VOL. VII.]

[NO. 75.

UT why all this? you may naturally ask. Surely if the Lord Jesus Christ required money for any purpose, He had only to speak the word and the riches of the world were at His disposal. Why this peculiar exercise of miraculous power? Why employ Peter? Why go to the sea? Why catch a fish? It seems to us the very last place where we should expect to find money. It seems the most unlikely way to carry out the Lord's work. There was, however, wisdom in it all, and whether we look at the person employed, or the means used, there is much in it for our instruction in working for God.

We must remember that the miracles of our Blessed Lord were not only to prove His Divine mission; they were not only to manifest His saving grace; but they were also to teach us how to appropriate and apply the Divine power. "Greater works than these shall ye do, because I go unto My Father." Thus Christ generally used the ordinary means at hand-the water-pots of water, the loaves and fishes, the ointment of clay. Thus also He employed people in the way in which they were able to work. He does not tell Peter to take bow and arrow and shoot a bird, and find a piece of money in its beak. Perhaps he could not have done that; but he was a skilled fisherman, and so the Lord bids him catch a fish. Thus also it is generally in answer to the application of faith that Christ puts forth the exercise of miraculous power. From all which we may perceive, that in carrying out the great work of God in the world, and for the accomplishment of His purposes, there are certain things which we can do, and there are certain things which we cannot do. And just as we use the talents which God has given us to do what we can, we shall find that He Himself will do what we are unable to accomplish. We cannot, for instance, make the corn to grow; but we can till the soil, and plough, and sow the seed; and as we do so we may expect the richest harvest to crown our labours.

And thus it is, dear reader, in the great field of missionary labour. There is one thing which is the secret of all success, and that you and I cannot do: we cannot save souls. But what can we do? We can send the Gospel to heathen lands; and it is the power of God unto salvation. We can be constant in our intercession at the throne of grace, and we know that whatsoever things we ask in prayer, believing, we shall receive. We can collect money, or we can give ourselves more or less, and the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God. There is not one of us who cannot do something; that something is all which God asks us to undertake. And just as we do it we shall find that He will do the rest. He will accomplish what we are unable to perform. He will work the miracle.

Take this simple thought, then, for your prayerful consideration. If we would see a miraculous display of the Divine power in the missionary field, you and I must do what we can. We must listen to the Master's word, and set about that for which we are peculiarly suited. "Go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for Me and thee."

RUTH.

Lines on the "GLEANER'S" New Front Page.

LIKE, O Ruth! thy calm and thoughtful face,
Thy soft eyes gazing out on things unseen,
Thine attitude of unaffected grace,

The clasped ears telling what thy work has been.

I stand with thee beneath Judæa's sky,
I mark the customs of a bygone age,
Then home return, and read with quickened eye
Thy touching history in the sacred page.
Self-sacrificing, docile, diligent,

For love of one thou didst all else forsake;
To her, at eventide, with what content
Thou didst the ephah-ful of barley take!
Some might not deem it much; but thine the praise
Of being faithful in a little thing;

An eye had marked thee-in a few more days
Six measuresful it was thy joy to bring.
And what a sweet surprise crowneth thy life!
How changed thy lot in yet a few days more!
The exile has become a cherished wife,
And mistress of the fields she gleaned before!
Mother of many daughters mayst thou be,
Of thy meek, trustful, active spirit, heirs!
Such shall be blest-though here on earth they see
That but an ephah-ful of corn is theirs.

Q.

OUR APPEAL RESPONDED TO. ANY kind and liberal gifts are coming in to the Church Missionary Society in response to the Committee's appeal to their friends to clear off, if possible, the deficiency of last year before March 31st. But they are not nearly enough yet; and every contribution, however small, will be most welcome.

