land with Germany is merely a question of time, and if, as is quite possible, he regards this union as probably a not very distant contingency, it may be that he is only beginning to adapt his policy to the theory that Germany will soon have a vast interest in the Malay Archipelago, and that what is now Hollandish India will soon become German India.

Such a thought is startling enough, but as yet it is only a thought. The Eastern dreams of European statesmen have been disappointed too often to make it worth while to devote much attention to the plans of even Prince Bismarck. Should, however, such a contingency ever occur, the change would very possibly be for the better. Whatever the Dutch may be in their own land, abroad they are less liberal than the Germans, and it is by no means certain that any valuable interest would suffer in consequence of the change.

As a field for missionary enterprise Malaysia offers many attractions, and its importance must increase very rapidly in the future. An impression has gone out into all the Protestant world that this is a barren field, and that the Malay people are peculiarly inaccessible to the Christian missionary, but it does not appear that this impression is by any means well founded. The Mohammedan Malays, like all Mohammedans, are actively opposed to the spread of Christianity, but not more so than in North India. It must be remembered, however, that the inhabitants of the islands are not all Mohammedans; and the more primitive tribes, often called aborigines, are much more ready to receive the Gospel than the Hindus.

Among the Mohammedans, too, are found, as in Bengal, many nominal adherents who are not very firmly grounded in the faith of Islam, and who are not specially averse to Christianity. It is estimated that there are at present two hundred and fifty thousand nominal Protestant Christians in the islands. Nearly all of these are found within the limits of Netherlands. India, and it is alleged that the Dutch government has used more than indirect influences in inducing its Malay subjects to embrace Christianity. This may be so; but even if the truth of the charge is conceded it only demonstrates the striking fact that the people are not obstinately or blindly attached to any false system of religion.

As might have been expected, the Dutch have been the chief

workers in this great field, although the Germans and a few English and other missionaries have had a share in the work. Reports as to the religious value of the change effected among the people differ widely, but it is probably true that in many places the type of Christianity introduced among the people has not been the purest, and where official influence has been brought to bear the conversions effected may very probably not have been genuine. If we may judge by what was accomplished in Ceylon, when that island was in the possession of the Dutch, we may well regard the state of the Christians in Malaysia with no little misgiving. In Ceylon the withdrawal of the Dutch was the signal for a widespread apostasy to Buddhism, if such a term as apostasy can be applied to men who had never been more than nominal Christians. It must not be assumed, however, that the Christians in Dutch India are all of this insincere character. In many places they bear a fairly good character, and give good promise for the future. They very possibly share the infirmities of all large bodies of recent converts from non-Christian faiths, but it does not appear that they are less hopeful than other Oriental converts placed in similar circumstances.

Whatever the outcome of existing missionary agencies may be, it is evident at a glance that English and American Christians must, sooner or later, enter this wide field and assume a due share of the great work to be done. Malaysia can no more be left to one little European nation than Japan, or even China or India. The tiny little islands of the Pacific have been sought out by the great missionary societies of England and America, while these magnificent islands have been neglected. In all Malaysia proper there is only one American missionary, and he entered the field within the past two years. The London Missionary Society once occupied Penang, Malacca, and Singapore; but while doing so China was the objective point of its missionaries, and when the treaty ports on the Chinese coast were opened the missionaries all moved up into China. The English Baptists made several attempts in former years to gain a foothold in Java and Sumatra, but were ultimately obliged to abandon the field. The American Board also attempted to plant missions in Borneo, but after a long series of discouragements its missionaries were

withdrawn. The most serious obstacle met with by all these societies was the hostility of the Dutch government. The early policy of the British East India Company, under which all missionary efforts were opposed, was also adopted by the Dutch, and even when direct opposition was relaxed in the case of Dutch missionaries it was continued against all other comers.

