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day; so that the courts of justice might, if the judges thought it fit or convenient, legally conduct their proceedings on Sunday; so that, in commercial matters and banking, Saturday and Monday should cease to differ legally from Sunday?"

CHINA.

The Church Missionary Society's periodicals report a most serious outrage, perpetrated by the Chinese upon the missionaries and mission property in Fuh-Kien. The personal injuries inflicted are slight; but two of the houses in the mission-compound in the city of Fuh-Chow have been destroyed, and much damage done to two others, and the new chapel at Kiong-Ning-Fu has been pulled down.

Kieng-Ning-Fu, a large and important city, 260 miles inland, was occupied in 1875 by Ling-Sieng-Ling (since ordained) and four helpers; in a few months they were ignominiously expelled after very cruel treatment; and within the year just closed the occupancy was renewed. Many heard the preaching with great interest, and manifested their joy that the mission had been re-established. Reporting the destruction of the chapel and the expulsion of the catechist, the Rev. J. R. Wolfe now writes: "This was done by the same parties who destroyed our chapel here two years ago, and perpetrated such barbarous cruelties on our poor people, especially upon the Rev. Mr. Ling and his assistants. It was done by two of the gentry, with a gang of hired vagabonds. The vagabonds openly declared that the mission and catechists did them no harm, but they were paid for what they did, and this was all they cared for. On this recent occasion they at first determined on putting the catechist to death, and took him away for this purpose; but they abandoned this idea, and placed him in a most shameful way on a boat, and sent him down the river towards Fuh-Chow."

The head-quarters of the mission are within the city of Fuh-Kien, on an eminence known as the U-sioh-sang (or Wu-shih-sang-i.e., Black Stone Hill). Latterly, the premises have been occupied by the Rev. R. W. and Mrs. Stewart, the ladies of the Female Education Society, and some of the native helpers and students; Mr. Wolfe and Mr. Lloyd dwelling four miles away in the foreign settlement at Nantai. Last year a new building was erected in the grounds, to serve as a college for the native students. No sooner was it finished than a demand was made by the mandarins that it should be pulled down. The British Consul, Mr. Sinclair, having appointed a day for an examination of the Chinese complaints, the Prefect of Fuh-Chow and five other mandarins met Mr. Wolfe and an official of the Consulate at Mr. Stewart's house. It was while they were together that the attack was made; and Mr. Sinclair himself, arriving some hours afterwards, witnessed the destruction of the new building and another one. Mr. Wolfe writes on August 31st: "The mob now set fire to the college, and pulled down the old girls' school. The mandarins made no effort whatever to disperse the mob all this time. The soldiers prowled about, but apparently only really to superintend the destruction of the mission. The work of destruction went on all night long, and we imagined every hour they would attack us in Mr. Stewart's house." The next morning, at eleven A.M., another attack was made on the house of Miss Houston, of the Female Education Society, and the windows were broken. The ladies and the school-girls, however, managed to escape by a back door into the street, where they were most kindly treated, and conducted in safety to Nantai.

Another letter from Mr. Wolfe, dated September 23rd, three weeks later than the above, says: "Our enemies in the country everywhere have promptly taken up the signal of destruction from their brethren in Fuh-Chow, and are threatening our chapels and churches, and in some instances we have had warning to leave. Our catechists dare not preach publicly, and the private Christians are subjected to the most cruel wrongs and persecutions. The most horrible charges are being trumped up against them, and the magistrates show them no justice. Their houses are torn down and their goods taken away, and, if they complain, they are thrown into prison and beaten with stripes. For example, two Christians of Achia have the boldness to confess that they belong to Christ, and cannot take part in or support the village idolatry. Their houses are in consequence pulled down, their goods taken away, and they are at once charged with the murder of an old man who had died a natural death eleven days previously, and with whose death they had nothing to do whatever. They have been thrown into prison, and the most cruel treatment has been inflicted upon them to force them to confess that they are guilty. I fear very much that they will be murdered in the prison. . . . Our friends at home have very little idea of the cruelties and wrongs to which our poor weak Christians are exposed."

