nt reduces the
population of China from the fabulous number of four hundred million to
one hundred million. It is not, surely, reasonable to suppose, as the
world has so long supposed, that one nation, China, has a population
double that of all the nations of India. The whole heathen world,
therefore, cannot count more than six hundred and fifty million souls--too
many to be still in darkness and the shadow of death. But let each
believer labor to convert a heathen, and there will be light at last. The
believing portion of mankind is not so far behind, in point of numbers, at
least. It consists of (according to Drs. Behm and Wagner):

300,000,000 Catholics.
90,000,000 members of the Greek Church.
101,000,000 Protestants.
7,000,000 Jews.

ANNIVERSARY OF THE EPISCOPAL CONSECRATION OF PIUS IX.

The 3rd of June, 1877, was a great day for Rome and the Catholic world. Of
all the _fetes_ which Plus IX. was favored to celebrate, there was none
more honored than the anniversary of his episcopal consecration. One would
say that the faithful Catholic people everywhere had resolved to make it
an occasion of protesting against the treatment to which the venerable
Pontiff was subjected, and the false principles which governed the Italian
faction, by which he was so cruelly persecuted. Pilgrims came from all
lands and crowded the streets of the Papal city; for such it still was.
Notwithstanding all the efforts of the usurping government, the Roman
people acknowledged no other ruler at Rome than the Holy Father. During
six months of the year 1877, the devoted Catholics of every nation ceased
not to throng the streets, the approaches to and from the halls of the
Vatican Palace. Nor did they come empty-handed. They were literally laden
with gold and silver, together with an endless variety of other rich and
appropriate gifts. A month before the anniversary day, there were already
five hundred chalices, as well as other church plate, jewellery,
vestments, altar linens, etc., deposited in the Vatican. An eye-witness
beheld these precious offerings suitably laid out in one of the largest
galleries, forming an immense treasury, from which the benevolent Pontiff
supplied the poorer missions throughout the world. Congratulatory
addresses were constantly presented, and Pius IX. was indefatigable in
receiving these proofs of the faith and love of his spiritual children.
Day after day he made replies to deputations, and often, four times a day