صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

THE CHURCH MISSIONARY GLEANER.

VINEYARD WORK.

AUGUST, 1878.

Thoughts for those Engaged in Christ's Service.
BY THE REV. G. EVERARD, Vicar of St. Mark's, Wolverhampton.
VIII. THE MINISTRY OF GIFTS.

"Jesus sat over against the treasury."-Mark xii. 41.
ESUS sat there, and what did He see?

He saw the

upon. How came these trees there? The answer is simple enough a breath of wind, or a little bird, has at some time deposited a living seed on the dome of the idol shrine; the accumulated dust of centuries in the many crevices of the roof has given it a home; the silent dews or the pouring rains, together with the vital rays of the sun, have caused it to germinate. By and by a sprout appears; the roots insinuate themselves into the interstices of the masonry; at length the

people cast money into the treasury. He saw many priests discern the growing mischief, and try to remedy it, but it

that were rich cast in much.

which pleased Him far more.

But He saw that He saw a certain

poor widow, and she came and threw in two mites, which make a farthing. It was all she had, even all her living. And Jesus knew it. Yea, and He knew the secret spring of her self-denying liberality. He knew what was in man, and He saw her heart. He marked what she was as well as what she did. Poor in this world's wealth, doubtless her provision scanty, her raiment worn, her home ill-furnished, yet for all this He knew her to be very rich. She was rich in faith, trusting alike the providence and the grace of God. She was rich in love to God and His house, and thus was willing to give her all. She was rich in a rare spirit of contentment, and in her free-hearted and ungrudging liberality. And was she not rich too in the approval and commendation of her Saviour? Yes, and out of her great riches she gave a great gift. In Christ's sight it was more than they all. So He takes this widow and sets her before His Church in all ages as the pattern of all true givers. "Jesus sat over against the treasury;" and doth He not sit there still? Doth He not notice each gift, small or great, given in His cause? Doth He not notice still the proportion between the wealth of the giver and the offering that is made? Doth He not also mark the motive that prompts each gift? Surely He does. Therefore let each follower of Christ arrange and consider his offering as in His sight. He will accept the widow's mite from the widow, but not from the rich man. Four great chapters on the subject of giving are worthy of careful study-Exod. xxxv.; 1 Chron. xxix.; 2 Cor. viii. and ix.

Let Christian people exercise more self-denial. A Christian in humble life might give weekly a small offering to the work, whilst a wealthier brother or sister might raise the annual subscription from one guinea to five or ten, and even then scarcely feel it. And let Christians learn the pleasure and profit of a cheerful thankoffering for special mercies. A year's freedom from sickness and the expense of a doctor's bill, a new treasure of a little one given to their care, an increase of income, the restoration of a beloved one to health-each blessing of the kind demands its acknowledgment.

And let it never be forgotten-Jesus knows all!

THE TRIDENT, THE CRESCENT, AND THE CROSS. Gleanings from Vaughan's Religious History of India. VIII. THE CHRISTIAN ERA.-DISSOLVING AGENCIES.

NE of Mr. Vaughan's chapters bears the above heading; and it opens with the following graphic illustration

A peculiar and suggestive phenomenon again and again greets the eye of an Indian traveller. He beholds a mass of vegetation growing out of the roof of an ancient temple. Besides grass and tangled weeds, he may sometimes see trees of considerable size thriving in that strange locality, with nothing, as it seems, but the stones to subsist

is too late; they cut down the plant level with the stone, but the roots are there still, and in a few weeks it re-appears. For a long time no serious damage ensues; the tree flourishes and the temple remains intact; but it is only a question of time-the lifeless temple must yield to the living tree. Ominous rents and fissures appear in the walls; by and by the rents become gaping wounds; piece by piece the old shrine crumbles to the ground, and at length nought but a majestic tree marks the spot where once it stood.

