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"A stranger would say, 'O, they are black people, that is all!' But here was a chief who had given up his position, and all, for God, and is now a pillar in the church. There is a woman who was wounded by seven spears, and would not give up. There a man who was in the bush for weeks, like a wolf, hidden to escape from relatives, and now he is an earnest Christian. And so all had a history, thrilling in itself, if it could be told. It is written in heaven, and their sufferings are not forgotten of God.

French Missionaries. "Mr. Coillard and his wife are at Ifumi, and were here at the meeting. They were driven from the Bassuto country by the Boers, and are here temporarily, hoping to return there. It is heart-rending, the story of their sufferings, and those of their Christians. Their church members number thousands. The joy and wonder is, that since they came away, though their stations are burned and they are so much scattered, the work goes on, and they hear that many are becoming Christians from month to month. No missionary near, only the native converts to do anything.

"They have a great many native missionaries in all parts of the country. They are lovely people, these French missionaries; cultivated people, and so full of love and gentleness. The natives speak of them as being full of love, 'like the Saviour.'

Native Laborers. "Hlonono is doing well at Musi's station. Benjamin has had great reverses. At the beginning, two girls running away, and one dragged back to heathenism by the hair, and cruelly treated. And then the natives took the alarm and refused to allow any one to go and hear him preach. Now, however, he is beginning to see some light.

"Where Uzobuya goes, Daniel was to have gone, but he is dying — going to a better life. The whole tribe wish to be

Christians, and there is an opening for much good. This is my greatest desire, to have all hear. It is my one effort to teach my boys to work, and I hope for much. They like teaching better and better, and do more and more of it. There are a great many of them teaching in different places.

"Six of the young men have been out preaching in the kraals. Two of them had a congregation of between 60 and 70 on Sunday, and two others go three times a week, far off in another direction. Two others are going to a chief every Saturday, to stay till Monday, and teach, and preach to the people. I shall miss both, especially more than I can tell. He has two classes on Sunday, leads the singing, and is the soul of the evening Bibleclass. He must go, however; it is best.

"J. is not yet a member of the church, preferring to wait and prove himself, but if there is anywhere a lovely Christian character I think it is his. The future points to him as a missionary, and I say amen, when the time comes. He says he thinks very many would believe, because God would help him; and his knowledge would help him, though he did not acquire the knowledge for this end."

THE MARQUESAS PEOPLE AND MISSIONS.

IN his report of a recent visit to the Marquesas Islands and the stations of Hawaiian missionaries there, Mr. Coan, of the Sandwich Islands, states: "The Marquesans are among the most fierce, independent, and savage tribes of men. They have no settled and acknowledged form of government. Every man is a lord

and sovereign in his own eyes. His own capricious will is his only law, and when his passions are up, and lust or vengeance burn within, he little regards the views of others, or looks to the consequences of his conduct. He sends lead or steel to the heart of the one he hates, and no hand stays him; no one reproves. All around him stand aloof and allow his burning vengeance to take effect on its object.

"And thus it is with clans. It is difficult for the people of different valleys to live in peace. Causes of contention, real or imaginary, are constantly arising and provoking deadly hostilities. Every aggression arouses retaliation, and thus the law of vengeance reigns, and descends from sire to son, from generation to generation. A ridge of rocks, a mountain spur interposing, make perpetual enemies. "The tabu system is the only law which influences the people, and the wild sorcerer the only power they fear. By these diabolical enchantments they are bound as in 'adamantine chains.'

sans has come. Many take pleasure even in the stones and dust of that land of howling savages and echoing hills. Faith and patience, embalmed with love, and filled with an unction from the Holy One,' will inherit the promises,' made to Jesus, and He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.""

ZENANA WORK.

These women

MR. WOOD, of the Mahratta mission, reporting the work under his charge in 1867, mentions efforts for women, by native female helpers, thus: "One'woman has been employed all the year, and another a part of the year. The latter is the widow of Babuji, one of the early converts of the mission. have visited a good many families, and read to them portions of the Scriptures, especially the narratives and parables of the New Testament. They often read from tracts, and always talk about what they read. They sing, too, some of the sweet little hymns we have recently published, which are very pleasing to all who hear them. The simple narrative of their labors, as given in their monthly reports, has been very interesting. I look upon this as a most important department of labor for the good of this people."

GIVING AND TRUSTING.

