to the scattered German population. The North American Mission, which also is mostly colonial, is at present supplied by thirty labourers, and from its very beginning has been made a means of great good. The African has had missionaries at the Cape of Good Hope; twenty missionaries are scattered through Java, Sumatra, Celebes, New Guinea, and elsewhere, in circumstances of the greatest peril and denial, but with less promise. In India there are sixteen, besides seventeen who have joined other societies. Gossner had a prudent and manly horror of reports and statistics as any gauge of success; he took it, that the work is for the most part hidden, and is not to be annually dragged up to the light, as children do with their first seeds. One day, an old friend, as they sat together in his arbour asked him how many his missionaries had baptized, and hinted that it was a matter of curiosity among the brethren at the Pastoral Conference. "So, so," he replied, "the gentlemen would like to know. But do not the gentlemen remember a certain king who thought he would number his people, and what a sorry ending it had?" Yet it may not be out of place to mention that he sent in all 141 missionaries (including the wives of those who were married, 200), of whom 15 were regularly ordained ministers,* and 113 are still in active service; that, at the four stations in Berar, many hundreds have been received into the church, while the scholars number many thousands; and that among the Kolis a work has been going on which exceeds in romantic interest and wonder any story of modern missions, which would require a chapter for itself, and of which only the bare facts can be told here: that in 1851 there were no converts; in 1857 there were 50 villages, with 3000 Christians; and in 1860 there are 300 villages, in each of which there are Christian families so mightily grew the Word of the Lord, and prevailed. But A not think it derogatory to mend watches, nor This is the outline of a solitary, often suffering worker, whose labours did not begin till age is bidding other men to cease.† "One-in-hand," somebody styled him; "It's quite true," he said, laughing, when it came to his ears; "and yet old One-in-puzzled, if left to its own wit, in such a tangle? hand' carries more passengers than your Four." And he was right. This unselfish, unconscious, unpretending clergyman, with his few friends and quiet ways, and simplicity like a child's, was doing a work at which the world must marvel. Call him Pietist, Methodist, what you will, there is what he did, the patient, brave, honest effort. Brilliant as other works of the century have been, humbly, self-sacrificingly, faithfully as they have been wrought in science and elsewhere, there are few worthy to be placed beside it. And as you look closer it grows all the nobler, it is invested with a kind of grandeur, for his missionary income never exceeded £1000. It is true that he was at no office expense, that, as he merrily said, he was inspector, director, secretary, packhorse, all in one. It is true that, as most of the missionaries were artisans, they were able to do something for their own support; that brother D does What nicely-balanced calculations would not be often rudely overturned? What peculiar doctrine of chances would cover with a uniform and cal. culable success the venture of twenty years? What known human power can determine that when a man receives £20 he will be kept as com fortably as if he had £100? Yet push forward such questions and the world will set busily to answer them; it does not believe in our day that there is anything which it cannot do; it must account for all phenomena upon its own principles. It is a monstrously clever world. Steam and telegraph and photography, and planets discovered before they are seen, Great Easterns, and St Lawrence Bridges are very fair credentials. Victor Hugo may be right in adding balloons, though he will not be forgiven for making them the world's millennium, and therefore its limit. But there is a kingdom into which none enter but children, in which the children play with infinite With few exceptions, they were students of Halle, forces, where the child's little finger becomes and scholars of Professor Tholuck. + He undertook his first mission at 65. stronger than the world's giant; a wide kingdom, where the world exists only by sufferance; to Janorum. which the world's laws and developments are for The women begged him to form and direct one for ever subjected; in which the world lies like a them. The necessity of an hospital soon became foolish, wilful dream in the solid truth of the manifest; and in 1837 a house for forty was day. Gossner had been brought into that king- erected, and in 1838 enlarged for twenty more. dom; these questions were nothing to him, it was Thirteen deaconesses remain in the hospital; as enough that he could kneel down and pray. need arises, some are draughted elsewhere, and Standing by his open grave, one said of him, and new candidates supply their place. The training it was not hyperbole "He prayed up the walls is intensely Christian; the organisation just as of an hospital and the hearts of the nurses; he simple. Many of the deaconesses have gone to prayed mission-stations into being, and mission- heathen mission-stations. In all, 160 have passed aries into faith; he prayed open the hearts of the through it, and 7000 sick been received. The rich, and gold from the most distant lands." And Elizabeth Hospital was a favourite haunt of Gossas for his sermons, the power of the words did not ner's. As in the mission, he was factotum; chaplain, lie so much in the thoughts or in the art of the director, friend. Early on the Sunday morning preacher, as in prayer. Prayer was his atmo- his figure might be seen rapidly advancing up sphere; he could not live without it. So soon as Potsdam Street till it vanished in the hospital doorhe