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"""yamnGENERAL SURVEY. 19fastness of so many Christians in the midst of the bittertrials of the Boxer period. In so vast an empire as thatof China perhaps no one iscompetent to summarize theconditions and the phenomena of the complex churchlife ; certainly iiot the writer of these notes. There is,on the one hand, general testimony that the opportunitiesof reaching the people were never so good, and thataudiences were never so easily attracted and held.On the other hand, the anti-foreign Wave which hassubmerged China has frequently excited vigorous andunited opposition and persecution, reminding one ofpre-Boxer times.cases"It is commonly remarked that thewhich formerly figured so largely have, to a great extent,disappeared. But the position of a missionary in chargeof a flock attacked by unscrupulous wolves, with magistrates ostentatiously unfriendly, underlings rapacious,and no public sentiment favoring justice, may be quite asbad, despite all treaties, all experience, and the generalenlightenment, as it was forty and more years ago.In some instances the Chinese church seems to betaking the lead in aggressive work in a gratifying way,but everywhere workers are too few and the numberof ordained Chinese pastors is pitifully small. Selfsupportis apparently making progress, though at afar slower rate than could be desired or perhaps expected. The universal political unrest, aggravated bytimely and untimely comets, can only be unfavorable tothe best church life and growth. The movement forafl independent native church while in evidencein a few large centres does not seem as yet to havemade notable headway. The religious as well as socialawakening among some of the native tribes in southwestern China may be considered as one of the mostinteresting phenomena of the time, deserving carefulstudy, for the effects are likely to be of great importance.