taken, that they were prepared to resign rather than retrace their steps.

But that painful step was not necessary. The Synod of the English
Presbyterian Church gave their missionaries a free hand. There is this,
however, to be said for the General Synod of the "Reformed Church." It was
only love for their agents and deep interest in this Mission that prompted
their original action. They feared that by the creation of this native and
independent church court, the tie that bound them to the men and the work
might be loosened; and when they saw there was no risk of that, they at
once acquiesced. But it was Dr. Talmage's irresistible pleadings that won
their hearts.

The native church has grown. About twenty native pastors have been
ordained, settled, and entirely supported by their own congregations. The
Presbytery has grown so large that it has to be divided into two
presbyteries; and these, with the Presbytery of Swatow, where brethren of
the "English Presbyterian Church" are working, will form the Synod of the
native Presbyterian Church in those regions of China.

In connection with all this we must mention another name--the name of one
very dear to Dr. Talmage, and of one to whom he was very dear. They were
one in heart and soul about this. We refer to the Rev. Dr. Douglas, of the
English Presbyterian Mission. They stood side by side during all their
work in Amoy.

Dr. Talmage was by a good many years the predecessor in the field. They
were both great men, men of very different temperament, and yet united.
Not on this point, but on many another, they failed to see eye to eye, but
they were always united in heart and aim. True and lasting union can only
exist where free play is given to distinct individualities.

And so it has always been with this union, the first, I believe, between
Presbyterian Churches in any mission field. And when the history of the
Amoy Mission comes to be written, these two men will have a leading place
in it; for to them more than to any others do we owe almost all that is
distinctive there in union and in methods of work.

And when our beloved father Talmage passed from earth to heaven, what
thankfulness must have filled his heart. In the night of his first years
in China there were labor and toil, but there was no fruit for him. The
dawn came and the first converts of his own Mission were gathered in. When
he went to rest, there was a native church; there were native pastors;
orderly