The Story of the Fuh-Kien Mission of the Church Missionary
Society. By Eugene Stock. (Seeleys.)—"Fuh-kien" or " Fo-kion " is a pro- vince of Eastern China, .about opposite the island of Formosa. It contains a population of about fourteen millions. Its chief city is Fuh-chau (or Foo-chow), and it is perhaps best known to the world as the home of that kind of tea which bears the almost classical name of Bohoa. Here, some twenty-six years ago, the Church Missionary Society founded a mission, having been anticipated by about four years by a party of American missionaries. This volume contains an interesting and, as far as we can judge, a quite candid narrative of this work up to the present time. And the work has certainly been a success, accom- plished not without great difficulties and sacrifices, but real, and promising to be durable. This success does not consist in the gathering of a certain number of dependents and pensioners on an establishment supported by foreign bounty, but in the foundation
of a native Church. Several Chinese converts have been or- dained, and their wtrk and character, after standing the tost of a prolonged experience, seem eminently satisfactory. A native ministry is, indeed, for many reasons an essential element of success. The climate of Fult-chien seems peculiarly fatal to European life. The rule seems to have been that a missionary has but had little more time than was needed to learn the language before he broke down. One curious fact is worth noting,—that Christianity spreads among the rural population, and fails in the cities. This is a distinct reversal of its early experience, as indeed is the fact that it seems now unable to touch Aryan and Semitic races, but accomplishes remarkable successes among Allophylic nations. We can heartily recommend this volume to our readers.
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