backs. The altar-rail is a semicircle, three feet high, surrounded with a kneeling cushion covered with red cloth. Within the altar and on a high table was a marble statuette of Christ, with benignant face, and hands outspread over a pewter goblet for the sacramental wine. In the corner to the left was a washstand, and on it a white bowl and pitcher for baptismal purposes. In the opposite corner was the sugar-box-like pulpit, painted blue, just large enough for one man, and high enough to hide the person of the preacher except his head. As in the earlier days of Methodism, the men and women sat apart. As in America so in Greenland; there were more women present than men, and fewer men than boys. The services consisted of singing, prayer, and sermon. The catechist appeared the most solemn-looking man out of the grave; there was a cringing dread depicted on his countenance when he raised his eyes to God in prayer which was repulsive; it lacked the joyous glow of a happy soul. His sermon was from Luke xix. 30, "He beheld the city and wept over it." A Dane who was present, who understood the Esquimaux and could speak English, assured me that it was a very good sermon ; yet I sought in vain for an answer to the question, "What do these Esquimaux Lutherans know about experimental religion?"

There was

On that same Sabbath religious services were held on board the Congress. It was an impressive occasion. I had preached in London, in Cairo, in Jerusalem, and now in Greenland. In that congregation there were Caucasians, Mongolians, and Africans. Captain Davenport, the official representative of our Government; the Inspector-General of North Greenland and his wife; near him sat Captain Hall and the heroic crew of the Polaris; beyond them were 100 Esquimaux men and women, attired in their picturesque costumes of furs; while as a background to that living picture were 200 of the crew of the Congress, representing nearly every European nation. To cover the temporary pulpit Captain Hall had brought the identical American flag which had been carried farther north than any other national banner; the same which had been carried by the gallant De Haven, the indomitable Kane, the scholarly Hayes, on their several Arctic expeditions; the same which Hall himself now has at his masthead. That old flag seemed doubly dear to all our hearts.

At the appointed time that congregation of many nations rose and sang

"From Greenland's icy mountains,

From India's coral strand,
Where Afric's sunny fountains
Roll down their golden sand,"

and then was preached a sermon on the power of personal religion.— New York Methodist.

CHINA.-SHAN-SIN-FAN-ITS NATURE-THE METHOD OF OPERATIONSUFFERING OF THE MISSIONARIES-DESTRUCTION OF MISSION PROPERTY-VIOLENT PLACARD.

BEFORE this reaches you your readers will have seen accounts of the shan-sin-fan excitement in Canton and the surrounding country. I

D

shall not, therefore, go largely into details, but give you some of the main facts in reference to it.

It has evidently been the result of a plot deeply laid by some organised body of men. This plot began to be executed about the 1st of July, by the quiet distribution through all the cities and villages in this whole region of country of small powders called shan-sin-fan (gods and genii powders). For these powders was claimed, by those who distributed them, the rare power of preventing calamity and disease. They were, therefore, eagerly taken by multitudes of people.

Following this, on the 12th of July and thereafter, placards, both written and printed, were written by hundreds and thousands, and scattered through all the country within a hundred miles of Canton (and how much farther I know not), stating that this shan-sin-fan was a subtle "poison;" that, the "foreign devils" with "sly venom had issued it to ruin the people; that those who had eaten it would within twenty, or at farthest 100 days, be attacked with a dire disease, which would cause their bodies to swell until they died, unless they obtained relief from a foreign physician; that the foreign physicians would not heal those who applied to them for cure until the patients had either paid them vast sums of money or else had entered their Church; that those who should enter the Church, and especially women, would be required to join in the vilest deeds of shame. The placards farther charged the people to be on their guard against this shan-sin-fan, to seize any parties who were found distributing it, and bring them to condign punishment.

Three-fourths of the people believed these statements. Men were also found throwing shan-sin-fan into wells. Some of these had long hair and were partly dressed in foreign clothes-desperate fellows perhaps, who were willing to sell their lives for money paid to their families. As a consequence of all this, there arose such a mingled tempest of alarm and rage as has not before occurred within the experience of the oldest missionaries here. The wonder is that this tempest did not break forth with greater violence than it has yet done.

The authorities soon issued proclamations calling upon the people to be quiet, and, in an orderly manner, arrest and bring to the Yamuns for punishment any one found distributing the poisonous medicine. Two persons were soon executed in Canton on this charge, and both in the city and the country there were victims who died by the summary operation of lynch law.

