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attractive to the public; and have also made some preparations for a bazaar: several ladies are working for it with spirit.

3. OLD KENT ROAD.-From the Rev. James Bransom.-November 29th, 1872. -About twelve months ago there was no organized Methodism within a distance of more than two miles of this mission-centre; so that there were ten or more square miles of London streets and London population without Methodism in any shape whatever the desert being relieved of its dreary aspect only slightly by the activities of other Churches. On a very eligible piece of unoccupied land, taken at a yearly rental, a temporary chapel, capable of holding three hundred persons, was built with the sanction of the home-missionary committee. A congregation soon began to gather, and the seats to be taken. For some time past, the chapel has been too small for the numbers desirous of attend

ing; after allowing for a proportion of the seats for the Sunday-school and the poor, they are all, or nearly all, let.

The congregation takes its character from the neighbourhood, representing all classes in it. To inquire into the history of the religious life of the congregation, down to the opening of the chapel, would lead to the conclusion that it consisted, for the most part, of those who went nowhere, and of those who went anywhere. Of both classes, but more especially the latter, there are many whose early associations were connected with Methodism; but who, coming to London, and finding no Methodist chapel within a moderate distance, did not go regularly to any place of Divine worship. It is surely something to have brought these back to a settled home, as well as others who have been won from the wreck of an almost wasted life.

There are now meeting in class some seventy persons. An interesting feature of the work, is the Sunday-school. At the commencement of 1872, it was announced that a school would be

opened. On the first Sunday there was an attendance of three in the morning, and eight in the afternoon. We have now on the books more than two hundred, and we register an average attendance of one hundred and sixty. The school, too, is efficiently worked by a goodly band of young men and women, who, without exception, have been furnished from the congregation. The chapel is not nearly large enough for the convenient management of the school, to say nothing of its inadequacy as to classaccommodation. On this account the new chapel scheme must be hastened. A site, a most excellent one, has been secured. It fronts in part to the Old Kent Road, and is in the heart of the population among whom we are working. The effort will be a great one; but there is about the people a determined spirit, which is a good augury. A building on the Hatcham Manor-works, about a mile from our iron chapel, which has been used by a clergyman as a school-chapel, has been thrown upon the hands of the proprietors. They are anxious that the place should be used for the moral and religious advantage of the neighbourhood; and, provided this be done, they are not at all disposed to make a monetary profit out of it. Only a nominal rental will be charged, for the purpose of keeping it in repair. This place, with these conditions, was offered to us; and although our hands are full with the project just named, we regarded the circumstance as a providential one, and were not disposed to let the opportunity slip. We took the place, therefore, and are making arrangements for commencing our mission-work among the surrounding population. Should our plans succeed, Methodism will have between Deptford and Southwark chapels, and in one of the main arteries of the metropolis on this side the river, three living churches, namely, New Cross, Old Kent Road, and Manor Street, where, but a short time ago, she had only a name.

4. SANDHURST, BERKS.-From the Rev. R. W. Allen.-November 29th, 1872.-The Sandhurst home-mission Circuit consists of six places, whose importance and general character may be inferred from the fact, that they are grouped around great public institutions, such as the Wellington College, the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, the Sandhurst Military College, and the Staff College. Originally small villages, by the establishment of these institutions they have come to be places of considerable and increasing population. Nine years ago, there was scarcely any, if any, Methodism existing in them, and the general condition of the inhabitants may be gathered from the fact, that in Sandhurst there is a public-house to every fifteen houses in the parish.

Into this district-first by the faithfulness of a few godly people who had been members of our Societies elsewhere, aided from Reading, and then by the indefatigable efforts of my predecessors at Aldershot-Methodism has been introduced and vigorously established. Two years ago last Conference, the first home-missionary minister, the Rev. J. B. Alger, was appointed. The results are, I venture to think, almost unprecedented, even among the many and great successes that have attended the revival of home-mission enterprise amongst us. Where nine years ago there was no organized activity belonging to Methodism, there now are two admirable chapels, on valuable freehold sites, the chapels alone worth £1,150, and paid for within a few pounds which still remain on the smaller erection. In addition, there are four other preaching-places, in three of which eligible sites for the erection of

chapels are secured, and in part paid for.

A flourishing day-school has been established at Sandhurst, and a new building to accommodate it is now being erected, at a cost of £200, the foundation-stone having been laid not long ago by Lord A. Churchill; and, better than all, a Church-membership now exists in the Circuit, numbering eighty consistent, and in many cases devoted, people.

