XI.—MISSIONS IN INDIA.

Gathering for Making of Laws

MADAGASCAR—GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE FOR THE MAKING OF LAWS.

On the day of the coronation three hundred thousand people gathered to meet their sovereign. Preceded by a hundred ladies, and by her Ministers and Council, the Queen was borne to the assembly in simple state. The old scarlet banners, which were the emblems of the idols' presence, were wanting in the procession. Around the canopy that shaded her throne, were written the words of the angels which welcomed the Redeemer into the world. In front and to her right stood the table which bore her crown. On another table to the left, was the Bible presented to her predecessor by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Her royal speech contained many elevated sentiments: but it specially announced to all her people liberty of conscience in regard to christianity of the fullest kind. "This is my word to you, O ye under heaven, in regard to the praying: it is not enforced: it is not hindered: for God made you."

For several weeks in a quiet way worship was maintained, and the Bible read in the palace on the Sabbath-day: the native ministers were invited to conduct the service. In the country districts gratifying advance has been made. Village chapels have increased in number. In the sacred city of Ambohimanga which foreigners may not enter, two churches have been gathered outside the walls: and on one occasion one of the missionary brethren addressed a vast congregation in the open market near. In Vonizongo the churches have increased. Far away to the south of the capital, the visits of our brethren to the BETSILEOawoke new life among the converts; and, among the forests of Tanala, the noble princess Ittovana, one of the ablest among the able nobles of the island, has declared herself a Christian.

The most conspicuous manifestation of the sympathy of the Queen and her leading nobles with this advance of religious opinion appeared in November last, on the opening of the second of the Memorial Churches, the church at AMBOHIPOTSY. Thirty years ago, in March, 1836, on a Sunday morning, the little prison of the capital at Ambatonakanga was opened, and a young woman was led forth to be put to death. She was just thirty, fair to look upon, and of gentle manners; and her face was lit with that bright radiance which springs from the conviction that God and heaven are very near. She walked forth with firm step; she was surrounded by the guards; and though going to die, she began to sing in a joyous tone the hymns that she had loved. Followed by a crowd, of which some hooted and some were lost in wonder, she passed through the city, towards the dreary ditch at the south end of the long ridge on which the capital is built. The scene before her and on either side was one of unusual beauty. East, west, and south, the broad green plain of Imerina stretched to the distant horizon, presenting to the eye bright gleams of lakes and watercourses, of fertile fields and wooded hills; amongst which nestled the rich villages, and the flocks and herds were feeding in peace. She saw it not. She saw not the smiling land, the taunting crowd, the cruel executioner: she saw only the face of her Lord. Descending the hill, she knelt to pray; and so praying she was speared. No common honour descended upon her that day: she was the first martyr of Christ's church in the island of Madagascar. "Strange is it," said the executioner, "there is a charm about these people; they do not fear to die."

Thirty-two years have passed away. Again the crowds gather at the "White Village," and another woman comes down to pray, the object of attraction to all eyes. But this is the QUEENof Madagascar. On the white ridge which overhangs the ditch where RASALAMAdied, stands a handsome church, with its lofty spire, which has been erected to her memory, and will bear her name upon its walls. The church is crowded with christian worshippers, and vast numbers are compelled to remain outside. The Queen, not a persecutor, but a friend, comes to join her people in dedicating the church to Christian worship; and, in special sympathy with the occasion, offers her Bible for pulpit use. The Prime Minister, whose predecessor had assigned christians to death, now urges his countrymen, in stirring words, to believe in CHRIST, because He is the Saviour of the world. To all who are present, ruler and subjects, the occasion is one of unfeigned joy. Once more the Queen and her christian subjects met before the year closed. On Christmas Day the palace court was crowded by converts wishing to present their congratulations, and, at the Queen's request, they sang some of their hymns and offered prayer. The Report of the Mission speaks of 20,000 hearers added to the congregations during last year; and returns the converts at 37,000 persons, including 7,000 members.

