ard the edge of the river.

About fifty versts from Nijne Novgorod the population of a large
village was gathered, in Sunday dress, upon the ice. A baptism was in
progress, and as we drove past the assemblage we caught a glimpse of a
man plunging through a freshly cut hole. Half a minute later he
emerged from the crowd and ran toward the nearest house, the water
dripping from his garments and hair. As we passed around the end of
the village, I looked back and saw another person running in the same
direction.

Converts to the Russian church are baptized by immersion, and, once
received in its bosom, they continue members until death do them part.
What I have said of the church in Siberia will apply throughout all
Russia. The government is far more tolerant in the matter of religion
than that of any Roman Catholic country in Europe, and might reprove
Great Britain pretty sharply for its religious tyrannies in unhappy
Ireland. Every one in Russia can worship God according to the dictates
of his own conscience, provided he does not shock the moral sense of
civilization in so doing. Every respectable form of Christian worship
enjoys full liberty, and so does every respectable form of paganism
and anti-Christianity. The Greek faith is the acknowledged religion of
the government, and the priests, by virtue of their partly official
character, naturally wield considerable power. The abuse or undue
employment of that power is not (theoretically) permitted, however
much the church may manifest its zeal. Every effort is made to convert
unbelievers, but no man is forced to accept the Greek faith.

Traveling through Russia one may see many forms of worship. He will
find the altars of Shamanism, the temples of Bhudha, the mosques of
Islam, and the synagogues of Israel. On one single avenue of the
Russian capital he will pass in succession the churches of the Greek,
the Catholic, the Armenian, the Lutheran, and the Episcopal faith. He
will be told that among the native Russians there are nearly fifty
sects of greater or less importance. There are some advantages in
belonging to the church of state, just as in England, but they are not
essential. I am acquainted with officers in the military, naval, and
civil service of the government who are not, and never have been,
members of the Greek church. I never heard any intimation that their
religion had been the least bar to their progress.

The Pope, in his encyclical of October, 1867,