This year, this infant Circuit raises £65 for the maintenance of the ministry; whilst during the past two years, it has raised, either for the minister's maintenance, or for school and chapel extension, no less a sum than £502. There is no need to comment on such facts as these; they speak for themselves, and bear witness that, even in the "Methodist wilderness" of these southern counties, the soil is not uncongenial; that, rather, like some rich tract, desert only because uncultivated, it is waiting the labour of the husbandman to return an abundant harvest.

But, as in all such cases, to succeed is only to develop fresh necessities. There is a pressing need for chapels in the places where sites have been already secured. The liberal and selfdenying people on the spot, none of them wealthy,-far indeed from that, -have done, and are doing, what they can. They not unnaturally look to the Methodist public, and seek from it some aid at least to build their chapels at these places. Let this aid be given, and soon there will be raised up churches, which, in added wealth of prayers and offerings, shall repay the Connexion a hundredfold its timely and fostering liberality.

GENERAL RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

[The extracts which appear in our pages under the head of "General Religious Intelligence," are carefully taken from the most trustworthy sources at our command. We cannot undertake, however, to answer for the propriety, in all cases, of their literary style; to guarantee, in every instance, the accuracy of dates, or of the names of persons and places; or to endorse all the views which, on particular subjects connected with evangelical enterprise, agents of the various Religions Societies and Committees may advance.]

PROTESTANT CHRISTIANITY IN JERUSALEM.-Bishop Gobat, in a letter sent to the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, reviews the missionary work done in Palestine during the twenty-five years which have passed since his arrival in Jerusalem. Earlier attempts had been successful only in gathering a small band of Jewish proselytes, and in opening an hospital for the same people. Bishop Alexander had tried to open a school, but had failed. The American missionaries had been there for some years, labouring without sufficient results to warrant their stay; and so they had withdrawn altogether. There was not a single school of any Christian denomination in all Palestine, and only one native Protestant, who ,lived at Safed, in Galilee.

The Bishop opened his first Christian school at Jerusalem, in 1847, with nine children of both sexes, which within three years increased so much in numbers, that it was divided into two schools, one for boys, and the other for girls. These, too, have so increased in size and number, that at the present time there are five in Jerusalem, attended by over four hundred children of both sexes; and in all Palestine there are twenty-five Protestant schools, in which about one thousand scholars are taught, from the five Christian denominations, and also from Jews, Samaritans, Moslems, and Druses. Sofaithfully is the Word of God inculcated in these schools, that they are called by the natives Bible-schools, after the expression employed by the Greek patriarch in cursing Bishop Gobat's school at Nablous, in 1848. In addition to these schools, three

orphan asylums have been opened for the admission of nearly two hundred children, who have either lost both parents, or have only a destitute mother; and at least one hundred more have been refused admittance for want of room.

The results of all these educational and benevolent efforts are to be found in the number of those who have joined the Church. A large number love and keep the truths they have learned, yet remain in the sects or Churches of their parents, carrying light into those centres of lifeless religion. Many have been benefited, not only in their intellectual and moral condition, but in their outward circumstances of life. They are employed as catechists, school-teachers, dragomen, merchants, tradesmen, and farmers. Besides these direct results, there is to be included the establishment of at least one hundred schools by the Greek, Roman, and Armenian priests, in self-defence, and for the purpose of holding their ground against Protestant advance. Still, in communities of Greek or Roman Catholics, the Evangelical schools outnumber the others. It is a remarkable and encouraging fact that, though the parents know little of the truths of the Bible, they are impressed with what they do know, and what their children bring back to them from school; and so they want their children to know more of the Scriptures, believing such knowledge to be of the highest benefit. Thus is the Gospel preached among a great part of the people.-Christian Work.

DECLINE OF ROMANISM IN MEXICO.The following summary of missionary

work done in and around the city of Mexico will be read with interest, especially by those who remember how short a time has elapsed since not a voice was there raised, or would have been allowed to be heard, in behalf of the pure Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This summary has reference to the year 1872:

In the city of Mexico the Gospel has been regularly preached in four places of worship. The two most important are the church of the ex-convent of San José de Gracia and the chapel of ex-San Francisco, both of which have now become Protestant churches. At both of them there are large congregations. The other two places of worship are missions, one in a house in the street Manzanares, and the other in the national prison.

A mission has been maintained in the town of Joquicingo, of which Mr. Hernandez is pastor. Here the congregation numbers over one hundred and fifty, and there is in connection with it a boys' school.

The department of Christian publications has received continued attention. As far as funds would allow, pamphlets, tracts, and occasional papers of a suitable character have been prepared for the different congregations in Central Mexico. A depository has also been maintained for the sale of Bibles and tracts, and systematic distribution has been pursued. The depository is situated in the best street in the Mexican capital.

A Sunday-school, a large and very successful boys' school and a Christian school for girls have all been well maintained in the city of Mexico.

