CONFIRMATION AT REGENT TOWN, SIERRA LEONE.

105 before us somewhat on our right. As we approached it, we could distinctly see, on the ridge leading up to it, the huts of the little hamlet of Leicester, but they were at some distance from our road, to the right. We passed the opening of the road that would have taken us to them, but of course had no time to visit the place. All this portion of the mountain-track is lacking in trees, bare and wild, but subsequently it becomes more fertile. We passed on till we came to the edge of a steep descent, from whence, looking across the valley, we clearly saw the white church, the mango trees and huts, of the village of Gloucester, wtih its Mission house and government-school, presenting a very imposing appearance on the slope of the opposite hill. We descended warily, but did not enter Gloucester, turning rather abruptly round the base of the hill, and still going down. Thus, leaving Gloucester to the left, we passed on, till, ascending again, we gained another summit, from which the view would have been very beautiful, had there been sufficient light left to permit us to admire it. Regent church and Mission house are seen from that point far below, and the mountains rising behind them, with the sugar-loaf overtopping all. We had enough to do, however, to make out our way. From that point a long and difficult descent led into the village of Regent, and, after crossing Hog Brook, in the bottom of the valley, by a bridge leading into the garden of the Mission-house, a short, sharp ascent brought us to the door, where we were most kindly welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Denton.

The church at Regent is one of the neatest in the colony, a white stone building, with a small belfry, six windows in the side, a large entranceporch at the west, and two small ones at the cast. It has a gallery over the west door, which is entered from without by steps up the south side. The interior surpasses any other church hereabouts in its appointments.

The Mission house stands very near the church, but rather lower down, and is a comfortable residence, surrounded by a neat, pretty garden, raised on one or two terraces over the steep bank of Hog Brook, which runs immediately below.

From the piazza of the Mission house there is a splendid home view, embracing an amphitheatre of hills which can hardly be excelled. The gigantic sugar-loaf is visible behind, over the rest. The western view is lower, presenting two of the streets of Regent, one of which leads down a deep valley to the sea, at Sandbeach and Lumley. The sea-breeze comes constantly up that pleasant valley. Still to the right the mountains increase, till we come to the huge isolated mass of Leicester Mountain, beyond which the view becomes more limited for a little, as Regent Hill rises immediately in front, covered with the houses and streets of the village on the other side of Hog Brook. As we turn to the eastward, the view opens again, and we see the road towards Bathurst winding for some distance, and below, in the valley, the white tombstones of the little burial-ground of Regent.

The confirmation at Regent was to take place the morning after our arrival. Mr. Rhodes came over from Wilberforce in order to be present. We had 520 candidates from the villages of Regent and Gloucester. It was a very beautiful sight, to see the long procession winding down the hill from Gloucester, all in white, led by their catechist, Mr. Taylor; and there was something solemn in the thought, on entering the church,

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that I saw before me many of those who had witnessed and shared in that season of spiritual blessings, when Johnson and Düring were labouring in those two villages. I made allusion to those events in my charge on the occasion. I look upon this as the most interesting of all my confirmations.

TRIALS OF CONVERTS IN INDIA.

IN our last Number we adverted to the trials and bitter persecutions which converts from Hinduisin have to endure at the hands of their own friends and relatives; and we introduced the Rev. B. Geidt's account of a young Brahmin convert at Burdwan as illustrative of this. We now add another case, that of Shrinath Ghose. The account is contained in a letter from the Rev. Jagadishwar Bhattachargya, of the Free Church of Scotland, Calcutta, to a lady in Edinburgh.

In my last letter I mentioned to you that there was a very hopeful inquirer with me, who would soon come forward to enter into the church of Christ by baptism. He did come, and was received into the church on the first Sabbath of the year. But what has happened to him since will extremely grieve you to hear, as it did me and all my friends. Shortly after his baptism, Shrinath-for that is the young man's name -was sent up to Bansbaria, that he might remain with me during our vacation, or accompany me to a preaching tour if I went into the interior. The day after his arrival his mother came to see him, and oh, what a scene took place that morning-a scene one does not like to witness if he can help it! With slow and trembling steps the mother entered our Mission compound, and the moment she saw her son she flung herself upon his neck, and set up a most terrible howling. Her cries, her shrieks, the beating of her breast, and tearing her hair, drew floods of tears from the spectators who stood around the afflicted parent and her

son.

After her feelings had a little subsided, she urged every argument and entreaty in her power to persuade her son to go back to heathenism; but finding they were ineffectual, she stretched herself on the bare ground, and raised another most piteous howling; at which the friends who accompanied her from her village conveyed her to a quiet place, and endeavoured to comfort her.

It appears, next day she went to her village, with a view evidently to consult with her friends and relatives how she might best take away Shrinath from us. After a week, she returned with some men, and made an attempt to carry him away by force. The second day she repeated almost the very same things she did in her first interview-the same sort of howling, the same arguments and entreaties as before, and with the same success, for she was unable to shake the resolution of her son. Her design was to decoy him into the public street, that she might have an opportunity to carry him away into her village; but in this she was also disappointed.

