converted into a church. Here the Native Christian community meet together for worship. At service times the hospital servants and visitors come in and occupy seats or sit on the floor, while the verandah is filled with patients, who can see and hear all that goes on. The addresses given by the clerical missionary or by Dr. Downes have been willingly and patiently listened to, as well as those by K. B. Thomas, the Native medical assistant. There are short services every morning in the wards.

Four days of the week are set apart for seeing the out-patients, and two days, Wednesday and Saturday, for performing operations. To show the extent of the work, we may mention that as many as 300 patients have come at one time on many days in the summer months. Before dispensing medicines the patients are assembled and told that the blessing of God is about to be asked on the labours of the day. A hymn is then sung, a passage of Scripture read and explained, and finally a prayer offered suitable to their wants and necessities, to which they listen and give their assent in such a way that at times it is very affecting. To look upon the crowd of sick and diseased as they are grouped before the missionary is a sad and strange sight. (See the picture on page 78.) Men, women, and children, of many creeds and nations, and

district. By the work which has been done so long in Kashmir he is well known, and no sooner does he arrive at the rest-house, or pitch his tent, than he finds some one to welcome him, or sick folks are immediately brought before him. The picture on

the opposite page represents a group of people gathered round Dr. Neve, who is seated with his medicines before him under a tree close to his tent, which may be seen on the left. At intervals of about half an hour a hymn is sung, an address given, and a prayer offered up.

In connection with the Kashmir Medical Mission is a school, a notice of which must not be omitted. In the annexed picture are to be seen three of the classes. The majority of the students are young Hindus.

The direct results of our Mission work in Kashmir are not what we could have wished. There is, however, a willingness to listen, and amongst many a spirit of inquiry, and an acknowledgment that we are only anxious to do them good in body and soul, so that there is much to be thankful for. The seed must be sown in tears; we must labour and pray, be patient and trust, believing that in the end many more souls of the Kashmiris will be gathered in to the glory of the Master, whose commission is, "Heal the sick, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh to you."

KASHMIR, 6th December, 1882.

KASHMIR: THE MISSION SCHOOL.

"Dear me! How vexing!" exclaimed Sasie; "I went into the meeting after the amount in the boxes had been given out, and Mr. North will be so disappointed."

So was Jessie, for she took a very special interest in his missionary box. The old man's life and his interest in God's work had not been lost on Jessie; she began to realise how near God was to her, that no sin, however small, was unseen by Him, and this knowledge had made her confess her sinfulness to the Lord, and ask for forgiveness. She was trying now to serve God, to do what pleased Him; and besides being watchful against sin of thought, word, and deed, she began to want to do something more than her ordinary work for Him; and the missionary box, which looked her in the face every morning as she dusted the counter, seemed to convey a message from God to her.

It was very little that she could give, but that little cost her more than the much of other people. Her wages were so small that she could not even drop in a halfpenny without feeling the loss of it, but nevertheless she seldom omitted putting something into the box every week; and now and then after her Sunday class, which was a treat to which Jessie looked forward the whole week, she had given a penny as a thanksgiving for the happy hour she had spent, and for the glorious fact of God's love, of which her teacher, Mrs. Lancaster, had been speaking. No one knew about or saw the money dropped into the missionary box-not even old Mr. North. God knew-that was enough for her.

But Mr. North knew well that Jessie was interested in his box, and while he was laid aside she gave him regular reports as to whether it was growing heavier or not, and sometimes she seemed as eager about it as be

was.

"I will bring you word to-morrow, Jessie," said Sasie, as she opened the door.

Mr. North had had a bad night, and struck Sasie, as she caught sight of him lying with closed eyes on the couch, as looking very pale and tired. He had apparently forgotten all about the meeting: on hearing Sasie's footsteps he merely opened his eyes and smiled at her, asking no questions, as he would have done at any other time.

Sasie seeing how weak he looked said nothing about the meeting, but sat by his side and began singing to him. Perhaps it was her own state of feeling that made her almost involuntarily choose the solo from the Elijah "Oh that I knew where I might find Him!" It was the cry of her own heart.

When she had finished, Mr. North opened his eyes, and looked at her with a strange perplexed expression on his face. "I thought you knew Him, Gracie," he said, in a weaker tone of voice than Sasie had ever heard from him; "you brought me to Him-don't you remember?"

Sasie was silent. He had not wandered like this for some days now, and it grieved her to hear him; besides, there was a sense of disappointment that she could not ask Mr. North the question which filled her mind. He could not give her any help in his present state.

"They told me you had died, and that your grave was in the churchyard where the daisies and buttercups grow," continued Mr. North, just as Sasie was about to speak, and then with a restless sigh added, "But my sin was great-will God forgive me?"

Words of which Sasie had scarcely thought before came into her mind with which to answer him-"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us."

