From the above it certainly would seem more appropriate for the Chinese to send missionaries to us instead of our sending missionaries to China, especially if we consider the condition of Europe during the Middle Ages, or even at the present time.

A few short passages from other writers will suffice in regard to China's religions :

"Confucianism is the State religion of Korea. "It has neither priesthood nor supernaturalism, "but a good moral code with cult of worship. "They rely entirely on self-effort, and do not look "for divine assistance" (J. Walton's China and the Present Crisis, p. 300).

"What is absolutely certain is that in China these "doctrines have formed the laws and customs under "which, for upwards of 2,000 years, a people, now "numbering more than 500,000,000 inhabitants, have "lived and died.

"There is no other religion of which the same can "be said; for there is none which gives to the "problems which vex man the same clear and precise "solutions, at the same time so much in accordance "with his inmost hopes" (Eugene Simon's China, p. 94).

"In the whole Empire there may be 30,000,000 "followers of Mohammed. They are not fanatical, "are less rigorous in their ceremonies than the Arabs, "and are said to compare very favourably in their "character and bearing with their non-Mussulman "fellow-countrymen" (Robertson Scott's The People of China, p. 123).

"China is full of idols, and the masses of the "population may be justly called ignorant and super

"stitious.

But they are also intelligent, industrious, "amiable in their relations with one another, devoted "to their old people, tolerant in their creeds, courteous "and forbearing in ordinary circumstances to 'the "stranger from afar,' honest in their business deal"ings, and orderly to a wonderful degree, while the "proportion of serious crime among them is probably "smaller than in some European countries" (Ibid., p. 123).

There are vastly more idols in western Europe in proportion to the population than in any part of China. The Cologne Cathedral, the largest religious edifice in Germany, is full of painted idols; and there are many places in England where the wooden and plaster-ofParis gods of Christianity are for sale, one of the most notable being in front of the Oratory on Brompton Road, London.-H. S. M.

The Manufacture of Wooden Gods.

A great deal has been said first and last by missionaries of the terrible idolatry of the Chinese. They claim that the Chinese make wooden images of their gods, and that such a thing is sinful in the extreme. It is certainly very strange that the missionaries do not look nearer home. The illustration shows one of the numerous god factories in Paris, where gods of all sizes are made and sold. In Barcelona, Spain, the writer visited a god shop where the workmanship was superior to anything to be found in France. There is a shop opposite the Brompton Oratory in London where a large number of wooden and plaster-of-Paris gods are sold. Cologne Cathedral has innumerable carved and painted idols, before which the people pray.