TO REACH THE HEATHEN.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 909, 31 August 1910, Page 7

TO REACH THE HEATHEN.

: LAYMEN'S EFFORTS. '■ . Dr. McLaren and Dr. W. H. Pettit, who ore visiting Wellington in the interest of the Laymen's Missionary Movement, addressed a not very well;, attended meeting of men in St. John's" classroom last night. The Rev. J. Gibb, D.D., pre»4li ed, and some local speakers as well as the visitors took part. . . ' Dr. JL'ettit, speaking of ..the'difficulties of foreign mission work, laid stress upon tho vast areas of untouched -heathen, darkness. Out of the 1500 walled cities of China, 1000 were without'a'resident' missionary. There. ..was also, the difficulty of making clear to lea then hearers the Christian ideas-that had been familiar to ourselves for generations. There ivere the great barriers, like the awful immorality that was sapping the lite of Japan, the opium traffic, which tho Chinese identified ■ with those - who brought them Christianity, the terriblo caste system of -India, and many other obstacles. But the greatest barrier of all in heathen lands was sin. Even greater than this, as a fundamental- difficulty in the way of missionary progress, was.the warmness of the churches in Christian countries. The remedy was to be foundin united prayer. It was only through prayer that tho Church had ever accoin-. plished anything. ' Mr. William Allan spoke of what ho had seen of .the Laymen's Missionary Movement in Canada, where he met • several of its leaders two years ago. He found that they referred tho whole 6Ucoess of theli efforts to prayer. Ho recalled a banquet which he attended at Vancouver,, where 400 business men listoned to a series of addresses by Dr. Mackay, Mr. J. Campbell White, and other. speakers of the Laymen's Missionary Movement. He was asked to speak for New Zealand, and to bring back a message to this country. Ho did so, but he regretted that the start that was made some. time ago had not jot led to great developments. The movement must be interdenominational. Mr. H. N. Holmes said that much of the success of the Laymen's Missionary Movement in Victoria was connected with tho work of a former Wellington resident, Mr. W. Gillanders. He Had received' information that the -Presbyterian' Church had decided to send Mr. Gillanders to look into missionary work in tho Orient. At the suggestion of Mr. Holmes, the meeting decided to ask tho existing denominational committees to appoint two delegates each to a joint committee to further the Laymen's Missionary' Movement in Wellington. Dr. M'Laren, in his address/ dwelt upon the prevailing power of- faith. "Two men can move Wellington, •if they are agreed. Are there two men?" After a time of prayer, in which several' men took vocal part, the chairman bid Drs. M'Laren and Pettit (who are about to leave for Auckland) God speed in their further work, and in the mission fields to,which they will afterwards proceed.