There is no longer, however, any necessity for coming into collision with the Dutch authorities. A vast field is open to all missionary comers, with Singapore, Penang, and Malacca as central stations. In this region the Malay language is spoken in its greatest purity, and from these cities native evangelists can be sent out in all directions. If it is desired to move on at once into the regions beyond, a wide field is open in Sarawak and northern Borneo; but a wiser policy would be to begin at the open door-way which Singapore affords, and, first of all, organize and drill the forces with which future advances shall be made. Beyond all doubt Singapore is one of the most important key positions in all the East, and the Church which occupies this place in force must, in the nature of the case, exert a powerful influence throughout the whole Malaysian region. The city of Penang, built on a beautiful little island on the western coast of the Peninsula, is within what military men would call "easy touch" of the Malay States on the mainland, and also of Siam. At this point the Roman Catholics maintain a powerful force, consisting of thirty-seven men and a whole host of nuns, and here they train native priests for work, not only in Malaysia, but also in their mission fields in Siam. The practical wisdom and foresight of the Roman Catholics on this coast, as elsewhere, contrasts strangely with the desultory and badly organized operations of Protestant missionary societies. Even though their wisdom may have a large admixture of the spirit which governs the children of this world, it is none the less worthy of imitation by those who use purer methods and eliminate its bad elements. At these very points, where Romanism rallies its forces and plans its coming campaigns, a Protestant work should be established on a broad basis, and plans formed worthy of so vast a work as the conversion of Malaysia, with its coming millions, to Christ.

To the Rev. W. F. Oldham, of the South India Conference, belongs the honor of being the first Methodist missionary to

unfurl the banner of his Church and his King in this land of missionary promise. Born and brought up in India, he was converted to God and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church under the preaching of the Rev. D. O. Fox, about eight years ago. A few years later he went to America, where he was afterward joined by his devoted wife, and both of them pursued a thorough course of training with a view to future service in India. Mr. Oldham achieved honorable distinction as a student, and, having completed a full university course, he returned to India at the close of 1884. He landed at Bombay to meet the astounding intelligence that he had been chosen to lay the first foundation stones of the future Methodist Episcopal Church of Malaysia. He was startled, but not disheartened, and began at once, with the cheerful consent of his heroic wife, to prepare for his unexpected work.

A small beginning has been made, and the first foundation stones are in position. A Methodist Episcopal Church has been organized at Singapore, and the missionary is making rapid progress in the study of Malay, while, at the same time, giving attention to the English-speaking Chinese. At a point far up the Peninsula a member of the Rangoon Methodist Episcopal Church is employed as a teacher by the Siamese government, and has gathered a little company of Chinese Christians around him. He is not able to speak either Malay or Chinese, but by the help of his wife, who speaks the former language, he is able to hold the little flock together, and, if nothing more, his success affords an indication of what might be done under better conditions.

The Methodist Episcopal Church should occupy this promising field at once, and occupy it in force. It cannot permanently be attached to the South India Conference, or to any Conference in India. The field is distinct, and needs its own equipment. Another man, and at least two unmarried women, should be sent to Singapore, and perhaps an equal force stationed at Penang. Then year by year the work can be extended ast providential indications may lead, and thus in a short time we may have a mission in Malaysia worthy alike of so magnificent a field and of so powerful a Church as that which is now represented by the two faithful but lonely workers at Singapore.

ART. II. WESLEY'S VARIATIONS IN BELIEF, AND THE INFLUENCE OF THE SAME ON METHODISM. SINCE the apostle Paul ascended to heaven there has not arisen in Christendom a man more abundant in labor, or of more extended and abiding influence, than John Wesley. Sixty-five years of almost incessant toil in the Christian ministry, in which time it is estimated he preached not less than forty thousand sermons, and compiled, revised, or wrote and published three hundred distinct volumes-in science, literature, and theology-make up a life-work probably unparalleled in the history of the Church. That for which Methodism, both in its separate organization and its prevailing influence in the Christianity of the age, is mostly indebted to its founder is such an evergrowing monument to the versatile genius, the patient research, the wisely applied learning, the power of leadership, and the personal devotion of Wesley as is found erected to the memory of but few other men of modern history.

The personal belief of one occupying a position so prominent before the world-a belief known by its fruits in the productions of pulpit and pen-must be both conspicuous and influential. But Wesley's relation to Methodism, including, as it does, a distinct system of doctrine and a well-defined form of Christian experience, was such that any changes of personal beliefs, it would naturally be supposed, would be shadowed forth in after years by the Church bearing his name. It is, however, one of the anomalies of history that one so credulous as was John Wesley, so free from invincible prejudice in his search for truth, so inquisitive for facts of experience, so susceptible to the influence of sound logic, wherever met with -that one so versatile in belief, however well established he became in the end-should be the acknowledged founder of a Church that, in extending into all the lands of Christendom, has preserved its doctrinal positions without any extended schism or radical change. The founder of the Church varied. largely in his belief respecting both the distinctive doctrines and the sectarian peculiarities of the Church he founded; the Church itself, for more than a century, has been historically uniform in her beliefs, and in their doctrinal statements.