One or two of the responses will especially interest the readers of the GLEANER. In our January number, after referring to the large sum lately bequeathed to the American Board of Missions, we wrote, "If every contributor to the Church Missionary Society just gave this year twice as much as he gave last year, the total would almost equal the grand legacy left to our American brethren; and that would mean deeper interest, wider sympathy, more fervent prayer. The large gifts of the few are good-let us thank God for them; but the small gifts of the many are better." A few days after that number appeared, the following anonymous note, enclosing a £100-note, was left at the Church Missionary House :

January 12th 1880

£50 towards the deficiency fund £50 to the Ch: Miss: Society "Twice as much given as last year' Ch: Miss Gleaner, No. 73, Page 2.

-see

A few days again after this, we received the following letter:

To the Editor of the Gleaner.

DEAR SIR,-I have unexpectedly received an old debt of over £3, and by a little self-denial have made it up to £5, which I send you as the nucleus of a fund which I hope the readers of the GLEANER will try and raise for our beloved Society, needing special help just now.

I am a missionary's widow, and have the advantage of being poor. I can thus realise the chief privilege in giving-self-denial-to be able to spare a gift. This is indeed a rich privilege, and one I long for others to enjoy as much as I do. Does it not help to identify us with One who was rich and became poor for our sakes, and left on record for our encouragement those precious words, "It is more blessed to give than to multiplied on what remains over for use, which goes, as I have often receive." And truly this blessing is realised in a wonderful way by being proved, as far again as the same amount at ordinary times. May the

God of Missions open many hearts among your readers to give freely out of their poverty! Let us drink into the spirit of 2 Cor., 8th chap., first four verses, and I believe our Society will soon be out of debt.-Yours, &c. A WIDOW.

Our dear and honoured friend the "Widow" is not a mere giver, but is indeed always "in labours more abundant" for the missionary cause; which may remind us that if we cannot give money, we can give labour, by interesting others in the cause and collecting their offerings. Not one of us, however poor and humble, need be idle..

A clergyman in the county of Durham, in sending the Editor £20, says :

"I do trust the Lord's people will feel the duty and privilege of coming forward at this time, for while many can feel for those who are ready to perish for the want of earthly food, they alone can feel for those who are perishing for want of the knowledge of Him who is the true Bread."

A young lady in Chelsea writes:

"In answer to prayer He has raised up men for this work; in answer to prayer He has given enlarged opportunities; in answer to prayer He will certainly give the increased income needed. 'Is the Lord's hand waxed short?' He is only proving our faith; He is only waiting till we ask more urgently. Will all the readers of the GLEANER pray daily till we get the money; and will those who are able increase their subscription? Being myself only a young lady on an allowance,' it was with some difficulty I spared my subscription; when a large present of money enabled me to give nearly five times as much again. Let my sisters in the Lord try Him too. My own experience is that the more we give the more we shall have to give: I have no doubt that others will find it the same. Give freely, pray earnestly, and we shall have abundantly."

A clergyman in Gloucestershire sends a contribution raised in a particularly interesting manner :

"When my girls saw Mr. Bickersteth's offer, they suggested to us that instead of our having a Christmas tree this year, as in the past, with presents, &c., from ourselves, and from them to each other, nothing should be given but what each one could make without spending money, and that the

A ROMISH MISSIONARY PICTURE. N another page of this present number will be found an account of the recent invasion of Uganda, and interference with the C.M.S. Mission there, by a party of French Roman Catholic priests. It will be a good thing to give our readers, in the same number, an idea of what Romish teaching among the heathen really is; and we do so by just exhibiting a picture actually used by Romanist missionaries among the Red Indians of North America. It has been kindly lent to us by the Colonial and Continental Church Society, and from the Jar.uary number of that Society's magazine, The Greater Britain Messenger, we find that the original sketch, on a piece of stout cardboard three feet by two, was brought from British Columbia by the Rev. J. CaveBrowne-Cave, to whom it was given by a chief of the Comox tribe named Warkus.

money which would otherwise have been expended should be sent up to the C.M.S. Deficiency Fund. When this plan was known to our servants, who have generally had something on the tree, they requested that the rule might be followed with regard to them also. At the close of the day

we put together the money which would otherwise have been spent by us all, and it amounted to £6 4s. 1d. I have added to it, as a thank-offering for the manifestation of such a spirit in my children, enough to make it up to £10 10s., for which I enclose a cheque."