came to Berlin, he gathered a few round him for way. He was on his way to hold a brief lecture for the prayer. They continued in prayer while he lived. inmates able to attend. The room used as a chapel He could not be present where it was excluded. The would hold about fifty; it was always crowded. Bible Society had determined to open its committee He sat in a low pulpit at the upper end, a genialmeetings with silent prayer; he protested, and the looking, lively old man. His white hair peeped out protest shewed how deeply his heart was sunk in the behind under the little black skull-cap; his eyes (I heart of Christ. "A Bible Society that does not saw him last five years ago) still shot keen, searchbegin with prayer is to my mind a synagoga pro- ing glances from below the massive, close-knit I do not despise a short, silent brows; he had the high cheek-bones of the country, prayer, but it is too little at a Bible Society, and as high as Luther's, but in proportion to a longer no more than if a nurse said to a child, Make face; a sweet, gentle expression played about his a courtesy, and it made it, and that was all. mouth; the features altogether were prominent, If I went to the meeting and sought prayer, and it seamed with deep lines, almost rugged. His expowas forbidden, I would take my hat and stick and sition was simple, naïve, personal. The homeliest run out as if a mad dog had bitten me. ... If I Bavarian stories would be dropped in to illustrate could raise the dead, I would go to Wittenberg it. The Scripture was pictured from the life of the and call Luther out of his grave, and Spener, and present day. If he found the Baptist preaching in Arndt, and Andrea, and bring them to the Bible the wilderness of Judah, he could not help bringing | Society at Berlin, and let them decide." That him into the Thier-Garten of Berlin, and drawing was the spirit in which he undertook the mission; the doctors of the law and the soldiers and students that was the guidance by which it was ruled; and out to him through the Brandenburg gate. Gleams whatever letters, or questions, or threatenings, or of the playfullest humour lighted up the most comdifficulties, whatever private or public sorrows monplace truths and views; and, after an hour of reached him from any quarter of the mission-close personal conversation, he would cease. His field, they were directly put before God. "Here I sit," he would say, "in my little room; I cannot go here and there to arrange and order everything; and if I could, who knows if it would be well done? but the Lord is there, who knows and can do everything, and I give it all over to Him, and beg Him to direct it all, and order it after His holy will; and then my heart is light and joyful, and I believe and trust Him that He will carry it all nobly out." He dedicated to this intercourse the latter part of his life; retiring not only from public interests, but from his acquaintances, and incurring the charge of being unsocial and unloving. And he was so guided by the hand of God, and his prayers were so answered, that the universal feeling of the missionaries was, "Who will now lift up his hands to Heaven in prayer for the scattered children?" And so, almost in prayer he died; not, however, for the missions alone. infant-schools occupied some of his time; the Sunday evenings were given up to visits from young men, many of whom could date their faith and peace from the words he spoke in those quiet hours. He wrote much to the very last. At seventy he learned English, and translated some of Ryle's tracts when he was upwards of eighty. His writings, at present numbering forty-six, occupy a separate Book and Tract Society; and many volumes of posthumous papers are announced. Those already published possess an unusual popu larity, some having run through annual or semiannual editions for many years. Up till the spring of 1858 he corrected proofs and continued his correspondence. The summer previous he was still able to train his vines. By the end of March he had fought the good fight and finished the course -a young old man of eighty-five. He had seen the stately hospital Bethanien When he came to Berlin there were no hospitals, spring up in the Köppnicker fields; he had seen there was no visiting of the poor, no inner life stirring new churches, new preachers, almost a new, and in the Church. Germany was just recovering from that the very oldest, gospel; he had seen the the paralysis of dead, coarse unbelief, and the ma- network of the Inner Mission covering the great terialism of a very false philosophy. For years cities, religious feeling penetrating everywhere, after he was a rallying-point for the scattered, throwing up its growths on the surface of every sostruggling, feeble, and despised piety. Home mis-ciety. He had lived through the great religious crises sions occupied his mind. of modern times-through Illuminism, Rationfor visiting the sick. alism, Ecclesiasticism-through the throes of the He established a society i new life and the growth of the rebaptized Churchthrough a rare epoch of thought, and science, and progress. They had touched him in turn, but only as the ripple of distant storms runs round a solitary rock. His life was single-the life of a heart, and went out from its own centre-the life of an Abraham, going out and knowing not whither, following the word of the Lord-the life of faith, from which the events of the world for the time being fall back into shadow, supreme in its own interest and Divine companionship. By faith he preached Christ crucified in the Church of Rome; by faith he resigned his cure in Dirlewang rather than give up one jot of the truth; by faith he lived at Munich, and spread the good news of the kingdom; by faith he went to Petersburg; by faith he was led to Berlin; by faith he sustained the hearts of one hundred missionaries, and bore the burden of twenty stations, and