Now we hear, on the very eve of this May anniversary, that the QUEENherself has been baptized. Humbly and simply, like one of her subjects, she has sought instruction from her Native Pastors; has told the story of the growth of her convictions; and has not been afraid to confess her faith.

All this the Directors of the Society have observed with deepest thankfulness; and they know that many have sympathized with this feeling, and have joined them in recognizing these wondrous answers to prayer. But they feel that heavy responsibilities still rest upon them as christian men; and that continued care and grace are needed from the Spirit of God to keep these young churches from surrounding perils. They have a very definite work before them, and definite principle to guide them in the doing of it. The third Memorial Church is being completed, and plans have been adopted for the fourth. They are strengthening the country mission among the Betsileo tribes; increased agencies are now at work in general education; and plans have been suggested for the training of a Native ministry. A reprint of the Malagasy Testament has been undertaken by the Bible Society; the general operations of the press are being enlarged; and they are anxious to strengthen the Medical Mission. The missionary brethren are watching with wise and jealous care over the purity, the discipline, and the spiritual independence of the Native churches; and a UNIONof those churches for mutual aid has been inaugurated during the year.

With numerous Romanist priests and sisters in the capital, the Protestant ministers, English and Native, are firm in their adherence to the Bible alone as the appointed instructor and guide of their people. And it is because the preaching of vital truth has been so blessed, that the Directors are anxious to prevent the introduction of all minor controversies. Therefore they cannot but consider that, in the absence of any number of converts in the Episcopal missions, the appointment of a Bishop of the Church of England to Madagascar, promoted by one of those missions, is undesirable; that it is calculated to introduce confusion among young converts; to hinder their spiritual progress; and to do them vital and lasting injury. They have therefore very earnestly pressed upon the proposers of the scheme that it shall be reconsidered; and they trust that, as a result of friendly conference, it may be altogether laid aside.

XI.—MISSIONS IN INDIA.

In India two hundred millions of people are placed under the indirect jurisdiction or the direct rule of the Queen of England. The empire is divided into many great provinces, in which are spoken ten principal languages. All along the great rivers are scattered great cities, surrounded by hundreds of large towns, and thousands of populous villages. Many of them are centres of a trade growing greater every year, and many are also headquarters of Mohammedanism and of Hindoo idolatry. The endowments and vested interests of idolatry are of enormous value; the Brahmin families may be counted by millions; the Hindoo religious books were commenced 1200 years B.C., and the system itself goes back a thousand years farther still. Such a system is a formidable antagonist and the barriers it raises against change are very strong. Yet even Hindooism, so powerful, so rich, so ancient, is giving way at every point. In the external life of the Empire, a just government, providing for every one of its subjects complete security of person and property, and giving them perfect religious liberty, is adapting its public laws and forms of administration more fully to the circumstances of the time; and is introducing the natives more numerously to those posts of duty and of usefulness for which they become fitted. The order and peace of the country, encouraging production and trade, have raised the wages of labour, and given the peasant a command of comfort which he never knew before. Englishmen have done many wrong things in India, for which they have been justly chastised. But a new spirit has entered into the public government of the Empire, and during the last seven years, a degree of improvement and a solid advance have taken place, in the course of legislation and in the material wealth of the empire, of which none, except men who have seen it, have any idea. Three Universities, whose annual examinations in the English and native languages draw hundreds of native students, stand at the summit of a sound system of education which is spreading more widely every year.

Bangalore Institution

BANGALORE INSTITUTION.

In the direct religious teaching of the people, nearly six hundred missionaries from Europe and America, sustained by twenty-two Missionary Societies, have planted stations in the most populous and influential cities. Joined by two hundred ordained Native Ministers and two thousand Native Preachers, they carry on a system of christian agency which costs the important sum of £300,000 sterling a year. Many calumnies have been uttered respecting missionaries, and their work, by men who have professed to visit the cities where they labour, and saw nothing of its results. But these are more than answered by the striking fact that, of the money annually expended on these Missions no less than £50,000 are contributed by the English residents in India, who live among the missions and see them with their own eyes.