The temple is Hinduism: what is the tree? We might interpret it as Christianity; but Mr. Vaughan applies it to Western civilisation generally, to those influences of Western literature and science, Western engineering, Western social usages, and Western sanitary improvements, which are subtilly, steadily, and surely, destroying the fabric of Hindu religion. English rule, and all that English rule has brought with it, have

done more in one century than Buddhism and Mohammedanism did in eight centuries each.

Of the power of these Western influences, Mr. Vaughan gives some striking examples. First, he mentions the railway. "Twenty-two [now twenty-four] years ago the first railway was opened in India. The projectors thought only of their dividends; they had no quarrel with caste; but caste had a quarrel with the railway. Caste forbade a Brahmin to sit on the same seat with a Sudra or a Mussulman. The Brahmin protested that he could never use the railway; but Brahmins are mortals, and, like ordinary mortals, they understand what suits their convenience.

They found that by using the railway they could do a journey in a day which, by using their legs, would occupy them a month; and the temptation was strong. Accordingly, one or two Brahmins stepped into a railway carriage, devoutly hoping no one else would presume to get in; but railway guards were no respecters of caste, and the Brahmins soon found themselves

shoulder to shoulder with low-castes and out-castes and hated Mohammedans. It was a terrible ordeal; 'but what can't be cured must be endured,' and so now the Brahmins endure the indignity with delightful equanimity.” But it has been a great

blow to the caste system.

Again, the ancient law of caste forbids a Brahmin to undertake secular work. He must devote his whole time to ritual observances, and use in their performance only the Sanscrit language; and he must live upon the voluntary offerings of the people. But English rule has opened lucrative offices to the educated classes, and this temptation, too, the Brahmins cannot resist. The Government never meant to interfere with caste; but caste

has had to give way. Thousands of intelligent young Brahmins have deserted Sanscrit for English, and taken official situations under their Christian rulers.

Again, caste forbids a Hindu to take medicine as well as food from the unclean hands of a stranger; nor does it allow anatomical studies; and when a medical college was started in Calcutta, “a howl of execration," says Mr. Vaughan, "denounced the idea of Hindu youths dissecting a dead body." But when experience showed that English doctors could cure where Native doctors

[graphic][subsumed][merged small]

were helpless, the Hindus began, at first secretly, to seek medical advice from the foreigners; and now there are scores of Native surgeons and physicians, efficiently trained under English eyes, practising amongst their countrymen.

The next case is still more significant. Only seven years ago, the authorities of Calcutta determined to bring pure water into the city, to replace the foul water of the river and the tanks. It was to be brought sixteen miles in pipes, which would be laid down in the streets, so that all might draw water from them. But the Brahmins said, "As all other castes have access to the same pipes, we, to avoid contamination, must stand aloof." But pure water conquered. It was soon seen to be good for the people's health; and the Brahmins met in solemn council to decide what was to be done. They at last found some texts in the old Shasters which satisfied their scruples. "Impure objects become pure by paying the value of them. which, observes Mr. Vaughan, enabled them to argue thus-" If we pay the water-rate, to us the water will be pure"; and, as he adds, that was an argument to satisfy the authorities as well as the Brahmins!

One was,

But the most powerful of all these "dissolving agencies" has been Education. Indian science is inextricably bound up with Indian religion. The consistent Hindu must believe, for example, that the earth is not a globe, but a flat plain; that it rests on the head of a huge serpent, which is poised on the back of an elephant, which stands upon a prodigious tortoise, which rests upon-but there science stops! When the British Government opened schools for high and low, the intention was to be absolutely neutral as regards religion; no rules of caste were to be broken; the Bible was to be strictly excluded. But they could not help teaching science; and in teaching true science they were refuting false science, which was in reality an attack upon the Hindu religion. The consequence is, that multitudes of educated

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

The process figured in the parable with which this chapter opened, is being worked out before our eyes. "The seeds of truth,' says Mr. Vaughan, "not only of religious truth, but of scientific, philosophic, historic, and social truth, have fallen upon the roof of the old system. They have been germinating; the trees have been growing; the fabric of falsehood and error has been yielding; huge rents and fissures tell of a coming crash. Hinduism is doomed; its fall may not be at hand, but its days are numbered; and already, with the eye of faith, we behold the glorious tree of truth rearing its victorious head over the idol fanes of India, whilst her emancipated sons gladly shelter under its branches."

