Before each of these gods is a till where the money is thrown. Back of all these is a place where none but the priests are allowed. Here incense is burned and candles kept lighted, and the priests are all the time praying and studying. In front of the temple are old women who when they see people coming up to the temple throw out rice and grain to feed the doves and other birds, and then they ask for money to pay for the rice they have. given to the birds. They are really beggars but pretend to be very kind to the birds so you will pay them for it. The temple gate often stands quite a way in front of the temple, and it is a large building something like a toll-gate, and on each side are great images ten or fifteen feet tall, which have their hands clinched as if ready to strike. These are the guards; they guard the gate and prevent evil spirits from entering in through the gate to the temple. The white horse is thought to be a sacred animal here, and foxes are called sacred and very wise.

The Monkey God of India.

BY REV. JOSEPH J. DOKE.

In Allahabad, India, not far from the throne of Baba Surada, the blind Fakeer, but below the bank on the dry bed of the river, reclines the hideous idol called "Hanuman," the monkey-god. A large room has been formed by excavation in the river bed, and roofed in by reeds, with the customary adornment of flags. Steps-hardly approachable in flood time-lead down to the floor at either end, in which a large grave has been made. Here reclines, on his back, the large vermilion-colored image !-about five or six feet long.

Mr. Dann kept the repulsive-looking Brahmin in conversation for a time to enable me to snatch a portrait, and meanwhile men and women were tramping round the idol, bowing, offering baskets of flowers, sprinkling it with Ganges water, and shouting, "Ram! Ram! Ram!" Of course we were not allowed to enter so sacred a place.

This Hanuman has a somewhat peculiar history, accounting for the reverence now paid to his memory. He is said to have helped the divine king, Ram, some 5,000 years ago, to rescue his wife Seta from the King of the Demons. The story is a very foolish one, and not worth recording, save as revealing the absurdities of Hindu mythology.

The legend runs thus: After his loss, poor Ram was greatly troubled. He asked all manner of beasts and birds where Seta was in hiding, but they could not tell. At length, after bathing here at this junction of the waters, while the multitude of gods lined the banks, filled with wonder, he discovered that Seta was a prisoner in Ceylon. He then gathered a large army of monkeys, divided into regiments with officers, but was unable to cross the Gulf of Manaar. On this, Hanuman appeared, and told Ram to go to sleep, and in the morning he should see what he would see. During the night this eccentric gentleman brought down a mountain from the Himalayas, and thus Ram with his army was enabled to

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cross, fight the demon, and rescue Seta. From that time, Hanuman has been worshiped as the monkey-god. There is one point in the narrative more luminous than the rest. That is where Seta is beguiled out of the circle which Ram had prohibited her to leave by Ravan, the Demon King, appearing as a holy Fakeer. Truths may lie beneath this absurd covering touching Fakeers. in general. Or the fact may be implied thus-that evil may assume the appearance of good, "Satan be transformed into an angel of light" for a purpose.

But whatever spiritual meaning once shone through these legends, it is lost now to the people, and these tales are undoubtedly regarded as history, and the stone idol as a god.

"Well, you will see there how beautiful the place is, and how the graves are taken care of, whereas over your wild graves the sheep and cows are grazing."

"But we must worship them."

"You are now talking about ancestors; just now there was a man here who said we must worship the Pearly Emperor."

"Oh! yes; the Pearly Emperor is the greatest of the gods."

"You are a Taoist, I perceive; I thought you were a Confucianist."

"I am a Confucianist, but there must be a Pearly Emperor to rule over heaven and earth. Our Confucius is just like your Jesus."

"We say Confucianism is half right. The doctrines. of the books are pretty good, but we object to worshiping Confucius in the school-houses as if he were an idol."

"It is by Confucius that the Emperor rules the world. He taught us to live according to propriety and righteousness. Foreigners do not know him."

"You say Confucianism is sufficient. How about the atonement for sin? Have you ever cursed? How could you escape the punishment for sin ?"

"If I have ever cursed, I have only to know the fact, and it is all right. There will be no more about it."

"My young friend, that won't do. You yourself say 'the evil has the evil reward.' There is a day of reckoning."

Throwing Away Idols.

