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REV. F. BAYLIS, M.A., ON 



Missions revolutionizecl hy Applied Science. 



In missionary circles it is recognised that we have now 

 arrived at " the decisive hour of Christian Missions." The 

 Church of Christ is face to face with a world that is being 

 transformed within a short generation. It is not difficult 

 to show that applied science is one of the most potent factors 

 among the forces which («) are changing the world ; and also 

 among the forces which {h) give to the Church her present 

 opportunity ; and which, (c) at the same time, limit that 

 opportunity. 



{a) The world is a changing world, because the great peoples 

 of the East and the backward races of other lands are 

 assimilating, at an astounding pace, the inventions and the 

 knowledge of the West. 



Everyone knows something of the course of events which 

 transformed Japan in so short a time, bringing it into rank with 

 the civilized West. The eyes of the world have been drawn 

 upon it. Even the Missionary Committee Eoom is aware of the 

 march of science in Japan. Eor it is not long since a letter 

 told us of the new Bishop of Hokkaido, a missionary well 

 known and loved among the people of his diocese, receiving in 

 mid-ocean on his way out a wireless message of welcome from 

 his little flock in the Northern Island. Japan is up to date. 



But China is treading the same path. The change that is 

 coming must be stupendous from the enormous population and 

 area of the Empire. The change is coming apace — much faster, 

 we are told, than it came in Japan. What the magnitude of it 

 means may be illustrated by the saying ihat while " Japan has 

 now nearly six millions of youth in her schools and colleges 

 . . . the same proportion will some day give China over 

 fifty millions."* " The day is coming, and that very soon, when 

 China will have more students than any other nation in the 

 world." 



As to the pace of progress. Dr. Mott says,f " China has made 

 more radical adjustment to modern conditions within the past 

 five years than has any other nation, not excepting Korea. 

 Those who have studied the great changes that came over J apan 

 will remember that she made no such advance in the first ten 

 years after she began to adopt Western civilization as China 

 has made during the past five years. Sir Eobert Hart, the 



* Mott's Decisive Hour of Christian Missions^ p. 17. t Ihid.^ p. 7. 



