once, I suppose the only recorded instance in which his satanic majesty had ever tripped in this moral kind of way.

There is more than poetic fancy in this. It shows that the truth lies enshrined in the lines:

"Jesus, the name high over all,

In hell, or earth, or sky;
Angels and men before it fall,
And devils fear and fly."

A few months and that devil-ridden woman stood before me, a candidate to be received into the Christian Church by the rite of baptism. Was it the same woman of the dishevelled hair and twisting body? It was; but a marvellous change had been wrought by the Lord. There was a play of joy on her face, light beamed in her eyes. She was the first of that village community that was called home, and even in her last moments the devil was not permitted to come near her again. The charm secured her, and she wore it on her head, and in her heart—it was the name of Jesus. Another instance to show that our work has not been altogether among the agriculturalists or poorer classes, and that we have touched the highest grades of Indian society. On one occasion there were three candidates for baptism-a Brahmin, a Sudra, and a Pariah, and the town was in a great state of commotion. It seemed as if a riot was pending, and the police-force about the house and the church was considerably augmented. When passing from my house to the church, I found that the route was fairly lined by those who would gladly have done me harm, had they not been restrained by a higher power. Many a curse was called down upon me that morning. We were a little band of Christian workers, but we feared not, feeling that the Lord of Hosts was with us. It was our usual practice to have the baptismal service first and the sermon afterwards, but as so many had assembled, it struck me that it would be a pity to let them go without giving them an opportunity to listen to a good plain Methodist sermon first. As soon as the sermon was over, the three candidates approached the communion rail. There was great excitement in the church; it appeared as if a rush were to be made and the converts torn from us. We tried to show no sign of fear, but if any looked lower than the face, he would find that the knees were in trembling contiguity. I called upon the native minister to pray —and they can pray out there too—I do not know how it would be with our Montreal ministers if we got some of those grand native Hindoo ministers here to pray. I am afraid they would have to go to the country. I asked him to pray and he laid hold

of the Tree of Life, and in his impassioned pleadings to God, he swayed that tree to and fro until our souls were wetted with the dew that fell therefrom. We rose to our feet again, and we asked the three converts, in place of the usual questions-as they were educated young men—to tell us how they came to Christ. Two of them are graduates of the Madras University, which prescribes an examination equal to the Syndic of the London University. The Brahmin is a native minister now; the Sudra is a grand layman, giving a tenth, or more, to the cause of Christ; and the Pariah was called upon to exchange the Cross for the Crown. One after another they told us in language of the most beautiful and naive simplicity how Christ's blood washed him from sin, how Christ's words had calmed the turmoil in his breast, and as testimony after testimony was given of this Spiritual power in Christ, angry looks were softened and bitterness of feeling began to give way to astonishment and wonder. We baptized the three in the name of the Trinity.

That is the kind of work we are doing in India. Shall we come home? Shall we give up our great work in India, because folk who visit the seaboard criticise it-just as they say there are no tigers in India-because they never saw one?

The district of Tanjore has been called the Garden of Southern India. You would not think so if you could see it about the middle of May. I remember climbing the Trichinopoly Rock, from the summit of which the flat country can be seen for miles around. The month's drought, which had preceded the fiery sun, had robbed the land of beauty. The ground showed sign of life nowhere, scorched, arid, hard, the plains stretched their dreary, weary distance as far as the eye could reach, unrelieved by any color, save here and there the flaming flambo, in full flower, which seemed but to mock the universal barrenness of everything. Every tank was dry, and the bed of the Cauvery hard by a rock was like a sandy desolate waste; not a drop of water sparkled in the fierce sunlight. Heat quivered in the air and quivered everywhere. I climbed that rock again, when the freshets had swept down the Eastern slopes of the Blue Mountains, and the Cauvery was in full flood. The whole scene was changed;—nature's wizardy had been at work. The whole was like a sea of emeralds in which the distant hamlets nestled like fairy isles. Besides the natural loveliness of the trees, whose foliage was already flourishing beneath the benignant sunshine and rain, there were aspiring creepers winding themselves up the strong stems, and covered in graceful festoons with the most gorgeous flowers in wanton