Rev. J. Dawson writes from India: "We lately met two patels or headmen of villages, who seemed interested in our message, and one of them threw away the idol worshiped by the villagers. The idol thrown away was Holi Rái, which consists of a piece of bamboo, painted red, with a few peacock's feathers tied on the top of it, and is supposed to be the protector of their cattle from disease and wild animals. Isaac Samuel and I went up again last week to visit these two men. We saw in one of the villages that the idol had not been replaced. The other village we did not see, as we met the patel of it in a place called Hara, where he had come for the marriages of his nephew and daughter. He was a good deal the worse of drink the second day, so that strong drink would need to be cast away among the other idols. With the other patel, Hároo of Bohdena, we had a conversation on Sabbath evening, and tried to show him as plainly as we could the way of deliverance from all sin through Jesus Christ the Savior."

A Bengali Mission School In India.

BY REV. ROBERT SPURGEON.

It was one Friday that I visited the mission school at Ramsil. The boys meet in the chapel. There were thirty-three names on the roll, and all except two were present. Eighteen are Hindu boys, whose parents worship idols, and all of these had a necklace on with a tiny brass charm in front. The rest, among whom was one girl, were children of native Christians. You would have liked to have seen them sitting on tiny square rush mats on the earthen floor of the chapel. It is only a thatched roof, you know, held up by strong posts. Some of the boys had slates, and others wrote on slips of palm leaves. The bigger scholars had each a packet of books tied up in a piece of cloth.

After a few sentences in dictation, questions in arithmetic and in the Catechism, I said, "Now, how many know the Lord's Prayer?"

A tall boy, a Hindu, with his necklace on such as I have said, stood up, and proceeded to lead the whole school, sentence by sentence, without a single slip, right through "Our Father."

"Sahib," said a Christian brother, as he saw how pleased I was at this, "Dino here knows and teaches the Ten Commandments."

"Do you?" I asked, turning to the boy pointed out, a heathen.

Without reply, however, but with a smiling face and clear voice he began, "Thou shalt have no other Gods but me," and every scholar repeated after him the whole of the Commandments.

"You should have said, 'God says,' before the first command," called out one of the lookers-on. "It does not seem right to commence straight off as you did, 'Thou shalt have no other gods but me,' and you a boy."

I did not notice this remark, though it was right, for all who heard knew that these were the words of God.

Of course, in our village schools only Bengali is taught, for God can be worshiped in any language. Hindus used to think that Sanskrit was the only tongue in which God could speak to man, or man to God. Some even think so now. The other day, a youth study ing Sanskrit at Benares, found it impossible to pro nounce the words correctly, so he cut out his tongue, "Foolish boy," you think. Could he not have prayed or read God's book in Bengali, or Hindu, or whatever may have been his mother tongue? Of course he could; but I fear he had never been in a mission school, like the one at Ramsil. It is that the boys of the villages here may love, use, and learn their own language well, and be able to read the Bible, speak of Jesus, and wor ship God in it, that we have started these schools.

The Systematic Givers.

In "Pansy," Faye Huntington tells a good story of some girls at a boarding-school who formed a missionary soci ety. The name the society took was "The Systematic Givers." The motto adopted was, "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by in store as God hath prospered him," and each girl pledged herself to give one tenth of the money she called her own.

Considerable discussion has arisen among the girls as to what money they have a right to tithe. "What would you do about taking a tenth of the money your father sent to you for a new dress?" asked one Lillie Case.

"Well," replied Laura, "I will tell you what I did. Papa sent me thirty dollars for dress, hat, etc., and I de. cided to take out a tenth, and get a dress of a little cheaper material, or a plainer hat. But I tell you, Lillie I never made even thirty dollars go as far as the twentyseven did. Bess says my dress is prettier than hers that cost twenty-five dollars, and I know it will be more durable. There is a difficulty, I know, in some cases, of knowing just what we may do, but all of us have some thing that we may call our very own, and that is all we are responsible for, after all. I know the girls pretty well, and with one or two exceptions, a tithe of what w spend for confectionery, creams, and ices in the course of the term would buy a good many Bibles."

After several months had passed, Lillie Case remarked one day, "Is it not wonderful how much we can do by following out a regular system? Why, I do not mis the money I give, and I actually give dollars where used to give cents!"

"I am sorry you lose the blessing of self-denial," said Laura, smiling; "You ought to give enough to feel it."

"Oh! you need not imagine I do not feel it every time I take out a tenth it hurts, for I am naturall stingy. And I say to myself, 'You old miser! you hav got to deny yourself, even if it does pinch.' But after put the money in the little gift box, I find I get along just as well without the money to spend, and I love to hand it over to the treasurer. That is what I mean when I said I did not miss it."

