opened and the exercises were attended by a considerable number of Russians prominent in educational and religious work. The service was according to the ritual of the Greek Church, the selections from the Bible being read in Russian and in French, and the music being given by a choir of a school under the auspices of the Prince of Oldenburg. Almost immediately 100 young men enrolled their names, and scarcely had the visitors reached Paris when it appeared that the number had increased to over 300, 90 of whom were in the bookkeeping class, while 150 had attended the first Sunday sermon. The higher authorities of the Russian government have given the movement the most cordial support, and the empress has interested herself in it in a way that can scarcely fail to insure its best success.-The Independent.

The Jews

ASIA.

The Sultan has is

Excluded from sued instructions Palestine. prohibiting the settlement of Jews in

Palestine. This must for a while necessarily affect that steady flow toward the Holy Land which has now been going on for some time past, and it must also result in a further development of Zionism. Of late there has been an evident purpose to realize the desire of the Jew to return to Jerusalem, and as of the 10,000,000 of Hebrews in the world one-half are on Russian soil, it is not difficult to foresee that very striking political complications may soon arise from the working of the new instructions.

a purely secular authority-I find it stated that by this translation he and his colleagues had for the first time brought the knowledge of the Gospel of our blessed Lord within the reach of 200,000,000 of human beings; that is to say, the number of men and women speaking the languages into which they translated parts of the Bible were something like that number. In the face of an achievement so stupendous as this, it hardly seems to me an exaggeration to say that Dr. Carey deserves the first place in the history of Christian missionaries. I do not wish to exaggerate, but if you think even more important the missionary work of so great a saint as St. Francis Xavier, still so potent and divergent are the results of so widespread a translation of the Scriptures as was executed by Dr. Carey and others at Serampore, that you will, I think, agree with me that it is difficult to put at too high an average the value of Dr. Carey's service to Christianity. He is surely an example-as conspicuous an example as in the history of Christianity exists-of the way in which God chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to confound things which are mighty.

Armenian Atrocities.

Reports from the Armenian provinces come in slowly, and nearly always with difficulty, owing to the system of espionage which prevails among Turkish officials. By way of Vienna another ghastly tale reaches us of murder and outrage upon native Christians. One wretched fanatic boasts of having slain, with his own hands, 200 Christians. The account furnished by the Vienna correspondent of a London daily seems too dreadful to be true. We read of men crucified on trees, stakes being driven through their hands and feet; women outraged and mutilated, and children torn to pieces under the eyes of their parents. Others were dismembered, limb by limb, in the most fiendish manner; others again had "slices taken from their flesh, as steak is cut from an ox," before they were flung into the river. The Servian consul at Mitrovitza declares that 1,100 people have been murdered and 400 women outraged and placed in harems. And, it is

Honor to In the recent a Missionary. famine the distinguished service which Rev. Robert A. Hume, of Ahmednagar, rendered, was brought to the attention of the late queen by the viceroy and the local government at Bombay, and a gold medal (Kaisar' i 'Hind), given directly by the queen, has been conferred upon him. Heretofore parchments were given in such cases, but the new viceroy made the change to a gold medal. There have been but four or five of these medals given in all India. Hume is the son of Rev. Robert W. and Hannah D. Hume, former missionaries in India. He has been a missionary of the American Board 26 years and is now principal of the Ahmednagar Theological Seminary.

Dr.

The Famine. Even where rains have fallen the ability to cultivate the ground is seriously impaired by the loss of cattle with which to do the plow

The Viceroy and the Nautch.

We wish to note with great pleasure and thankfulness a unique feature of the viceroy's tour through Southern India—namely, that he was nowhere greeted by the nautch girl. She used to be everywhere at one time, on railway platforms, in processions, and in durbars. It seemed as if we had lost the faculty of rejoicing in anything without rejoicing in the sight of dancing girls. The band, nautch, and the betel formed the tripod of human existence in India. The nautch is a relic of the barbaric age, when greatness was measured by luxury and voluptuousness. It is altogether out of harmony with the spirit of a civilization which demands that woman shall no longer be a slave, and man, in whatever station born, shall be judged by his readiness to sacrifice the pleasures of the senses on the altar of duty. Lord Curzon has preached the gospel of work and righteousness to prince and soldier. It was pecul

iarly appropriate that the nautch girl should have been banished from his presence. It is devoutly to be wished that the precedent introduced in Lord Curzon's tour may be followed in all future receptions of viceroys and governors, and that India will show to the world how she can honor greatness without dishonoring womanhood.-Indian Social Reformer.

The Bicycle With the invention as an of the present form Evangelizer. of the bicycle came its immediate appreciation by the missionaries of India as an evangelistic agency. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that it would be difficult to find any of the younger generation of missionaries, men or women, who are not preaching the Gospel by the use of the wheel. With good main roads, and well-trodden and smooth footpaths, there are but few villages in the plains that are impossible of access on this wonderful little machine. The day when our native evangelists can visit four times as many villages as when going on foot, and preach to four times as many souls when less wearied by their long walks in the heat, is therefore now in sight. Indeed, it is now a question whether it is not false economy to permit those wearying walks or slow riding in the bullock carts, when with the bicycle the native preacher could cover far more ground, and be fresher in body and mind for his spiritual work.-Rev. J. E. Abbott.

There are 7 Mohammedan newspapers in India, says the Kaukabi-Hind, which are devoted exclusively to combat Christianity.

this a Chinese magistrate condemned the assailant to sit in the cangue by the gate of the missionhouse for several hours each day for two or three weeks. Miss Hartwell now reports that the results of the punishment have been salutary, for the old man, who was a terror in the neighborhood formerly, has since then given no trouble whatever, and has stopped talking against the school, which he had formerly constantly reviled. After the flood of last summer, which impoverished so many at Foochow, the old reprobate received from the relief committee, through Miss Hartwell, some tickets for rice, and his temper now seems to be quite changed.

