ting the Scriptures, or creating a
Christian literature, or training native workers. Nothing seemed to come
amiss to him; everywhere he was facile princeps. I suppose that the
explanation is found in his thorough and unreserved consecration. He was
given heart and soul to the work. Whatever he did was done with his whole
mind. There was no vacillation or indecision, but a deliberate
concentration of all his faculties upon the task set before him. Nor did
he work by spurts or through temporary enthusiasm, but with a steady,
unyielding determination. So he went on through life without haste and
without rest, doing his best at all times and in every species of service,
and thus earning the brilliant reputation he acquired. The same qualities
rendered him as wise in counsel as he was efficient in working. He was
able to look on both sides of a given problem, was not inclined to snap
judgments, but preferred to discriminate, to weigh, and, if need be, to
wait. Yet, when the time came, the decision was ready.

He perceived earlier than his brethren at home the true policy as to
churches in heathen lands, that is, that they should not be mere
continuations of the denomination whose missionaries had been the means of
founding them, but should have an independent existence and grow upon the
soil where they were planted, taking such form and order as Providence
might suggest. When the proposal was made in accordance with these views
to build up a native Chinese Church strictly autonomous, there was an
immediate revulsion. The General Synod in 1863 emphatically declined to
consent, not, however, from denominational bigotry, but on the ground that
the new converts must have some standards of faith and order, and, if so,
why not ours, which had been tested by centuries? And, moreover, if they
were to be regarded as an integral part of the Church at home, that fact
would prove to be a powerful incitement to prayer and liberality on the part
of our people. But the rebuff did not dishearten Dr. Talmage. He renewed
the appeal the next year, and had the satisfaction of seeing it succeed.
Full consent was given to the aim to build up a strong, self-governing,
and, as soon as might be, self-supporting body of native churches in China,
who should leave behind the prejudices of the past, and form themselves
under the teaching of God's Spirit and Providence in such way as would best
meet the demands of the time and be most efficient in advancin