January 1, 1879.]

JAPAN.

By the last steamer from Japan we (N.Y. Christian Union) get the latest statistics as to the condition of Christianity in that interesting country. There are now in Japan 106 Protestant missionaries and forty-four organized churches. Of these congregations twelve are already wholly self-supporting, and twenty-six partially. There are 1,617 church members (native converts), a large proportion being men, who have contributed in the year 1877 the sum of $3,552.11. Gradually, a liberal, self-supporting Christian Church is being developed in Japan. As helpful to this end, there are now three theological schools, with 100 students in course of preparation. There are already nine native ordained preachers, and ninety-three assistant preachers. In the mission hospitals nearly 18,000 patients were treated last year.

SOUTH AFRICA.

When, last year, disturbances broke out on the Orange River, Griqualand West, the Rev. A. J. Wookey, of the London Missionary Society, was living at Motito, about forty miles north of Kuruman; and, with the exception of one European, a trader, with his family alone. Startling reports of the most dreadful nature reaching him, he and his family removed to Kuruman, where he found that all the Europeans had moved to the Moffat Institute, for mutual protection. After describing the imminent peril in which they were here placed, and the painful anxiety they experienced, Mr. Wookey says: "Our active mission work has been almost at a standstill. But Kuruman mission station is unhurt, and all through these trying times it has been a place of refuge for all, both Europeans and natives, who have sought protection in it." Mr. Wookey thinks that when the country becomes settled, the missionary work will take a firmer hold of the people.

AMERICA.

A four days' meeting of the Sioux Indians in connection with the mission of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, was lately held at Yankton Agency, Dakota. There were present 227 Indians from abroad, the majority of whom came 200 miles, besides nearly as many more Yankton Indians. Most of the time was occupied by the "conference of Indian workers" in discussing various topics connected with the advancement of the Indians, and took quite a wide range. One subject was, "How to honour the marriage relation ;" another was "Independence," or the preservation of the Indian; but perhaps the most interest was taken in the question, "How to promote revivals," though a new question for the Indians to handle. Persons unacquainted with the Indians and their progress were much surprised to see the readiness with which they took part in such discussions, and their fluency in speaking.

BRITISH COLUMBIA.

Vice-Admiral Prevost, being present at a meeting of the Church Missionary Society, on his return from a recent visit to the society's North Pacific Mission, gave interesting information on the progress of the mission since his visit to that coast in May, 1853. He contrasted the condition in which he had found the Tsimsheans and other coast tribes on his first visit with the condition in which he found them now. He stated that at that time the tribes were constantly at war, one with another, and that murders were of frequent occurrence, recalling an occasion when he sailed by a spot where thirty-two had been recently murdered and scalped. Now, on the other hand, Indians could go singly, and in small parties, into the territories of other tribes without fear of harm; there was, moreover, a scrupulous observance of the Lord's-day among heathen as well as Christian Indians along the coast, work being done on that day by Englishmen only; also a very general desire to be instructed in the Gospel; and all these happy results he traced mainly to the influence exerted by Mr. Duncan, and his settlement of 800 Indians at Metlakatla. He gave an interesting account of the warm welcome he had received at Metlakatla, he and his party being carried in a canoe on men's shoulders to the landing-place, the tide being out. He was greatly impressed with the signs of progress, material and spiritual, displayed on every side at Metlakatla. He stated, moreover, that there were evidences of the Indian population being on the increase. He referred to the power that Satan still had over many of the older men, even though he believed them to be true Christians, which ought not to surprise those who knew what they once had been, living under the influence of the most fiendish and abominable superstitions. He remarked further, in answer to a direct question on the subject, that, having seen native Christians in connection with many missions, and having now spent a month with these Tsimshean Christians, going in and out among them, he had no hesitation in expressing his conviction

that no more simple and truthful Christianity would be found anywhere than was exhibited in their daily life. He bore his warm testimony to the devotedness and efficiency of the society's missionaries associated with Mr. Duncan in the Tsimshean mission.

