seven in number, came for examination. Four, the wives of four of the candidates, were well-instructed and satisfactory. Two were not so intelligent; and I decided to defer their baptism. But at Matthew and Luke's earnest request, I afterwards admitted one of them,-the other, as I was told, weeping much at being shut out for a time. [Number 7 is not accounted for in the hurry of my brother's unstudied letter.-G. E. M.]

As I was getting ready the door opened, and an old man stood there smiling. "What is your honourable age, grandfather?" said I. "Eightyeight,” he replied. His eyes and hearing were wonderfully good. He is the family patriarch of the Christians, and himself "not far from the Kingdom of God," as I trust, but still unable to give up his favourite idol. I held service at nine o'clock. Eighteen persons, including children, were baptized, the same number as at Great Valley a year ago.

We reached Great Valley soon after noon, passing a village in which five new Christians live. (There are now about twelve villages in the Chuki district in which Christians or inquirers are found.) I found, almost to my dismay, the Great Valley chapel nearly full of inquirers, and with Matthew's help I spent about two hours in examining them. At three o'clock twenty-one men, women, and children were baptized. I then administered the Lord's Supper to twenty-two Christians who had been confirmed in May. The offertory collections here and at Wang-do-fan together amounted to about 1,000 copper coins, value four shillings. . . We got back to Hang-chow in good time on Friday. The new converts were so much upon my mind that I determined to hurry down all our available forces to follow up the work. Yesterday, Matthew

and his wife May, with their son John, and Stephen Dzing's son Kyidoh, started for the district, hoping to spend three or four days each at about six chief centres, cheering the people, giving the women a start in learning to read the Hang-chow dialect printed in Roman type, and working amongst the heathen as they can. We are praying much for them. There are many causes for anxiety. But I desire and strive to "roll" their burdens on the Lord.

WORK AT COTTA.

OTTA is a C.M.S. station in Ceylon, six miles from Colombo, the capital. Pictures of Cotta, and accounts of the Mission, have appeared in the GLEANER of Feb. and July, 1875; May, Sept., and Nov., 1876; Sept., 1877; and July, 1878. The following is from the Rev. R. T. Dowbiggin's Annual Letter just received:

The total number of schools under my management is forty-nine; of which forty-five are in the Cotta district, and four are in Colombo. The total number of scholars in all classes of schools is 2,502, and are distributed over an area of some 250 square miles.

Seven young people from our schools received baptism last year. I am glad to say that there are a good many inquirers and candidates for baptism. Of the latter there are twenty-four in the boys' English school, and three or four in the girls' boarding-school. One young lad of about thirteen or fourteen appears to have made up his mind to become a Christian, and is a candidate for baptism. On one occasion his Buddhist friends and relations endeavoured to persuade, if they did not actually use force to compel, him to go to the temple and make offerings to the image of Buddha; but all in vain. The youth firmly resisted, and has continued steadfastly to express his earnest wish to be a Christian.

Some of the embroidery sent from Ceylon to the Paris Exhibition was made in our girls' schools.

During the Christmas holidays I went to a church for service, about ninety miles from Cotta, and there I found three of our boarding-school girls leading the singing, and one of them playing the harmonium, to the evident delight of the congregation. Our hope is that, in course of time, the influence of the boarding-school in this, as well as in other respects, will be felt all through the Mission. A brother of one of the girls writes of his sister, "She is a pearl in our family, owing to her education and training in the girls' boarding-school."

It has been very interesting to us to watch the gradual changes for good in the character and disposition of the girls. In some it has been most marked, and we cannot help feeling that such improvement is owing to the blessed influences of God's Holy Spirit. During the past year, two young women who had been in the schools, and married after leaving, have died rejoicing in the assurance of everlasting life.

At Liyanwela I have established an early morning prayer-meeting at six A.M. I found that there was a great difficulty in finding a time and place in their own houses for morning devotions, and so we have opened this early service for reading of God's Word and prayer.