A lady who sends £100 entitles it, "A small gift from one of the many to help in sending out one of the seven men kept back; see GLEANER for Jan., p. 2."

The picture, as will be seen, represents Earth, Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, and a fifth place for "unbaptized children." From Earth (La Terre) to Heaven (Le Ciel) two routes are shown:

one directly upwards, which is only open to those who take monastic vows; and the other, called the "Route des Catechumens," which leads other faithful Romanists by a circuitous route to "Le Purgatoire," and thence to heaven by a side entrance. From this latter road, before it reaches Purgatory, branches off the "Route des Hérétiques," leading into the flames of hell, into which also descends a still more direct road from Earth-we suppose for the heathen. On the left

hand is the "Route des Enfans non baptisés," conveying the unfortunate infants, not to Him who said "Of such is the kingdom of heaven," but to a receptacle, not indeed named defined, but significantly contiguous to Hell itself.

or

Such are the means by which Rome seeks to win her way "through the eye to the heart." If the Gospel were truly represented by such a picture as this, how could it be called "good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people"?

Perils of the Way in Palestine.

Rev. T. F. Wolters writes from Jerusalem:-"Last week I was at Jaffa. During the journey down, I experienced a signal instance of God's protecting care. It was quite dark. when we suddenly came upon the bodies of two murdered men lying across the road. The horses shied, and we had a narrow escape from being thrown over the bank, which at that part of the road is quite steep. The murdered men village. The murder could not have taken place much more than half an were a rich Jew from Jerusalem, and a peasant from a neighbouring hour before we arrived on the spot, and the robbers must have been hidden in the neighbourhood when we passed. But God protected us from harm."

A VISIT TO JAPAN.

BY THE REV. A. B. HUTCHINSON, C.M.S. Missionary at Hong Kong.

III.

Goddess Kwanon-Japanese Amusements-A Country Walk-Refreshments Shooting the Rapids-Kioto, the Sacred Capital-A Night Festival.

NE of the strangest forms of Buddhism in Japan is the worship of Kwanon, the Chinese goddess of mercy. A few miles from Osaka is a sacred enclosure called Shariji, where this goddess is adored under thirty-three different forms. Near the entrance these are outlined upon a massive slab of stone set upright, and the pious pilgrim proceeds from this through a mazelike garden to visit in turn thirty-three shrines. Each stands embowered in its own surroundings of foliage, stone lanterns, ponds and bridges, and the effect of the whole is singularly pretty, whilst the view from the tea-house at the end of the garden is very beautiful.

"Living in pleasure yet dead whilst so living" is terribly true of the religious life of the Japanese. The visitor to "Dai Nippon" (i.e, Great Japan) cannot fail to notice the abundant provision for recreation in the shape of theatres and exhibitions of various kinds which are to be found in every city, and to

which the people are much addicted. Whole streets are taken up with enormous structures of flimsy construction, which exhibit flaming placards and life-size vividly coloured sketches of the scenes to be witnessed within. The noise of clashing instruments, hardly to be termed musical, is incessant. Waxworks, with moving figures the size of life, and worked by rude wooden machinery,

are to be seen for a

trifling sum, representing scenes from ancient history. In one piece angels come to comfort a dying warrior; but the Japanese conception of an angel differs somewhat from that of the Western mind. These are little boys clad in scarlet and gold, and having

wings of green, blue, and yellow, like enormous butterflies. In another booth the mystery of the decapitated head is cleverly exhibited for a penny. Performing dogs, birds, and mice are also liberally patronised, and the frequent bursts of applause from a ring of spectators who surround a family of acrobats remind us that "one touch of nature makes the whole world kin." We cannot help admiring the dexterity shown in climbing, walking on the slack rope, top spinning, and in other ways, but the question presents itself, "Has Christian England made any advance upon these amusements of the heathen East?" Do not our countrymen too often demand that others shall risk life and limb, and incur fearful moral danger to enliven a Christian's holiday?