LABRADOR.

At the usual autumnal meeting of the Moravian Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel, particulars were given of the one hundred and ninth annual voyage to Labrador of the Harmony missionary ship. Feelings of gratitude were specially stirred by the fact that, whereas the outward voyage had been marked by almost continuous pleasant weather, the return home was distinguished by an unusual series of violent storms, which on more than one occasion placed the vessel and all on board in considerable danger. Coming up channel, the weather was terrific, and the sturdy little vessel was blown out of her course, and across the Goodwin Sands towards the coast of Belgium, whence, after the gale had abated, she was able to make her way to the mouth of the Thames, and finally to her usual berth in the West India Docks. Two missionaries, two missionaries' wives, and six children of missionaries, were passengers on the home voyage. Of the spiritual condition of the work the accounts, as usual, vary not a little. The tendency to sensuality, and especially the increased indulgence in strong drink, are very distressing and discouraging features in some of the reports, and "we cannot but share in the apprehensions expressed by some brethren," says the editor of the Periodical Accounts, "of the probably baneful results likely to attend the rapidlyincreasing numbers of fishing vessels which visit the coast during the summer. But bright spots are truly not wanting in the picture, and the eye of faith can find between the lines here and there cheering indications of life from above, which the diffident labourer in the vineyard scarcely ventures to put into words." The state of health in the mission families, and especially among the natives, appears to have been exceptionally good, in spite of the serious privations to which many were exposed. Very warm thanks are expressed to many friends in Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, and elsewhere, for valuable presents of clothing, etc., which have again been received, and warmly welcomed, as cheering indications of continued loving interest on the part of friends at home.

Mr. E. J. Peck was sent out by the Church Missionary Society, as a missionary, to the Esquimaux, at Whale River, in 1876. The Church Missionary Gleaner gives an interesting account of Mr. Peck's ordination, last year, by Bishop Horden, at Moose Factory. "No people I have ever known or heard of," said the Bishop in the course of his sermon, referring to the Esquimaux, seem more ready to receive the Gospel than they, more ready to honour the bearer of glad tidings, or to lend him all possible assistance, so as to render his life among them as free from care as circumstances will permit." An iron church had arrived, and was about to be erected for Mr. Peck's use.

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A contemporary announces that in Bishop Horden's diocese of Moosonee every single Indian and tribe has been Christianized, save only one Esquimaux tribe, and they are being gathered in.

Miscellaneous.

possesses fifty-seven establishments in France, with 1,487 avowed members. The authorized bodies are still more largely made up of the female sex, there being the immense disproportion of 93,000 women o 2,500 men, besides 16,741 female members of diocesan and other religious communities. The number of public or communal schools taught by members of religious associations of men legally authorized, is stated at 2,328, and of private schools at 768. Women, under similar circumstances, teach in 13,951 public and 5,527 private schools.

MONKS AND NUNS IN FRANCE.-A return | among them is the order of the Jesuits, which has lately been made to the Government of France of the religious corporations and communities now existing in that country. Of these there are two classes, authorized and unauthorized; the latter being only tolerated, and liable at any time to suppression on the ground taken with the late Socialist Congress of workmen, that they are assemblies of more than twenty persons who meet together without previous permission of the authorities. These unauthorized bodies number nearly 1,000, with about 21,000 members, only one-third of whom are men. About 100 of these establishments have been formed since the Franco-German War. Conspicuous

THE CHRISCHONA MISSION.-The last annual report of the Christian Pilgrims' Mission

January 1, 1879.]

salem continues its work of rescue for the ignorant children of Palestine. It affords a pleasant home to some seventy or eighty little ones, who are not only cared for and instructed in elementary knowledge, but who, as they grow older, are taught useful trades.