One of our Christians was suffering from dysentery, and, though unable to read, took his wife's Testament and Prayer-book, put them on his breast, and declared his faith in, and love for, the Lord Jesus Christ. There has been good work done in Colombo, in the streets, gaols, hospitals, and at the police-courts, where we have preached to thousands of people during the year.

EPITOME OF MISSIONARY NEWS.

It is hoped that arrangements may ere long be made for the appointment of Missionary Bishops for Travancore, Japan, and the C.M.S. Missions in East Africa.

The Bishop of British Columbia, acting on the resolution of his Diocesan Synod, is taking steps for the division of his Diocese into three dioceses, the northernmost of which will embrace the greater part of the C.M.S. North Pacific Mission.

A project has been set on foot by the African Exploration Committee of the Royal Geographical Society for constructing a line of telegraph from the north to the south of Africa, thus putting the Victoria Nyanza, Unyanyembe, Ujiji, Mpwapwa, Zanzibar, Lake Nyassa, and Cape Colony, in direct telegraphic communication with London. The length to be constructed, in order to unite the lines now working in Egypt and in Cape Colony, would be 4,000 miles. The scheme could be carried out, it is believed, without serious difficulty, and at moderate expense. Mr. W. E. Taylor, of Hertford College, Oxford, has offered himself to the Society for missionary work in Africa, and has been accepted.

Mr. G. H. Pole, of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, who was for three years in Japan as an engineer, and knows the C.M.S. Mission there well, has offered himself to the Society with a view to joining the Mission after his ordination, and has been thankfully accepted by the Committee.

On December 22nd the Rev. H. Williams, of the Krishnagur Mission, was admitted to priest's orders by the Bishop of Calcutta; also the Rev. Jani Alli, on the same day, by the Bishop of Bombay.

We much regret to say that another agent of the Nyanza Mission has fallen. Mr. Penrose, who was engaged as an engine-fitter, was following Messrs. Stokes and Copplestone with a separate caravan from Mpwapwa towards the Lake, when, on December 18th, he was attacked by Ruga-ruga robbers, he and some of his men killed, and the goods plundered. Messrs. Stokes and Copplestone at Uyui, and Dr. Baxter and Mr. Last at Mpwapwa, were well.

The Rev. F. Bellamy is about to return to Palestine to take charge of the work in the Hauran (the ancient Bashan), where a promising field is open among the Druzes and Arabs.

Another missionary for the North Pacific being urgently needed, to reside permanently in Queen Charlotte's Islands, Mr. G. Sneath, of the Nyanza Mission, who returned invalided from Zanzibar, has been appointed to that post.

A memorial to the late Rev. David Fenn is proposed in Madras, to take the form of a hostel or home for young Native Christians, who come from all parts of South India to study at the Madras University. A sum of £2,000 is required.

We regret to hear that the excellent Native clergyman at Aurungabad, the Rev. Ruttonji Nowroji, has met with a serious accident, breaking two of the bones of his foot. He was, however, progressing satisfactorily. The Alexandra Girls' Boarding School at Umritsur, the buildings for which have been raised and paid for (but £500 is still needed) through the energetic labours of the Rev. Robert Clark, was publicly inaugurated on December 27th. Bishop French, General Maclagan, and a large number of English and Native friends were present. An anthem, "Suffer little children to come unto Me," and the 127th Psalm, were sung, and the Bishop offered up prayer for a blessing on the institution. On the walls was a large scroll in English and Hindustani, “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord."

The University of Durham has conferred the degree of B.A. on Mr. N. S. Davis, and that of Licentiate in Theology upon Messrs. N. H. Boston, David Brown, Samuel Hughes, Samuel Taylor, and W. C. Morgan, all African students in the C.M.S. Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone. The Sub-dean, Dr. A. S. Farrar, in submitting the "grace" to the University for adoption, said that the students had "passed an examination of the most remarkable excellence."