Income.

£232,219 171,257

Missionary Societies.

British Missionary Societies and Their Income. The information here given has been obtained chiefly from the Annual Reports of the Societies made in 1886 for 1885; in some cases from the Reports of 1885 made for 1884.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

The Church of England, sometimes called the "Anglican Church," is said to have 23,000 clergy and 13,000,000 members. As membership in a State Church is claimed as a national right, and not because of the possession of saving faith in Christ, it is probable that not more than 3,000,000 are communicants in the sense that the word is used in America, and the others may be more properly classed as adherents.

The Church of England is fruitful in Foreign Mission work as evidenced by the following list of Societies supported by its members, and the amount they contribute to it:

Societies.

Church Missionary Society.

Society for Propagation of the Gospel..

Societies.

National Bible Society of Scotland.....
United Presbyterian of Scotland Foreign Missions...
Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society...
Waldensian Mission Aid Fund...
Lebanon Schools.......

Original Secession Synod India Mission..

Churches.

Wesleyans....
Free United..
Primitive....

New Connexion.
Welsh Calvinistic...
Bible Christians..

Total......

Societies.

81

Income

£17,150

50,573

4,213

3,213

949

835

£260,847

Wesleyan Methodists...... Wesleyan Ladies for Education.. Free United Methodists....

.2,000

358

.1,151

London Society for the Jews......

35.590

22,050

Churches.

Income.

2,360

1,200

Cambridge Mission to Delhi...

Baptist Missionary Society...

General Baptist Missionary Society..

£67,828 7,695

1,150

Church Missionary Society.

OFFICE, CHURCH MISSIONARY HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, LONDON.

The Church Missionary Society was founded in 1799, under the name of the Society for Missions to Africa and the East.

It reported June 1, 1886, a total of 271 stations, 299 European missionaries, of whom 241 were ordained, 39 lay, and 20 females; 36 Eurasian missionaries, of whom II were ordained, 16 lay, and 9 females; 3,539 native pastors and helpers, of whom 250 were ordained, 2,674 lay, and 615 females; 42,717 communicants; 1,868 seminaries and schools, with 69,256 pupils.

The Society has three mission fields in West Africa, viz.: (1) Sierra Leone and the adjoining countries, (2) Lagos and the Yoruba country, (3) the Niger. In the Sierra Leone Native Church are 19 clergymen, 97 lay teachers, 5,792 communicants, and 44 schools with 4,196 scholars. The Society's work is now chiefly confined to the three Educational Institutions in Freetown, with 275 pupils. The Lagos and Yoruba Mission has 5 European missionaries, European female teacher; 17 native clergymen, 73 native Christian lay teachers; 2,650 communicants, and 35 schools with 1,870 pupils. The Niger Mission has 1 European lay missionary, 8 native clergymen, 15 native teachers, 916 communicants, 8 schools with 518 pupils.

In Eastern Equatorial Africa are 11 European clergymen, 11 European lay missionaries, 1 European female teacher, 2 native clergy, 246 communicants, 5 schools and 554 scholars.

The Egypt Mission is at Cairo, with European missionary, 3 native Christian teachers, 2 schools with 65

scholars.

The Arabia Mission is at Aden, and was commenced in 1886.

The Palestine Mission reports 9 European missionaries, European lay teacher, 1 European female teacher, 6 native clergymen assisted by 63 native teachers; 415 communicants, 35 schools with 1,665 scholars.

The Persian Mission reports 5 European missionaries, I native clergyman, 24 lay teachers, 98 communicants, 2 schools with 323 pupils.

The Society's work in India is divided into five missions with 104 European missionaries, 9 European lay missionaries, 8 European female teachers, 135 native clergymen assisted by 2,144 native lay teachers, and 10 Eurasian teachers; 24,038 communicants; 1,157 schools with 45,552 scholars.

The Ceylon Mission reports 19 European clergymen, 1 European female teacher, 13 native pastors and native missionaries, 333 native lay agents, 1,850 communicants, 174 schools with 8,773 pupils.

The Mauritius Mission, on the Island of Mauritius and the Seychelles Island, reports 3 European clergymen, European lay teacher, 4 native clergy, 5 Eurasian and 12 native Christian teachers, 379 communicants, 25 schools with 1,388 pupils.