And what is the result? We can point to 50,000 adult communicants, to congregations of 250,000 people, and to our two hundred native clergy, as fruits of grace and proofs of blessing from above. But one of the greatest fruits of all missionary labour in India in the past and in the present is to be found in the mighty change already produced in the knowledge and convictions of the people at large. Everywhere the Hindoos are learning that an idol is nothing, and that bathing in the Ganges cannot cleanse away sin. Everywhere they are getting to know that to us there is one God, even the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all nations. A native scholar, speaking of his own religion, has said of it, "Hindooism is sick unto death: I am persuaded it must fall."

A crowd once asked a Berlin missionary, "Sir, why does not the Government abolish Juggernaut, and save us from the penalties of outcasts if we profess Christianity?" While the new school of educated men, calling themselves Theists, in myriads are seeking for a better way, without encountering the same great penalties. A glorious future is indicated by these "signs of the heaven," which seem to me to prove that in a great Empire in which public opinion is compact and firm, a vast change in preparation for the future may be produced while churches and converts are comparatively few. Like Israel of old in presence of Moab, in the darkness of night we have been digging ditches by Divine command; but when His day of grace shall dawn and the morning sacrifice be offered, He shall fill them in abundance with His Spirit's streams, and the whole Empire be revived.

Shall the children of the world, in these matters, be wise in their generation, and the children of light not go and do likewise? It is the universal conviction of residents in India that it is a wise course not to denationalize its inhabitants, but to keep them a distinct people; merely introducing into their dress and style of living those improvements which are demanded by health or by propriety. To make them Europeans is almost certain to do them irreparable injury. Adaptation is the law of life. Europeans, wherever they go, adapt their houses, their dress, their habits, and their food to the climate under which they live. However strong may be the belief of Englishmen in the excellence of our constitutional government, yet in all our colonies and dependencies the form adopted is one suitable to the knowledge, the power, the training, the degree of self-government attained by the people of that particular place. In no case do the English rulers force upon a dependency a system of government unsuitable to it, however excellent that system may in itself be.

Temples of Siva

TEMPLES OF SIVA.

So ought missionaries and Missionary Societies to act in building up native churches in foreign lands. Nowhere ought we to import and force upon them those systems of church government which amongst ourselves have been largely shaped out by political struggles, by numerous controversies, by local experience, and by the far reaching thoughts of a few great minds. In most cases we are ourselves outgrowing them. In striking instances these systems in Europe are found in certain of their elements to trammel and to cramp the life, the energy, the lofty aspirations of spiritual minds. And among the great problems now before us for the edification and extension of our modern churches, are not all thoughtful men anxious to see how in every case they may be made more elastic, more perfectly adapted in their organization, as well as in their plans of benevolence, to the demands of the present day; and specially how they may be so widened as to draw into the church in largest degree the piety, the experience, the zeal of the lay members of which our churches are chiefly composed?

Girls' School, Madras

MRS. CORBOLD'S GIRLS' SCHOOL, MADRAS.

Why should we put upon the neck of our young disciples a yoke which we and our fathers have not been able to bear? We must teach them some system, and missionaries of different churches will naturally, as well as from conscientious principles, teach their own. But let us teach the systems in their essential elements; let us teach those elements which have stood the test of time, and are found suitable to the spiritual power, the self-management, the general resources, the christian civilization of the churches which we are asked to guide. We may well separate the theory and the principles of our different churches from the churches themselves as shaped out by history and by the conditions and the course of our own national life. Then will their real worth and excellence be more truly manifested, to the honour of God and the edification of His children. Let us not only open our alabaster box, let us also be willing to break it, if only the perfume of the Divine ointment may fill the house of God, and cheer and refresh the weary souls within its walls.