THE REV. PIRIPI PATIKI ON PASTORS' WIVES. N Jan. 20, Bishop Cowie, of Auckland, held an ordination service, when 20. Maori deacons were admited to priest's orders. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Piripi Patiki. A private letter says: "After he had addressed the congregation and the deacons, he spoke a few words to the wives of the clergy. He repeated what St. Paul had said about the duties of the wives, and then went on to say that a man was like the mast of a ship and his wife was the rigging. That if they left their husbands to stand alone a sudden gust of wind might come and snap it off; but if the ship had its proper rigging it would carry its sail, and weather every gale. Then the wife must be an example. If she did not behave properly it would be hard for the clergyman to correct his people, when they could point with a finger of scorn at his wife."

THE LATE BISHOP WILLIAMS.

EXT after Samuel Marsden, perhaps William Williams has the best title to be called the Apostle of New Zealand. For half a century he laboured untiringly for the good of the Maori race. When he landed in the island in 1826, the first baptism-that of the chief Rangi-had just taken place, after eleven years of patient labour and long-deferred hope on the part of those who had preceded him. And during the next sixteen years, he took a leading part in the wonderful work which led Bishop Selwyn, on first arriving in his new diocese in 1842, to write home the memorable words, "We see here a whole nation of pagans converted to the faith. A few faithful

men, by the power of the Spirit of God, have been the instruments of adding another Christian people to the Family of God."

The life of William Williams is the history of the New Zealand Mission of the Church Missionary Society; but the outline of it can be given in a few lines. Born July 18th, 1800, he began life as a medical student, but subsequently entered Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and having taken his B.A., was ordained September 26th, 1824, by the Bishop of London. In the following year he sailed for New Zealand as a C.M.S. missionary, three years after his brother Henry. The Mission was then confined to the northern extremity of the country, and both brothers laboured for some years in the Bay of Islands district. But William was the first, in 1834, to carry the Gospel to the eastern coast, which was afterwards to be his own diocese, and so great was the success of the work there, that at one time the number of Native Christians exceeded those of all other parts of New Zealand put together.

between the settlers and the Maoris, or from the evil influence of the Hau-hau superstition; and Bishop Williams wrote two or three years ago to the C.M.S. Committee that "the Church had been brought very low,"-yet he could add that there were abundant signs of revival, and since then these signs have become still more manifest.

Bishop Williams was the first to translate the Bible into the Maori tongue, and though his version has been superseded, it is still dear to many of the older Native Christians as the channel to them of so much comfort and blessing. He was also the author of an interesting work, Christianity in New Zealand, and of a Maori dictionary.

On March 25th, 1876, the very day fifty years from his first

THE LATE BISHOP WILLIAMS, OF WAIAPU, NEW ZEALAND.

One of the first acts of Bishop Selwyn, after landing in 1842, was to appoint William Williams Archdeacon of Waiapu; and shortly afterwards Henry Williams and another C.M.S. missionary, Alfred N. Brown, were raised to the same official rank. Of these three only the latter now survives. And when the diocese was divided in 1859, the man who above all others had been the evangelist of the eastern province was, with universal approval, selected to be its first Bishop; the title of the archdeaconry-Waiapu-being continued in that of the see. His son, the Rev. W. Leonard Williams, subsequently became archdeacon, and still bolds that office.

In later years, no district suffered more from the unhappy war

landing in New Zealand, the warning came to him that his work was done. That day a paralytic seizure struck down the venerable Bishop in the midst of his usefulness; and though he recovered for the time, he felt it his duty to resign into younger hands the duties he could no longer hope efficiently to perform. In accordance with the constitution of the New Zealand Church, the appointment rested with the Synod of the diocese ; and after some delay, the Rev. E. C. Stuart, formerly C.M.S. Secretary at Calcutta, was unanimously elected to the vacant bishopric. He was consecrated on Dec. 9th, 1877, by the Primate (Bishop Harper of Christ Church), Bishop Cowie of Auckland, and Bishop Hadfield of Wellington the lastnamed another old C.M.S.

