Sketches from Formosa.

1 66 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA
meeting of Presbytery, which was held during the opening
days of that month.
I returned with a deep conviction that our present
position in China very much requires that we should aim
at some such combination of evangelistic, pastoral, and
teaching work as has now been indicated. Many of our
preachers have to be sent out after a most imperfect
course of training. They are stationed in villages where
from their
they often meet with very little sympathy
neighbours, and even with opposition from those who ought
to be their warmest friends. What I feel therefore is, that
we should try and be away from our residences for months
at a time, gather together five or six of the preachers
of some district, and carry through with them special
courses of Bible study and open-air preaching. The work
carried on in our Theological Colleges and High Schools
is certainly of great importance, and we require a great deal
more of it, but the branch of service I am now speaking
of is that which must have gone on among the Galilean
hills, or as the little company came down south, or extended
their journeyings beyond the Jordan. Nothing,
too, like united work of this kind for developing the latent
energies of the missionary himself. In the Seminary
or School, obedience is the order of the day ; but once let
a man take the road with five or six sharp earnest young
fellows, and he must be either an angel or an ass who will
not require his whole wits about him !
From the present experience, there is at least one
individual who would do well to attend to the following
points : First, the need of more careful preparation
for a missionary journey like this preparation for work
among the Church members and office-bearers, for classwork
with the preachers, and especially for going out to
speak to those who are still sitting contentedly in the region