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INDEPENDENCE AND SELF-SUPPORT. 197case in American and English missions. But t?iis isonly seemingly so. I believe that if their contributionsfor all objects were given in a lump sum tlie totalsreceived would not be much different from the sumsraised in other missions working in the same district.Though many of the larger congregations are nowable to pa} their own local church expenses, that byitself is still a far cry to complete self-support. Theexpenses for educational work in all its higher branchesare practically paid entirely by foreign mission societies.A small tuition fee is demanded by some institutions andis a beginning in the right direction. It is a seriousquestion whether the high standard of seminary, college,and academy buildings, now being erected in all parts ofChina with foreign money, does not make self-support ofthe Chinese church in the real sense of the wordabsolutely impossible for many generations to come.The fact is the Chinese churches would be unable tokeep these great buildings in decent repair, were theyintrusted to their care at this time. And as to ability toraise the main 7 tens of thousands of dollars necessary topay the running expenses of these institutions, that willbe impossible until the Christian constituency numbersmillions where now it numbers only myriads. Thuswhen we speak about self-support to-day, we can onlyuse the phrase in a limited sense. It can only refer tothe ability of local congregations to pay the expenses oftheir local church work.The establishment of home mission societies tocarry on mission work in distant fields offers excellentopportunity by which the churches are led to bearresponsibilities. It also has the effect of widening theirconceptions of the greatness and costliness of the workof extending the kingdom of God. The reflex effectupon the churches is very wholesome, and the establishment of mission societies has brought great blessings tothose churches who have taken up the work with zealand energy. In all there are about ten home mission