Perceiving her wicked intentions, I thought it prudent to remove Shrinath from this place, and accordingly the next morning I took him down to Calcutta, and put him in the Mission-house with our native brethren. Scarcely three days have elapsed. Behold, the mother maketh

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her appearance thither, and, by her fair but false professions, completely disarmed all suspicions from the mind of her son regarding her designs. Her proceedings there were managed with such deep and consummate subtlety as to deceive the most wary and experienced. No wonder, then, that Shrinath, a youth of twenty, should fall into her snare. She first took a lodging near the Mission premises, and frequently came to see her son, and allowed him to do the same without molestation. Shrinath, at first, never went to see her without being accompanied by one or two of the brethren. After a week, she removed her lodging to a place about a mile distant from the convert's premises, and desired her son to visit her there as often as he liked. Shrinath visited her once or twice in her new abode, accompanied by a Mission servant, and came back without suspecting any bad motive in her. The last time he went

to see her he was seized, and forcibly carried away to his native village, and is to this moment detained in her custody. It appears she collected some of her friends that are in Calcutta, and, by their assistance, effected her purpose. Shrinath is now a close prisoner, though no chains are put on him. He is not allowed the liberty to come out of the house, but must remain confined in the zenana, or inner department. No person can have access to him without a special permission from the mother: no message can reach him without it being first made known to her. Day and night he is closely watched.

You can easily conceive what must have been my feelings when I heard of this transaction. Immediately I went down to Calcutta to consult with Mr. Mackay, and other European friends, what steps should be adopted for the rescue of the new convert. Many of them advised me not to take any legal measures, but to leave the whole case in the hands of Providence, trusting that the Lord will deliver him in His own time.

After my return from Calcutta, I sent a private message to Shrinath, but unfortunately it could not be delivered. At present I see no means of his immediate deliverance, unless the Lord, in His infinite mercy, interpose on behalf of His servants.

By all the reports hitherto reached me, I exceedingly rejoice to learn that Shrinath is continuing firm in faith, and bearing testimony to "the truth as it is in Jesus" in the midst of all his trials.

Hindu converts sacrifice much that they may be wholly for Christ. What sacrifices do we make as evidences of our thankfulness that, in following out the convictions of our conscience, we have no such difficulties and hinderances to contend against? Is the knowledge of salvation through a Saviour's blood a treasure which we prize? and are we proving the value we set upon it by the diligent efforts we are making to bring that treasure within the reach of others?

Sometimes the wives of the converts leave them; sometimes they are taken from them; and the difficulty in the latter case consists in this, that, although the wife desire to return to her husband, yet, when brought before the magistrate, such is her dread of the anger of her relatives that she is afraid to say so. Hence the case assumes a new complexion, and the husband is constrained to such a mode of recovering his wife as is mentioned in the following extract from the journal of Dr. Scudder, American Missionary at Madras. We take it from the Boston "Missionary Herald" for March 1853

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October 7, 1852-It is indisputable, both in law and morality, says the "Delhi Gazette," that a man may harmlessly abduct his own wife, she consenting to the act; and we are delighted to learn that the putting in force of this maxim has given denouement to an exciting domestic drama, which has long been enacting in Benares. Five or six years ago, a young Brahmin of high caste, a pundit deeply learned in Sanscrit, and bearing a character which secured him universal respect, undertook to refute a Christian tract, published in Sanscrit by Mr. John Muir, of the civil service. He performed his task to the great satisfaction of all orthodox Hindus, but to the utter discomfiture of his own religious convictions; for, with more honesty than polemical tact, he had read the Bible diligently in order to refute it; and the result was, his conversion to Christianity. The same honesty led him to avow his new belief fearlessly, and to make all the sacrifices that the avowal was sure to compel. Despite the entreaties of his friends, the promptings of an affectionate heart, and the denunciations of the Gamaliels who had brought him up, he openly renounced Hinduism, and was publicly baptized by the Missionaries at Sigra.

The Benares Recorder shall give the remainder of the narration in his own words. "The mother of the pundit died when he was a child. On his turning Christian, at which time he was about twenty years of age, and his wife thirteen, it was found impossible for her to accompany him in his new career. Time rolled on; and about two years ago an attempt was made to restore him to his better half, through the intervention of the civil court. She was confronted with her husband in the presence of our magistrate, Mr. Frederic Gubbins, and was asked whether she would consent to run the risk of sharing his fortunes. Influenced by intimidation, as it now seems, her reply was in the negative; and it was feared that all prospects of success were at an end. Not long ago the wife's father died; and it appears that since that event the family have been reduced to a condition bordering on destitution. The way was now evidently a little clearer, and hopes began to brighten. Moreover, the pundit had received intimations, through several channels, that his wife still regarded him with affection, and was ready to second him in any attempt to effect her release from the ignominious captivity of a nominal widow. The pundit at last resolved to act with vigour. Taking with him a number of his native Christian friends, and several other persons well affected towards him, the whole being marshalled by Mr. Broadway of Sigra, the pundit marched into the city, walked into his mother-in-law's house, led out his not unwilling spouse, lifted her into a palankin which he had brought with him, and deposited her under his own roof at Sigra. On Thursday morning, in consequence of a complaint that had been made by the mother, the parties met at the house of Mr. Gubbins, in order to ascertain the wife's definite choice. The presence and mute agonies of the mother, however distressing to filial affection, were ineffectual to shake her preference for her husband, to whom she was at once made over."

The young Brahmin convert mentioned in the above is our native Catechist, Nilkanth. His wife, Lacshmi, is now a most interesting character, drinking in scriptural instruction with the eagerness of an awakened soul.