the Protestant religion; as Chillingworth tersely expressed it in his famous canon, "The Bible, and the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants." As long as her power rests upon that secure foundation, she is safe. Like in the Greek fable the giant Antæus always triumphed by standing firm on the earth from which he was said to have sprung; Hercules, learning the secret of his success, managed in a wrestling match to lift him above the strengthening touch of his mother-earth, and thus crushed him to death in his arms: even so England is safe as long as her national greatness rests upon the principles of primitive catholic truth. Nothing shows this more clearly than in contrasting the difference between Spain as she was upwards of three centuries ago, when the thoughts of Englishmen were first directed to the East in the reign of our Protestant king Edward VI., and Spain as she is now, and by comparing her with England at those two respective periods.

The present century has witnessed a wonderful increase in the efforts of the Church of Christ to make known the glad tidings of the Gospel in all parts of the world, and more especially to the teeming masses of our Indian Empire. Prominent among the many agencies at work with that object in view may be named the Church Missionary Society, as faithfully representing the Reformed Church of England; the missions of the Free Kirk, under the

guidance of perhaps the most distinguished missionary of modern times, the late Dr. Duff, as worthily representing the Church of Christ in Scotland; and that devoted band of United Brethren known as the Moravian missionaries. These, together with the efforts made by our Nonconformist brethren, are beginning to tell in our dutiful attempt to evangelize India, notwithstanding the great hindrances with which our missionaries have had to contend, not only in the former opposition by the ruling powers at home, but also in the cold apathy or marked indifference on the part of many who appear to be ashamed of their religion, or rather, who show by their lives how entirely ignorant they are of its principles and requirements.

The testimony of Lord Lawrence on this head is most valuable. At a public meeting in 1870 he expressed his opinion respecting missionary efforts in India in these memorable words :

"I believe, notwithstanding all that the English people have done to benefit that country, that the missionaries have done more than all other agencies combined. They have arduous and uphill work, often receiving no encouragement, and sometimes a great deal of discouragement, from their own countrymen, and have had to bear the taunts and obloquy of those who despised and disliked their preaching; but I have no doubt whatever that in spite of the great masses of the people being intensely opposed

to their doctrine, they are, as a body, remarkably popular in the country. I have a great reverence and regard for them, both personally and for the sake of the great cause for which they are engaged; and I feel it to be a pleasure and a privilege to do anything I can in the last years of my life to further the great work for which they have done so much."

On the eve of the great mutiny of 1857, one of the leading papers, called The Friend of India, by no means fanatically disposed towards Christian missions, thus speaks of the slow but sure progress of the Gospel, as seen in the decay of Hinduism, and the probability of its being supplanted by genuine Christianity : "There is more wisdom shown in the selection of men for the purpose of preaching the Gospel of Christ. Special missions are about to be organized in the half-educated class which calls itself, and perhaps is, the hope of Bengal. Dr. Pfander, long engaged in efforts among the Mussulmans of upper India, has been selected for the Mussulmans of Turkey. The native simple Germans, with their handicraft and medical skill, are selected for the jungle missions. But the greatest hope of all remains in this: our schools and colleges, among the thousands they turn out, may yet produce a native apostle. He will ring the knell of Hinduism. We chatter about caste and prejudice, as if Chaitongo had not flung caste to the winds, and died with eight million followers. A Christian Chaitongo, with the clear

brain of a Bengalee, the knowledge of the West, and faith tending to asceticism, would have thousands round his feet. We have ourselves seen two thousand natives losing all their apathy, jumping, screaming, gesticulating at a song. The power of preaching

among such a race has yet to be understood."

An interesting episode in the history of how we won India has been recently made public in the fourth volume of the life of that illustrious statesman, the late Prince Consort. On the occasion of the transfer of the sovereignty of Hindostan from the East India Company to the British crown in 1858, the Government of the day proposed, in the proclamation of the event, to ignore the claims of Christianity altogether. When the draft of the proclamation was laid before the Queen, we are told in the biography that it excited much dissatisfaction both in herself and the Prince, as it did not seem to be conceived in a spirit, or clothed in language, appropriate to a state paper of such great importance." Hence we find the Prince writing in his Journal, 'It cannot possibly remain in its present shape." The Queen also wrote to the Prime Minister as follows:

"The Queen would be glad if Lord Derby would write it himself, in his excellent language, bearing in mind that it is a female sovereign who speaks to more than a hundred millions of Eastern people on assuming the direct government over them, and after

a bloody civil war giving them pledges which her future reign is to redeem, and explaining the principles of her government. Such a document should

breathe feelings of generosity, benevolence, and religious toleration, and point out the privileges which the Indians will receive in being placed on an equality with the subjects of the British crown, and the prosperity following in the train of civilization."

One most objectionable phrase in the proposed proclamation spoke of the power possessed by the British Government "for the undermining of native religions and customs." The Queen remarks that "the deep attachment which her Majesty feels for her own religion, and the comfort and happiness which she derives from its consolations, will preclude her from attempting to interfere with that of others." And she expresses a wish that "the proclamation should terminate by an invocation to Providence for its blessings on a great work for a great and good end."

The result of this royal appeal, so just and proper in every sense, was that Lord Derby recast the proclamation, which was thus happily saved from the shame attached to it, had it gone forth to India and the world that England ignored the true Christianity which has been for so many ages her glory and her shield; or that the sovereign had forgotten that she rules, like those honoured kings of Israel, David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, by the grace of God, and is the