Is all fan is the thief bin Irance to the rapid advance End is the hariness and impenitence of the her an heart. Men will not be saved because they love darkness rather than light.

Particular Linditates which affect us here may be ted to three. These are the almost invincible tendency to religions forn alism. on the part of the people, the vicious example of worldly and godless Americans, and the language barriers which rise between us and those to whom we would minister.

Form and ceremony have been the whole of religion to the Christianized Filipinos so long that it is with the utmost difficulty that the essentially spiritual character of true religion is grasped by the Filipino mind. When he had confessed and knelt at the mass the Filipino Christian had been religious! When the women have said the correct number of paternosters, and crossed themselves at the right times, and counted their beads correctly, and otherwise "gone through" the daily religious program, there was no more consciousness of obligation. The fact that the heart was seething with hatred, or that the lips spoke blasphemies or poured forth torrents of abuse or falsehoods, weighed as the small dust of the balance against the other fact that all the regulations of worship had been strictly complied with. That God demands in

terior purity, and that He will have none of our ceremonies if sin is intrenched in the life, is a notion so foreign to the mind of the Filipino people as a whole, that one of the main difficulties that looms on all our horizons is that of removing this deep-seated notion and supplanting it with the opposite belief. The people are ready to be baptized, to read their Bibles, to unite with our Churches, and to comply with our outward requirements; but in too many cases they are not clearly converted as we understand that term, and their spiritual regeneration must come before their eyes are open to spiritual things. Here is the peril of the rapidly-growing Protestant Churches. If their founders can walk so closely with God, and have so large a measure of the Holy Spirit's presence that the work of conviction for sin can go on among those who are discipled unto Christ, then the work will run with swiftness. to all parts of the Islands, and will abide as a permanent regenerating force. Christ gave the condition upon which alone this connection with the Spirit of conviction could be enjoyed by His workers when He said, "And He, when He is come [unto you] will convince the world of sin and. of righteousness and of judgment." Only as the Spirit comes unto and abides in us who labor in His name will He be a Spirit of conviction in the hearts of the spiritually dead.

Those Churches which are receiving members most rapidly are face to face with this difficulty in a grave form. But it can not but be mightily encouraging to know that the real spiritual life of the native Churches of our own planting, at least (for I can only speak with authority of them), is steadily deepening. Through special services, in camp-meetings, in class-meetings, in personal intercourse, we who labor in the Philippines must confront

this peril of formalism, and spare no effort to break its force in the Churches which are founded.

It is sad but true that one of the most powerful hindrances to our work of evangelization of the native population of the Philippines is due to the worldliness and open godlessness of many Americans. The worldliness that smites the most of Americans who come to the Philippines is chiefly seen in the neglect, if not open and sneering contempt, for all forms of religious worship. Out of eight thousand Americans in Manila, not more than five hundred different persons can be found in the three American congregations which minister to the American population on any Sunday. These Churches have as good preaching as will be found in similar Churches in the United States. Their choirs furnish excellent music. The buildings are well located. All publicity possible is given to the services in newspapers and through other means of public announcement. But the people do not go to church in any considerable numbers. A partial explanation may be found in the lack of adequate means of communication in the city. But this does not hinder crowds from going to any other place which they wish to attend. The fact is that a spirit of extreme worldliness prevails in Manila. Men and women who always went to church at home never go here. Men and women who were scrupulous about the right observance of the Sabbath here are found at the Sunday races, Sunday ball-games, or going for Sunday excursions on the bay or river. Government officials have set the example, as was shown in another chapter. It was considered the right thing to comport one's self as an official so as to allay any possible fear that the government was to use its influence in favor of Protestantism, and clerks and heads of departments took the

cue quickly. This has changed somewhat, but there is large room for improvement.

The society life of Manila seems given over to bridge whist, dancing, Sunday games and fêtes, and other occupations which do not tend toward religious living. Many of the American women have little to do. Their Chinese cooks prepare the meals. Filipino house-boys do the housekeeping. A native nurse looks after the children. A steamstress keeps the sewing-machine whirring, and the wife and mother can spend her time in going from one function to another with not much concern for domestic affairs. All this tends away from spirituality, and affects the tone of social life unfavorably.

The largest items in the indictment are drink, lust, and gambling. It will forever remain a mystery to the thoughtful why the military government admitted shiploads of liquor in the beginning, and permitted private greed for gain to supplement the evil of the regimental canteen in ruining our soldiers and setting an evil example to the natives of the Islands. One word from the military authorities would have made it impossible for liquor to land. But it was not spoken. The annual license was fixed at the utterly ridiculous figure of $4! Saloons sprang up on every hand. Soldiers lay sodden drunk on the public roads. Our national honor was dragged in the very dirt of the streets.

It is vastly to the credit of the civil government that as soon as it came into power all saloons were banished from the Escolta, and from all the principal business streets of Manila. Also, that in framing a charter for Manila, they included a set of laws on the liquor question which were superior to those prevailing in many of our home cities. Saloons have to pay from $600 to $800 per

year for their licenses, and must close at eleven o'clock at night and remain closed Sundays. A pane of glass must be set in all doors leading to the streets from which a view of the bar can be had, and offenders are promptly and severely punished. While the whole number of native wine-shops in Manila has been reduced from over 4,000 at the time of American occupation to 1,168 on the last day of June, 1903, yet there has been the introduction of the American saloon with all its attractiveness as a totally new factor in the life of the city. On June 30, 1903, there were 157 places licensed in the city of Manila in which liquor could be bought and consumed on the premises. Of these, 61 were what we understand in America by saloons, called here "first-class bars;" 63 were secondclass bars, or bars at which liquors were kept in a semiprivate way; 48 were restaurants, and five were hotels. Restaurant licenses require the taking of a bona fide meal with every sale of liquor. Hotel licenses do not. Of the 63 second-class bars, 57 are in the houses of prostitution in Sampaloc. An earnest effort is being made to compel the authorities to banish liquor from these brothels. There were 61 wholesale liquor licenses in force on the date mentioned above. Three or four large "commercial companies" in Manila sell little else than liquor, though seeking to be known as respectable merchants. There are seven licensed distilleries in Manila, one brewery doing an immense business, and 86 licensed groceries handling liquors. Taking saloons as that term is understood in America, there were 129 in operation at the close of the last fiscal year, June 30, 1903. As compared with American cities, that is not a bad showing. The following table is the most recent procurable in Manila. I take it from Dr. Brown's book: