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life in Christ Jesus delivered him from the law of sin and death," Rom. viii, 2-8. Elijah gave the prophets of Baal their trial first. Their failure was but the prelude to God's unfailing faithfulness manifested, and Elijah's success was guaranteed. He knew when to ask that there might be no rain, when for fire, and when for rain. It was the success of a servant who does all things at the master's word, of one "under authority." See the same principle in the life of Christ (Luke vii, 7-10). "At thy word I will let down the net, and when they had thus done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes" (Luke v, 6), and God sealed the latter part of the prayer when He sealed the former. There was no presumption, no discord in linking both clauses together. "Hear me, O Lord, hear me and let it be known this day that Thou art God in Israel AND that I am Thy servant and have done all these things at Thy word." God sealed both with the fire, for Elijah was a man who kept time by God's programme.

4. Use God's means for God's ends." That the people may know that Thou art the Lord God and that Thou hast turned their heart back again." Here we see gain for his master. No misappropriation of his master's property! He gained what? God gained His people. The people gained their God (though only for a brief moment). The land gained its rain. And Elijah gained the queen's hate, failure and oblivion for a little space, with power out of it to call and train a successor.

God met the people and the people met God, xviii, 38 and 39, and Elijah could slip away later and cast himself down with his face between his knees and nobody called him back. That service is truest to the master which brings those we serve face to face with Christ and renders it possible sooner or later for us to slip away without hindering their blessing. Praise God for self-effacive service, which makes the Master visible.

Blessed living in the Presence!

Blessed standing by the sacrifice!
Blessed walking in God's programme!

Blessed oblivion when God would hide us!

And blessed power to train another to follow in our footsteps!

Correspondence.

WRITING MANDARIN. LYON'S

LIST.

To the Editor of

"THE CHINESE RECORDER."

DEAR SIR: That was a most excellent number of the RECORDER about language study, and it was a surprise that among all the workers in this empire it aroused no more comment and drew forth no more expressions of appreciation. "Interested Reader" alone ventured to say anything. Since a great many must have been helped, it must have been our extreme modesty that prevented! I hereby wish to express my thanks, though belated, to the contributors of that number, and especially to Mr. Lyon for his list of 500 characters.

I also wish he would add yet another 500, and then that we might have these printed on a card or cards for common use and study. Should this ever be done, it would be very convenient to have the various forms of the same character printed together. It seems to me that this list is the best for beginning to write Mandarin which I have yet seen. May I be so bold as to tell the method I pursued ?

I had my Chinese teacher to make sentences combining a few of these characters while I wrote them in romanized, then with the teacher's help the character was written; later, with the romanized before me, I tried to reproduce the character. As mistakes were made I tried again. I found that these sentences written as sentences stuck in my mind as phrases and sentences, not the words only, and would come

to me in prayer and preaching. These sentences were also used in dictation to the boys in my schools, thus helping my eye and memory as well as teaching them to write their own tongue.

Writing characters, with a little pains and time spent along the line suggested by Mr. Lyon, comes easier than most of us would imagine; the results are gratifying, and it seems to me it is a cheap price to pay for the respect which the Chinese give to those who can write the character.

Interested Reader's comment on the word caused me to wonder in what region of Mandarin he might reside. In Shantung it is constantly used in the combination, meaning to tell,"

, and is read su*, and often spoken sung1.

The point made by a recent writer that Mandarin is a language not a dialect, seems to be well taken.

Since so many notables, ancients, and worthies are constant contributors and readers, it is no wonder that we younger men find it hard to enter this forum, though open; however, the breach has been made, and I may subscribe myself

PEREZ.

TO BIBLE TRANSLATION

COMMITTEES.

To the Editor of

"THE CHINESE RECORDER." DEAR SIR: There are two or three suggestions that I should like to bring to the attention of Bible translation committees, and

it may be that you would be willing to give them publicity.

The first is that in preparing all future editions of the Bible in Chinese, a table of contents

follow the title page, giving the books in their order and the page on which each begins. Where each book is to be found is surely

more useful than the number of chapters in each book, which is shown in some tables of contents now.

The second suggestion is that the words (Paul the Apostle) be stricken from the title of the Epistle to the Hebrews. If there is any one who still thinks Paul wrote the Epistle I do not see how he can object to the striking out Paul's name from the title, for that does not say he did not write it, but only leaves it anonymous. And the Chinese have a right to know that it is anonymous.

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Both the above "innovations are made in the American Revised Version.

Two questions of translation I present with more temerity. (1.) Is there not some better word than for prophet?

The prophet was one who spoke in behalf of God, not merely a predictor, while is simply one who knows the future, or, in usage, one who pretends to know. (2.) Since the pronunciation of the Divine Name now current among scholars is not Jehovah, but Jahweh or Yahweh, would it not be better to represent it in Chinese by two syllables instead of the somewhat awkward trisyllable now in use ? It would have the advantage of greater simplicity as well as nearer approach to the original, Possibly might be suitable. Sincerely yours,

SHANGHAI.

J. W. CROFOOT.

IMAGES OF CONFUCIUS.

To the Editor of

"THE CHINESE RECORDER." DEAR SIR: Having read the correspondence started by Mr. Geller re images of Confucius, I had the curiosity to visit a

temple near. Changte city the other day. The temple is called "San-chiao-t'ang" or Three religion hall. I found the principal building occupied by images of Buddha, Confucius, and Lao Chûn.

Buddha occupied the centre, and was represented in the usual posture, sitting on a throne with a background representing India; monkeys, elephants, lions, and tigers all disporting themselves in a peaceable fashion.

