Forty Years in South China: The Life of Rev. John Van Nest Talmage, D.D.

A life of an American Reformed Church missionary who spent four decades in southern China, recounting his early call, voyage, and long ministry centered on Amoy; it describes his efforts translating Christian literature into Chinese, compiling a dictionary, composing hymns, founding mission stations, and establishing schools, while engaging with local customs such as ancestral worship, infanticide, opium use, and temple life. The narrative covers evangelistic successes, persecutions, anti-missionary agitation, local insurrections, practical mission work including printing and carrier pigeon communication, and reflections on church union, concluding with memorial tributes after his death.