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which has fallen upon them divides to every man as he wills, and a nation seems indeed to be born in a day, nor is anything impossible to them that believe.” Islam in the Malay Peninsula In A. D. 1276, Mohammedanism wa^ introduced into Malacca. The census of 1911 gives the number of Moslems in the Straits Settlement and Federated Malay States as 673,159. Of these 633,732 are Malays and the remainder chiefly Indiana and Arabs with a few Chinese. The Islam of the Malays is very super ficial. Old Indonesian and Hindu gods arc still sometimes worshipped under other names, and, in times of trouble, especially, the Malay shows that he believes in devils, familiars, omens, ghosts,, sorceries and witchcraft. Few of these Malay Moslems under stand the Arabic language in which the Koran is recited and, although the Tradi tions have been translated into Malay, they are seldom read. Polygamy is rare among the poorer Malays and the purdah system was'not introduced with Mohammedanism, but the position of women is lower now than under the old Indonesian customary law. Here, as elsewhere, Mohammedanism is antagonistic to national progress. Very lit tle has been done towards teaching the “Better Way” of life. Sunday Schools for All Ages The churches in Korea are gradually awakening to the possibilities of the chil dren’s Sunday-schools. This has been hard to bring about because the Korean has for centuries reverenced, old age and neglected childhood. One event which has had a great deal to do with this awakening is the movement, which began in 1912, to reach the children of non-Christian parents, and this has already brought into the Church thousands of children, and, more slowly, many adults. SucH schools are usually
begun in non-Christian villages, wherever the use of a building can be obtained. These Sunday-schools frequently form the nucleus of a new church. Since there is not room in many of the Sunday-schools to have separate sessions for the children and adults, it has been necessary to have three Sunday-school ses sions each Sunday: for the men, then the children, and then the women, so that each Sunday from 9 :30 a. m. to 1 :30 p. m. is given up to Sunday-school work, and the preaching services are held at 3 and 7 p. m. This would be an excellent program for many churches in England and America. One Effect of War in Austria As recently as 1913 a Bible Society col porteur in Austria wrote: “Austria remains in the firm grasp.of Rome. There is no country in Europe where the policy, the spirit and the ambitions of Ultramontanism have a freer hand.- Hardly a week passes in which we do not receive some unpleas ant reminder that our work in this empire is hated by the authorities, and that they are averse to taking any step which might make our lot more tolerable.” Yet now another colporteur writes: “In Austria our circulation reached a height last year which in ordinary times we never thought possible. Our apprehensions at the outbreak of the war that Bible work would be entirely suspended have fortu nately not been fulfilled. On the other hand, the Austrian Government made overtures to us in a way we never expected, and we are thankful for it. The increase is due to the war. Everywhere there has been ,a great desire for the ‘Word of God. The military officials, especially those in com mand of the .camps for prisoners of war, have repeatedly asked for copies of the Scriptures, Thus the war has opened many a door which was closed against us at other times. We hope that we shall be able to continue this blessed work among the soldiers until the war ends in peace.”
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