We

View taken from the Maruyama Hotel. ing the rapids on the Katsuragawa River afterwards. were well repaid. As we left the plains we passed through groves of bamboo, and then, as we climbed still higher, beech, fir, and other trees threw their gratefal shadows across our

path. The road lay through a village, the thatched roofs and white-washed walls of which recalled similar scenes in old England, but the church tower was wanting, and the great curved roof of the village temple took its place. We halt at a wayside refreshment stall, where a spring of clearest water invites the thirsty wayfarer to drink; and, trying some curious brown sweetmeat made of beans, and called adzuki, find it excellent. At the tea-house at Kamaoka we call for "nippon taberu," or Japanese food, and sitting on our heels we make a meal off fish, cucumber, eggs, rice, and tea. Chopsticks take the place of knives and forks; dinner napkins and tablecloths likewise are dispensed with.

A short walk through the fields brings us to the river, and we are soon on board an odd-looking craft. It is a boat about 40 feet long, and 5 feet wide: the planking of the flat bottom is quite flexible, and apparently insecure. They load her heavily with rice in bags, and then bid us take our seats on a plank amidships. Two of our crew go to the stern, the other four to the bows, and a few strokes of the oar carry us out into the stream. We are quickly entering a pass of indescribable grandeur. Hills almost perpendicular tower 2,000 feet above us, clad in foliage to the very summit. As the river narrows in between them the current increases in velocity. Now we hear the roar of the rapids, and the next minute are caught amid the swirl of the water, and plunge bows foremost down amid the foaming breakers. Cool and collected stands the chief armed with a long bamboo pole, with which he seems bent on driving us upon the rocks, now on one side, now the other. Worse is to come. We glide over the still water below the first rapid with a sense of thankfulness, when lo! we are in the next; the descent is so rapid, that for a moment it seems as if we must capsize over the bows-the roar is terrible, and the boat ships water on both sides as we sink into a mighty mass of foamdown, down-off this rock-crushing against that then still, quiet water, and six or seven more rapids, until at last at the "Book" rocks we turn an angle, and are gliding peacefully down the widening stream towards Arashiyama.

Exchanging boats for jinrikishas, we enter the sacred city from the N.E., at one end of the long valley in which it is situated, and to which it owes much of its beauty. We cross innumerable bridges, thread crowded streets, pass grand temple gateways, and note signs of festivity on every hand. Kioto is indeed a "joyous city." At last we reach the foot of the hills on the south side of the valley, and after mounting several flights of stone steps, we gladly rest ourselves in the verandah of a semiEuropean hotel on the Maruyama, or round hill, from which we can command a panorama of the city. (See the picture.)

In the clear evening atmosphere every building seems to stand out distinctly, even those at the foot of the opposite hills. The great curved roofs of the five thousand temples, the many-storied pagodas, with brightly gilt nine-ringed spires, the look-out stations where watch is kept against fire, the silvery streams of the Kamo river ever and anon disappearing amongst the dwellings of half a million of our fellow-creatures, the long white wall encircling the groves that hide the Imperial residence, where for seventeen centuries the Mikados dwelt securely, the deepening gloom upon the distant hills, and the fantastic roofs peeping out from the fir-trees in the immediate foreground below us, all make up a picture upon which memory loves to linger. The hum of a great city rises gratefully to the ear, broken now and then by the deep-toned notes of temple bells from the various ravines and groves to the right and left of us. As the night wears on, the stars shine out with tropical brilliance, and seem reflected as in a great lake, for myriads of lanterns are being lighted, and the quarter nearest to us is to-night en fête.