The most prominent feature in the INDIAMission of this Society has been theORDINATIONof Evangelists to the work of the ministry; either as Pastors of Churches, as missionaries to the heathen, or assistants to the missionaries. English education continues to extend its influence. The INSTITUTIONSin Calcutta, Madras, and Bangalore, are fuller than ever, and very efficient. The school fees in India during 1868 amounted to £940. The attitude of the educated classes towards christianity has wonderfully changed, and the impression it is making on them is very strong. In the same great cities Female education now occupies a larger place than ever in the labours of the Mission. In two of the missions of South India, seven among the well-trained evangelists of those missions have been ordained as pastors or missionaries during the past two years, and eleven others have been proposed for the same responsibilities. The number in Travancore still stands at eleven, and in North India at six. The total number of Native ordained pastors and missionaries in the Indian Missions of this Society is twenty-eight, of whom fifteen are pastors of churches, and thirteen are employed as missionaries. It will probably ere long amount to forty.

Temple of Siva

TEMPLE OF SIVA.

The TRAVANCOREMission has now been established more than sixty years. The settled agencies, which have shaped it into its present form, have been at work just half a century. And none who contrast the present state of the province with what it was when the mission began, can fail to mark the wonderful progress which it has made during these sixty years, in every element of true prosperity. The province has enjoyed an increasing degree of security and order under its native rulers, and has made special advance under its present enlightened RAJAand his able minister Sir T. Madhava Rao. While slavery and serfdom have been abolished, the intensity of Brahminical bigotry has been diminished, and a very large measure of religious freedom has been secured for the varied classes of the population. Sound knowledge and freedom of thought on the most important subjects prevail to an extent utterly unknown at the commencement of the present century. At the same time, the direct work of the mission has met with the most encouraging success. In the seven districts of the mission, recently reduced to six, the great number of native churches, the large congregations, the number of scholars, the order and general purity of christian society, and the liberality with which the agencies of the gospel are supported, exhibit that success in a striking manner. The crowning proofs of blessing and prosperity are seen in the congregations prepared for complete self-support; in their great liberality; in the large band of well-educated Native preachers and teachers; in newly appointed elders; and in excellent and tried native pastors. In these latter points the Travancore mission has begun to take rank with some of the most advanced missions of all Societies, and to approach the position of rural churches in Great Britain itself.

XII.—CHINA.

Map of Peking and Mongolia

In the Empire of China the London Missionary Society occupies seven principal stations and employs twenty-one English missionaries. By their efforts several churches have been founded, which have been blessed with true prosperity. No cases of earnest personal effort have been more striking in their character and results than those which have occurred among the prosperous churches of AMOY. Last year the Directors published, in the usual way, detailed information from the Rev. JOHNSTRONACH, of the opening of new stations at BO-PIENand TIO-CHHU, and showed from Mr. Stronach's journal the hearty reception which he met with on his visit to these villages in the interior of the province. In the REPORTof the Amoy mission further particulars were given, which indicated the progress of the movement, and the healthy manner in which it has been carried on. The Directors trust that from the outset these earnest Christians will understand that it is their privilege and their duty to sustain for themselves the ordinances of that faith which they have now received:—

"On the 2nd of December, Mr. JOHNSTRONACHvisited a large village still further distant, called San-io, and had, in the spacious public school-room, a numerous and attentive audience for two hours. But the chief interest was displayed in the village of Tang-soa, distant from Bo-pien about twelve miles, the native place of the zealous, but as yet unbaptized convert, whose earnest efforts to instruct his numerous neighbours I referred to in my recent letter. In Tang-soa his efforts among his relatives have been so successful that many of the villagers not only gave up the school-room for us to give addresses in, but, after listening to them with an interest altogether new in that part of the country, begged me to gratify their desires for regular instruction in Christianity by establishing services every Sunday. I asked what proof they could give of the sincerity of their desire, and fifteen replied by bringing in the evening all the idols they owned, and in the presence of about forty of their fellow villagers, placing them on the table and then decapitating them, breaking them in sundry pieces, trampling them frequently under their feet, and otherwise ignominiously treating them, to the great delight of the numerous boys who were present and who joined gleefully in the sport; and we were at once offered the village school-room as another chapel, with the hope of eventually being put in possession of the idol temple. One of the deacons at Bo-pien, who has often attended the examinations for the first literary degree, has been engaged as an assistant preacher. At Tio-chhu, the new station referred to in my last letter, I had the pleasure, on the 8th December, of baptizing four additional converts, making twelve in all."