THE OLD CATHOLICS.-According to the Neue Freie Presse, since the position of the Old Catholics in Austria has been settled, the number of their adherents has very much increased. It announces the adhesion of 114 families in Vienna. In Switzerland, too, the

states that the Missionary Training College of St. Chrischona, near Basle, has for the last thirty years been open to receive young men, chiefly of the labouring classes, who desire to devote themselves to mission work at home and abroad. The number of students at the beginning of 1877 was fifty-five. These are divided into four classes. During their course of training, which comprises a term of four years, the students are instructed in many branches of useful knowledge. The chief study is the Bible, which is expounded exegetically, and considerable portions of which cause is growing. Bishop Herzog reports are committed to memory., Systematic theo- that in the city of Berne he has last year had logy, Christian ethics, Church history, and a twice as many baptisms as he had three years thorough knowledge of their own language prior, and it is estimated that there are now are considered essential to fit them for their 60,000 Old Catholics in the little Republic. future work. One of the distinctive features But this growing prosperity is in one sense a of the institution is the blending of manual source of danger. It is attracting the notice labour with study. For some hours of each of Rome, and is exciting it to special exertions day (in the winter the older classes have only to counteract the spread of the revolt against one hour's work) the students lay aside their its supremacy. A correspondent at Lausanne books and studies and set to work in thorough writes to the Times: "The Vatican has become earnest to help in the outward requirements alarmed at this state of things. Leo XIII. has of the house and farm. Thus shoemakers, recently openly declared that he can never tailors, joiners, wheelwrights, smiths, bakers, admit the principle of popular election, but it etc., each find ample employment, and the is quite evident that a very different mot farm and agricultural pursuits engage the d'ordre has secretly gone forth from the help of such as have learnt no trade. The Vatican. The Papal Roman Catholics are on students are chiefly Swiss and German, but all sides applying to be put upon the Church there are also a number of foreigners. Thus electoral lists; and the dispossessed clergy are at present there is a young Syrian from coming forward as candidates, in spite of the Sychem, and a youth whose father is a mis-Bull' which declares all who do so to be sionary in Abyssinia, but whose mother is a Galla, and whose complexion at once denotes the land of his birth. Besides these, there have lately been admitted four Bosnian young men, to be trained as evangelists for their own unhappy land. The missionary efforts commence in the institution itself. On the Lord's-day the students leave their quiet mountain-home in order to hold meetings in neighbouring villages and small towns. The spheres of labour to which the students are called on leaving the institution are manifold. Some nine years ago the committee of the Pilgrims' Mission commenced a work of evan-tains an account of a terrible massacre, the gelization in Switzerland, Würtemberg, and Austria, and some of the ablest young men have since been employed in this service. The greater number of students are working in connection with other societies. Thus the Bible Society employs a number as Biblereaders in Austria and the adjacent lands. A goodly band are pastors in America. They are chiefly pioneers, and generally have charge of the school as well as of the church. Many are labouring as evangelists, city missionaries, teachers, etc. The Syrian Orphanage at Jeru

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thieves and robbers, and no true members of Christ's fold.' It is a difficult crisis for Bishop Herzog and the new Church. It is probable that in the Canton of Berne, of thirty-one parishes now in the possession of the Old Catholics, no fewer than twenty-four or twenty-five will pass into the hands of their Papal opponents. In his struggle with Ultramontanism I am sure Bishop Herzog will have the heartfelt sympathies of thousands of Englishmen."

MASSACRE OF PROTESTANTS IN THE REPUBLIC OF MEXICO.-A French paper con

victims of which were a large number of Protestants in the little town of Atzala, in the State of Puebla. The re-election of a Protestant, Signor Trinidad Certes, as Alcade of Atzala, was the provocation for this crime. A mob of fanatics had gathered around the residence of M. Sosa, but were dispersed, and the greater number imprisoned; upon which the Roman Catholics took up arms, released the prisoners, and gave themselves up to an indiscriminate massacre of the Protestants. More than two hundred armed men made for the

Town Hall, crying out, "Vive la Religion!" | "Death to the Protestants!" The Alcade and the Municipal Councillors were the first victims, and their corpses were torn into a thousand pieces. The assassins then divided themselves into several bands, and broke into the houses of the Protestants and massacred all who were unable to escape. Their church was pillaged, the Bibles and furniture burnt, and then, when this work of carnage and destruction was concluded, the murderers quietly returned to their homes. Several Protestants were led away as prisoners to the surrounding mountain farms. This is not the first time that similar atrocities have been witnessed in the State of Puebla. Not a year passes without some murder being committed in the name of religion.

