THE FUTURE OF ISLAM. 



81 



Mr. ]\Iartin Eouse. — To what Mr. ^Mitchell has just told iis I 

 think I might add a fact learnt from a lecture that I heard 

 Mr. Mitchell give a few years ago, I think — that in Morocco a 

 certain lady was the pioneer in one of the leading towns, and 

 gathered young men around her and led about ten of them to 

 Christ. Three of them went away into the mountain villages of 

 Morocco ; and they preached with such real and hearty belief in the 

 doctrines of the Bible, that the inha1)itants of three villages 

 renounced Mohammedanism and became Christians. But I 

 rememl)er that at that time we were told not to say much about 

 these things, lest the Christians should become marked men. 



The Secretary. — I have an extract from a newspaper of the 

 19th December last, containing a statement regarding the spread of 

 Christianity in India, drawn up by the Committee of the Calcutta 

 Missionary Conference lately held. The whole article is exceedingly 

 interesting, but I would just read one part which bears specially on 

 that subject : — 



" The first impression left on the mind by its perusal is that of 

 ■enormous and rapid success. In 1861 the Asian Christian com- 

 munity in the Protestant Missions of India proper was 138,731 ; in 



1900 it had risen to 854,867, a growth of more than 600 per cent, 

 in forty years. If we include Burmah and Ceylon, where the 

 growth has been less rapid — in Ceylon, indeed, the Christian com- 

 munity has fluctuated curiously — the total number of Native 

 Christians in Protestant Missions has risen from 213,373 in 1861 to 

 1,012,463 in 1900, a growth of 474 per cent. During the last 

 decade the numbers rose from 671,285 to 1,012,463, or nearly 

 51 per cent. Satisfactory in itself, this advance compares favourably 

 with, the general increase of Native Christianity. The Census of 



1901 is sufficiently near in date to afford a means of comparison. 

 In that year the number of Native Christians in India and Burmah 

 WHS returned as 2,664,313, as against 2,036,590 in 1891, a growth 

 of about 31 per cent. If we disregard the small numbers in Ceylon, 

 .a simple calculation show^s that whereas the Native Protestant com- 

 munity has increased some 51 per cent, in the decade, the rest of 

 the Christian community has only advanced about 22 per cent. In 

 other words, the rest of the Native Christians, including members 

 of the Syrian Church of Malalmr, the remains of the old Roman 

 Catholic districts, and the like, are comparatively stagnant. In the 

 gross the numbers of Indian Christians are still insignificant, com- 

 pared with the millions of Hindus, Mohammedans, Buddhists, and 

 Animistic worshippers. The Mussulmen increased more than 

 5,000,000 during the decade ; the Buddhists, chiefly in Burmah, 