The Report further observes with respect to the general character of the churches in Amoy:—

"While lamenting the falls of some, we rejoice in the salvation of many. In the region of BO-PIENthere has been a decided awakening; not the least interesting feature of which is, that it was commenced by the preaching of an individual who belonged to a church the fewness of whose members has often been cause of regret; thus showing us that the Gospel, though producing apparently little impression in one place, may be productive of the highest results in another; and that, though a church may not increase in numbers, it yet may increase in the usefulness of its members.

"It is with unfeigned joy that we observe among our church members many whose endeavour to overcome their evil habits and customs, whose love for the Scriptures, habits of prayer, patient forbearance of injuries, and general Christian behaviour, convince us that their piety is such as the great Head of the Church will greatly approve."

The city of HANKOW, far up the river Yangtse, in the centre of CHINA, has often been spoken of in the Society's periodicals as one of the most wonderful mission stations in the world. The Society's work commenced in HANKOWin 1861. It has steadily prospered from the first. But during the past two years the Church has received unusual blessings; has doubled its numbers, and has received several remarkable accessions from the heathen. The Rev. G. JOHNthus describes these results:—

"Profound gratitude to Almighty God for His presence and aid should be the predominant sentiment of our hearts. The numerical accession which the church has received this year is considerably in excess of that of any previous year. In 1862, ten adults were baptized; in 1863, twelve; in 1864, thirteen; in 1865, eleven; in 1866, twenty-two; in 1867, FIFTY-ONE have been added to our number. Thus, whilst year by year the work has been steadily though slowly advancing, this year its progress has been rapid and signal. But it is not in the mere number that we rejoice. We rejoice in these fifty-one converts principally on account of their general character, their various stations in life, and the circumstances in which, and the means by which they have been brought into the fold of Christ. In these respects they are to us a source of much consolation and encouragement.

"One interesting fact connected with these fifty-one members is, that thirteen of them are women, and that eleven of the thirteen are the wives of converts. The conversion of the female population of China is a subject which must weigh heavily and constantly on the heart of every earnest missionary. The obstacles are many and formidable. Both by preaching and private conversation, for nearly six years, I have been labouring to impress on the minds of the converts the duty and importance of bringing their wives under the direct influence of the Gospel. They would maintain that the custom of the country was against it. To attend chapel and join the men in public worship, would bring not only the wife, but the whole family into contempt, and so on.

"Last, year there were evident signs of a movement in the right direction; and this year the result has exceeded my most sanguine expectations. Nineteen women have already been received into the church, several are now coming in, and we have every reason to hope that most of the wives of the converts who reside in and around Hankow will be identified with us before the end of next year. There are now several whole families in the church, and it is getting to be generally understood that it is the solemn duty of the Christian member of a family to make the salvation of every member of that family a matter of deep personal concern."

Golden Island

GOLDEN ISLAND, ON THE YANG-TSE RIVER, CHINA.

The great value of Hankow as a mission station, and the variety of persons which it brings into contact with the Gospel, are strikingly illustrated by Mr. JOHN:—

"There is one more interesting fact connected with these fifty-one members, namely, that they representSEVERAL DIFFERENTPROVINCES, and various ranks and grades of society. Only on Sunday week I baptized six men, who represent five distinct provinces. Of the 108 members still in communion, about seventy reside in and around the cities of Hankow, Wu-Chang, and Han-Yang. The rest are scattered over the country, and, we trust, are spreading abroad the knowledge of the truth. These facts tend to impress on our minds the importance of Hankow as a Mission station; and they prove an observation which I made in a former communication to be correct—namely, that the whole Empire may be influenced more or less from this grand centre.