The effect of this excitement upon missionary operations, especially in the country, has been to human view disastrous. It would seem that the first part of the programme was to drive missionaries and their assistants away from every country station. This has been faithfully attempted, and to a large extent has succeeded. It appeared, at first, as though the main battle was to be fought around the newlyerected chapel of the London Mission in Fatshan. Its destruction had been decreed, but the authorities proved too strong for the miscreants, and the chapel is still standing. On the 30th of July two men were executed there, in the presence of thousands of the people. One was a leader of three of those bands of sixty into which the

organisation is said to be divided. On the 13th of August another ringleader was executed. He confessed to have written the placards. A thousand taels had been paid for his arrest. All this has produced a salutary effect at Fatshan, so far as outward manifestations are concerned. Other country stations have, however, been entirely broken up. The German missionaries have suffered worst. The Rhenish Mission had four country stations-Shik-lung, Tung-kun, Fu-mun, and Fuk-wing. Three of these already have been necessarily abandoned. Mr. Faber still holds his post at Fu-mun. They have done their best to frighten him away; but, failing in that, are now, I understand, trying the effect of polite coaxing. Mr. Krolczyk and his family, and Mr. Nacken from Tung-kun, who was temporarily there, remained at Shik-lung until the mob had twice gathered, and with difficulty had been prevented from making an attack. A military mandarin then came to them in the middle of the night, saying that he could no longer protect them, and asking them to go to Canton in a boat which he would provide for them. They, therefore, no doubt wisely, left within three hours. The chapels and residences at Shik-lung and Tung-kun were afterwards laid even with the ground, and the remaining property of the missionaries destroyed. Mr. Louis has quite recently been driven from Fuk-wing. Mr. Krolczyk states that, more than a year ago, a graduate lecturing in one of the "Sacred Edict Halls" in Shik-lung, used that vile pamphlet, "Deathblow to Corrupt Doctrines," as one of his textbooks, and that, when complaint was made of this to the officials, they said that the man was backed by an influence too powerful for them to meddle with.

At Canton, by request of the authorities, the chapels were closed for two weeks. Girls' schools were almost entirely disbanded. The chapels are now again open, and the girls have in part returned to the schools.

The excitement is also rife in the province of Kwong-si. At the departmental city Ng-Chau, in that province, there has been for some years a chapel of the American Southern Baptist Mission, and with it a dispensary of the Medical Missionary Society. Last week the native assistant who has been stationed there came to Canton, bringing two papers with him. The first paper bears the official seal of the district magistrate, and is dated August 2nd. This magistrate states that a poisonous medicine has been widely circulated, and that everybody says it is issued from the chapels; that, on examination, he finds there is a chapel and dispensary out the West Gate; that, although it is not yet established that the wicked thing charged is done there, yet, as disturbance is likely to arise, it is reasonable that those connected with this place should leave, and therefore he says to them, "No difference whether you have been distributing this poisonous medicine or not, you are required within three days to return the house which you have rented to the owner, and return to Canton. Delay is at your peril."

The second paper is an anonymous placard, which professes to be "Public Regulations for the Province of Kwong-si." They are as

follow :

"1st. If any boat containing 'a child of the devil' (foreigner)

shall as heretofore enter our bounds, every household is to bring one billet of wood, seize that boat, and burn it.

"2nd. If any 'child of the devil' enters our bounds, every household is to furnish one man to drive him away, after which the crowd will at once disperse.

"3rd. If any one rents a house, whether in the city or country, to a child of the devil,' that house shall be destroyed; if ony one eats, or drinks, or trades with him, that man's goods shall be confiscated.

"4th. Any one belonging to the Church of the children of the devil' shall be killed; and if the neighbours, to the right and left of such an one, do not quietly make it known, before it comes to light by investigation, then they also shall be driven away and their property confiscated.

"5th. The preachers of the Roman Catholic Church, whether 'children of the devil' or native converts, shall not be permitted to enter our bounds."

At present Canton and its immediate neighbourhood is in a great measure quiet, but a panic still rests upon the people of the country. The village gates are carefully guarded, and no stranger allowed to The wells are covered with boards and watched, lest some one should throw in this terrible shan-sin-fan—which, after all, is probably very harmless stuff.

enter.

These are the outlines, so far as yet developed, of a plot sly and wicked enough to have been contrived by Satan himself. We know that there is One who was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, who can cause the wrath of man to praise him and the remainder of wrath restrain.-Chinese Recorder.