[graphic]
[ocr errors]

missionary. Five days after, an interesting incident occurred, which the Auckland Church Gazette thus relates:

On December 14 the Primate, with the Bishops of Auckland, Wellington, and Waiapu, visited Bishop Williams, who had signified his wish to see the four Bishops together. The aged Bishop, though unable to move in his

bed, could speak a little, and was able to move his right arm. He shook hands with each of the Bishops, and gave his blessing to them and their families. The Bishops then knelt round the bed, with Mrs. Williams and her daughters, her son the Archdeacon, one of her granddaughters, and the Rev. S. Williams, and joined the Primate in prayer. When the four Bishops were about to leave, Bishop Williams said, "We shall soon meet again up- -"; and not being able to finish what he intended to say, he pointed upwards. His mind had evidently been much relieved by the consecration of his successor, and his prayer seemed henceforth to be, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace."

And very soon the Lord did let His servant depart in peace. He entered into rest on Feb. 9th, leaving behind him, both as missionary and as bishop, a fragrant memory and a bright example.

SKETCHES OF THE PUNJAB MISSION.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "MORAVIAN LIFE IN THE BLACK FOREST," &C.
VII.—Amritsar.-The Work Advancing.
INCE the date of the last visit which our readers
made with us to Amritsar, many changes have
taken place there. Many missionaries have come
and gone; some have been called to their heavenly
home, some are employed at other stations, some
have returned to England. But the early pioneer, the Rev.
Robert Clark, still labours there; so also does Mr. Keene, who
joined the Mission so soon after him and Mr. Fitzpatrick, that
he may be considered as one of its founders. To the former
has fallen at intervals the difficult but interesting task of
pioneering in other stations; the latter, with the exception of
eighteen months spent at Kotghur, has devoted himself entirely
to Amritsar. In the course of years the central station has
surrounded itself with many off-shoots, and the Christian con-
gregation, including these, numbers at the present time 345
members. Several of the converts are men of education and
independent circumstances, who display much zeal and activity
in their Divine Master's cause. To this number belonged
Paulus, Sadiq's father, the head-man of Narowal. He died in
1871. A church now stands where once the good old man
sat and smoked alone in his faith, for he was for some years the
only one of his family or village who called himself a Christian.
The boys' school here numbers sixty-nine pupils, and the
Christian head master has been ordained Native pastor of the
flock, which includes several young converts whose story might
form a volume in itself. They owe their training and instruction
to the Rev. Rowland Bateman, whose head-quarters are at
Narowal, although he itinerates so extensively, moving about
from place to place on his camel, that no station can claim him.
"I have a great deal more room to work in," he writes, "than
six men could occupy."

The Narowal out-station was commenced in 1856 in con-
sequence of Paulus's baptism; the out-station of Jandiala existed
still earlier. A school-house was built there by the late Captain
Lamb, who desired to erect one at each encamping ground on
the road which was in his charge between the Beas and Lahore.
He died in 1854, when only this one had been completed. But
the Jandiala school has been carried on ever since, and numbers
over a hundred scholars. Batala, a city of 24,000 inhabitants,
was occupied in 1865 by a catechist from Amritsar.
Sadiq's first charge after his ordination; and recently Mr. Beutel,
the Inspector of Mission-schools, formerly of Kotghur, and Miss
Tucker (A.L.O.E.), have been devoting their zealous energies to
this interesting field. It was here that the Moulvie, Hasan Shah,
died with the Prayer-book under his pillow, calling on the name
of the Lord Jesus, and exhorting his son to be bolder than he
himself had been, and to confess Christ openly.

It was

Taran-Taran became an out-station in connection with Amritsar in 1871. It is an important holy place of the Sikhs, and a religious fair is held once a month around its large sacred tank. Rukh Hindal, or Clarkabad, named after Mr. Clark, is a Christian settlement served by the Rev. Daud Singh, formerly Native pastor of Amritsar. He possesses the confidence of the Native Christians, and has much tact and prudence in advising and instructing them.

