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THE WORLD'S CRY AND DIVINE RESPONSE.

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to be found when He said to him, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." The need of men is not met in the idols of the pagan world. It is not met in the crucifixes and images of the Papal Church. It is not met in the occupant of the chair of St. Peter. It is met in the divine Son of God, the Being "in whom dwelt all the fulness of the God-head bodily;" who was the "brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person." Jesus Christ is the divine response to the world's cry of need. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." In Jesus Christ we have just what we want. While He reveals the purpose and plan of God, He reveals the character of God. In Him that which must otherwise have been intangible and ungraspable, appears in living form, translated into character and deed. Had not Christ come, men could only have struggled after abstract conceptions of God. Christ came to give true conceptions of God's shape and form, that men might see them living and acting, and so find satisfaction for their intellects and their hearts. In the matchless, the divine purity and goodness of Christ's character and life, men find a manifestation of God, and their cry of need is responded to.

This is the priceless gift we have to convey to our fellow-creatures. And for such a mission we want men possessed of the highest qualifications, moral and spiritual, as well as intellectual; for those who preach Christ should fitly represent Him. They cannot represent Him perfectly; but they should-yea, they must-present a reflection of Him in their own character and life. It is only in that way that the world's need can be permanently and universally met. It is in that way Christ designs it to be met. The need of men cannot be permanently and universally met by Christ in visible presence. It is met, to some extent, by the gospel records of Christ's life. But there is still another way in which it is to be met. We are too much accustomed to think solely of the Gospel as the revelation of God to men; but the revelation of God must be the Gospel translated into the lives of the followers of Jesus Christ. It is thus that the world's need must be met. We are the "temple of the living God." We are the "body of Christ;" the body of which He is the Head. Those are figures used of the Church. And, if they mean anything, they mean that Christ is to dwell in His people; that they are to be the shrine of His Spirit; that their union with Him is to be as close as the union between the body and the head; that, in fact, Christ is to live in them and through them; that their life is to be a reproduction of His. They are to be the living embodiment of the Divine character and spirit; the medium through which the Divine character and spirit will manifest themselves to the world. Paul caught the idea, and knew that it was realized in him when he said, "For to me to live is Christ"-for me to live is for Christ to live over again. “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." In those who preach Christ, whether at home or abroad, men must see a reproduction of Christ. Their character must be pure; their lives must be noble, heroic, self-sacrificing. Such lives will compel the attention of men; will convince them of the truthfulness of the Gospel message; and since they can be accounted for only by the indwelling of a power from heaven, will assure men that God is indeed

with them. We can give to men that which they deeply and universally need. They need Christ. We must offer Christ to them. We must give them the Gospel records of His life and death, and we must bring the facts of Christ's life and death, and the spirit which moved Him, before them in tangible form, not by pictures and images, but by character and deeds; not by a crucifix, but by ourselves manifesting that spirit of self-sacrifice which reached its culmination on the cross of Calvary.

While tens of thousands of our fellow-creatures are groping in the darkness, feeling after God, if haply they may find Him, we have that which will satisfy their deepest yearnings. Does not their utter helplessness appeal most touchingly to our sympathy? As men and women possessed of the spirit of humanity, possessed especially of the spirit of Christ, and having that for which the world pants, let us resolve that we will use our utmost efforts, and offer our most fervent prayers, that as widely as the need exists the Christ who alone can supply it shall speedily be offered.

Death of Signor Grassi's Niece.

BY REV. N. H. SHAW.

Soon after our arrival in Rome, we observed in the congregation a young woman whose presence could scarcely have failed to occasion remark anywhere. She was remarkable for her beauty. Her fine Roman features, large lustrous black eyes, fair skin, contrasting with her raven black hair, combined, with her tall and well-developed form, to render her an object of attraction, and a subject of inquiry. We were informed that she was a niece of our brother Grassi, and that she lived with her husband near to the Sala.

She frequently came to our meetings; but seeing her enter, one did not need to be assured that she did not in the least affect to be a saint. She would come in a little late, and distributing a wink here, and a thump there, to those who sat around where she deposited herself, would indicate, by her whole bearing, that she regarded her presence there as a good joke. But the Spirit is often working where least suspected, and often, even in the individual soul, the 'Kingdom of God cometh not with observation." So in the soul of Annesina there was doubtless a work going on of which she was hardly conscious, but which was afterwards to be revealed.

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We missed Annesina, and learned that she was ill. Consumption had seized upon her vitals, and it was evident that she had not long to stay here. She had never openly repudiated the Roman Catholic religion, but she was now always glad to be visited by her uncle, and to listen to the explanation of the gospel from his lips. She persisted in refusing to let the priest visit her, and her uncle came in for no small share of blame on account of this. It was said that he was using his influence to keep the minister of God away from the poor dying soul. He, on the contrary, declared that he had nothing to do with the matter, and that he had always said that the priest ought to be admitted if the patient desired him. But she replied to every question of whether she would see the priest, with a most determined "No!" She grew worse, but still steadily refused to receive the viaticum. As her end drew near, a priest forced his way to her bedside, determined to administer to her the last offices of "the Church." But his presence seemed to fill her with horror. She turned herself away from the priestly intruder, and grasping the arm of our brother Grassi, she exclaimed, "O, uncle, save me from that man! Send him away! I only want Jesus." And soon after she breathed her soul away, supported in her uncle's arms. The priests secured her body, and the fees for burying it, as

NOTES AND GLEANINGS.