Further particulars have come to hand respecting Bishop Sargent's ordination of nine Native deacons and eight Native presbyters at Palamcotta on September 23rd. The candidates for deacon's orders, all of whom were tried and faithful agents of the C.M.S., and most of them between thirty and forty years of age, were prepared, under the Bishop's supervision, by the Rev. Joseph David, one of the Native clergy at Mengnanapuram, and their examination was conducted by the Revs. V. Vedhanayagam and D. Gnanamuttu. The week before the ordination was devoted to a series of services, at which addresses were given by experienced Native clergymen. At the ordination service 1,450 persons were present, including thirty-five Native clergy besides the candidates. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Devanagayam Viravagu, from 1 Tim. iv. 14, 15. The names of the newly ordained deacons are-Issac Gurubadham, Muttusami Devaprasadham, Thomas Hastings, S. Paramanandham, John Pakianadhan, Tucker Yesadian, Pakianadhan J. Harries, Samuel Samuel, and Manuel H. Cooksley. The first of these is appointed domestic chaplain to Bishop Sargent; the last-named is designated "Medical Pastor, Mengnanapuram."

VOL. VI ]

A TEXT FOR APRIL 12th.

FOUR-SCORE YEARS OLD.

The Eightieth Birthday of the Church Missionary Society. HANGING the original word "forty," in the verse above, to " eighty," the text becomes the very motto for a day just approaching, April 12th.

On the 12th of April, 1799, sixteen clergymen met at the Castle and Falcon in Aldersgate Street, and formed the CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. The 12th of April, 1879, is, therefore, the Society's eightieth birthday. Let us look back for a moment over these four-score years.

Why did those sixteen clergymen form this Society? Because (1) they felt laid upon them the Lord's parting command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." Because (2) they desired to obey this command as members of the Church of England rather than join the undenominational London Missionary Society, then lately established. Because (3) although the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel had been founded ninety-eight years before, it was then doing nothing for the heathen, and its income was under £800. Because (4) they could not join that Society and infuse a new spirit into it, for no one known to preach the evangelical doctrines of "ruin, redemption, and regeneration "-the guilt and helplessness of man, salvation by faith in Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul-would at that time have had a chance of being admitted a member.

How did the young Society set about its work? First, letters were written to the few godly clergymen and others scattered over the country, asking them (1) to pray for the undertaking, (2) to interest friends in it, (3) to seek for persons willing to carry the Gospel to the heathen. Of these requests, the first was responded to by many; and Thomas Scott, the Commentator, in the first Annual Sermon, preached at St. Ann's, Blackfriars, said, "It is our decided opinion that they who most pray for us are the best benefactors to this Institution, and take the most effectual means of rendering it successful." The second request produced in the first year an income of £911. To the third there was no response: not a single offer for service as a missionary was received; and at length the Committee had to look to Protestant Germany to supply men for the work. Of the first twenty-seven missionaries sent out by the C.M.S., twenty | were Germans. But, let it never be forgotten, most of them took English wives with them. The women of England led the way into heathendom.

Meanwhile, the Committee had been surveying the world, and as they had no living men to send out they resolved to prepare

the way by using the printing-press. The first Annual Report mentions plans formed for promoting the study of three languages, Susu, Arabic, and Chinese; and the second Report adds to these Persian. It was in the first of these tongues that the earliest effort was at length made to preach the Gospel. The first two missionaries of the Society sailed in 1804 to work among the Susu tribes on the West Coast of Africa.