built an hospital, and wrote Jesus upon thousands of lives. By faith-by prayer-that is his teaching. He was long in the school, learning and unlearning; it was the time of an ordinary life. But he left it ready for his calling; and such a teacher never dies. The tediousness of pupilage is no waste when the workman needeth not to be ashamed. From humble little Hausea and the unnoticed struggles of a country priest, to the "Father Gossner" of a reverent religious Germany; from Fenneberg's little parlour and the simple talk of the parish, to the furthest ends of heathendom, and a name that is lovingly spoken on every continent of the globe, is a mighty stride. Neither brilliant talents nor the tide of fortune helped him. Whoever seeks the way to it, will find it to be that plain, old-fashioned one of faith and prayer. * CHARLIE'S GRAVE. THAT little grave, that grassy mound, What cherish'd memories hover round, The first sweet flower that graced our lot My little one! blest fate is thine, And though we weep, we humbly bow, C. M. For many details in the above sketch the writer acknowledges his obligations to the interesting "Biographische Skizze," by Gossner's worthy successor, Dr Prochnow. English readers will be glad to learn that Dr Prochnow is preparing an edition of his little work for this country, and is only delayed by the increasing richness of his materials. GOOD WORDS FOR EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR. MAY 1. "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God."-1 JOHN iii. 1. say, The sons of God! Can this indeed be true? Can sinners, rebels, indeed acquire a title to such a name as this? The more we think what God is, and what we are, the more wonderful does this seem; wonderful, but not for a moment to be doubted, since God hath said it. Well might the apostle, who knew love best, "Behold what manner of love!" If sush, then, is the name, what ought to be the character of the believer? How holy, how humble, how heavenly-minded ought he to be? How raised above the entanglements of earthly vanities! How separate from a world lying in wickedness! And how ought he to rejoice! Let the world call him what it will, and scorn him as it will, his is a title and an inheritance, compared to which that of the world's proudest throne is but vanity; he may be despised among men, but he is of those whom the Father hath called the sons of God! "Behold the amazıng gift of love, The Father hath bestow'd MAY 2. "My Beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, For my love, my fair one, and come away. lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." -SOL. SONG ii. 10-13. There are winters and springs in the Church, as well as in nature, and not only in the Church as a whole, but in each individual heart; and it may be that our own hearts are cold, and dead, and hard at the very time when all creation is warmed with the breath of spring, and everything around is bursting into life and beauty. Let us listen to the voice of Jesus, if we would have our souls revived. Let us open our hearts to the influences of the Sun of righteousness; He alone can inspire new life into them. Then shall we be warmed into love, and melted into penitence; tears, fruitful as spring showers, shall flow when we think of our past indifference, and even more lovely than the sweet spring of nature will be the spring of life and grace in the renewed heart. "Speak, and by Thy gracious voice, MAY 3. "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."-JOHN XV. 7. The question is often raised how far we are to under stand literally this promise of receiving whatever we ask. Perhaps it may be best answered by considering it in connexion with the first part of the text. If we abide in Christ, and have His words abiding in us, we need not fear to take the full benefit of His promise, for then we shall ask only what is in accordance with His will, or, as it is elsewhere expressed, "Whatsoever ye ask in my name." (John xv. 16; xvi. 23.) This abiding in Christ would put a stop to our asking for vain things, or things inconsistent with His mind and will, and would give full confidence in asking for the real blessings. Alas! why do we so little plead the promise and ask, believing that we shall receive? It is because of this unbelief that our prayers meet with little returns compared with what such a promise as this would lead us to expect. The spirit of belief and the spirit of prayer must come from God; for this let us ask, and take this word of our Lord's as our sure warrant, seeking to abide in Him, for through Him only can we find acceptance. "O Thou, by whom we come to God, MAY 4. "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches; so is this great sea."-Ps. civ. 24. How wonderful is the variety in the works of God! They are indeed manifold, and each is in its own way framed in perfect wisdom, as even an unscientific eye may perceive. And as I value a picture or piece of work because it was done by some dear friend, whose mind designed, and whose fingers executed it, so may I look upon a flower, or a shell, or any of God's fair works, and say, I love it for my Father's sake, "my Father made them all!" Infinitely great as He is, these things were not beneath His notice, and they tell me that neither am I. Stars above, and flowers beneath, were designed and fashioned by Him, but far more dear to His eye must be the human souls He has created. It is because He is so great that nothing is too small for His care; and therefore it is, that when He would reprove the faithlessness of His people, He says, "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord?" "Thus wisdom's words discover Of our unworthy race. MAY 5. "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."-LUKE Xviii. 