96 SABBATH LESSONS. felt that there was a mysterious, a holy connection between that paternal dedication and the vows the child now assumed. To me it was a most beautiful and impressive testimony of the faithfulness of a covenantkeeping God.-American Messenger. GRATITUDE OF A HEATHEN A MISSIONARY, one Sabbath evening, went to the dying. "I under stand," said the convert, "that you have been preaching to-day about Heaven. To-morrow I shall be in Heaven, and I shall go right to the Saviour and thank Him for leading you to leave your home in a Christian land, to come and tell us poor darkened heathens about Him and the way to Heaven. Then I shall go and sit down by the pearly gate, and wait till you come. Then I shall take you by the hand and lead you to the Saviour, and tell Him, 'This is the man that taught me the way to this happy world.'" 19 First 40 Years of XXXV.-Psalm xxiv. 7-10. Exodus ii. 1-15 and Moses' Life. 26 The Leper and XXXVI.-Psalm xxx. 2-5. Centurion. 23-25. Matt. viii. 1-13. July 3 The Firstborn of XXXVII.-Ps. cxviii, 22-26. Exodus xii. 29-42. Egypt slain. "Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.... The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field; and thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, and for the food of thy household."-Prov. xxvii. MISSIONARY NEWS FROM CHINA. WE have just received very interesting letters from Mr. Douglas and Mr. Burns. and good being done. in China as here. They tell us of progress made But it is not so easy to do good Some of the Chinese who know the Saviour, are very anxious to tell their neighbours the good news;" but in doing this they have often to JULY, 1859. H 98 MISSIONARY NEWS FROM CHINA. encounter dangers, and suffer hardship and persecution. You will understand this better when you read the following extracts from the missionaries' letters, which speak of Perils by Sea and Land. en Mr. Douglas says,-Perhaps you may recollect that fully a year and a half ago I visited An-hai, a town containing about 30,000 or 40,000 inhabitants. Since that time it has been visited several times by our preachers or students. Their reports being in some measure couraging, I have within the last two months made three visits in the Good News Boat, and am this evening preparing to go again to-morrow morning. Of all the places around where we have preached the gospel, it is the most difficult to reach; for it is distant about thirtyfive miles in a north-easterly direction, through a channel more liable to storms than the Chang-chin estuary: cross and contrary tides render the navigation tedious, and pirates are so numerous that the An-hai junks seldom sail unless in companies-generally six or more together. Five times out of the six passages back and forward, we have seen pirate vessels; usually heard of them; once we had a short talk with a small one; and in our last return we were chased, but not overtaken, by a large one. In another letter he says,-On Sabbath week two young men preaching in Chang-chin were arrested, but they are both liberated again. One of them, who was longer detained than the other, is one of our scholars. We trust this may tend only to the furtherance of the Gospel." Of this young man's case, Mr. Burns, in a letter written from Cheoh-Bay gives us additional information. He says, I came here yesterday from Pechuia, in conse MISSIONARY NEWS FROM CHINA. 99 quence of one of Mr. Douglas's students having been arrested by the magistrates at Chang-chin for having opened his house as a place for preaching. His arrest was at first the work of underlings; but being afraid, we suppose, of getting into trouble by what they had done, they represented the matter to the magistrate in an exaggerated light; and he was punished by beating on the cheek, before a letter from our consul informed the authorities of his true character. The young man, I found, had yesterday just come from the city, having been released on Saturday, after being confined for six days. This matter seems to be regretted as a new repulse on the efforts to introduce the gospel into Chang-Chin. May the Lord's time soon come! Man's time is "always ready." Mr. Burns speaks of another case.-A man named Wat, in the hill country, has been at different times for several years exposed to persecution from the people of his village. Matters went so far a month or two ago, that we were obliged to apply to the authorities. Happily, however, before the case came fully into court, a settlement was suggested, and the persecutor, becoming alarmed, came to terms. Wat has lost a cow, which had been taken from him; but, on the other hand, he has been allowed openly to renounce all connection with the ancestral worship and other forms of idolatry. Speaking of Pechuia he adds:-Hostility from the neighbours still continues so great, that not later than last Sabbath, during the time of prayer, a wicked fanatic came into the chapel and threw a handful of stones directly at the person officiating, namely, Boo-liet, a native of the place, and one who in previous years took "joyfully the spoiling of his goods" for the sake of the 100 MISSIONARY NEWS FROM CHINA. gospel. The stones providentially missed him, and he went on calmly and earnestly, as if nothing had happened. Were it not that all the members have the habit of shutting their eyes in prayer, the perpetrators of such offences would be more easily discovered and suitably dealt with. I am made to wonder at the patience and the spirit of forgiveness which these dear people continue to manifest. 66 Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord." The Light Spreading. Speaking of his visits to An-hai, Mr. Douglas asks :— Why, then, among these various difficulties do I so often visit that place? Because in that dark region there seems some little hope that a door may be opened for the light. A Chinese member of the American Church, who was admitted at a time when he was staying at Amoy, stays now in a village near An-hai; and lately in the town itself a man and his wife have destroyed their idols, and meet every morning and evening with our preachers to worship the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Two others are said to have given up their ancestral worship for several months, and others seem more or less interested. Whether any of these have yet believed to the saving of the soul it would be premature to say, but something has thus been given to make us earnest in prayer and effort. In the intervals of my visits, that is to say, during the last six or seven weeks, I have always left two of our men to watch over these inquirers, and to proclaim the gospel; they have had the temporary use of a small room at the rate of about sixpence a month, but are now look. ing prayerfully for some large place, as many come to hear, and some are well-disposed towards us. In my |