Some years elapsed before any other Mission was begun, although active inquiries were made in many parts of the world, and preliminary steps taken. Thus, in 1809, two or three men were sent to Australia (then called New Holland), with instructions to get to New Zealand when they could; but it was not till five years after that they landed on that savage and muchdreaded shore. And in India, Daniel Corrie, who was a Government chaplain, engaged Abdul Masih, Henry Martyn's convert from Mohammedanism, as an agent of the Society, before English missionaries were allowed to enter the country. But the years 1814-16 saw several important Missions begun-Sierra Leone, Mediterranean, Calcutta, Madras, Travancore, New Zealand; and the years 1818-22 added Bombay, Tinnevelly, Ceylon, and Rupert's Land to the list. The other C.M.S. Missions were taken up as follows:-The Telugu Mission in 1811; East Africa and China in 1844; Yoruba in 1845; Sindh and Fuh-kien in 1850; Palestine and 'Hudson's Bay in 1851; the Punjab in 1852; Mauritius in 1856; the Niger and the North Pacific in 1857; Oudh, the Santal Mission, and Athabasca in 1858; Madagascar in 1860; Japan in 1869; Persia in 1875; the Nyanza Mission in 1876.

Up to the end of last year the Society had sent out more than 800 missionaries, not reckoning the wives, nor some 70 other female teachers. Of these, 430 were trained at the college at Islington, and 126 were University men. Fourteen have been raised to the Episcopate, and eighteen to the office of Archdeacon. The Native and country-born clergy ordained in connexion with the Society number altogether 293, and of these 196 are still labouring in its service, of whom 185 are pure Natives. For twenty years after the Society was founded the Annual Reports reckoned no converts; now there are nearly 150,000 adherents, of whom one-fifth are communicants. During those twenty years no baptisms were reported; in 1877 no less than 2,355 adults and 4,618 children were baptized by the C.M.S. clergy.

Great works often have very humble beginnings. No Church authorities patronised the sixteen clergymen. The then Archbishop of Canterbury, on being consulted, would only promise to "look upon their proceedings with candour." Not till fifteen years had elapsed did any Bishops join the Society, and then only two. Not till 1841, when the Society had more than 100 missionaries and an income of £80,000, did the two Archbishops give their sanction. The list of patrons, &c., now comprises the four Archbishops and seventy Bishops.

All these are outside results. But what shall we say of the fruits of the eighty years as God sees them? What of the savages reclaimed--the cannibals sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in their right mind-the Negro slave raised to a life of usefulness and honour--the proud Brahmin and the bigoted Moslem brought in penitence to the Cross-the restless philosopher at rest-the weary and heavy-laden animated by a hope of immortality? Above all, what shall we say of the many in that great multitude which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, standing before the Throne and before the Lamb, whom it pleased God to save by the instrumentality of the Church Missionary Society?

Is not the motto true? "The Lord hath blessed thee in all the

works of thy hand "-where is the work of our hand which the Lord has not blessed? "He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness"-a wilderness it has been-difficult the waywary the steps required-great the faith and patience needed; but the Society may say, like the Psalmist, "THOU knowest my path." "These [eighty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee"--this alone it is that has supported the labourers abroad and the labourers at home. "Thou hast lacked nothing "-is that really so? We have often thought we lacked much-men, means, success; but it was only our short-sightedness and want of faith at the time. Looking back over the eighty years, we can now see how true it is that when the need arose the supply soon came. The Lord has given us far more than either we have desired or deserved.

Will not, then, all our readers join in the heartfelt exclamation, "Now therefore, our God,

we thank Thee, and praise Thy glorious name"?

OUR PALESTINE
MISSION.

AST month the C.M.S. Committee took leave of two missionaries about to sail for the Holy Land. The Rev. Canon Hoare, in addressing them, expressed his deep conviction that Palestine was the most important country in the world, and would become more and more so, and dwelt on the high interest attaching to an effort. to preach the pure Gospel of Christ in the land of His birth, and life, and death. But the work is a very difficult one. There are representatives of the different corrupt Eastern Christian Churches the Greek, the Latin, the Maronite, &c.; there are Jews; there are Mohammedans; there are Druses, a strange people with a religion which is still a mystery; and there are the old 66 Fellahin," the

lowest rural population, who

Hall at Jaffa (Joppa); the Rev. C. Fallscheer at Nablous (Shechem); Mr. G. Nyland at Ramallah (a village between the sites of Gibeon and Bethel); and the Rev. A. Schapira, who has been lately sent out to occupy Gaza. The two missionaries now added are the Rev. F. Bellamy and the Rev. W. T. Pilter. Mr. Bellamy, as will be remembered, has been out twice before temporarily. He is to go right away into the Hauran, east of the Lake of Galilee, where the Society already has some schools in the country of Og, the King of Bashan.