Our Christian News Room.

COMMENCING another year we shall pursue a similar course to that adopted in former years, by selecting for our readers those items of Christian intelligence which seem to us of special interest, and chronicling them as a permanent record in these pages. We have abundant reason to believe that former efforts have not lacked appreciation, and we, therefore, dare to cherish the hope that some humble service may be rendered to the cause which is dearest to every Christian's heart, by our monthly chronicle of the work of God at home and abroad. There is much in the history of our times to awaken profoundest solicitude, but there is simultaneously much to stimulate zeal and brighten hope. The year's survey will reveal to us the lights and shadows distinguishing the religious life of our day. If "the darkness deepens" either for the writer or any of his beloved readers ere 1872 has unrolled all its history, may we find our eternal home in the land where our 66 sun shall no more go down, nor our moon withdraw itself, but the Lord shall be our everlasting light, and our God our glory."

OUR ISLAND WORLD.

PULPIT INTERCHANGES AND THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE.

The sceptic very naturally asks, If Christianity be, as its enthusiastic advocates assure us, a religion of love, how is it that there is so much

division and dissension amongst professing Christians? The stranger visiting our shores for the first time, and learning that this is a Protestant country, soon gets bewildered amongst our numerous denominations, and is astounded and appalled at the lack of Christian courtesy, recognition and intercommunion amongst those who profess to have "one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.' The anomaly, though not inexplicable, is unjustifiable. Most glad are we, therefore, that the EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE has added to its many other good achievements the honour of taking up this question. Moreover, it has been taken up so heartily as to warrant our best expectations of a successful issue. On the 17th of November the Executive Council met in London, under the presidency of Lord Ebury, and the question was then discussed, "Has the time arrived for any active and combined movement on the part of liberal clergymen to remove the obstacles that appear to stand in the way of their occupying the pulpit of a Nonconformist brother, or of admitting him to one of their own?" After giving the subject very careful attention, it was resolved to delegate it to a committee, consisting of the president, vice-presidents, the treasurer, honorary secretaries, and six clerical members of council, with instructions to ascertain the actual state of the existing law, and to report to the Council whether any and what steps could be taken by the Alliance for furthering an interchange of pulpits among Protestant Evangelical ministers. One of the most hopeful facts in connection with this matter is, that numerous letters were read from clergymen in different parts of the United Kingdom favourable to the movement.

POSTPONEMENT OF THE NONCONFORMIST CONFERENCE.

The great Nonconformist Conference, which was to have been held in Manchester on the 12th, 13th, and 14th ult., has been postponed until the present month, on account of the affliction of the Royal Family, consequent on the illness of the Heir Apparent. The postponement was seemly, and strongly expressive of the sterling loyalty of Nonconformists; but it surely must have occasioned immense inconvenience to the 1,700 gentlemen who had signified their intention to be present at the Conference, and to the generous friends of Manchester and the vicinity who had promised them hospitable entertainment. Yet the greater the sacrifice the stronger the proof of loyal sympathy in a time of national sorrow; for in spite of all the hubbub about republicanism, never before did affliction in the palace evoke more general, tender, and respectful sympathy.

THE BAPTIST METROPOLITAN; AND A UNITED COMMUNION SERVICE AT HIS CATHEDRAL.

The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon still "holds on his way," and though his indefatigable toils have told severely upon his health in late years, yet he "grows stronger and stronger" in spirit and practical beneficence. He has been obliged, through feeble health, to suspend his pastoral labours during the winter, and retire to the south of France, and in its balmy air to seek that healing and invigoration to which the fogs of our climate are so decidedly antagonistic. Yet before his leaving his heart was gladdened by a proffer made by a Christian lady to devote some £20,000 to found an Orphanage for Girls. He had previously written in his Sword and Trowel:-"A Girls' Orphanage would be of the utmost value; for now we can only help those poor widows who have boys; besides, our gallantry sometimes blushes when we are accused of caring only for the male sex. Somewhere or other there is a steward of God laying by a large sum to buill the girls' houses, and in due time the secret will come to light." This seems to have been dictated by a spirit of prevision. He goes on to say: "True we have enough to do already, but He who sends the work will give the strength. Our sole and only aim is to glorify God, and serve His poor people. All the world knows that from none of our enterprises do we derive a farthing, but the reverse; nevertheless, those who insinuate