In response to the appeal of Gützlaff, the _Basel Society_ sent to China in 1847 two missionaries, _Lechler_ and _Hamberg_. Greeted with joy by Gützlaff, they set about learning the Chinese language and began at once to preach with the aid of interpreters. Their work was begun in the southwestern part of Canton, the most southern of China’s eighteen provinces. So well did they labor that by 1855 they had one hundred and seventy-five Christians. Gradually a thoroughly organized mission was established with the characteristic Basel features of industrial work and careful education. In 1897 the mission celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, together with the fiftieth anniversary of the work of Missionary Lechler, the latter a rare and notable occasion in the history of missions. [Sidenote: Fifty Years of Service.] To-day the Basel Society works in two districts, one in the highlands, the other in the lowlands of Canton. It has a staff of forty-seven missionaries, who are divided among seventeen main stations, and one hundred and ninety-seven out-stations. In addition to its foreign forces it has at work two hundred and twenty natives. Its communicant members are seven thousand, the total number of its Christians eleven thousand. With the Basel missionaries there went to China in 1847 two missionaries from the _Rhenish Society_, Genahr and Kuster. They established themselves in the province of Canton and nearer Hong Kong than Lechler and Hamberg. The mission has had during the seventy-five years of its existence many difficulties, but, though it has never grown to be very large, it has accomplished a fine work. [Sidenote: A Missionary Sermon.] One of the first of its misfortunes was the death of Missionary Genahr, who contracted cholera from a Christian who had been cast out by his employers. The earnest spirit of this pious man may be read in a little missionary sermon from his pen concerning those easy-going Christians who think that it lies entirely within their own good pleasure whether they will do anything for work abroad. “In the Book of Judges, fifth chapter, twenty-third verse, we find: ‘Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.’ In an old book we find the following questions and answers upon this verse: “‘Who was commanded to curse Meroz?’ Answer: ‘The angel of the Lord.’ “‘What had Meroz done?’ ‘Nothing.’ “‘How? why, then is Meroz cursed?’ ‘Because she has done nothing.’ “‘What should Meroz have done?’ ‘Come to the help of the Lord.’ “‘Could not the Lord, then, have succeeded without Meroz?’ ‘The Lord did succeed without Meroz.’ “‘Then has the Lord met with a loss thereby?’ ‘No, but Meroz has.’ “‘Is Meroz, then, to be cursed therefor?’ ‘Yes, and that bitterly.’ “‘Is it right that a man should be cursed for having done nothing?’ ‘Yes, when he _should_ have done something.’