Lao Chûn, on the right, was represented as a venerable old gentleman with a long flowing beard (white). He had a background of mountain scenery, and was evidently deep in meditation.

Confucius, on the left, was represented as a benign looking gentleman with long black beard, sun-browned features and two prominent front teeth (known in slang dialect as "buck teeth"). He had large ears and long sunken cheeks and a friendly look.

The images were all about nine feet high. In front of Confucius was a tablet to "The Sage,' on the back of which was a picture of him as a young man, with pale complexion and no whiskers.

I am, yours sincerely,

J. A. SLIMMON.

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inset that was sent out with that number, I have been anxiously looking for further information in regard to the proposed Evangelistic Association. Surely it is not to be considered that the Evangelistic Work Committee have as yet informed us of the need for such an organization in such a way as will allow them to rest secure in the hope that all will feel called upon to manifest an interest. Educational and medical work are both of such a nature as to make discussion of method advantageous. But is the same true of evangelistic work? Isn't this rather a matter of men than of method?

One's feeling is that there is a great danger of too many organizations. If every missionary were to join every association to which he is eligible, and to attend every meeting of each, there would be needed at home a new Board to raise funds to pay the missionaries' annual dues, and on the field a new corps of ineligible workers to preach the Gospel and to conduct the institutions. Let us have no more meetings than we must. Can the Evangelistic Work Committee or any one else convince us that we must have this one? Yours truly,

EVANGELIST.

Our Book Table.

The object of these Reviews is to give real information about books. Authors will help reviewers by sending with their books, price, original if any, or any other facts of interest. The custom of prefixing an English preface to Chinese books is excellent.

Atlas of the Chinese Empire. Specially prepared by Mr. Edward Stanford for the China Inland Mission. Morgan & Scott, Ltd., 12 Paternoster Buildings, London, E. C. 1908. Price 10s. 6d. (With Companion Volume, "The Chinese Empire", edited by Marshall Broomhall, B.A. Morgan & Scott, Ltd. 1907. Price 7s. 6d.) Presbyterian Mission Press. Price $6.00.

All students of China will find this atlas invaluable, whether for commercial, political, or religious purposes. Mr. Broomhall, the compiler, by putting the production of the atlas into the hands of Mr. E. Stanford, has secured that the technical workmanship should be of the best quality. Each province is shown on a separate map; the smaller ones occupying one page, the larger ones two. The clear

and accurate drawing, reinforced by judicious colouring and selection of detail, gratifies the eye and gives assurance of care and thoroughness. A novel and excellent feature is that the province delineated in each case is drawn on a white ground, while the surrounding country or sea is tinted to the edges of the map. This arrangement gives the clearest possible ground for names and details, while the white ground with surrounding tint, separated by a red line, gives remarkable boldness and solidity to the outline of the province in question. Again, large portions of each province are depicted in at least two sheets, once in white, when it is itself the subject of the map,

and once in colour when it appears as part of the country surrounding another province.

The provinces vary much in area, and some, like Kansu, are of very irregular outline, but these difficulties have been well overcome by the use of single or double pages. By this means all the provinces of China proper have been drawn to the same scale (47 miles to the inch), and only the outlying dependencies-Manchuria, Mongolia, Sinkiang, and Tibet-have been reduced to a smaller scale (120 miles to the inch). The whole has been so skilfully adjusted that in only two cases-Kansu and Mongolia-have the boundaries of the double page been exceeded. In these the difficulty has been overcome in one case by a folding flap, in the other by an inset. Formosa, now belonging to the empire of Japan, is also represented; room having been found for it as an inset in the map of Fukien.

The work is so well done that ⚫ the student will hardly discover how much labour has been spent in the collation of the information, in the drawing of the maps, and in the identification and marking of the mission stations. These are happily now so numerous that it was not possible to mark them all, nor could a fixed rule be followed as to what constitutes a mission station. The residence of a foreign missionary, or of an ordained Chinese clergyman, has in general been taken as constituting a station of sufficient importance for insertion.

The thoroughness of the preliminary work and the care and accuracy with which the results are set forth in the maps, can only be appreciated by a careful examination. A simple test is to take

the List of Stations on pp. xi and xii and compare it with the Index at the end of the volume and with the entries in the maps. Taking, for example, the provinces of Yunnan, Kiangsi, and Kwangtung, only some slight discrepancies are found, as follows:

The List of Stations in Yunnan contains Fukwan, and the name is duly found in the Index, but in the map the red cross is lacking, which should mark it as a station. Laowantan is given in the List as a station, but in the Index and map it appears as Laowatang, and in the map it also lacks the red cross. Pingi in the List appears in the Index and map as Pingyi. Tungchwang Yun in the List and map appears in the Index as Tungchwang Yan.

Under Kiangsi, Yühshan appears in the List, and in the maps, 3 and 8, it is twice marked as in Kiangsi. But in the Index it is noted as belonging to Chehkiang, though with latitude and longitude rightly corresponding with its position in Kiangsi as shown in the maps.

In Kwangtung, both Swabue and Samhopa (more correctly called Somho) should have been noted in the List and marked in the map as stations of the E. P. M. Also Ungkng, which is rightly noted in the List of Stations, should have the letters E. P. M. added to it as one of the centres of a Chinese pastorate of that Mission. Taiping Tung in the List and map appears in the Index as Taiping Tun. Tuaua has been entered in the List and Index, but in the latter its latitude and longitude have been incorrectly given, and it has been wrongly placed in the map. It has evidently been confused with Tuaka

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