A Young Men's Christian Association has accomplished much good at the capital; and some efforts have been put forth towards educating young men for the Christian ministry.

While the numerous Christian congregations in the surrounding country have been encouraged so far as possible to depend upon their own resources, aid has in various ways been accorded to some of them.

Assistance has been rendered towards the fitting up cf chapels in Tlalmanalco, Cocoticlan, and Tizayuca; rural congregations have been stimulated to extend the Gospel work to new fields; and when persecution has arisen, measures have been taken to bring the subject before the general government and to secure its protection.New York Christian World.

Speaking of the progress of the Gospel in Mexico, the American Messenger" says:

No work of modern missions, espe cially in Roman Catholic lands, has surpassed in interest and hopefulness the progress of the truth in Mexico. But a few years since there was not a single Evangelical church in that Republic; now there are scores. Then Presbyter Manuel Aguas was the great preacher of the Roman cathedral at the capital; now he is the eloquent Protestant pastor of a large congregation in an immense church bought by American Christians in that same capital. Then Romanism controlled the political, civil, social, and domestic relations of the people; now its power is broken, its prestige gone, and its priesthood vainly struggling with the advancing wave of freedom. Aguas, the Gavazzi of Mexico, gives the following account of his conversion in writing to a New York gentleman who had contributed largely to the work in Mexico:

"Allow me heartily to thank you for what you have done in our behalf. Part of your contribution for Mexico was converted into Christian pamphlets that were widely and effectively circulated here. One of these arrived at my sad dwelling, where I was despairingly suffering because I had not been able to find peace for my soul, finding myself as I then did in the darkness of Roman idolatry; but from the time that I read that Christian pamphlet— little esteemed by the worldly, but most precious to me as containing the Divine truth-the Lord commenced to lead me little by little, in a manner at once sweet and powerful, without in

the least wounding my free-will, until He guided me into the glorious light of faith, where I find myself so happy, and where, in spite of my littleness, by the Lord's help, with the Bible in my hand, I have succeeded in making the Roman magnates in this capital tremble with dread and consternation."

ITALY: SUPPRESSION OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS IN ROME.-The Italian Parliament opened on the 20th of November last. A Bill for the Suppression of Religious Corporations was introduced by the Minister of Justice on that day. It declares that the laws of 1866, 1867, 1868, and 1870, relative to the suppression of religious corporations and the conversion of their property, shall be applied to the province and city of Rome. The bill, however, maintains

the houses of the directors of those corporations that have a director or deputy-director in the city of Rome. The original property of such houses may be retained, but cannot be increased, and they will not enjoy civil rights. The property of the suppressed corporations will continue to be applied to the charitable purposes for which they were originally established. The edifices appertaining to the religious establishments in Rome will remain at their disposal until such time as the pensions to be granted shall have been decided upon, which decision must be arrived at within twelve months. The property of the religious corporations in the city of Rome will be converted into inalienable public rentes. The minister, fin the course of his speech, added that the total net revenue of the corporations amounts to seven million one hundred and ninety-two thousand francs.

The Bill provides for the pensioning of the members of the suppressed convents at rates varying from one hundred and fifty lire to six hundred lire per annum. The foreign religious bodies, which are included in the Expropriation Bill, may, during two

years, constitute foundations, in conformity with their institutions, from the profits of the churches belonging to them. When the two years' term has expired, the government will no longer recognize their civil individuality, but will treat with the foreign governments whose subjects they are, to determine what is to be done with

their property. Their immovable property will be sold, and the proceeds formed into a treasury for the payment of the pensions, under the control of the ministry.-Evangelical Christendom.

THE JESUIT MISSION TO THE FREED. MEN OF AMERICA.-The foes upon us are the Jesuits and their allies. Expelled from Europe, they confront us on this side the water like an invading army. Perfectly organized and disciplined, and under the command of a single head -the "Black Pope "-whose visit to this country is announced, they advance to the attempted conquest of our land. Now a powerful column is turning its point upon the Freedmen, and it is time the watchmen, through the

religious press and the pulpit, should

give the alarm. In some of the secular papers were published some time since such facts as should be known by all friends of the Freedmen. The facts are as follows:

The Jesuits have for a long time entertained the idea of a mission to the Negroes of North America, and after various delays the Pope, through the Propaganda at Rome, has confided the work to the English Catholics. Archbishop Manning is the prime mover. He and the Jesuits, not satisfied with what they are doing to Romanize England, have in charge a special foreign missionary society called the St. Joseph's Society. For the purpose of raising up the missionaries, a foreign missionary college is in full operation near London. The prin

cipal of this college is Dr. Vaughan, the editor also of the London "Tablet," the organ of the Roman Church in England. Dr. Vaughan in the "Tablet" thus sets forth the project :

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