answered him satisfactorily, he asked me to read to him the Word of God, to which he paid great attention. I then asked his permission to read to his wife and children. To my great surprise he made no objection, and showed me the way to the ladies' apartment. "When I arrived there, they rose to meet me, and asked, 'Who are you?' 666 "I am a Bible-woman,' "Then they asked me to read to them the Word of God. I read part of Matt. v., they paid great attention, and asked me to go often to their house for reading the Bible. "The people of Coote now give ear to the words of truth. Wherever I go there is anxiety among even the higher Coote to embrace Christianity, but they are prevented from openly avowing it by the fear they have of their relatives, who would at once cast them out. "I am exceedingly glad, and thank God from the bottom of my heart that He has been pleased to melt away the hard and unshakeable prejudice from the hearts of some of these Sudras." THE FAMINE IN CHINA. AND now the recent fearful famine in SOUTH INDIA, of which all these workers speak, is said to be dwarfed into insignificance by the still more appalling visitation that has fallen upon NORTHERN CHINA. 9,000,000, out of the 75,000,000 who people the Northern Provinces, are starving; children in hundreds, and even wives, are sold for food, and this famine has been raging for three years. The people have been feeding on roots and bark, and stringy fibres, which only the strongest teeth could reduce to pulp, and they have actually been seen to endeavour to eat red slate-stone in default of better nutriment. In some cases parents prefer to put an end to the sufferings of their offspring by death rather than witness the prolongation of their tortures. Many commit suicide. In several parts of that beautiful mountainous region scarcely a living creature is to be seen. Even the animals have died. The large tracts of country are literally depopulated, and in others the people are dying by thousands. The roads to the capital are thronged, indeed they have apparently been converted into long graveyards, and the cup of misery of these poor perishing Chinese seems filled to the brim. The foreign communities in China are doing what they can, and the Missionaries also. A meeting was held lately in Lambeth Palace, under the presidency of our Archbishop of Canterbury, to elicit a more general public interest in the dreadful sufferings in China. A subscription list was opened and an influential Committee of gentlemen connected with China appointed. Sir Thomas Wade, the English Ambassador, who is now in this country, offered to return to China in order to see the funds properly distributed. This mighty and mysterious calamity, whatever other effects it may produce, affords to England an opportunity of removing, to some slight extent, the evil impression produced on the Chinese mind by our cruel and unprincipled Opium trade. China, naturally enough, considers that the only object which England has in intercourse with the country is to make money. There is now opportunity for proving on a grand scale that, whatever the national policy of England may be, the Christian feeling of the country is one of sympathy and goodwill to the Chinese. Already our Missionaries and fellow-countrymen in China have received tokens of the goodwill felt towards them by the people for their exertions in distributing the reliefs afforded. "The sight of so much self-sacrificing labour and CHRISTlike self-forgetfulness has filled the Chinamen with astonishment. 'What,' they are reported to have said, 'are these the foreigners we have heard so much against? We will never speak evil of them again.' 999 Many of the opium dens have been closed, and a wholesome dread has seized the minds of the people, and there seems a widespread desire to get rid of the habit. These distressing famines have brought up the question very seriously to the notice of Government, which is strictly issuing orders against the cultivation of the drug in the teeth of the famine. This is equally remarkable. A correspondent at Peking writes : "I found in the streets of Peking lately a man selling a large broadsheet for a halfpenny, calling upon the people to give up the evil habit, pointing out the evils of the drug and the causes of its prevalence, laying a great stress upon the lack of a proper bringing up on the part of the parents, and the inculcation of the sentiments and principles of virtue. The man lectures at the same time, and has great crowds round him. He is not a Christian, and seems to be doing it on his own account. He sells over 200 of these sheets daily."-Selections from the Missionary News. Thus God has given to England a wider access than ever to the hearts of the Heathen,-Famine, as well as War, shall but open the door for the Gospel. STRANGE NEWS FROM SYRIA. OUR friend Mrs. Smith writes: " "I must certainly tell you of another and remarkable 'sign of the times.' A false Christ' has arisen in Syria-David Messi, or David the Christ. He has issued a proclamation calling all Jerusalem, Palestine, and Syria to hear and obey him. He had his photograph taken at Beirut. Mrs. Mott has sent me a copy. It bears a striking resemblance to the general representations of our Lord. The Druzes are evidencing great desire for instruction in the way of salvation." FOR LONDON BIBLE AND DOMESTIC FEMALE MISSIONS. Money received between March 10th and April 10th, 1878. GENERAL FUND. £161 17 8 Brought forward A Friend.. Bruce, Captain.. Carried forward British and Foreign Bible Society .. C. L. M. T. .. 4 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 050 0 15 0 20 2 10 10 0 ww 1 0 0 ..£161 17 8 £ 8. d. 0 10 0 1 0 0 0 10 0 10 0 0 1 0 0 Miss Neale Donkin, Miss M. Exeter, Dowager Marchioness of E. M. B. Friends in Dalkeith Fisher, Mrs. Friends in Reedwater, by Mrs. Fox, J. H., Esq. .. 050 026 026 026 0 10 0 100 0 10 0 100 15 0 0 1 10 1 10 0 100 1 10 0 500 200 0 10 0 110 20 0 0 ..100 0 0 1 10 £315 3 2 Examined and certified by me, as duly entered in the books of the Mission, JAMES WADDELL (of J. WADDELL & CO.), Fellow of the Institute of Accountants, Mansion House Chambers, 11, Queen Victoria Street, E.C. Received for the Missions and Bible-women Nurses, with thanks :-Parcels of clothing, pillows, old linen, &c., from Miss Abbs; Anonymous; Miss A. Parkes; Mrs. Peale; Mrs. Cooper; C. M. A. S.; Miss Bruce; A. L. G. M; Miss Cash; Reader of the "Missing Link Magazine"; eggs from Miss Sainsbury; clothing and periodicals from Miss C. H. Ballance; woollen shawls, &c., from Mrs. Palmer and Baroness Berners; books, &c., from Captain Bruce; four reams of ruled report paper from G. A. Calder, Esq.; scrap book and flower texts from Percy White, Esq.; hospital letters from C. Walton, Esq., and Miss Cookson; Miss Cash; flowers from Miss Toller; Mrs. Brightwen; Miss Huish; Anonymous; Miss Whitehouse, and G. Catt, Esq. Contributions to the LONDON BIBLE AND DOMESTIC FEMALE MISSIONS can be received by the Honorary Secretary, Mrs. Ranyard, 13, Hunter-street, Brunswick-square, London, W.C.; by Lord Kinnaird, addressed to the Bank of Messrs. Ransom and Co., No. 1, Pall-mall East; also by Messrs. Barotay, Bevan, and Co.. 54 Lombard-street; and by Messrs, Nisbet and Co., Berners street. Money Orders should be made payable at the Post-office, Burtoncrescent, W.C., in the name of Ellen Ranyard, and cheques crossed Ransom and Co. |