There are also three Native clergymen in the Mission, viz., the Rev. Seraphim Boutagy, at Nazareth; the Rev. Michael Kawar, at Jerusalem; and the Rev. Khalil Jamal, at Salt (Ramoth-Gilead). Of these three good men we give the likenesses, which were taken when they were admitted to priest's orders on September 23rd, 1877. Bishop Gobat wrote on the occasion, "I have known few clergymen who have so clear views of the evangelical doctrines"; and he speaks highly of their preaching powers, particularly of Mr. S. Boutagy. Mr. Boutagy is a native of Akka (Acre), where his father was a prosperous merchant belonging to the Latin Church. He was educated at a Jesuit school in the Lebanon, and speaks French and English. The interesting station at Shefamer, near Akka, of which we gave a picture in July, 1877, and where he laboured until recently, is now in charge of a Native layman, Mr. Nicola Dabbak. Mr. Kawar belongs to a good family of the Greek Church. Mr. Jamal's family belong to the Protestant congregation at Jerusalem, and he was brought up in Bishop Gobat's Diocesan School. Another Native of Palestine, from Taiyibeh (Ophrah), Mr. Nasr Ode, is now in the Islington College, and is to be ordained shortly. May great grace be upon them all!

REV. KHALIL JAMAL.

are supposed to be descended from the remnant of the ancient Canaanites, and who, though nominally Mohammedans, retain much heathen superstition. The general language is Arabic. The congregations formed in connexion with the C.M.S. Mission consist mostly of Greek and other Christians who have been led to embrace the purer faith and simpler worship of the Church of England; but it is earnestly hoped that the efforts now being made to reach the Druses and Mohammedans will be blessed of God.

It was in 1851 that Bishop Gobat of Jerusalem invited the C.M.S. to begin a Mission in Palestine. Two of the missionaries who have laboured for many years, the Rev. F. A. Klein and the Rev. John Zeller, are well known. The present European staff comprises the Revs. John Zeller and T. F. Wolters at Jerusalem; the Rev. J. Huber at Nazareth; the Rev. J. R. L.

OUR HOME IN THE WILDERNESS. Recollections of North Tinnevelly.

BY THE REV. R. R. MEADOWS.

CHAPTER IV.

"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. ... They that make them are like unto them."-Ps. cxv. 4, 8.

HE recognised idolatry in Sonth India is principally that of Siva, or Shiva, or Shiv (as it is sometimes written), or of his sons, Suppramanian and Pilleiar. But while the villagers are special lovers of Pilleiar, they have also their own particular deity, male or female, to which they make their offerings. Pilleiar is represented with the head and trunk of an elephant, and his temple, or often his idol without the temple, is seen under a green tree

The

and facing the east. temple, where there is one, is intended more as a house for the god to be put in, than as a place for people to assemble for worship. It is too small for that, and the worship is performed outside. It is not congregational, but individual, and consists of putting garlands about the neck of the idol, anointing it with oil, walking round and round, próstrations in front, a meaningless knocking of the temples with the knuckles. Pilleiar is supposed to be the god of learning, and school-books usually begin with an ascription of praise to him. Here is one of them

"Who worships at Genésa's holy shrine,

And lifts his hands in adoration there,

Not sorrow's aching burden

need he bear,

Nor innate sin's defilement need deplore."

Genésa is one of his names, and this is what they say of one whose history is anything but one of holiness!

But each village, as I said, has its guardian deity, and the only worship which most people offer from one end of the year to the other is an occasional offering to this idol, with a view to get some temporal benefit, or to avert some temporal evil.