As a matsuri (festival) is being held between nine and ten o'clock, we descend the hill, and enter the great courtyard of a

Shinto temple-the Gihon. It is brilliantly illuminated by large lanterns and flaming cressets, which throw a fitful glare over the good-natured crowd. No idea of danger suggests itself to the two unarmed Englishmen, who thus at night trust themselves amongst the people of an Eastern city. Round one small building many are pressing to obtain a view of the contents, and we find a pair of white foxes the object of worship to hundreds. Mr. Evington puts a question or two, and for some minutes is engaged in an animated discussion, to which several pay marked attention. He is doubtless speaking of One who, unlike the foxes, had not where to lay His head. We reach the great gateway, and stand aside at the top of the stone steps to gaze upon the strange scene below us. The wide street stretches away for more than a mile, brilliantly lighted by festoons of lanterns on either side. Beneath there are rows of stalls, each with its own lights, forming a sort of fair, and a restless crowd of men, women, and children is constantly passing and repassing. We mingle with them, and glance at stalls for the sale of sweetmeats, ornaments, curiosities, toys, fans, and lacquer ware. A brisk trade is going on; whilst at many brightly illuminated balconies are gaily-dressed singing girls playing the sansien, or surveying the animated scene.

Matsuris are held all over Japan. They are fairs, the excuse for which is religious, but with which religion seems to have as slight a connection as Christianity with Good Friday excursions.

TALKS WITH YOUNG WORKERS.

BY THE REV. J. E. SAMPSON.
CHAPTER III.

R. HARPER had set his mind on securing the presence of their pastor at the next meeting. He had some trouble in persuading him. Mr. Verity loved the work, but he felt that he knew less about it than he ought to know, and he scarcely liked to show how little he knew. I believe this is one reason which often keeps clergymen from the front in missionary matters. We are all so overwhelmed with parish work that we have no time to acquire much missionary information.

But when he heard that the subject was Prayer, he consented. That was no strange thing with him. It was the strength of his ministry. "I am sure," he said, "we do not pray enough for this good work."

"I sometimes think," Mr. Ryme remarked, "that our Church prayers are a little deficient in this."

"You must remember," answered the Vicar, "that they were compiled before the tide of Missions set in. There were then no associated efforts to preach the Gospel to the heathen."

"Is not that an argument for revision?" Mr. Ryme asked. work in the prayers we have. If this be done, I doubt whether you will "It is at the least an argument for remembering our great missionary find the Liturgy so deficient as you think. In a general congregation our prayers must necessarily be of a general character. Does no part occur to you as being applicable to missionary work, George ?" said the Vicar, turning to one of the younger members of his flock.

the Venite that the Lord is a great King above all gods, and I breathe "Yes," said the youth at once, "I always think of it when I sing in inwardly the prayer that this kingly power may be seen above the heathen gods."

and ask that the hope may soon be accomplished which says, 'All the "True," Mr. Harper said, "and we may turn Te Deum into prayer, earth doth worship Thee.'"

"Jubilate is full of it," said George Green, "calling on all ye lands to be joyful in the Lord."

"Yes, and the chosen people, for whom we ask that they may be joyful, are scattered among all nations, and surely there is no joytulness but lasting." through the knowledge that the Lord is gracious, and His mercy ever

"You will often find it in the Collects," the Vicar suggested, "and in the Litany we ask God to have mercy upon all men. The Evening Canticles, too, are full of it. Show yourselves joyful unto the Lord all ye lands. A light to lighten the Gentiles. Let all the people praise Thee. And do we not thank God for His loving-kindness to us, and to all men, and what loving-kindness is to be compared to the Gospel of His grace, which He has bid us preach to all men! You remember another, I see, Anthony," for he caught a gleam in young Welton's eye.

"I was thinking, sir, of the prayer, That Thou wouldest be pleased to make Thy ways known, Thy saving health unto all nations."

66

'I thought that was in your mind, Anthony. And what a beautiful

expression that is-saving health. Our Reformers used to call the Gospel soul-heal. Health means healing. It presupposes sickness, approaching death. Now comes the saving balm, and there is health.”

