in the impact of western civilisation upon the peoples of the East, or of Africa, it would be extremely difficult to state the exact impression made by the mission, even if we could survey the whole state of the people at regular and definite periods.  We do not for a moment doubt that all Christian missions do exercise an influence of this wide and far-reaching character, and from time to time we can see results which clearly spring from it, but we cannot think it wise to set out this vague influence as the primary purpose of a mission.  We believe that the Christian missions which aim directly and primarily at the conversion of men and the establishment of a living native Church produce this fruit by the way.

If, however, we take the narrower expressions in the statement of aim which we have set out above, we find in it the purpose of establishing a Church, but the establishment is viewed as the result of a long and elaborate training and cultivation of a comparatively small body of Christians, rather than as the immediate result of widespread work.  In such a case we ought to be able to trace progress and to place these missions in a common scheme.

The early tables of work to be done and of the force in relation to that work on a territorial basis certainly fail.  The leaders of the mission have not the information and do not want it, but they could almost certainly provide the facts concerning the force at work contained in the tables without the proportions for the district, and they would perhaps be able to fill up most of the other tables omitting proportions to area and population.

Now if they did that we should be able to see the force at work and the type of work in which the mission was strongest and weakest, and the relation of the different types of work to each other, though it is probable that the tables dealing with the native Church as distinct from the Mission would not be filled up.  With that information we could almost certainly define more or less exactly the place of the mission in a large area such as the province, or the country; for in dealing with the province or the country we must necessarily mass figures, and we have there a known, or estimated, area and population, to use as a basis for calculation of proportions and comparison, and we are aiming at placing each mission in a larger whole and trying to see what part each takes in the performance of a great work which is world wide in its scope.  If the missions then which decline a territorial basis for their work would fill up those tables which reveal the nature of their work and the force engaged in it we should be able to advance to the next stage.  This is what we meant when at an earlier stage we remarked that we had drawn our tables to serve a definite purpose, but that we had not ignored the case of the man whose idea of the purpose of a mission differed from our own.

CHAPTER X.