1. Gentile Nations.-The necessity of Christian missions to benighted heathen nations, is the same now as it was in the days of the apostles; and the description which St Paul gives in his Epistle to the Romans of the ignorance, superstition, idolatry, and moral degradation of the Gentiles with whom he had come in contact in the course of his missionary travels and labours, will apply with equal truth and force to the modern pagans of Africa, India, America, and the South Sea Islands. Indeed, some of the heathen tribes with whom we have met, when they had learned to read the Scriptures for themselves, were so struck with the graphic descriptions to which we refer, that they declared their conviction that they must have been written expressly with reference to them. But the heathen, when left to themselves, cannot be expected to improve their moral condition. As long as they are left without the light of divine revelation they must necessarily sink deeper and deeper in ignorance and sin. This has been proved by experience and observa

tion in all ages and countries, the faint knowledge which the people once had in some places of the character and claims of the true God having, in process of time, become almost entirely obliterated. The apostle says, "Because that, when they knew God they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, covenant-breakers, without

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natural affection, implacable, unmerciful” (Rom. i. 21-23, 26, 2831).

2. The Athenians. With all their learning, philosophy, and civilisation of which they proudly boasted, the natives of Athens, the city of Minerva, were in no way superior to the people of other pagan countries with respect to morality and religion. When the Apostle Paul entered that city, about A.D. 52, he found the inhabitants involved in the densest heathen darkness. They were "wholly given up to idolatry." Almost every object of worship, belonging to every nation, had a niche in its Pantheon. There are said to have been more images and statues here than in all the rest of Greece put together, which gave occasion to one of the humorous satirists to say that "in Athens a god was more easily found than a man.'

The moral condition of the people may be inferred from the reception given to the great apostle of the Gentiles on his arrival at Athens in the course of his second extensive missionary journey, and the admirable discourse which he delivered to them on that occasion. "Certain philosophers, Epicureans and Stoics, encountered him, and some said, What will this babbler | say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods, because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?" "Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom, therefore, ye ignor

antly worship, Him declare I unto you. God, that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, seeing that He giveth to all life and breath and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us; for in Him we live, and move, and have our being (Acts xvii. 22–28). With many other words did the apostle warn and admonish the proud and haughty idolaters of Athens, and the result

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was, that whilst some mocked, certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them."

3. The Egyptians.-Among all the heathen nations of antiquity, no people were more deeply sunk in idolatry, superstition, and sin, than the inhabitants of Egypt. From sacred and profane history we learn how numerous were their gods, and that they paid divine homage to various kinds of beasts, birds, and reptiles. Their public festivals were, moreover, attended by scenes and circumstances the most shocking and revolting (as viewed from our highlyfavoured standpoint). The ancient historian Herodotus, giving an account of a solemn feast which the people of Egypt annually celebrated at Eubastis, in honour of the goddess Diana, says, To her they offer many sacrifices; and while the victim is burning, they dance and play a

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thousand tricks, and drink more wine than in the whole year besides. For they assemble to the number of about 700,000 men and women, besides children." It is thought by some learned commentators, that on the occasion of the sad defection of the Israelites, when Aaron made for them the golden calf, the feast celebrated with_wild songs and dances was after the manner of that described by Herodotus. How dark and degraded is every country and every people without the light and teaching of Divine revelation!

Although the inhabitants of Egypt are now chiefly Mohammedans, and not pagans, as in ancient times, they are, nevertheless, in a fearful state of spiritual destitution. It is matter of gratitude to God, however, that of late years some efforts have been made to shed forth the light of the ever-blessed gospel in the Valley of the Nile; but much more remains to be done before anything like adequate provision will have been made to meet the pressing necessities of the case.

4. The Assyrians.-In carefully reading the Bible we get some curious glimpses of heathen darkness in ancient times, one specimen of which from the Old Testament may perhaps induce our youthful readers to notice many others. When a considerable number of the children of Israel had been carried away captive to Babylon, the King of Assyria sent a colony of his own people to occupy the cities of Samaria which had been left without inhabitants. These were dark, benighted pagans, who were ignorant of the true and living God, and we have the following notice of their superstitious fears when afflicted by Divine Providence :-"And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: there- |

fore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them. Wherefore they spake to the King of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore He hath sent lions among them, and behold they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land. Then the King of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence, and let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land. Then one of the priests, whom they had carried away from Samaria, came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear the Lord." It does not appear that this solitary ancient missionary was very successful in his labours, however, for it is immediately added-" Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt" (2 Kings xvii. 25-29).

5. Ancient Britons.-Surrounded as we now are with numerous and diversified evidences of civilisation, social progress, and religious privileges-railroads, steam-ships, electric telegraphs, and Christian sanctuaries-we can scarcely realise the fact that Great Britain was once as deeply involved in heathen darkness as Africa, India, or any other pagan country in the world. It is nevertheless true-we are informed on undoubted authority-that at an early period of its history the hills and valleys of this beautiful island were covered with impenetrable forests, exhibiting only here and there clearings, on which the natives erected their huts, and where small

patches of ground were cultivated in a very rude and superficial manner. Our heathen ancestors wandered about in a state approaching to nudity, painting their bodies, and indulging in other barbarous practices similar to those of the unenlightened Hottentots and Kaffirs of Southern Africa. They were much addicted to the chase, delighted in cruel sports, and the respective clans often waged cruel wars with each other which resulted in much bloodshed, and in the vanquished survivors being reduced to a state of abject slavery.

Nor was there any system of religion among the ancient Britons calculated to raise them from this state of social and moral degradation. Previous to the introduction of Christianity into England Druidism was the only form of worship among the people, and this was a system of superstition, cruelty, and blood, not a whit better than those with which we have met in distant heathen lands in modern times. The Druids were a class of men of high pretensions, but deeply involved in ignorance and sin. They combined in themselves the functions of the priest, the magistrate, the scholar, and the physician; but in reality they were little, if any, superior in knowledge, or social position, to the witch-doctors, rainmakers, and fetish-men of pagan Africa. They had their high places marked by piles of stones of huge dimensions, the remains of one of which may be seen at Stonehenge, near Salisbury, and other places; and it is believed that they and their votaries paid divine homage to the rising sun, and that they worshipped other imaginary gods by various superstitious rites, which sometimes involved the offering of human sacrifices. Cæsar says of the Druids of Britain, "They have images of immense size, the limbs of which

are framed with twisted twigs, and filled with living persons; these being set on fire, those within are encompassed by the flames. The punishment of persons apprehended stealing, or doing any injury, they believe to be especially agreeable to the gods; but when persons of this class are wanting, they do not scruple to destroy even the innocent." Strabo confirms this account of Cæsar, and adds that "animals of all sorts were burned and offered in the sacrifice with the men." He also says that "human victims were sometimes shot with arrows, sometimes crucified, and sometimes slain with the sword, in which last case the Druids made auguries from the quivering of the muscles."

In view of the once heathen state of this highly-favoured land, how thankful we ought to be for the gospel of Christ! If Christianity has produced such a change in Great Britain as we now behold, we may be assured it can do the same for other countries to which it may be sent by the friends of the missionary enterprise.

6. Ancient Gauls.-That part of the European Continent which in ancient geography was included under the general name of Gallia, or Gaul, included those countries now known as Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, and some others. The inhabitants of these extensive regions, in their original pagan state, were remarkable for their savage, ferocious, warlike character. Cæsar tells us that the petty nations and various tribes into which the population was divided were constantly at war with one another, and that not only their cities, cantons, and districts, but almost all their families, were frequently at variance among themselves, and divided and torn by factions. They were, moreover, so