Fatehgahr, Majitha, and Uddoki, are out-stations of more recent foundation. The two first were commenced at the request of the respective head-men. In the last, Mrs. Elmslie, the devoted

offered; in spite of the systematic itineration of a missionary specially devoted to that work; and in spite of the cold-season evangelistic tours of others, it is greatly to be regretted that no living voice is raised for Christ once a year in as much as a twentieth part of the villages of the Amritsar district.

In Amritsar itself, by the blessing of God, the Christian Church has affected a sure settlement. Mr. Clark first made the attempt at residing within the walls, and since then there have been living in the city, at one time, as many as two or more English clergymen, two Native clergymen, and many catechists and teachers, besides a large number of converts.

This is the leaven which, God grant, may in His good time leaven the whole lump. It is not much more than a quarter of a century ago since there were but few schools for boys in the Punjab, and none for girls. The opening of a zenana for Christian teaching was a thing unheard of. Europeans were looked upon with curiosity and fear whenever they appeared in towns or villages. Children fled at their approach, and the little girls were hidden lest they should be carried off and shipped to foreign lands. Now there are 1,300 boys and 800 girls under Christian influence and instruction. There is real life in the schools, and a true work for Christ going on in them. Every day the Bible is taught in each class by Christian teachers, and a knowledge of God's Word is thus spread throughout the country. A Christian shop has been established in the centre of the city, in which a Christian schoolboy is the shopkeeper. "It pays," writes Mr. Bateman, the promoter, "in a missionary as well as a pecuniary point of view. At first the neighbours would not allow even water to be given to the Christian shopkeeper, but now they go freely in and out of the store and receive him as one of the trading community in their own shops; and have, in fact, made an unconsciously honourable amende by christening it the Sachchi Dukan (the honest shop)."

From the book-shop £125 worth of books have been sold by the munshi, and the colporteurs associated with him, in the course of one year; and Susan, now one of four Bible-women, is permitted to bring the Bible with her into more than forty zenanas. The number of those willing to listen to her is steadily increasing. Sometimes she may be found reading and teaching on the borders of a bathing tank, sometimes in the Mission Hospital; or she has an opportunity of speaking to the women at some domestic festivity; or, again, she takes up her post at the place for the burning of the dead, where females of all ranks congregate on various occasions, and listen to her attentively.

An important agency in the Amritsar Mission is the large mission room in the city, close to the Native pastor's house. It is known as "Shamaun's Flag for Christ." Shamaun was the first fruits of the Amritsar Mission, a Sikh Grunthi, or priest, whom Mr. Fitzpatrick baptized in 1853. In 1868 he died. The Native Christians had just then completed a new burial-ground, which had become necessary, as their numbers increased, and he was the first buried in it. At his death he bequeathed to the Mission all his property, in order, as he said, that a flag for Christ might be erected in a city where so many flags are seen in honour of Nanuk and Mohammed, and of the Hindu deitie He referred to the flags which are seen on the tops of the hi trees in the city, marking out the abodes of the fakir Native religions; and he wished that a house might service, rders. The to represent in Amritsar the Christian faith. private letter had, in the course of time, to be taken dowacons, he spoke Government improvements, but with the conat St. Paul had the present mission room was built; and he to say that a man ind might come an only by Christians, but by Mohammedarit would carry its sail too there is a Native Christian readingan example. If she di here the Native Church Council holds its gyman to correct b Amongst the children are reckoned tho at his wife."

widow of the late Dr. Elmslie, of Cashmere, has been earnestly night-school, and Bible-readings are helging. That if they endeavouring to establish a girls' school. The chief pundit of the place is a Christian, but his wife and little daughters continue heathen.

