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Honorary Canon of S. Alban's Cathedral, Toronto General Secretary of the Missionary Society of the Church of England in Canada THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY Limited |
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Honorary Canon of S. Alban's Cathedral, Toronto General Secretary of the Missionary Society of the Church of England in Canada THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY Limited |
Chapter I. Description of the Field
Chapter II. History (Secular)
Chapter III. History (Religious)
Chapter IV. History (Religious)
Chapter V. Dioceses
Chapter VI. Missions
Chapter VII. Missionaries
Chapter VIII. The Church
IT was said, I believe by the late Bishop Lightfoot, that the study of history was the best cordial for a drooping courage. I can imagine no study more bracing and exhilarating than that of the modern expansion of the Church of England beyond the seas during the past half century, and especially since the institution of the Day of Intercession for Foreign Missions. It is only when these matters are studied historically that this expansion comes out in its true proportions, and invites comparison with the progress of the Church in any similar period of the world's history since our LORD'S Ascension into heaven.
But for this purpose there must be the accurate marshalling of facts, the consideration of the special circumstances of each country, race and Mission, the facing of problems, the biographies of great careers, even the bold forecast of conquests yet to come. It is to answer some of these questions, and to enable the general reader to gauge the progress of Church of England Missions, that Messrs. A. R. Mowbray and Co. have designed a series of handbooks, [v/vi] of which each volume will be a monograph on the work of the Church in some particular country or region by a competent writer of special local experience and knowledge. The whole series will be edited by two men who have given themselves in England to the work and study of Foreign Missions-Canon Dodson, Principal of S. Paul's Missionary College, Burgh, and Canon Bullock-Webster, of Ely.
I commend the project with all my heart. The first volume, which I have been able to study in proof, appears to me an excellent introduction to the whole series. It is a welcome feature of missionary work at home that we have now passed into the stage of literature and study, and that the comity of Missions allows us to learn from each other, however widely methods may vary. The series of handbooks appears to me likely to interest a general public which has not been accustomed to read missionary magazines, and I desire to bespeak for it a sympathetic interest, and to predict for it no mean success in forming and quickening the public mind.
EDGAR ALBAN.
HIGHAMS,
WOODFORD GREEN, ESSEX,
November 10, 1907.
FEW facts in modern history are more arresting or instructive than the rapid extension of the Church's responsibilities and labours in the colonial and missionary fields; yet, until recently, few facts perhaps have been less familiar to those who have not deliberately given themselves to a study of the subject.
It has therefore been felt that the time has come when a series of monographs, dealing with the expansion of the Church of England beyond the seas, may be of service towards fixing the popular attention upon that great cause, the growing interest in which constitutes so thankworthy a feature in the Church's outlook to-day.
The range of this series is confined to the work in which the Church of England is engaged. That story is too full to allow of any attempt to include the splendid devotion, and the successful labours, of other Missions of Christendom. But, for a fair understanding either of the Christian advance generally or of the relative position of our own [vii/viii] work, a knowledge of those Missions is essential; and it is in the hope of leading some of its readers to such further comparative study that this series has been taken in hand.
The Editors have tried to keep in view the fact that, while the wonderful achievements here recorded have been accomplished in large part through the agency of our Missionary Societies, yet these Societies are, after all, only the hands and arms of the Holy Church in the execution of her divine mission to the world.
They have directed their work, as Editors, simply to securing general uniformity of plan for the series, and have left each writer a free hand in the selection of material and the expression of opinion.
T.H.D.
G.R.B.-W.AUTHOR'S PREFACE THIS little book has been written with the practical purpose of helping to create in the motherland an intelligent interest in the great problems that are pressing for solution in the Canadian mission-field. It has been sought to do this by drawing as distinct a picture as possible of their salient features in regard more especially to needs and opportunities. The area is unfortunately so vast, the work so varied, the local needs so many and so urgent, and the growth and progress so rapid and so substantial that there has been but little room for details; and yet details of facts and figures are the only solid foundation on which intelligent interest and practical sympathy should be made to rest.
The time for such a book is peculiarly opportune. The problem of world-wide Missions is gradually assuming its proper place in the minds of earnest Christian men as the supreme object, to the attainment of which all the forces of civilization and Christianity should be especially directed. An earnest effort is being made, under the most influential auspices, to bring the subject [ix/x] before the whole Anglican communion, in connection with the Pan-Anglican Congress of 1908. It will be seen at a glance that an important factor in the solution of the world-wide problem is that of Colonial Missions; and that, among Colonial Missions, the Canadian field takes the first rank from the manifold standpoint of need, of promise, and of far-reaching importance. For the building up of the forces of Christianity and of the Church in the outlying portions of the Empire must not only tend to consolidate the Empire itself, but also to add materially to the resources of the Church, in men and money, in moral and spiritual power, in view of her world-wide mission.
Notwithstanding its many shortcomings, this volume is sent forth with the earnest hope and prayer that it may contribute its small quota to the elucidation and the practical solution of the important and difficult questions that lie before the Church of England at the beginning of the twentieth century.
While the contents of this book are chiefly derived from personal knowledge, or from sources too numerous to be mentioned, an acknowledgement of indebtedness is due to a little narrative called The Rainbow in the North for many facts regarding the work among the Indians at Red River.
L.N.T.