"Ah! yes," he murmured, a happy smile crossing his face, "He has had mercy on me. Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of

Me.' I sometimes wonder, Gracie, if she has learnt of Him. I pray for her night and day, God bless her."

The tears sprang into Sasie's eyes. Something told her that he was now thinking of her, and it gave her great hope when he talked of praying for her. "Pray for her now," she said, softly.

To her surprise Mr. North began to pray at once, in a weak, trembling voice

"Lord Jesus, Thou knowest that Thy little one is wandering on the mountains; she does not know that Thou dost love and care for herthat Thou art her Saviour and Good Shepherd. Lord, teach her about Thyself, and to do the thing that pleaseth Thee, for Thy Name's sake.” When a few minutes afterwards Sasie stepped out into the cold air again, there was an expression on her face which had not been there before. She knew that she had been with God, had heard and listened to the voice of the Good Shepherd, and had resolved to follow Him.

While Sasie was sitting with old Mr. North, Mrs. Lancaster and her son were on their way home from the Missionary Meeting. Sasie would have been surprised had she caught sight of her friend's face during that walk; it was seldom that it wore such a perturbed expression.

It was true that it was Leith's last day at home, and that on the morrow Mrs. Lancaster would begin the life which she always felt to be somewhat lonely without him; but she seldom, if ever, groaned over the inevitable, and Leith had never seen anything but a sweet and bright expression on her face as they parted at the station.

The fact was that a sudden fear had taken hold of her, as during the missionary's address she had caught sight of her son's eager face.

He was speaking of the great want of men to work in God's vineyard abroad. How was it, he asked, that almost every profession in England was overcrowded, and yet so few men were willing to enter the Lord's army for foreign service? The men wanted were those who were ready to give up all for the Lord's sake, who loved their Lord enough to go where He bid them, regardless of comfort, ready in fact to serve Him at any cost.

As Mrs. Lancaster caught sight of her son's face, for the moment her heart almost ceased to beat.

Fancying that he might not care to attend the Missionary Meeting, she had not intended going herself, it being his last day at home; and it had surprised and not a little pleased her when he proposed going with her. But as she caught sight of the expression on Leith's face during the address, a wild wish took possession of her that he had never entered the room. Just supposing that Leith should take it into his head-but no, it could not be. He was likely to get on so well at the bar, and to do so much good in his profession, surely he would never think of wasting his talents in that way. He could not go―nay, he should not. It would tear her very life away to part with him; if she were separated from her boy, she should die.

Such was the current of Nona Lancaster's thoughts during the last few sentences of the address, and the concluding hymn. She could not join in the singing, she felt stifled, and her only longing was to get away from every one, Leith included, and to face this possibility alone.

Once out of the crowded room and in the cold air Nona felt better. With Leith by her side talking to her in his natural tone of voice, she began to think how foolish she had been to allow herself to get into such a state of fearful foreboding, and to blame herself for growing miserable over what might never happen.

But her face by no means regained its natural calm expression during her walk home. Mrs. Lancaster had had a glimpse into her own heart which, now that she began to see things more calmly, appalled her. Till this afternoon she had imagined that she loved God so well as to be willing and ready to make any sacrifice for His dear sake. That such a wild rebellious feeling should rise in her heart, at the mere imagination of what God's will might possibly be, she would not have believed. She had sometimes wondered when she heard people remark on the difficulty of submitting to God's will. She had certainly found it hard, terribly hard, to say, "Thy will be done," when she had seen her husband lying dead before her so many years ago; but that was when she neither knew nor loved God in the same way that she did now. Surely now that she loved and trusted IIim so much more, it would be com

paratively easy to give up her own way to His. How could any one really doubt His love, His wisdom to order all things right?

Such thoughts as these had been hers; but this afternoon she learned to her sorrow that she was ready and willing to give God all, save her best to submit to His will in all things, save in that which cost her most -she felt she could not as yet spare Him her Leith.

THE STORY OF THE NEW ZEALAND MISSION.
By the Author of "England's Daybreak," "The Good News in
Africa," &c.
VII.

E have arrived in the study of our subject at the period in which the New Zealand Company made their first attempts to settle on the islands. In November, 1826, a ship, full of intended settlers, put into the river Thames (as it had been named), but the voyagers were so alarmed at the ferocious appearance and conduct of the natives, they were afraid to land. They next passed on to the Bay of Islands, and the missionaries, who had all along fearlessly gone in and out unarmed amongst the people, even when war was raging around them, were not a little surprised to find that none of their countrymen would venture to come ashore, even to visit them, without loaded pistols. Is it not a living comment upon the words, "The Lord is our shield and buckler, a stronghold to them that trust in Him"?