"But these men not only represent different Provinces and Districts of the Empire; they represent also different grades of society. Some of them are scholars, and others are tradesmen; some are artizans, and others are peasants; some are poor, but none (with one exception) are helpless. We have in the church at present one who has obtained his M.A. degree, eight who have obtained their B.A. degree, and a large number of ordinary scholars who have passed their matriculation examination. Among those who were admitted on Sunday week, there were a scholar, a merchant, and a barber. It was interesting to see representatives of the highest and lowest grades of Chinese society meet before the same font on Sunday; and then, on the following Wednesday, at the Christmas feast, occupying adjoining seats. Both are filling stations in life in which they may exercise a beneficial influence on many around them."

XIII.—THE WEST INDIA MISSION.

Map of British Guiana

From the ample information recently furnished by the missionaries to the Directors, we learn that these two colonies of the British Crown contain together a population of Negro extraction amounting to half a million individuals; viz.: BRITISHGUIANA, 100,000; JAMAICA, 400,000. Besides these there are Indian Coolies, 28,800 in number, of whom GUIANAhas 25,000. That province also contains 7,000 Indians, while Jamaica has its thousands of heathen Maroons. The ruling population of whites is 13,816 in Jamaica, and 2,000 in Guiana, or about 16,000 in all. This native population of half a million, just equal in number to the population of the single city of Calcutta or Canton, spread over an occupied territory of twelve thousand square miles, and situated only four thousand miles from England, enjoys the services of three hundred professed ministers of the Gospel; of whom a hundred and forty are supplied by Missionary Societies not connected with the established churches and supported by voluntary funds. The bulk of the population is nominally Christian, and has been for some years as well instructed in Christianity as an equal number of persons in the country parts of England. And doubtless it has been thus christianized the more fully because of the large supply of religious teachers furnished by the different sections of the Church of Christ.

It is evident that the converts in Jamaica occupy a much higher position of physical and social comfort than those in GUIANA, and that the latter are not so well off as they were five-and-twenty years ago. While wages have fallen and prices have increased, it is evident that the moral influence of the 25,000 Coolies from India, with all their heathen vices, on the 100,000 Creoles has been exceedingly injurious. In neither colony has there been that thorough spiritual growth, that self-control, that self-reliance among the christian converts generally, which their best friends hoped for and thought they were able to find. This cannot be deemed unnatural, when it is considered that only thirty years have passed since the Act of Emancipation, and that ages of training will be needed before the moral taint of slavery is purified away.

Ridgemount, Jamaica

RIDGEMOUNT, JAMAICA.

The Directors therefore feel that it would be in every way a mistake to throw these young and imperfect churches at once upon their own resources. They have also not seriously entertained the suggestion made to commend them to the care of some other evangelical denomination seeking the same end as ourselves. Nevertheless the Board cannot think it right or wise to continue the present system unchanged. If unable completely to run alone, our churches are too large, the members too numerous, and their resources too great to justify any continuance of that complete dependence upon the Society which has prevailed with them hitherto. The Board desire to see the churches strong in themselves, managing completely their own affairs, providing the ministry by which they shall be instructed, and engaged heartily in missionary efforts for the conversion of their heathen neighbours. This is the end which, they trust, will henceforth be distinctly kept in view, and which should be sought by every means which practical experience finds suitable to promote it.

They have resolved, therefore, to adopt the following measures:—First, they limit the staff of English missionaries to the number of men (thirteen) now left in the field. They desire that steady efforts shall be made to place all the churches under the pastoral charge of suitable Native ministers. They desire that all the local and incidental expenses of the mission shall be entirely defrayed by the Native Churches. Lastly, they will limit their grants from England to the allowance of the English missionaries.

