have shown great capacity both to lead and instruct; this was particularly the case with those already alluded to.

But what of the Christian religion? Have they a receptive attitude toward that? Judging by results, both in conversions and in the hostility of the native priesthood to Christianity, we might affirm that they will continue to receive it. We hear of the fact that the last year, in our own Church alone, eighteen thousand natives have been brought to Christ. India as a mission field is no longer an experiment; what to do with the past openings, how to provide the men who shall garner the harvests all ready for the reapers, is the problem that is upon us. The missionary work and the religious condition of India has had its merited treatment in this book. There is great care that the reader shall be acquainted with the heroes who planted the standard of the cross among the banners of false religions, and held it there until penitent souls salute it as the symbol of deliverance from sin.

The chapter on Protestant Missions in India is a deserved tribute to those heroes of faith who have given to her the promise of to-day. Ziegenbalg, Plutschau, Schwartz, Carey, Marshman, Ward, Judson, Newall, and Duff, are fitly commemorated among the workers of India, while the later missionaries and those now working there are not forgotten. All these deserve to be mentioned and remembered for their faith, their patience, and labor. Behold what God hath wrought through them! From the time when Dr. Butler, happily still with us, gave to us as a Church our part in this great work, to this day, when Bishop Thoburn, full of labors and of zeal, returns to tell the story of the great revival in that far-off land and to stir anew our devotion, great have been the triumphs of the Gospel. All honor to the noble men and women, God's instruments in this great success!

The statistical results of the work in India given by the author are full of hope for that great country: Foreign missionaries, 791; native ordained agents, 530; native Christians, 449,755; communicants 137,504.

The converts, it is true, are largely from the poor people of India; but that prognosticates good, not evil. It is the law of the progress of Christianity that it begins with the masses, and gradually permeates the whole social organization. This was

the case in the beginning, and it is the case now. When the masses of India are leavened with Gospel truth the caste barriers, which stand like an impassable wall in the way of the Gospel, will gradually disappear, and the true brotherhood of man will be revealed to the people who so long have been looking toward the light.

The place which education occupies in a country is one of the most important factors in determining a nation's prosperity and progress. A high order of literary productions may be found where there is no general educational system. There is no country where this feature is growing more rapidly than in India. Primary and secondary education, the school, the college, and the university, are all found among the inhabitants of this empire.

The great movements for education are the natural and necessary outcome of missionary efforts. Three chapters are devoted to this topic. The introduction of modern educational methods was a matter of extreme difficulty. The character of the native minds was averse to modern ideas. It was metaphysical, and not practical. The subtleties of philosophy had more interest for the Hindu than the training of all the faculties and the development of a well-rounded culture. To this peculiarity of their mental constitution is due the readiness with which they receive false philosophies and their preference for theological discussion. There were learned men among them, but this was not general, nor was there a desire that it should become general.

The presence of the English gave the first impulse, and led to the first provision, for popular education. The author, however, gives great credit in this direction to the early missionaries, Carey, Marshman, and Ward, and also to what he designates as "the revolutionary measure of Duff of Scotland," whose "great distinctive policy was to do all his teaching through the medium of the English language." The result of English ideas and of missionary influence is the establishment of schools for all departments of a modern education, and also the founding of universities of a very high order. The educational awakening has had a marked influence among the natives, who are making great advances in this direction. Their schools and colleges are regarded as necessary to counter

act the influence of Christianity. They have followed in the steps of the English and of the missionaries by giving free instruction, and in providing scholarships, and giving aid to "boys in consideration of their extreme indigence." This wide diffusion of education has raised a question of great importance for the Christianization of India. The drift of the educated Indian is toward infidelity rather than toward Christianity. The destruction of the old faith does not involve the acceptance of ours; hence the missionary workers have seized the opportunity, and by means of the printing-press are directing the young mind of India to Christ. This work is not without its embarrassments. Indeed, the difficulties are very great, but it is the best means available under God for the accomplishment of a work so necessary for the rapid evangelization of this great country and of these vast populations. One of the first duties of the Churches which are working for India is the support of the educational movements which are vital to the triumph of Christianity. The missionaries in our institutions there are doing great things with few appliances. Engaged in the double duty of preaching and teaching, they are overworked, and unable to do what they feel is all important to be done. The re-enforcement of our educational workers in India and in other foreign fields is a pressing duty.

