THE BIBLE AS A MISSIONARY.
Not long ago we quoted the observation of a French writer, to the effect that a traveler through the border territory between France and Italy might easily distinguish Protestant villages from Catholic by the cleanliness or filthiness of the village. It appears that a Roman Catholic traveler of perspicacity has made a similar discovery in foreign lands. A pamphlet has lately been issued from a Catholic printing office in Toulouse, with a preface by the rector of the Catholic Institute of Paris, entitled, "New Peoples and Holy Scripture; Reflections of a Catholic Traveler." This traveler has been struck, in his journeys to Tasmania, Australia, and New Zealand, by the moral superiority of these populations who have sprung into existence but yesterday. He notes the practical union amongst them, the suppression of immorality, and several like excellences. Whence come these virtues? he asks. Here is his answer: "To my thinking, this degree of excellence must be attributed chiefly to the daily study of the Word of God, and to the deep knowledge that they possess of its contents. I have constantly heard the Bible quoted in their parliaments. . . . They still believe, these youthful nationalities, that God is the Sovereign, and that, in order to prosper, man must be the humble instrument in His hands." The rector, in his preface, speaks to the same effect: "Even amongst those Catholics who 'practise' their religion," he says, "the most part are frivolous, superficial, enemies of work and of reflection. The Bible of these persons is some newspaper of the boulevards, and they seek there their opinion, their thoughts, and the kind of faith that is of their measure. Following the leaders that they have chosen, to-day they defend the priest and their religion, while to-morrow they will smile with pleasure at the elegant blasphemies of some fluent and unctuous apostate." The traveler complains of the shallowness of Catholic devotion, and says that if France, meaning the Catholics of France, gives four million francs a year for missions, Great Britain and America give sixty millions for the scattering of the Gospel.—Christian Work.