In spite of all these out-stations, established as openings have

[ocr errors]

or Mission boarding-schools, superintended by Mrs. Elmslie. Some few are the children of Native Christians, but the greater number have been deserted starvlings or waifs and strays sent to the missionaries' care by the police or the magistrates. On one occasion a tiny baby girl was welcomed; she had been found on the cold marble steps of the durbar. A slip of paper was in her mouth, on which was written that she was the child of high-caste parents, but that her mother had died. She was only a girl," so that it was not thought worth while to rear her in her natural home. Another time a beautiful boy of about five was removed from the dead body of his father, who had fallen prostrate by the wayside, and to whom he clung in an agony of grief. The man had apparently been overtaken by sudden illness on his journey, and had died ere he could seek help. None knew who he was, so the boy found a home in the orphanage. Scarcely a month passes without some child being received; often several at once. Amongst the rest is an Abyssinian boy, a curious contrast to his companions. He was sent by the officer of a passing regiment. He had been found by some English soldiers, when an infant, hidden in a cave at Magdala. Amongst these different elements there is need of constant care and watchfulness. Many of the children have been brought up under the most unfavourable circumstances possible, some in the midst of vice; some have had their constitutions wasted by famine and sickness. The latter become an easy prey to cholera and fever, and it is seldom possible to preserve the lives of the little infants. Still this is a fruitful field, and those who labour in it find happiness and blessing in their self-denying toil. The good seed is sown in many young hearts, and the promise is sure that it shall be found"after many days."

GLEANINGS FROM RECENT LETTERS.

A Christian Maori Girl.

UCH of the Church Missionary Society's work in New Zealand was greatly damaged by the long wars and the sad "Hau-hau" heresy twelve or fourteen years ago. But hidden fruits come to light from time to time. Here is one, described in a recent letter from the Rev. B. Y. Ashwell, who has been a C.M.S. Missionary forty-five years:

A circumstance took place when in Auckland which afforded me much pleasure; it was a visit from Mary Terotoroto, our first Taupiri scholar, after nearly twenty years' isolation in the King country. This poor girl found us out at our lodgings in Auckland. It was some time before I recognised her. She came with Heta Tarawhiti, the Maori minister. After looking at her for some time, I said, "Surely this must be Mary Terotoroto ?" "Yes," she replied, bursting into tears. "E Wera!" ("Oh, Ashwell!") "E taku matua!" ("Oh, my father!") She wept for a long time. Afterwards we had much conversation. One of my first questions was, "Mary, are you a Hau-hau?" She replied, "I am not." "Do you still cleave to Christ?" She said, "I do; He alone is my hope." I then took her to see Bishop Cowie, Dr. Maunsell, and Brother Stuart. She spoke and read English fluently, with a right pronunciation, and I was glad to find that she remembered some of her texts and hymns, both English and Maori. All were surprised that, after so many years in the bush, isolated from Christian worship, and among the Hau-haus, she should remember so well her English and Scripture. Perhaps I ought to say that, when at Taupiri school, nearly twenty years ago, on one of Bishop Selwyn's visitations, he said to me, "I think that Mary Terotoroto is the best educated Maori girl I have met with." Her knowledge of the English language, history, geography, mental arithmetic, and her singing, were very good. She sang, from notes and ear, anthems, chants, &c; she was the leader of our choir of sixty children. Sir George Grey was so pleased with her that, on his arrival at Cape Town, he sent her a present of a handsome shawl. The result of her visit to Auckland was, she sent her son, a youth of sixteen years, to St. Stephen's Institution. This visit gave me much encouragement, for I feel assured that there are many sincere disciples of our blessed Lord hidden among the Hau-haus.

Cutler-The Rev. Daniel Olubi, in his report for 1877, mentions the death, on

Death of the oldest Ibadan Christian.

In later gaan, in?

March 17th in that year, of James Oderinde, Mr. Hinderer's first

convert at Ibadan twenty-five years ago, and ever since the acknowledged "head-man" of the Church in that place:

Six of the Christians here during the past year have been graciously removed to Himself, who, we humbly trust, died in hope of a happy resurrection at Christ's second coming. Among these were James Oderinde, the head-man of the Ibadan Christians.

