fore do not have a great hold on the masses. The aggressive work is more especially carried on by the following societies and organizations.

(1.) The Young Men's Christian Associations, of which there are eight branches with weekly Bible classes and prayer meetings.

(2.) The Rev. Mr. McAll's Evangelistic Mission, of which too much good cannot be said. Within the last ten years, Mr. McAll has opened not less than 24 preaching rooms, to which the working classes chiefly are invited, and in these rooms there were held last year 5,231 meetings, with an aggregate attendance of 454,000 persons, adults and children.

(3.) The Rev. Wm. Gibson's Mission, similar in most respects to Mr. Gibson, but exclusively connected with Methodism. It only originated a year ago, but has already in Paris and the neighbourhood five stations, in which have been held 668 meetings, with an attendance of nearly 30,000 persons.

To complete this enumeration, it must be added that there were, four years ago, 111 Protestant primary day schools, 21 of which were communal, i.e., Government schools, and 14 boarding schools of a higher grade.

Finally, Paris is the seat first of

I. The following Societies :-Three Bible Societies, one Foreign Missionary Society, two Home Mission Societies, two Tract Societies, one Sunday School Society, one Day School Society.

II. Of the following Institutions:-Two Normal Schools for training teachers, a Mission House for training foreign missionaries, a Theological Institution for the Reformed and Lutheran Churches, and another for the Baptists.

III. From Paris are also issued fifteen distinct Protestant periodicals, comprising four weekly organs of the Reformed Orthodox, Liberal, Lutheran and Methodist Churches, two Missionary monthlies, one Christian Review, and four monthlies for children.

The Sunday schools of Paris deserve special mention.

The first Sunday school in Paris was opened September 22nd, 1822, by pastor Fred. Monod, in the Church of the Oratoire. Under the direction of pastor Montandon, it was for many years the largest and best conducted school in the city. It is still in existence, and if not now the largest, is amongst the most respectable and orderly. It reckons 190 scholars and 26 teachers. The Reformed Church of the Oratoire, in which it is still held, is the largest and most central of the Protestant places of worship, and very easy of access, near the Louvre. The school meets at 10a.m., and is well worth a visit from Sunday school teachers who spend a Sabbath in Paris.

But to return. In 1826, a Sunday school Committee was formed, the first president of which was Baron de Staël, a son of the celebrated Baroness de Staël. This Committee published a small volume of counsels to Sunday school teachers and a Biblical alphabet, and then was dissolved, after a short career of two or three years. It does not appear to have exercised a great influence in favour of Sunday schools in the capital, for in 1828, Paris had only three Sunday schools. Twentytwo years later, it had as yet only 12.

The starting of the Sunday School Magazine, by pastor Paul Cook, in 1851, and the subsequent organization, the following year, of the Sunday School Society gave

a new impetus to the work, so that in 1860 there were 34 schools; in 1872, after the war, 59, and at the present time 89.

An aggregate meeting of Sunday scholars was held for the first time in the Oratoire in 1857, at the request of an American gentleman, to whom the Church on the continent of Europe are very much indebted indeed, I mean Mr. Albert Woodruff. On that occasion 1,858 scholars met, representing 24 different schools. Subsequent annual meetings of the same character have been held in one of the large circuses of the city, the Oratoire being no longer sufficiently large to accommodate the audience. At one of these gatherings, a lady observing the different schools which were wending their way to the circus, inquired the cause. "Madam," answered the little girl who belonged to the procession, we are Protestants!" "Dear

me," exclaimed the lady, "I did not think there were so many Protestants in the whole world!"'

The Sunday School Magazine was published for 19 years, and ceased to appear in the year of the Franco-German war. It is now replaced by the monthly Leçons Bibliques, or Notes on the International List of Lessons.

The Sunday School Society, first organized by Messrs. Cook, Montandon, and Paumier (the last of whom is now its President), has accomplished a great work on behalf of Sunday schools, and spent already for Sunday school purposes, more than £24,000, thanks to the considerable and valuable help of the London Sunday School Union. Its missionary agents, Messrs. Cook, Caron, Weiss, and Laune have successively visited most of the churches in France. At present, the activity of the Society is chiefly devoted to the publication of Sunday school library books, and of two periodicals, the Leçons Bibliques for teachers, and the Feuille du Dimanche for scholars. It has on its catalogue not less than 56 different works, and 10 tracts, chiefly original (very few translations), some of which have gone through three, four and even five editions. But the more popular of its publications has been the Sunday School Hymn Book, comprising 113 hymns, which can be had in boards, for 6d.-Seventeen editions of 10,000 copies each, have already been disposed of.

The present statistics of Sunday schools are :—

None of these schools, except one (connected with the Church of England) have two sessions. The schools connected with the different churches are generally held before the morning service, which does not begin before 11 or 12 o'clock. The mission schools held in connection with Mr. McAll's meetings meet, on the contrary, nearly all in the afternoon. There are no separate school-rooms, all are held in the various churches or chapels. The organization is very much the same

as in England, only not so complete. The teaching in the classes is not so full, and much more importance, therefore, is attached to the general address, which is delivered, as often as possible, by a minister. Indeed, except in the mission schools, the large majority of superintendents are ministers. The international series of lessons is being gradually introduced, and is followed this year by thirty-two schools. Only twenty-three schools have regular teachers' preparation meetings, and some of these are as yet held only once a fortnight, or even a month.