profusion. Even the ditches were turned into beds of beauty, with their banks covered beneath Calladium leaves and jungle splendour, as if the teeming earth knew not what to do with the wealth of all her treasures. Every tank was full, the brim covered with lilies, white and red, and fringed with green turf and golden osiers. Here the dark tamarind grove gives indication of the coming fulness, and huge branches sway under the pressure of caressing winds. There, in greatest plenty, grows the plaintain with its broad satin leaf of a lovely pale sea green. Such is the picture. But we are working a far grander spiritual transformation in India than any that this imagery suggests to the most imaginative mind here to-night. Just now India may be called the barrenest spot in all the Garden of the Lord. Here and there the Tree of Life is growing luxuriantly, but over the Land there is much desolation. Let but the dew from Heaven fall silently, and without much outside show; let but the flood of beneficent Heaven's richest largesse descend in answer to ten thousand treasured prayers, and the desert shall blossom as a rose, and for her barrenness she shall add tenfold to her beauty and become a choice Beulah, filled with fragrance and sweet with fruit-a very Hephzibah-where God and man may delight to dwell.

The service closed with the Benediction.

APPENDIX I.

The following paper was prepared by MR. A. J. ARNOLD, Secretary of the British Evangelical Alliance and forwarded by request of the British Evangelical Alliance to the Conference :

THE DOMINION BRANCH OF THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE: ITS NEEDS AND POSSIBILITIES.

It would have been gratifying to the writer of this paper, if he had been able to accept the invitation to be present in person at the important Conference now assembled in Montreal. The unfortunate illness, which prevents Sir Robert Phayre fulfilling his engagement, leaves the British Organization unrepresented at the Conference; and, therefore, seems to throw upon the English Secretary the responsibility of committing to writing a few thoughts, which there may be found an opportunity for reading at the Conference.

It is always interesting to remember that the Evangelical Alliance was constituted in 1846, after much deliberation and several preliminary gatherings, at which leading divines and laymen, of all Evangelical Churches, took a prominent part. The invitation for the first meeting was signed by the celebrated Dr. Chalmers, and others. Among those who were found devoting much time and attention to the development of the idea, and afterwards to the establishing of the Organization, were such men as the Revs. John Angell James, Edward Bickersteth, Baptist Noel, and Dr. Jabez Bunting. The Christlike spirit of those who assembled was manifested in the earnest deliberations of these early meetings, when the difficulties of establishing the Alliance, upon a thoroughly Evangelical basis, were overcome. Nor must it ever be forgotten that the earliest gatherings of the Alliance were consecrated by a devout spirit of prayer, foreshadowing the blessing which was so soon to be bestowed upon those assembled. One has described the meeting, at which there were gathered together 1,200 leading Christians from all parts of the United Kingdom, the continent of Europe, and from America, as a marvellous one. The manifesta

tions of divine power impressed with awe all who were present, and the Spirit's fervid influence melted all hearts into penitence and loving union. Thus was inaugurated that blessed effort to exhibit the true unity of the one Church of the Living God; and it is a cause for much thankfulness that the movement has developed itself as the Evangelical Alliance, with its branches in all parts of the world.

The British Branch, notwithstanding innumerable difficulties in its early career, has held on its way until it is able now to look back upon the past forty-two years as having witnessed a marvellous change as regards the fraternal spirit and intercommunion between members of all the Evangelical Churches. From the first, the Annual Conferences, held in various cities of the United Kingdom, together with periodical meetings of various local branches throughout the country, afforded an opportunity for Christians of all churches to meet together upon a common platform; and, for many years, the Alliance Conference was the only gathering of the kind. During recent years, however, such conferences as that at Mildmay, and numerous others, have grown up in our midst.

The Annual Conferences of the Alliance have not only afforded an opportunity for the manifestation of Christian union for its own sake, but also for the consideration of various practical subjects, from time to time. Thus many enterprises have been initiated, in which the co-operation of Christians generally has been greatly blessed; and several Societies for definite objects have also had their origin in the Evangelical Alliance. The attempt to reach the masses of the people by Special Religious Services, in secular halls, and which are now so common in all parts of the country, was originated and carried on by the Council of the Alliance till it was taken up by a committee appointed for the purpose. In various other ways also, the advancement of true Evangelical religion has been promoted by the Evangelical Alliance. Early in its history, three or four definite objects also occupied the attention of the British Branch. The subjects of Popery, Infidelity and Sabbath Desecration were considered to be those in relation to which Evangelical Christians are, for all practical purposes, unanimous ; and the prizes given, and essays subsequently published by the Evangelical Alliance upon those subjects, accomplished a vast amount of good at the time. These are merely some indications of the practical outcome of Christian union, as seen in the subsidiary work of the Alliance.

At the formation of the Society in 1846, a series of resolutions