"I like," said Mr. Harper, "to give the Lord's Prayer a missionary aspect. It will bear it throughout. I have heard you say so, sir."

Yes, and seeing we use it several times during our service, we can afford to give it once its full missionary bearing. Where do you see it first, Mr. Harper?"

"I see it in the first words, Our Father. You tell us, sir, that it is especially the children's prayer, the prayer of those who by the Spirit of adoption cry, Abba, Father; but many of these children are in darkness yet, in the black night of heathenism, and I long to send them the Gospel that they may learn to say with us all, Our Father."

"If I may speak of the next words," said young Green, "I would suggest this, that we should think how the Name of our God and loving Father is not honoured by the heathen, and so it becomes a petition that they may hear it and learn to love and to hallow it. Hallowed be Thy Name in all the earth."

"There is no difficulty about the next petition," continued Anthony Burns; "Thy Kingdom come speaks for itself. It is the heart's yearning over lost souls. It is a real missionary petition."

And so is the next-Thy will be done. For unless we know Christ our Saviour, we shall neither know, nor care to do, the will of God." "But how does the next petition become a missionary prayer-Give us this day our daily bread"? asked Green.

"Oh, I think easily," said Mr. Harper. "There is a wonderful fulness in the Lord's Prayer. Turn it which way we will, we find it express our wants and desires. What do we want bread for, but to strengthen us and keep us alive to do the will of God? And do we not want means also to support our missionaries? And how are these means to be obtained, but by the offerings of those to whom the silver and the gold are committed? When I say this petition with its missionary meaning, I ask for all that is needed day by day, for sustaining the worker and the work."

"And what missionary prayer have we in the petition, 'Forgive us our trespasses?" asked Mr. Ryme.

"Two, I would suggest," Mr. Verity answered. "First, I would include the heathen in the word us, and make it a prayer that the message of mercy and forgiveness may reach to the uttermost part of the earth. And then I would remember how much our own position before God has to do with the work. There will not be much power in our prayers if we are not reconciled to God by the blood of the Cross, and if we are not living in charity with all men, forgiving those who trespass against us. And I would carry this thought into the next petition. The one speaks of forgiving love. This is an essential in all evangelistic work; and so is holiness; and so is soundness in the faith. Hence, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, is a real missionary prayer. There are so many dangers into which we, and our missionary brethren, and our brethren gathered from among the heathen, may fall in these perilous times. And if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. If the Church at home is not walking in the truth of the Gospel, and living in purity of life, if we are yielding to temptation, the paralysing effect of this will be felt in all our work at home and abroad. So when I say, Lead us not into temptation, in the missionary bearing of the petition, I ask that I, and all the people of God, may be so preserved from error and from sin, that there may be nothing in us to hinder the progress of the Gospel anywhere."

"I think we have to thank God," suggested Mr. Harper, "for preserving our dear Church Missionary Society so sound in the faith."

"Yes," their pastor said, "and especially when we consider how many are the snares which abound around us, and how many have been allured into wrong paths. Oh, let us go on praying; and let us remember this, that however great or good may be the men we send out, Thine is the kingdom. We are not seeking the advancement of our Society, but of the Kingdom of God. And this work would never be accomplished, if we could not say, Thine is the power; and it never will be accomplished unless we say, Thine is the glory. Yes, we may make the Lord's Prayer missionary throughout, and add our Amen with longings and hopes for the salvation of men."

"May I add another word before we part?" asked Mr. Harper. "We often say the Gloria in our service. May we not give one of them a purely missionary aspect? I like to do so with the one in the Litany. We have been thinking of the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. We have said the Lord's Prayer. We have reminded God of the noble works (and what works are nobler than missionary works?) that He did in the days of our fathers (then I think of eighty years ago when our great societies were formed), and in the old time (apostolic, and all along the ages) before them. Then we cry to God to arise and help us. And then we lift up our ascription, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; and I think I am not wrong in saying that in nothing is our Triune God more fully glorified than in the triumphs of His Word in a hostile world. Gloria is to me a praise for what God has done, and a prayer that He will do more."