The people of a village near us boast that they never have cholera among them, because there stands their idol just outside the village, in a little mud and thatch building, as their protector! It is a goddess, and here is her nameVadakkuvayi Salli Ammei, or "The Mother Salli with her face towards the north."

When a cow, or sheep, or anything else is lost, the villagers have the means of finding it through the interposition of the god! An offering of money This remark applies to all Hindu worship.

THE PRINCIPAL ENTRANCE TO THE TEMPLE OF COMBACONUM, SOUTH INDIA.

He

is made to one on whom the god has bestowed his grace. is familiarly called the "Devil dancer." He gives his oracular revelations under a wide-spreading banian-tree. They say that

MR. SATTHIANADHAN AT ROME. [In the following letter, our brother from Madras continues his interroute for India.]

Small-pox and cholera are supposed to be sent by a malignant goddess whom they call Mari; Māri means death. They have various ways of averting her anger. One favourite means is to tie the leaves of the margōsa-tree, on a straw rope, across the street from house to house; or a few of these leaves are stuck in the thatch, or put over the door.

There is an annual festival in our town in honour of this

goddess, the day for commencing it being found in the following manner. A deputation of chief men goes in procession to the door of the temple, and waits to hear the chirrup of a lizard; if the sound proceeds from the right side, they are to celebrate it that day week; if the lizard is silent, they have to return the following week and repeat the ceremony.

This festival is as unlike a religious feast as an English fair is. It is the most noisy, the most meaningless scene I have ever witnessed. The streets are thronged with men and women in holiday attire, who have come to see the sights. And such sights! On one side is seen a man running wildly along with a pan of burning coals applied to his breast. In another place are young men being conducted in triumph through the streets, with cords passed through the muscles of their sides. Then there are strange harlequin-looking men, with their almost naked bodies spotted over with white and red paint. These are honoured with a red umbrella over their heads. The strangest and most foolish of all these sights is that of men dressed up in garments made of the leaves of the cocoa-nut, dripping with water and wet mud!

The temples of Srivilliputtur, one of the chief towns, are built in honour of the principal gods, and have lofty and very elaborate towers over their gateways. (See the engraving.) But the popular worship connected with them has reference to scenes which have nothing divine in them. Nāchiar, the goddess in one, is yearly married to the lame Mannär. On this occasion the lofty gaudy car, like a moving tower, is dragged through the streets by thousands of people, who can scarcely move its ponderous weight, the happy pair being seated inside, carefully bound down by ropes to keep them from falling, and surrounded by Brahmins. The great festival at Sangaranayanarkoil is similar in character, only there is acted there a quarrel between the god and goddess, their separation, and, after an interval of time, their reconciliation. Happy were it for the poor heathen if nothing more defiling than these senseless puerilities were acted at these annual gatherings. In thinking over the matter for many years I conclude that the worship of the heathen, with some few exceptions, and their offerings to particular gods, have no reference whatever to sin. To get something for their earthly comfort, rain for instance, after weeks of drought; to avert some threatening evil, as cholera, is all they aim at. They will perform a long pilgrimage to a temple, make costly offerings, undergo privations, at the bidding of a priest; but it is-to have a son! A catechist met a poor woman returning from a sacred spot; she had given her all for some holy water to give sight to her blind child.

Believing that their gods have been guilty themselves of every kind of wickedness, it is not likely either that they should think of sin as sin, or should go to them to be pardoned and delivered from it.

MISSIONARY HYMN-BOOK FOR CHILDREN.-An old and active friend of the Society at Bristol has prepared a little book of "Missionary Hymns for Juvenile Meetings," containing eighty-nine well-selected hymns. It is published by Nisbet & Co., price, in stiff covers, 2d.; in cloth, 3d.