16. How many a believing mother, how many a believing little child, has blessed the Lord for those precious words! They are the parent's warrant in teaching, and training, and praying with and for the child. But for these words we might be tempted to agree with the disciples who rebuked those that brought the little children to Jesus; for unbelief and pride of intellect are apt still to say, "What can a child understand of heavenly things? how can a child know God?" But Christ's own teaching shews us the very contrary; instead of forbidding the child to come, He warns us all, that unless we come as little children, we cannot see the kingdom of heaven. The faith of a child must be [Edited by Norman Macleod, D.D. the pattern for us, for faith is of the heart, and not of the intellect only. He invites the little ones to come to Him with their childlike thoughts, and their lisping words; and, perhaps, it is to teach us in our pride that our understanding of heavenly things is, after all, not much liker the great realities than the conceptions of children are! Let us bless the Lord for the revelation of Jesus contained in those gracious words; they have won the heart of many a dear infant to the love of the Saviour, and many redeemed babes will praise Him throughout eternity for His call of love to the little children. "Permit them to approach,' He cries, MAY 6. "Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth."-JOHN xvi. 13. A most precious promise to those who seek truth, but to those only who seek it through the right guidance. Men vainly think that earnestness and diligence in the search are enough to make them find the truth, but the promise is not given to any such seeking-we must ask attain the knowledge of that which He alone can reveal. the Holy Spirit himself to be our guide, if we would Let me, then, lay fast hold of this promise, believing that the Spirit of Truth is indeed willing to guide me. Let me never open the Book of Truth without asking His He grants it. Let me beware of trusting either to my guidance, and believing with peaceful confidence that should I seek the light of candles when I may walk in own unassisted reason or the reason of other men; why sunshine? The Holy Spirit of God is really present with His people, and never will fail to fulfil this promise to those who truly ask His teaching through Jesus Christ. "Come, Holy Spirit, come! Let Thy bright beams arise, MAY 7. "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the "Yet even the greatest griefs Could we but take them right, and in their ways, Hath found the art To turn his double pains to double praise." WHEN the alarm of an eclipse is given in a Hindu village, the whole population turn out to avert the impending calamity. The black disk of the moon encroaching upon the bright surface of the sun is believed to be the jaws of a monster gradually eating up the latter. Gongs are violently Bounded, the air is rent with screams of terror and shouts of vengeance; and all this uproar is made with the hope of scaring away the dragon from his dreaded purpose. For a time their efforts are in vain. The glorious sun disappears gradually in the mouth of the voracious monster; but at last increasing din seems to effect its purpose. The monster appears to pause, and, like a fish that has nearly swallowed the bait, but, on second thought, rejects it, gradually disgorges the burning morsel. When the sun is quite clear of the jaws, a shout of joy is raised, and the villagers disperse with the pleasing satisfaction that they have done the luminary a good service. This is but a type of the human mind in its untutored state, when it is unable to rise to the conception of a God whose glory lies in the orderly and regular evolution of His works of providence. It is the power of predicting the time of eclipses that has divested such phenomena of their terror. The most ignorant Hindu could hardly but be ashamed of his superstition, and have his faith in the gong shaken, if the astronomer told him beforehand the precise moment when the monster would come and depart. Eclipses, more than anything else, demonstrate the perfect regularity of the motions of the heavenly bodies, and of the wisdom of Him who so exquisitely adjusted to one another all the parts of the celestial machine. No doubt the whole nautical almanac, with its mass of figures, is full of predictions which manifest an order equal to that indicated by eclipses. Still, an eclipse, with its imposing phenomena, proclaims in the most emphatic manner the marvellous order of the heavenly host. An idea of the extreme accuracy with which the moon's position at any moment can be predicted, may be formed from the keen dispute at present going on in the Academy of Sciences between Leverrier and M. Delauny, in reference to the lunar theory of the latter, as compared with that of M. Hansen, the Danish astronomer. Our readers will recollect that to this last astronomer is due the merit of discovering the different density between the nearer and more distant hemispheres of the moon. The controversy turns on the value of a constant entering into the calculation, and the difference between the two views is only a space, represented by the one three-hundredth part of the moon's apparent diameter. Yet on these few seconds of space depends the result of an important question, on opposite sides of which the chief astronomers of our day are ranged. The Astronomical Society of London have virtually given their decision in favour of Hansen, by crowning him with their highest award of the gold medal. They have recognised his lunar tables as the complete solution of the grand nautical problem of finding the longitude at sea. The problem consisted in merely assigning, with absolute accuracy, the place of the moon in the heavens at any given time. Hitherto this was not done, as the perplexing and complicated irregularities of the moon's motion baffled all attempts to calculate her position with the requisite accuracy. There are even still No. 19. VOL 1 |