horses. Whenever he was dropping off to sleep, he started up in a fright, fancying that he felt the blows of a cruel driver hurrying him along for he knew how very fast the emperor's horses were made to go. How different are the feelings of a dying man who knows he is going to Jesus. He can say with joy,

"For me my elder brethren stay,
And angels beckon me away,
And Jesus bids me come."

The Buddhists are full of tricks by which to get presents out of the people.

Once a year they cause a great feast to be made, and for whom? For the poor? No. For beasts? No. No. For children? No. For themselves? No. You will never guess. For ghosts! The priests declare that the souls of the dead are very hungry, and that it is right to give them a feast. A number of tables are set out, spread with all kinds of dishes. No one is seen to eat, nor is any of the food eaten; but the priests say the ghosts eat the spirit of the food. When it is supposed the ghosts have finished dinner, the people scramble for the food, and take it home, and no doubt the priests get their share.

The dead are supplied with money as well as with food, and that is done by burning

gilt paper; clothes are sent to them by cutting out paper in the shape of clothes, (only much smaller,) and by burning the article; and even houses are conveyed to the dead by making baby-houses and burning them.

As an instance of the deceits of the priests, I will tell you of two priests who once stood crying over a poor woman's gate. "What is the matter?" inquired the woman. "Do you see those ducks?" the priests replied; "our parents' souls are in them, and we are afraid lest you should eat them for supper." The foolish woman out of pity gave the ducks to the cunning priests, who promised to take great care of

the precious birds; but in fact, they ate them for their own supper.

The Buddhist priests may be known by their heads close shaven, and their black dress. The priests of Taou have their hair in a knot at the top of their heads, and they wear scarlet robes. There are no priests of Confucius; and this is a good thing.

All the religions of China are bad, but of the three, the religion of Confucius is the least. foolish.

The religion of Taou teaches men to act like madmen.

The religion of Buddha teaches them to act 'like idiots.

The religion of Confucius teaches them to act like wise men, but without souls.

THE EMPEROR.-There is no emperor in the world who has as many subjects as the Emperor of China: he has six times as many as the Emperor of Russia.

Neither is it possible for any man to be more honoured than this emperor; for he is worshipped by his people like a god. He is called "The Son of Heaven," and "Ten Thousand Years;" yet he dies like every other child of earth. His sign is the dragon, and this is painted on his flags, a fit sign for one who, like Satan, makes himself a god.

Yet the emperor is also styled "Father of his people," and to show that he feels like a father, when there is a famine or plague in the land, he shuts himself up in his palace to grieve for his people; and by this means he gets the love of his subjects.

Once a year, too, this great emperor tries to encourage his people to be industrious by ploughing part of a field and sowing a little corn; and the empress sets an example to the women, by going once a year to feed silk worms and to wind the balls of silk.

The emperor wears a yellow dress, and all his relations wear yellow girdles.

But the relations of the emperor are not the most honourable people in the land: the most learned are the most honourable. Every one in China who wishes to be a great lord studies day and night. One man, that he might not fall asleep over his books, tied his long plaited tail of hair to the ceiling, and when his head nodded, his hair was pulled tight, and that woke him.

But what is it the Chinese learn with so much pains?

Chiefly the books of Confucius, and a few more; but in none of them is God made known; so that, with all his wisdom, the Chinaman is foolish still. The words of the Bible are true.

"The world by wisdom knew not God." Yet to know God is better than to know all beside.

There is a great hall in every town where all the men who wish to be counted learned meet together once a year. They are desired to write, and then to show what they have written; and then those who have written well and without a mistake, have an honourable title given to them; and they are allowed to write another year in another greater hall; and at last the most learned are made mandarins.

What is a mandarin? He is a ruler over a