There is, if we study the matter carefully, a sequence of results which must not be overlooked. Educational movements for India spring out of Christianity; and out of missionary enterprise and education have sprung those charitable enterprises which are so fully described in Indika. The great work of which Lady Dufferin is the leader reads like a romance. How touching the story of its beginning! Miss Beilby, a missionary physician, had cured the wife of a native of a dangerous illness. When Miss Beilby was about to return to England. "she called at the palace to say good-bye to her princely patient. The Rani was deeply affected; she had a great burden on her heart, and dismissing all her ladies and attendants said, 'You are going to England, and I want you to tell the queen, and Prince and Princess of Wales, and the men and women in England what the women of India suffer when they are sick. Will you promise me?" The story of her obtaining access to the queen, and the queen's sympathy, and of the results for the women of

India, is most touchingly told by Bishop Hurst, and must be read in full to be appreciated.

It is pleasant to know that it was a woman who was a missionary physician, and a woman who was an empress, and a woman who was the wife of the Governor-General of India, who together brought such rich blessings to the women of India. Woman's work in our missionary fields has not yet been appreciated at its full worth.

The woes of India-the opium curse, and the whisky curse -have not been forgotten or lightly touched. It is clear that a great conflict with these twin abominations is before the people of India, and the author has presented the case so fully and so forcibly that all Christian India should be aroused to the impending dangers and to the most vigorous efforts to resist the advance of these forces, so hostile to all progress. Through the selfishness of men the battle with these giant iniquities is to be carried on in heathen lands, and another burden laid upon the heroic missionaries of the Cross. Thus Indika may prove not only an instructor as to the condition of India and a prophecy of what is to come, but also an instrument to warn of danger and to stimulate to effort. A wide circulation to this grand book will be a work of education, evangelization, and reformation.

The complicity of the government in these horrid traffics has not been slurred over. With the pen of an unprejudiced historian Bishop Hurst sets forth the good and the evil of English rule in India. On the whole he regards the English rule as a great blessing to humanity, to civilization, and to Christianity. Its removal would be a great loss to this polyglot empire.

The limits of this paper prevent any extended reference to the author's discussion of the beautiful island of Ceylon, or any extracts from the pen-pictures which describe it. Nor can we speak of the valuable appendices of statistical information.

We lay down the book with thanks to the author for his laborious and invaluable work, which cannot fail to impart a deeper interest in India among all who desire to become acquainted with the history, progress, and prospects of that great empire.

Henry A Butt
Жесть

ART. III. OUR SPECIAL LEGISLATION ON AMUSEMENTS: HONEST DOUBT AS TO ITS WISDOM.

As the eagle delights to breast the tempest, so some minds seem never so happy as when in an atmosphere of controversy. Such, however, is not the temper of the writer of this paper. I bring myself to write upon this subject not without apprehension that my convictions will collide with the sentiments of many worthy people in the Church. In this thought I experience no sense of pleasure. I write because I believe that the section in our Discipline, inserted by the General Conference of 1872, presenting to the Church an authoritative index expurgatorius of amusements, was a most grave blunder of ecclesiastical legislation. I believe that the effect of this distinctive enactment, and that almost without compensating feature, has been to damage and belittle the influence of our denomination.

Realizing the sensitive nature of the question before us, I venture, before entering upon its discussion, to ask the reader's attention briefly to one or two preliminary statements somewhat personal in their character. In what I have to say I appeal to the jury of reason, and not to that of prejudice. I write with no purpose to defend, and have no sympathy with, that which is questionable or wrong in practice. I am not personally addicted to any of the customs prohibited in the chapter of the Discipline under consideration. I have never been a dancer, never a theater-goer, never a card-player. My conception of the ideal Christian life is that, from first to last and in all of its relations, it is a sacred thing. The Christian is one whose ruling endeavor it should be in all things, whether he eat or drink, or whatsoever he does, to do all to the glory of God.

I have often, however, had the feeling that in much of church teaching the mistake has been made of taking narrow views of the legitimate sphere of the Christian life. All discerning and unbiased observation of healthy life must impress us that the instinct for amusement is just as surely divinely implanted as is any other aptitude of our being. In the language of Bishop Foss:

We must frankly recognize the need of amusement. . . . God meant this for a happy world-I had almost said, a jolly world. Birds chant, lambs frisk, kittens gambol, brooks sing, and now