XIV.—INCOME AND EXPENDITURE.

This statement shows that the greater ordinary income secured during the past year is needed every year, to maintain the Society at its present strength. Even with revised establishments working at a reduced cost, the Directors still require £75,000 a-year to meet the various items of general expenditure for which they have directly to provide. But that is precisely the amount which the revived interest and the earnest exertions of deputations and collectors have brought into their hands; and no margin is left at their command to cover any extraordinary expense which may arise. Nowhere, therefore, may our friends relax their efforts or diminish their recent gifts. Givers, collectors, ministers who plead, are still invited to uphold the hands of the Society, and to urge its claims. And if we look to extension, that extension which comes naturally to a prosperous field: still more to that extension for which the field untouched cries mightily day by day: how shall this enlargement of our operations be secured but by still augmented resources, by still higher consecration, still greater liberality, and more earnest prayer?

The SOCIETY DESERVESsuch help from our Churches; its history, its sphere of usefulness, the spirit in which it is managed, the rich prosperity which the Lord has granted to its labours, all appeal in its name. THE FIELD DESERVES AND NEEDS IT. How little has been accomplished of the holy purpose which Missions have in view. Compared with the millions unevangelized, the converts gained are numerically nothing. Indeed, the sphere of our labour has continued ever to grow wider, and every answer of God's providence to the Church's gifts and prayers and self-denial has been to extend its power to be useful and give it much more to do.

And does not the LORD CLAIMfrom us this larger service? He has shown the need of the heathen world more clearly, and made the argument for instructing it unanswerable.

We have prospects for the future to which the gains of the past are poor. With our skilled agencies, all shaped by experience, with plans well-tried, with our versions and our literatures in every tongue, with China opened widely in answer to prayer, with India deeply moved, with Africa free, with Polynesia raised and civilized, with Madagascar purified by fire—what tokens have we of manifest blessing, of approval, and of divine help! The old systems have fallen, or are paralysed, or are trembling with fear; and the young life of the world is drawing towards freedom and truth. Our results are incomplete; they are but an earnest of successes yet to be gathered; and the full reward will be reaped more truly as the years go by. But how noble that reward will be!

A pleasant custom prevails in India which will illustrate our position. At all the military stations of the Empire, the troops are summoned to parade in the early morning by the firing of a gun. The night may still be dark; the restless sleeper may fancy it will yet be long. But suddenly amid the stillness loud and clear booms out the morning gun. The stars are still shining, and the landscape is wrapped in gloom. ButTHE DAWN IS NEAR; and soon every eye is open, every foot astir, and the busy, waking life of men again begins. The fleecy clouds that hang on the eastern horizon grow ruddy with gold; and the arrowy light shoots its bright rays athwart the clear blue sky. The dust and foulness which the night has hidden stand revealed. But in the forests and hills the pulses of nature beat fresh and full; the leopard and the tiger slink away; the gay flowers open; the birds flit to and fro, and with woodland music welcome the rising day. In the city all forms of life quicken into active exercise. The trader sits ready on his stall; the judge is on the bench; the physician allays pain; the mother tends her child. The claims of human duty come again into full force; benevolence is active; suffering and disappointment, forgotten in sleep, press with new weight on weary hearts. What a mighty change one hour has made!

Long has the night of heathenism and of wickedness ruled over the world. "Darkness has covered the earth, and gross darkness the people." But the gun has fired and "THE MORNING COMETH." The nations once wrapped in gloom are waking to life and truth. Divine light is quickening all the pulses of human thought; the heart beats more warmly; the eye looks upward, and the great world is drawing nearer to its Father. The Gentiles are coming to the light, and kings to the brightness of His rising. And when at length the Sun of Righteousness shall rise in power, His new creation, "with verdure clad, with beauty, vigour, grace adorned," shall give Him loving welcome; and He shall shine, to set no more, on "the new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

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