XAVIER'S REMAINS.-A correspondent of the New York Observer, in Southern India, writes: "The body of Francis Xavier, which was brought from Sancian to Goa, one hundred miles south of this, several hundred years ago, and enshrined in a marble tomb, is to be exposed, by consent of the Pope, about the end of next December. It is said to be in a remarkable state of preservation; hence Romanists in these parts (and, I suppose, in Europe) believe it to be miraculously preserved from corruption. Of course, it must have been embalmed and then put in its airtight coffin. It was offered to view in 1859, and in a 'Life of Xavier' I have seen advertised, particulars of the 'miracles wrought at the tomb on the occasion of the exposition of his body in 1859 are given.'' We learn, from other sources, that the saint's body was exhibited in the cathedral at Goa during part of last month.

affection, and to have very few vices." "These words," says the Admiral, "hold true this day, the children having followed in the footsteps of their parents. No alcoholic drinks, except for medical purposes, are used, and a drunkard is unknown. They are a religious, happy, and contented people."

A MISSIONARY'S DESCRIPTION OF THE AMEER OF CABUL.-The Rev. T. P. Hughes, missionary from Afghanistan, speaking at the annual meeting of the Chester Association of the Church Missionary Society, said that he knew the Ameer of Cabul, who could neither read nor write. He argued in this way: "What is the use of reading and writing when you can get hundreds of people to do it for you?" The Ameer was, however, excellently well versed in historical matters, obtained from the clever men of the country, whom the Ameer, like other Orientals, collected about him. He was a thorough good soldier. There was no doubt, however, that he was a man of great cruelty. He said that because he had read his (the Ameer's) letters, and because some people thought he was a very meek and mild man, and badly abused, and ought to be pitied. He must, however, tell them that the Ameer was quite the contrary. When the Ameer got into power, after civil war, there were three persons to whom he was indebted for it. One was his brother, the other his nephew, and the third his son, Yakoob Khan, an exceedingly nice young fellow, who had learned English unassisted. The Ameer strangled his brother, his nephew he sent to Lahore, where he died in prison, and his son had now been imprisoned six years in Cabul, and it was rumoured that he had lost his reason. Mr. Hughes said that the Ameer was not a particularly interesting man to discuss, and those who knew him personally knew him to be a barbarian.

COLPORTAGE IN AFGHANISTAN.-The National Bible Society of Scotland have resolved to authorize the employment of one or more colporteurs among the troops, British and native, engaged in the Afghan campaign.

THE PITCAIRN ISLANDERS.-Rear-Admiral De Horsey has recently paid a visit in H.M.S. Shah to Pitcairn Island. The population at present numbers ninety of all ages, fortyone males and forty-nine females. No contagious diseases exist in the island, and there have only been twelve deaths during the last nineteen years. Divine service is held twice every Sunday in the house built for that purpose by John Adams. A Bible- THE CENTENARY OF ROBERT RAIKES, who class is held every Wednesday, when all is generally regarded as the founder of Sunwho conveniently can, attend. There is also day-schools, will be celebrated in 1880. It a general meeting for prayer on the first is proposed to raise a sum of £55,000 as a Friday in every month. Family prayers are" Sunday-school Centenary Fund," to be desaid in every house. Captain Beechy, voted towards the permanent benefit of Sunwriting fifty-three years ago, said: "These day-schools. excellent people appear to live together in perfect harmony and contentment; to be virtuous, religious, cheerful, and hospitable; to be patterns of conjugal and parental

MR. HENRY VARLEY-who left London nearly two years ago on a preaching tour round the world, and has been for some months past gathering very large congrega

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