In the South China and Mid-China Missions are 18 European clergymen, 5 European lay and female teachers, 4 native clergymen, 195 native catechists and teachers, 2,479 communicants, 35 schools with 1,089 pupils.

In the Japan Mission are 12 European missionaries, I European lay and 1 European female teacher, 16 native teachers, 246 communicants, 4 schools with 98 pupils.

The New Zealand Mission has 14 European clergymen; 2 European lay teachers; 25 native clergy; 234 native teachers, 2,175 communicants.

In British America are 36 European clergymen, 5 European lay teachers, 5 native clergymen, 41 native lay

The receipts are about $1,161,095, and the cost of administration and collection about $131,000, being about nine per cent.

The fact that this society pays so little to its General Secretaries is strangely given as an argument why the Secretaries of the American societies should serve either without pay or with much less than they receive. How fallacious such an argument is, is seen in the fact that the total expended in salaries is larger in this society in proportion to the amount received, than paid for salaries of any of the larger societies in the United States, and the total expense of administration amounts to a much larger per cent. in this society than in any of the leading American societies. That the payment of no salary or a small salary to a General Secretary reduces materially the expense is disproven by the experience of all the large societies, the administration of which requires a large amount of clerical labor and a most careful and incessant oversight. We hear no complaint from the givers to this society that too much is expended in administration.

Society for Propagation of the Gospel.

OFFICE, 19 DELAHAY STREET, WESTMINSTER, S. W. LONDON, ENG. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was incorporated in 1701, "for the religious instruction of the Queen's subjects beyond the seas; for the maintenance of clergymen in the plantations, colonies, and factories of Great Britain, and for the propagation of the Gospel in these parts." The Society "did not become a distinctly missionary agency until 1821."

The Report of the Society, made May 1885, said: "The number of Ordained Missionaries, including 10 Bishops, now on the Society's list, is 575. Of these 166

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are laboring in Asia, 142 in Africa, 15 in Australia and the Pacific, 195 in North America, 31 in the West Indies, and 26 in Europe. There are also in the various Missions of the Society about 1,700 Catechists. and Lay Teachers, mostly natives, and about 350 Students in the Society's Colleges."

It is impossible to give satisfactory statistics as the Annual Report, made by the Society, is the most incomplete of any issued by the more prominent Missionary Societies of Great Britain or the United. States. Year after year the same blanks appear respecting the same missions.

We have added the figures so far as reported and we have a total of 454 ordained British missionaries, 35 lay and 60 female missionaries (the latter being representative of the Ladies' Association, the wives are not reported), 105 ordained natives and 1,848 native. catechists and helpers, and 45,239 communicants. It is probable the communicants are over 50,000.

INDIA and Ceylon have 60 ordained, 19 lay and 47 female foreign missionaries, 84 ordained natives and 1,611 native helpers. The communicants number 22,560 and the pupils in the boarding and day-schools, 21,220. The Calcutta Diocese was founded in 1814; Lahore, 1877; Rangoon, 1877; Madras, 1835; Travancore and Cochin, 1879; Bombay, 1837; Colombo, 1845.

Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak Diocese, founded in 1855, reports 11 ordained missionaries and 1,278 communicants. The work in the Island of Borneo among the Dyaks continues to extend, and it is prospering at Singapore and in other places in the Straits Set

tlements.

In China, the Diocese of North China was founded in 1880. It is probable there are some communicants, but none are reported. There is 1 Bishop and 3 clergymen.

Japan Diocese, founded in 1883, reports 5 ordained, 2 lay, and I female, missionaries; I ordained native and 2 native helpers, and 143 communicants.

In Africa and in the Islands adjacent are 15 Dioceses. In the 7 Dioceses of South Africa are 109 ordained and 9 female foreign missionaries, 10 ordained natives and 113 native helpers and 4,871 communicants. The number of members reported are about five times as many. Not quite one-half of the missionaries are missionaries to the heathen.

St. Helena Diocese, founded in 1859, has 3 missionaries and 249 communicants. In worldly well doing St. Helena seems to be going steadily behind. From the date of the opening of the Suez Canal, its isolation from the world and its trade has been almost absolute. The income of £400 hitherto attaching to the Colonial chaplaincy which was held by the Bishop has now lapsed, and the Episcopal income is reduced to £160 per annum.

The Madagascar Diocese, founded in 1874, reports 10 ordained and 3 female missionaries; 3 ordained.