosecuted his work. As he has beheld the city of Rome, and other parts of Italy, given to popery and priestcraft, to ignorance and idolatry, to superstition and sin, his soul has been stirred within him. In referring to the state of the church Mr. Shaw observes:

In our Report of the Rome Mission this year we have nothing startling or sensational to relate, The past year, though it has brought its joys and its sorrows, its successes and its disappointments, has been the quietest we have had in Rome. We should have been glad of a little more of the extraordinary in certain directions; but, all things considered, we have great reason to be thankful. Steady work has characterized the year. It is still sowing-time with us; the time of harvest has not yet come. The net increase in the number of our members is only two, but the state of the church as compared with the past is cheering. It is true that we have several members who need constantly exhorting and urging along the path of spiritual progress, and we shall not be surprised if we are compelled to cut off two or three ere long; but it is equally true, on the other hand, that there are those who are manifestly growing in grace and spirituality, and who give us much encouragement. Doubtless we have more spiritual life among us than we have hitherto enjoyed; the work of the Lord is manifestly deepening in some hearts, and that must be a prophecy of future blessing.

Mr. Shaw is most anxious to extend the operations of the Society, by establishing stations in other parts of Italy. He writes:

Permit me to say that what our Mission needs now is an increase of funds, and an order to advance. The need in Italy is painfully great and pressing. I hope the information I have sent to the Magazine will not have failed to convince all of that fact. In the interests of economy we ought to advance. The cost of superintendence would be little or no more if we had twenty stations instead of one. I have been here five years, and I should like to know when I may go forth and preach the gospel in other cities also. I seem to hear a voice, like that which spake to Moses at the Red Sea, calling to our leaders as we stand trembling before, not the Red Sea, but a contemptible pond of financial difficulty, and saying, "Speak to the General Baptists, that they go forward." To go forward is our only consistent and safe path, and a little stretching forth of the rod of enterprise and enthusiastic example would soon make a way, and lead to song and triumph.

CONCLUSION.

The conclusion of the whole matter is this: that if our Missions in Orissa and Rome are to be successfully carried on, they must be reinforced. Do we look at Rome! There we have one missionary-an advance-guard, or skirmisher-and he only scantily equipped for executing his important work. Do we look at Orissa! There, for the evangelization of that immense province-now that Mr. Mulholland has retired-we have only six English missionaries. Think, for a moment, of their position and surroundings! In the district of Cuttack, with a population of 1,731,548, dwelling in 5500 villages, we have our two senior brethren, Buckley and Miller. In the district of Pooree, with a population of 885,794, dwelling in 3175 villages, we have only Mr. Vaughan. In the district of Ganjam, with a population of 1,772,743, dwelling in 4562 villages, we have only Mr. Bailey. In the Sambalpur district, with a population of 1,653,960, we have Mr. Heberlet. While in the nineteen Tributary States of Orissa, with a population of 1,624,310, we are without any English representative whatever.

During the past year, "The Bitter Cry of Outcast London" has reverberated throughout the land. By the deplorable disclosures made, neglect has been charged upon the Christian church. It has been intimated that the money sent to the heathen abroad ought to have been expended on the heathen at home; and that, so numerous were the missionaries in the foreign field, that a man would stand a better chance of hearing the gospel in India, China, or Africa, than in London. But what are the real circumstances of the case? They are these: that of every hundred pounds raised by the churches of Christ, in England, for religious and philanthropic objects, more than ninety per cent. is spent at home; that more money is annually expended in London alone on those objects, than is sent by the entire churches of Europe and America to the heathen world; and that more ministers and missionaries are employed among the four millions of London, than among the eight hundred millions of heathens. London's fair proportion of ministers would be eleven! But, even then, London would be far better off than Orissa. Among the nine millions of that province there are six missionaries, or one to every million-and-a-half of people. What should we say of London with only three missionaries, and only fifteen hundred Christian peeple-all the rest being heathen! But even that would be too favourable a comparison with Orissa, where the people are dwelling, not in a single city, but scattered in twenty thousand villages, and over an area nearly as large as England! While, therefore, we would not tone down "The Bitter Cry of Outcast London," or diminish by one iota the efforts that are being made to reclaim, restore, and renew those who, in the richest country of the world, are living in ignorance, misery, and sin, yet we would ask more attention, more sympathy, and more help on behalf of the outcast heathen!-on behalf of those for whom Christ died, over whom He yearns with the tenderest pity, and in whose salvation "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied."

Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the General Baptist Missionary Society will be thankfully received by W. B. BEMBRIDGE, Esq., Ripley, Derby, Treasurer; and by the Rev. W. HILL, Secrteary, Mission House, 60, Wilson Street, Derby, from whom also Missionary Boxes, Collecting Books and Cards, may be obtained.