James Oderinde was a bigoted heathen before his conversion, but, finding no real peace in this service, was told in a dream to serve the true God; and, as there was no other way of accomplishing this, he resolved to embrace the Mohammedan religion. This was some years before the missionary came up to Ibadan in 1853. In this also he was not happy. Then the Spirit of truth and grace led him to the Saviour, whom he truly found, and was satisfied.

During his long illness he often sent for the catechist, and sometimes for an elder of the Church for spiritual conversation and prayer. Once we met with him for prayer, and before we began he said, "You must not ask of God to spare my life longer, for I should like much rather to be with him before long." At another time he said, "Would to God I be with Him to-day!" Oderinde was a man of a decided character. He never could be convinced of any argument unless it can be proved and confirmed from God's own Word.

A Children's Prayer-Meeting for Rain.

Last year a severe drought in certain districts of North India gave rise to fears of a famine like that in South India. In connection with these anxieties, the Rev. S. T. Leupolt, then at the Secundra Orphanage, Agra, relates an interesting incident:

In our distress we had constant recourse to prayer.

There is an interesting event in connection with our first service which greatly encouraged me in our work here, and which showed us that our labour here is not in vain. I expected many would respond to our invitation to prayer to the Lord Jesus, and so gave orders to exclude the younger children from the service for want of room. The younger boys were kept back, but our ladies misunderstood the order, and were taking the younger girls to church. On seeing them, I gave my reasons for it, and sent them back. On their return to the school they were met by the exclamation, on the part of the Hindu doorkeeper, "The little ones are too small and insignificant for God to hear their prayers." The little girls, however, were not of that opinion, for, on the return of the elder ones, in charge of Miss Stoephasius, they gathered round her, and complained of having been excluded from joining with the rest in prayer for rain. To comfort them, they were told that they might have prayer amongst themselves. On receiving permission, they trooped off to the school-room. A girl of eight years conducted the service, opening it by the reading of the 42nd Psalm. Then followed the Prayer for Confession of Sins, the Lord's Prayer, Prayer for all Estates of Men, Prayer for Rain, the General Thanksgiving, and close. Miss Stoephasius saw all without being seen, and described the service as one of great reverence and deeply touching. Some of the younger boys, though excluded for want of room, congregated at the steps of the church to listen and join in the service.

Deaths at Ningpo.

The following extract from the Rev. F. F. Gough's annual letter to the Society refers us in two places to the GLEANER of last year:

As to the Native Church in Ningpo City, this year has been very trying. Amongst other deaths, I will especially mention two. 'O Lingteh (or Ah-ling, as he has been more familiarly called) died in July. He and the catechist, Bao Yüoh-yi, were the two first baptized in our Mr. Mission at Ningpo. Ah-ling outlived Bao nearly three years. Arthur Moule mentions him in his sketch, page 44 of the GLEANER of last April (1877). He, too, has been for some time catechist in charge of different country stations, so I can give you no details, but I know that he lived a transparent, loving Christian life, and died a Christian death. The other was that of 'Eo Yüoh-yi (or 'Eo-ko-pang, "Uncle 'Eo," as he was familiarly called), who was in point of age the patriarch. He died at his house in Ningpo, on the 11th of February last-after twenty-five years of Christian profession, in point of time coming next to Ah-ling. The old man died in faith. Originally a basket-maker, brought to hear the Gospel by his two sons, who were among the early pupils in the South Gate School, when Mr. (now Bishop) Russell spent much time in instructing the boys. The two brothers became interested in Christian truth, and brought their father to hear it, and the three were eventually baptized together by Mr. Cobbold, July 18th, 1852. There is some notice of Jing-zin, one of the two sons of the old man, and also of Ruth his daughter-in-law, in another of Mr. Arthur Moule's Sketches-that contained in page 68 of the June GLEANER. The old man was not a gifted speaker, but he did much by his decided Christian profession, and by a subordinate work, especially by keeping the door and persuading passers-by to come in while others preached.

« السابقةمتابعة »