Should these facts and statistics excite an interest in favour of Sunday school and other Christian work in Paris, the writer will be amply repaid for his trouble in collecting them.*

J. P. C.

The Pharpar and Abana.

ISITORS to Damascus are told

some very

interesting, albeit discreditable traditions, concerning many things connected with Bible characters. The traveller's guide will call his attention not only to the house, but to the very room in which the Apostle to the Gentiles had his wonderful vision (2 Cor. xii.). He will point out the grave of Ananias and the tomb of Gehazi; the house of the "captain of the host of the King of Syria," as well as many other not to be the least credited sights. But the statement that the two streams of Damascus-the Awaj and the Barada-are the rivers Pharpar and Abana of the Scriptures is generally accepted. Porter, in his "Five Years in Damascus," says, "Far away to the east may be seen a little group of conical hills, called the Tellûl. If a line be drawn through these north and south, till it meets the other sides, forming with them a triangle, the plain of Damascus will be circumscribed. That portion of it, however, which alone is inhabited, and in part cultivated, is bounded on the east by the three lakes into which the rivers of Damascus empty themselves. In form it is a rectangular triangle, its base on the south side being about twenty-eight miles long; its perpendicular on the east seventeen; and its hypotenuse, along the foot of Anti-Lebanon, thirty-three. Its area is thus about two hundred and thirty square geographical miles ;" and Barrows, in his "Biblical Geography and Antiquities," tells us that "the fertility of this

*Contributions to the Continental Fund of the Sunday School Union will be gratefully received by the Secretaries, 56, Old Bailey, London.

magnificent plain depends wholly upon the two rivers which come down from the eastern slope of Anti-Lebanon. The largest and most northerly of these is the Barada, the Chrysorrhoas of the ancients. It rises high up on the mountain where its two ridges, Jebel esh-Sheikh and Jebel esh-Shurky meet, rushes down its side in a south-easterly course, and, after breaking by a wild ravine, enters the plain and flows due east across it at the distance of eight miles from its southern boundary. The city lies on its southern bank, and its waters are distributed by numerous canals through it and the plain lying around it. It has been said that the city could not exist without the Barada, and the plain would be a parched desert, but now aqueducts inter

sect every quarter, and fountains sparkle in almost every dwelling, while innumerable canals extend their ramifications over the vast plain, clothing it with verdure and beauty. What remains of the waters of the Barada passes on and is lost in the middle and northernmost of the three lakes east of Damascus.

The Awaj, the most southerly stream, is formed by the junction of several small streams that rise in the ravines of Jebel esh-Sheikh, and flowing eastward in a serpentine course it winds through a deep glen, filled with thickets of poplars and willows, and bordered by green meadows and cornfields. The stream is deep and rapid, and about one-third the size of the Barada. It contributes by the canals taken

from it to the irrigation of the region, and what remains of it finds its way to the southern lake east of the city. It is said that in dry seasons its waters do not reach the lake.

There can be no reasonable doubt that these two streams are the Abana and Pharpar of 2 Kings v. 12; for they are, as Robinson remarks, the only independent streams of any size within the territory of Damascus. The Abana (or, as the Hebrew text reads Amana), as being "the largest and most important stream, would naturally be named first, and would thus answer to the modern Barada, the Pharpar being the Awaj. This latter stream flows, it is true, some seven miles south of the city; but it contributes its share to the irrigation of the plain, and may well be called a "river of Damascus." Naaman's scornful comparison: "Are not the Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? was perhaps simply an expression of national pride. Yet, looking at these rivers, as he did, only on the human side, he might well prefer them to the Jordan; for they cover a vast plain with verdure and fruitfulness, while the Jordan pursues its solitary course down a desert valley, only to lose itself in the Dead Sea, the image of desolation and death.

N.

SEED THOUGHTS.

He who wishes to have a part in the heavenly paradise, must first consent to form part of God's earthly farm, and suffer himself to be ploughed and sowed and reaped.-Hedinger.

What an honour to assist the Almighty! God's part in the work, however, is the chief thing. If He leaves the field-the human heart-waste, it lies eternally waste.-Heubner.

Christianity is Christ; understand Him, breathe His spirit, comprehend His mind. Christianity is a life, a spirit.-Robertson.

It is a comfort that nothing but fidelity is required of stewards; not talents, nor inventive powers, nor manifold activity, nor success.

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful. Beauty is God's handwriting a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, every fair sky, and every fair flower, and thank Him earnestly with your eyes. It is a charming draught, a cup of blessing.

Our strength often increases in proportion to the obstacles which are imposed upon it. It is thus that we enter upon the most perilous plans after having had the shame of failing in more simple ones.

Time is like a ship which never anchors; while I am on board I had better do those things that may profit me at my landing than practice such as shall cause my commitment when I come ashore.-Feltham.