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January 20, 1909. THE PRESBYTER. spreading at home but there is no reason for our friends to be alarmed about us. Business in this part of the empire has not been affected by the changes that have taken place and there is nj obstacle to mission work other than such obstacles as we are constantly meeting with. It seems almost a miracle that God has preserved China through these thousands of years, when so many other kingdoms have ri*spn nrifl folio" la it unrcasonaDie to believe that He intends to glorify His name by bringing the nation to recognize that He is the true God, and by bringing countless thousands of this people to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? To that end we are working and praying. The time is ripe for mission work along all lines, evangelistic, educational, medical and literary. I am sure that you will help us by a prayerful interest in the work. There may be many changes made which will be helpful to China, but there can be no real reform until the Gospel takes hold of the people, the Gospel which alone can change the heart of man. I was distressed to see the notice of Mr. Whittet's death; he will be a great loss to our chui'ch. Hope Mr. McFaden is quite well again. With best wishes fqr a happy Christmas, and praying that God may richly bless you in all your work for him, I remain, Yours cordially, J. Mercer Blain. A \17 A MT AT" cr?T tj - ~ * xi vv nn x ur oc<t>rCjL 1 VS. A LAbOK OF LOVE. (Continued.) A missionary teacher, not of our own church, who is giving out .life and strength in a wasteful way, because of retrenchments, lately wrote: "The poverty (?) of the great Presbyterian Church at home makes the meagreness of our educational equipment in this day of opportunity almost unbearable." Shall we continue at our Nanking Seminarv to bo pensioners upon our Northern brethren? Not one of you business men would act so in a personal enterprise. Not one of you active women would so "sponge" upon another. Suppose one of you business men had gone (into a partnership and had sent an agent to establish a branch house in another city, each to put in $6,000 capital. What would you think of yourself if you let the other partner do all, while you drew your share of the profit? and when the store rent and taxes were due, allowed your agent to take what had been provided for his salary and personal expenses 1 Suppose one of you good women joined a friend to give a reception at a club or hotel, each to pay half; and then let her pay all, while you posed as the generous, hospitable hostess? These things are incredible. Even so would be the Nanking situation, if it were not true! Does some one suggest that he does not approve of the union part, or joining our good friends from across the Potomac? But this is already an accomplished fact, and our own missionaries are there teaching, Dr. Davis and Mr. Leighton Stuart; and we are leaving them in [AN OF THE SOUTH. n the lurch and causing them to "lose face," as the Chinese say. Now Dr. Davis has many friends in our Church, especially among the noble and generous North Carolinians. Will they not bestir themselves for this work? Probably no one on the mission field is so widely known and beloved as Leighton Stuart; suppose all who arc his friends, all who have received help and inspiration from him in their Christian life and service, put hand to this wheel? What a mighty turn would come to pass! Suppose we try it? Each practice some real self-denial, giving Nanking Seminary the proceeds. r)r> if ??? i V-r IV IIU?> ; As to not wanting to work with the Northern Church (alas, that any should so feel!) it would seem that unfriendliness would make one more than ordinarily punctilious in a matter of money. Two brothers, living side by side, fell out. Later a bridge used by both needed rebuilding, and a contract was drawn up by which each was to do part. One brother did his share and more, for he put the bridge in condition to pass over, though far from finished and hardly safe for lack of the other's part. Would you not think the latter would be anxious to do his full share, lest he be under obligations to the one with whom he did not want to be friends? "Of two creditors, let me pay my enemy first." But there is no question of enmity with two allied churches; and when we think of John W. Davis and John Leighton Stuart, and th*? ? , inc_y arc preparing to preach Christ, we shall want to do our best to uphold these brethren beloved in the Lord. Let us take away the stigma from the Church we love so well, and restore her self-respect by a labor of love. Mr. C. B. Stevens, an elder in the Charlottesville, Va., church, and one of the State Committee of the Laymen's Movement, has consented to receive our contributions, and will publish the receipts in the Church papers. Let us hope for a rich man or two (a rich woman will do finely) with thonsnnrtc * iuul uciaiea iuna, and for a multitude of friends with hundreds, scores, tens, fives, ones, to build his house. Let us pray that God will open our hearts, and our check books, so that Nanking may celebrate her Chinese New Year, in February, rejoicing that when God said to the North, Give up, and to the South, Keep not back, both alike have obeyed him! T. K. M. THE LESSON OF SERVING. Every human life that fails to hear its message and learn its lesson, or fails to speak it out, keeping it locked in the silence of the heart, leaves this earth a little poorer. We cannot live unto ourselves. We belong to him. We are the servants of every man we meet. This is o-,r privilege, and if we do it unwillingly, it is a duty. We must use or lose the truth. Our service is the world's claim on us, but we owe it to ourselves to serve. The bread we break for men is twice blest, and ours is the greater blessing.