Not only were the missionaries kept themselves thus manifestly under Divine protection, but they were permitted, in the general excitement which followed the death of Hongi, to lend effectual help in the re-establishing of peace; the hostile chiefs themselves, sick and weary of these interminable wars, applied to them, requesting them to act the part of mediators. Accordingly, in March, 1828, Mr. Henry Williams set out with a few of his own party, to do what they might to establish peace between the opposing parties. All were armed except themselves; should any provocation arise, their lives were not worth a moment's purchase, but it was the path of duty, and they were in God's hands. They arrived in the Hokianga valley on Saturday, and spent the time in seeking to influence one and another individually, with much encouragement. The following day, marvellous to say, these savage warriors universally consented to some observance of the Sabbath, agreeing that they would "sit still," in their expressive phraseology. One can understand how thankfully our brethren availed themselves of such an opportunity for declaring the glad tidings of a Saviour's love. A white flag was hoisted, and preparations for holding Divine service made. Strange preaching ground, the very midst of these stockades and trenches, and other Native fortifications, and still stranger audience, the 500 fully armed warriors who gathered round the messengers of the Cross. They began with a hymn, assisted by the school-boys they had brought with them, and as the melody of heart and voice filled the air, it seemed to breathe a holy calm around; the wild cannibals were hushed into peaceful and earnest attention, while the teachers told of Him who shed His own blood for our deliverance, and wrestled with God in prayer for the saving of their souls.

The Sabbath passed in exercising these holy influences; the eventful day dawned upon the morrow, which was to settle the anxious question of war or peace. The missionaries had just had the joy and reward of seeing two of the hostile leaders cordially rub noses and settle their differences, when a loud noise was heard, and 700 warriors were seen advancing in great order, till within 150 yards of the flag, when they rushed forward with a horrid yell, which sounded like the death-knell of all hopes of a pacific arrangement. On the contrary, it was all in due order, and after various military performances on both sides, the whole assembly quietly dispersed. God's servants

retraced their steps homewards, with the music of their Master's words echoing in their hearts, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Nor was this the only token that their labour was not in vain in the Lord, that the harvest was about to follow their long season of patient seed-sowing. Ruatara's death had not been altogether without hope, but the first distinct case of a soul brought to Christ occurred in one of the villages near Paihia, which had been frequently visited. The aged chieftain, Ranghi, had long been careful in his observance of the Ra-tapu (sitting still upon the Sabbath day), but it was at the commencement of his last illness, in the depth of winter, July, 1825, that he rejoiced his teachers with his first distinct testimony as to the work going on in his heart. "I pray," he said, "several times in the day. I ask God to give me His Holy Spirit in my heart, to sit and dwell there." And again, on another occasion, "This is the way my heart sometimes thinks when alone; I think I shall go to heaven, and then perhaps I think I shall not go to heaven; and perhaps this God of the white people is not my God, and perhaps He is; and then, after I have been thinking in this way, and my heart is dark for some time, it becomes lighter, and the thought that I shall go to heaven remains the last."

Later on he was able to say, "I think of the love of Christ, and ask Him to wash this bad heart, and take away this native heart, and give me a new heart." He grew worse in health, but when remarking in September, "I think I shall soon die; my flesh has wasted away, and I am only skin and bone"; he could add, "I think I shall go to heaven above the sky, because I have believed all you have told me about God and Jesus Christ." As death approached his simple, happy faith and hope grew stronger. "I shall soon be dead," he said; "my heart is very, very full of light." "What makes it so?" "Because I believe in Jehovah, and in Jesus Christ." "Have you no fear of death?" "No, none, not in the least; I-shall go and sit above the sky with Jesus Christ."

This seemed a case in which the privilege of baptism might be wisely allowed, and he was therefore admitted into the visible Church of Christ by this blessed service, in the presence of many of his countrymen, receiving the name of Christian. Surrounded by those who would gladly have drawn him back, he boldly, in the presence of them all, spoke of the darkness that once encompassed his soul, and of the sure and certain hope that now possessed it. Thus was the first shock of corn gathered into the heavenly garner.

It was a precious earnest of further blessing; but slowly, very slowly, was the quickening of the Spirit of God manifested upon the people generally. For twelve long years after the commencement of the Mission, though the signs of outward improvement were numberless, the spiritual work seemed to make little or no progress; but in 1827 one more case of evident change of heart gladdened the souls of the workers. It was that of a rescued slave, Dudi-dudi.

In 1827, Mr. Davis brought back with him from Sydney portions of the Bible and some hymns, all printed in Maori. The delight of the people in thus reading, in their own tongue, the wonderful works of God, was unbounded, and some of them could scarcely be restrained from taking forcible possession of these treasures. It had a manifest influence for good, and two years after, in August, 1829, the Paihia missionaries were filled with hope upon receiving the following note from Taiwunga, once a ferocious cannibal:-" Here I am, thinking of the day when my son shall be baptized. You are the messengers of God; therefore I wish that he should be baptized according to your ways. I have cast off my native ideas, and my native thoughts. Here I sit thinking and untying the rope of the devil; and it is shaken that it may fall off. Jesus Christ