MORE GOOD NEWS FROM BONNY.

GAIN we have had to thank God for most encouraging letters from Archdeacon Dandeson Crowther, the excellent son of the Bishop of the Niger, and from other Native African missionaries labouring in the delta of that great river. Readers of last year's GLEANER will not have forgotten the article in the November number, entitled, "BONNY HAS BECOME A BETHEL," which described the truly wonderful revolution by which, through the blessing of God, a place red with the blood of persecuted Christians had become almost like a house of God within twelve months. A report now received from Archdeacon Crowther gives further interesting details.

On Whit Sunday last, June 1st, eleven adults were baptized; the first baptisms for four years, owing to the prolonged and severe persecution. Most of these eleven candidates had been faithfully cleaving to Christ all through those dark days, patiently suffering for His sake, but prevented by their masters from publicly taking His vows upon them. One of them was charged before the late chief, "Captain Hart" (concerning whom see our November article), with attending church contrary to the decree forbidding it. He replied, "Yes, I do go. I went to hear God's words, and when I found them good for my soul, I go over and over." At the baptism, he and two others asked to be christened Hezekiah, Job, and Meshach respectively; and on being asked by Mr. Crowther why they chose these names, gave a succinct and interesting account" of the Scripture characters who first bore them. A woman, who took the name of Dorcas, had refused to drink palm wine offered in sacrifice to idols, whereupon she was seized, and the wine poured down her throat by force. There are now more than two hundred avowed candidates under instruction for baptism.

April 26th, 1879, was the fourteenth anniversary of the foundation of the Bonny Mission, and it was determined to hold a thanksgiving service at St. Stephen's Church, with especial reference to the "late mercies vouchsafed" of God. More than five hundred persons attended, including King George Pepple and some of the chiefs. Archdeacon Crowther writes:

The text was taken from the 100th Psalm, "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving," &c. I brought before them a regular history of the commencement of the mission, and the signing of the agreement at Juju Town fourteen years ago; even far back to 1854, when the Bishop, on his way to the Tshadda river in the s.s. Pleiad, met the late King William Pepple at Fernando Po, where he first made known to the Bishop his wish for missionaries at Bonny. Then I touched on the late king's return to Bonny in 1861, and his letter to the then Bishop of London for missionaries, which letter was handed to our Bishop, and which brought him to Bonny in 1864; next, the reception given us, and the king and chiefs paying £150 as their half-share in the establishment, and the erection of the school chapel at Bonny Town, which after some time developed itself into a mud-wall chapel at the mission station, the foundation of which was laid by the late King William Pepple and Mrs. Babington, an English lady, on the 19th February, 1866; how thus, step by step, the Word of God grew, and the reptile iguanas, their national object of worship, were destroyed on Easter Day, April 21st, 1869; how individuals renounced idolatry, attended class for instruction and were baptized; how this brought persecutions even to martyrdom, and prohibitions, together with the expulsion of two of our brethren from the country; and lastly, the present reaction for good. After all these events how thankful should we be to be thus led through darkness and light, through storms and calms, through cloud and sunshine, even to the present hour, to see the glorious sight before us that morning-king, chiefs, and subjects, masters and servants, rich and poor, young and old, all in harmony, peace, and love, sitting side by side to hear of the redeeming love of Jesus Christ to perishing souls!

After the service, a large number of Bibles, which had been brought by King George Pepple from England, were presented in his name to all who could read-" to the joy," says Mr. Crowther, "of both king, chiefs, and people."

During the year, three of the most promising converts died. One of these, named Peter Obonanto, had been imprisoned for his faith along with Isaiah Bara and Jonathan Apiape (see GLEANER, July, 1877), but, unlike them, writes Mr. Boyle (the native schoolmaster), "he, through weakLike Simon Peter, ness of the flesh, compromised, and was released.

he severely felt the denial of his Master, and wept bitterly.

His