Chinese Hatred of Foreigners.

The Chinese hatred of the "foreign devils" has its deep roots in the past, and that in nothing else than the commercial policy of Europe, at first in England. This led to the great opium war of 1839-42, and only when that had opened the well-known five treaty ports could there be any talk about a Protestant missionary work. The earlier work was applied chiefly to the learning of the language and the translation of the Bible, and redounded as much to the advantage of trade as of missions. Indeed, the first, and long the only, Protestant missionary in China, Robert Morrison (1807-1834), was in the East India Company's service as an interpreter. The persistent tension of feeling between China and the foreign powers chiefly concerned commerce, not missions. It was the Chinese stoppage of a trading-vessel, The Arrow, which brought on the second war, 1856-58, which blazed up anew in 1859 and led to the looting of the Summer Palace. In all this, missions were in no way con

cerned. Only it followed that by the treaties of Nanking, 1842, of Tientsin, 1858, and of Peking, 1860, the general right of settlement was granted to foreigners, including missionaries. The demand came from France on account of Roman Catholic missions, and was afterward extended to the Protestant.

Missions and missionaries had to suffer from hatred which these constant political collisions called forth. The people would only see in them the representatives of the hated foreigners, and make them likewise answerable for these misfortunes thus brought upon China. How often a missionary, when presenting the Gospel and declaring that he had come to China to seek the people's good and to make known a Savior to them, has had the words thrown into his face, "And to bring us opium!" They were charged with being nothing but agents of Western politics. For instance, Hudson Taylor, more than twenty years ago, says that in an interview which he had with a mandarin he tried to set forth the good intentions of the missionaries, but received this answer:

It is all very well, Mr. Taylor, to talk in this way to ignorant people, but you know very well and I know very well what England's policy is toward China. You English came to China 40 or 50 years ago and found her people united, flourishing, prosperous, and too strong for you to devour, as you have devoured India. Thereupon you resolved to impoverish our land by the help of opium, and to ensnare the hearts of the people, and to gain over a party in the land, through your missions, and thereafter to possess yourselves of the country. We know very well what your plans are, and it is of no use for you to try to throw dust in the eyes of us mandarins by such stories as you are now trying to palm off upon us.

Mr. Taylor heard the same things from another mandarin with whom he was sailing up an affluent of the Yang-tse-kiang. The truth, therefore, is the exact opposite of the

representation which is dished up by the ill-instructed correspondents of the newspapers. It is not missions but commerce which from the first has stood between Chinese and the European nations, and it is the reckless use of their military power by these, in order to force China into a commercial connection, such as that empire has never wished or willed. The missionaries naturally were not judged in the light of their specific purpose, but were included with all their countrymen as foreign devils, to be made answerable for the greed and violence of their governments. -Nordisk Missions Tidskrift.

China and the Old Dragon.

How has it come about that the Chinese are now SO

cruel and godless? That they persecute the missionaries and all foreigners, and so unmercifully cut down their own countrymen that have become Christians? Answer: "An enemy hath done this." And this is none other than the old dragon, the murderer from the beginning, the devil. And him do the Chinese worship! Everywhere on the Chinese imperial banner, on the roofs of temples, ancestral halls and houses, on tombs, pieces of furniture, coins, fans, cups, and embroidery patterns-one sees the dragon portrayed. The head is like a camel's, but has the horns of a roebuck, the eyes of a rabbit, the ears of a cow; the neck is that of a snake, the belly a frog's, the scales those of a fish, the claws of a hawk, the tail of a tiger. Who or what this dragon is no one can say. But he rules in the air and he bears the whole earth; when he bestirs his hideous members there comes a change of fortune for good or ill. Offerings must therefore be made to him, and feasts kept. Woe to any one who injures him! Whoever digs too

deep into the ground, or in a wrong place, comes too near the dragon, and brings himself and his into calamity. At every step one has to fear him and beware of him. Everything on earth which is grand, strong, and mighty descends from the dragon or is a copy of him. Chiefly is this true of the Chinese emperor; his body is the dragon-body, his countenance the dragon-countenance, his mantle the dragon-mantle, his throne the dragon-seat, his death "the ascent of the dragon to the long journey." Thus, in China, God's place is assumed by the dragon; to the place of faith has succeeded superstition; to the place of love and piety the fear of spirits. As Paul says, holding themselves to be wise, they have become fools. -Missionsblatt für Kinder.

Emigration Rev. W. A. Main of Christian writes from China: Chinese. 66 "About 300 of our Kucheng Christians, together with 100 or more from Nirgchiang District, are just now leaving for Borneo to start a Christian colony in that part of the island which is under English rule. They are to be followed by other large companies of our Kucheng people next year. A number of our best families and workers are going, and we are sustaining a serious loss thereby. They can be easily selfsupporting in any church work, for many of them have property, but they will need supervision.

through the siege of the legations, says: "It is thoroughly inspiring to see how many old men deeply wounded, already devoted to death, were heard comforting the young Christians and seeking to strengthen their faith. Hsiang tientschu!' (i.e., 'Think on God!') is heard almost everywhere, and here first one learns to know the word martyr in the full nobility of its meaning."— Missionsblatt für Kinder.

Gilbert Reid The ninth annual and the report of the InBoxers. ternational Institute, of which Rev. Gilbert Reid is the originator, shows that confusion has come to this scheme, at least for the time, as to so many forms of effort in China. The Chinese Recorder, however, declares that "the tide is already on the turn, and the returning flood must carry the enterprise to a successful issue. The demand for the 'new learning' will be greater than ever within a few months, and educational institutions of every sort will be in high favor."