CHINTADREPETTAH, MADRAS, 10th January, 1879. N the morning of the 26th of October we left Florence for Rome. There were two ladies from Scotland travelling in the same carriage with us, and in their company and conversation we felt ourselves quite at home. While passing through the classic soil the scenery in all directions was magnificent and clear under the bright Italian sky. As we neared Rome we saw the dome of St. Peter's, and nearer still, the walls of the city, the aqueduct, and many other old and interesting ruins. Of course superstition had not that sway over us as it had over Luther, who ong Still, a peculiar sensation does come over the mind as intellectual on getting the first sight of Rome knelt down and said, "Hail! thou holy plates, for the first time, the architectural and artistic beauty, intellectual

eminence, and political supremacy, for which this city on seven hills was once so celebrated.

At the station we were met by Dr. Nevin, Rector of St. Paul's Church, Rome, of the American Episcopal Church. Next day being Sunday, we attended service at St. Paul's, of the American Episcopal Church. Dr. Nevin, the Rector, read the Service; I read the Litany; Dr. Doane, Bishop of Albany, preached. About 150 people were present, most of whom were visitors from England and America. In the afternoon service at 4 P.M. Dr. Nevin and another clergyman read the Service, and I preached from Rom. i. 15: "So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also." The number present was about eighty, exclusive of many Italians who appear to have been attracted by the novelty of the preacher. The Bishop of Albany was also present and pronounced the benediction. Two American ladies and a gentleman who were present at the afternoon service called to see us at the hotel, and manifested a warm interest in the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom in India, a visit which greatly cheered us.

On Monday, the 28th, I called on Dr. and Mrs. Gason, to whom Mrs. Forbes, of Paris, had sent a note of introduction. Dr. G. is a private medical practitioner. They were both originally from the "Emerald Isle," but have been settled in Rome for about thirty years. He kindly sent an English guide, under whose leadership we saw some sights this afternoon. To an antiquarian, Rome presents a vast field for research and study. The number of ancient buildings is very large. There are 365 churches, reminding one of the number of days in the year. [Mr. Satthianadhan then gives a brief account of St. Peter's, the Pantheon, and other churches.] A bronze figure of St. Peter with the keys in his hands stood prominently near the confessional in St. Peter's, but his right toe was actually worn out by the constant pressure with which the deluded worshippers kissed it. A good many people performed the pious act in our presence. There was a large number of side chapels dedicated to various saints, and tombs of the Popes. One of these tombs was for James III., the Pretender, who died at Rome. All the pillars and tombs, as well as the pavement, were constructed of white marble, and the roof was a gorgeous one, full of mosaics. A service was going on at the time in one of the side chapels, attended by many of the clergy in their canonicals. The singing by the choir and the solo by one of them were very charming indeed.

On the following day Dr. Nevin kindly took us both to see some more sights. We saw the Scala, Santa or "Holy Staircase," of the Governor's house. The steps are twenty-eight in number, and it is affirmed to have belonged to the house of the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate. They are considered holy in consequence of the supposed passage of our Lord to judgment. We saw some people paying their fees or offerings to a man at the entrance in charge of a purseful of money, and ascending the steps on their knees, muttering a prayer. There was a notice put up close by to the effect that every time these steps are ascended by a devout worshipper he could ensure a dispensation for nine years. This is very like the sale of Indulgences by Tetzel. O Rome! how hast thou broadened the narrow path which leadeth to life! And what difference is there between thy teaching and that of my own heathen country of India as regards Punya or human merit!

We next visited St. John Lateran, the Pope's metropolitan church, or, in Roman usage, the "mother and head of all the churches of the city and the world," where the famous Lateran Councils were held, regarded by Rome as (Ecumenical. The Pope after coronation comes in procession and takes possession of this church, and on certain festival occasions stands on the balcony over the portico of this church and blesses the entire world. I do not know whether this universal benediction on the part of His Holiness means much, when from this very spot there have proceeded from his predecessors so many anathemas and instruments of torture against many excellent of the earth."

We then drove down to the Coliseum, a spacious building, generally