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that of a Catholic-they are here very greedy of such honours ;-but though her body lies in a Catholic cemetery-a matter of small importance-she has left behind her the testimony that she had learnt to know and to trust only in the Saviour of sinners.

Over her grave comes to us this encouraging reflection-We don't know how much good our ministrations are doing among those who not only are not reckoned among the believing ones, but even seem least impressed of our hearers. There is reason to believe that many, who at present show no sign of being on the Lord's side, have the true faith in solution, so to speak, and only awaiting some extraordinary event to precipitate it, and make it evident to all. Our "labour is not in vain in the Lord."

Notes and Gleanings.

MAP OF ORISSA.-In the January Missionary Observer, and the Mission Record, we hope to give a well executed Map of Orissa.

A HIGHER SCALE OF CONTRIBUTIONS.-We are glad to see that the earnest and powerful appeal of Dr. Landels, on behalf of the Baptist Missionary Society, at the Autumnal Missionary Conference in London, is producing fruit. Mr. Barran, M.P. for Leeds, has promised to contribute half the cost of a missionary; another friend, who wishes his name to be withheld, offers to undertake the entire annual cost of one additional missionary. "The generous challenge of Mr. James Harvey, on behalf of Mr. Brock's church at Hampstead, to supplement their contributions to a sufficient sum to entirely support one missionary, has been followed by the churches of Glasgow and Plymouth, and many others are moving in the same direction." We trust that the paper of Dr. Landels-a copy of which has been forwarded to our ministersmay produce corresponding fruit among the friends of the Mission, and throughout our churches. A higher scale of contributions is needed, is possible, and would exercise a most beneficial effect both upon the individuals and the churches, as well as upon the Mission at large. Without sacrificing a single comfort, are there not friends who could double and treble the amount of their contributions; aye, increase it thirty, sixty, or even an hundred fold?

BAPTISM AT CUTTACK.-On Lord's-day, September 5th, five were baptized by Ghanushyam, after a discourse by Shem, from, "And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved," or, as it reads in Oriya, "such as were in a state of salvation."

A FEMALE NATIVE CHRISTIAN EVANGELIST.-The Rev. T. Evans, of Monghyr, writes:-"Some days ago I was told that a native Christian woman had come into the Christian village here sick of fever. I went to see her, and she told me that in her itinerations through the land to preach Christ she had caught fever, and had come in here to be healed. I asked her who had sent her to preach-and her answer was, 'My love to Jesus; she told me she had been baptized more than ten years ago by Dr. Phillips, at Midnapore, and that since her husband's death she had given up her life to make known the love of Christ, and that she wanted to go now to Nepaul, her native place, to tell her heathen relatives of the Saviour. I wrote to Dr. Phillips, and found her words were true. As soon as she was well she left us, and though I asked her to stay till the rains were over she would not, but said, 'The Lord will

keep me.' This has been a bright spot to me, and it delighted my heart to see a native Christian woman (who was a Brahamini) of her own free will, and at her own charges, going about to preach Christ. I look upon it as a cheering earnest of what shall be one day (O happy day) in India, when the converts themselves will take up the work of evangelizing the land."

Our Centennial School in Rome started.

THE following sums have come to hand since our last acknowledgment.__ LEEDS, Wintoun Street, 13s.; Miss Martin, Rochester, per Alice Towers, 10s.; TODMORDEN, Wellington Road, £1 10s.; FLEET, 15s. This makes the sum of about £50. We ought to have at least £100. Do not let the year close without a gift to the Little Romans. Will not some of our young friends send them a Christmas Box.

THE SCHOOL IS STARTED. Our friend, Mr. Shaw, says (Nov. 3), "I have begun school. The first Sunday I had six children, the next fifteen, and last Sunday twenty-five. Friends who have heard of it are surprised at what they call a success. . . . . Some of the children are incarnations of everything that is most difficult to rule and teach. We shall be glad of your prayers for our support physically as well as intellectually and spiritually." Verily the fields are white. Let us hope, and toil, and pray.

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Mission Services.

J. C.

THE following is a register of the Mission Services which have been held since the Association to the end of October:

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Received on account of the General Baptist Missionary Society from October 16th,

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Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the General Baptist Missionary Society will be thankfully received by W. B. BEMBRIDGE, Esq., Ripley, Derby, Treasurer; and by the Rev. W. HILL, Secretary, Crompton Street, Derby, from whom also Missionary Boxes, Collecting Books and Cards may be obtained.

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