"It is, therefore, hard to approach them with the gospel. All their interests, feelings, tastes, reasonings, associations, and habits of heart and life repel it. All the teachings of their progenitors and prophets are exactly opposite to the pure and unselfish love of Christ. And yet they are being approached. As light and warmth act silently but surely, and as many of the most potent laws of the physical universe are unseen and noiseless, so the light and love and gravitating power of the Gospel are moving and permeating A CLERGYMAN, sending a donation to the dead masses of the Marquesans. Scores the Treasurer of the Board, writes: "This already appear as true disciples of Jesus. is the result of an effort to bring the tithes Scores can read the Word of the living into the storehouse of the Lord, amid God, and it is a power within them. Hun- straitened circumstances, an effort to dreds have forsaken the tabus, and hun- take higher ground in the Christian life, dreds more hold them lightly.. Consistent to live and walk more by faith and less missionaries and their teachings are re- by sight-by a faith that takes God's spected. Their lives and persons are promises of good in this world as the best sacred, where human life is no more inheritance, and that invests in them as regarded than that of a dog. They go the best of securities for coming years, secure where others dare not go. They and the best and safest 'life assurance' leave houses, wives, and children without for the benefit of those who may survive. fear, and savages protect them. Everywhere we see evidence of the silent and sure progress of truth, and we rest assured that the time to favor the dark Marque

"Is it not time that Christians should invest less in railroads and government bonds, and more in the Lord's promises? May God move the disciples of Christ,

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A PASTOR at the West recently sent the following note to one of the District Secretaries of the Board: "I enclose five dollars. The history is this. Last Sabbath evening was observed as the monthly concert of prayer for the conversion of the world. I took the opportunity to present some extracts from the Board's tract on China; the wonderful opening of that land, and the cost per church member ($5), of securing two million dollars per annum to carry on the work, and take China for Christ in a few years.

"The impression was evidently good, "The impression was evidently good, but as not many of the brethren were present, no practical steps were taken or proposed. But one sister took it for granted that the suggestion of $5 per church member was made in practical earnest, and was going to be responded to; and so, after our prayer-meeting, she handed me this as her quota, supposing, in simplicity, that the rest would act in the same way. I think 'the rest' will be advised of the matter and prompted. And why should this not be deemed a practical and feasible thing? Is there not virtue enough in our piety to do it?

"N. B. Reckon this a part of the $2,000,000, and insist on the balance."

$20 MORE.

THE Treasurer has just received this from a lady in Vermont: "Please find inclosed twenty dollars for the China Mission. I have long hoped that I should live to see China open to missionary labor; and I send this as a thank-offering that I have been permitted to live to this time"

A COSTLIER OFFERING.

THE following note, addressed to the American Board, has also just reached the Missionary House: "China must be saved, and I am willing to devote my life to the work. I am but nineteen years old, and have but a common high-school education; yet, if one of my inexperience and limited knowledge, can labor advantageously, I am anxious to consecrate myself to the work. I love my Saviour, with all my heart and soul, and am willing to renounce the comforts and pleasures of home, and labor with untiring zeal, if I can do aught for the advancement of his cause and kingdom."

MISSIONS IN TURKEY.

A LITTLE book has recently been published which, in a chapter headed "The Star in the East," bears gratifying testimony to the beneficial results of missionary efforts.

The writer, a son of the

missionary Benjamin, who died at Constantinople in 1855, having revisited the land of his birth and childhood, has presented in this volume, in a very pleasant way, "such facts and incidents from his

experience and observation as seemed to

the most vivid impression of the races and him best adapted to convey to the reader

countries of the Levant, their character and condition." The book is not at all

upon the subject of missions, and is written "in no sectarian mood;" but, as the author well says, "No work that aims to give a correct view of the various social systems of Turkey, and of the diverse agencies that are agitating or overturning its institutions, can with justice avoid mention of the missions which have already produced such remarkable results, and are yet destined to revolutionize the character of Oriental organizations." In noticing the mission work, therefore, he says:

"Less than fifty years ago there was not a missionary to any race within the vast territory of the Sultan; Christianity,

*The Turk and the Greek: or Creeds, Races,

Society, and Scenery in Turkey, Greece, and the Isles of Greece. By S. G. W. BENJAMIN. New York: Hurd & Houghton. 16mo. 268 pages.

except in name, had no existence; the Bible was not to be found in the vernacular tongues; to abjure Mohammedanism was certain death; and a moral apathy characterized the universal Oriental mind, which seemed effectually to hinder religious and intellectual progress for ages to come. Not half a century has elapsed,one of the first missionaries sent out still lives, and one of the heroic pioneers, Dr. Goodell, has but recently passed away, and already we see stations scattered over all parts of the Turkish Empire, from the Danube to the Nile, the centres of Protestant communities, where missionaries are resident, and churches are established with a constantly increasing number of members, while many of the neighboring towns display a rapidly growing interest in the spread of practical Christianity. We see hundreds and thousands who, through violent persecutions, civil disabilities, and contumely, have stood firm in the faith which their conscience has accepted; we see schools where thousands of youth are preparing for future usefulness, and seminaries where pastors have been trained, who are in a large measure supported by the indigent churches over which they are installed; we see the death penalty abolished, and missionaries allowed to labor among the Mohammedans unmolested; we see women learning to read, and to realize that they are intellectual and responsible beings; we see the Protestants constituting a separate civil community, represented by their chosen agent, or head, at the Grand Porte; we see them recognized and respected by the sects which exhausted all human effort to crush the aspiring spirit of religious and civil liberty,— that liberty of conscience unknown before in the East since the creation; and finally, after much tribulation, we see the Protestant a man whose rectitude is honored even by his enemies, whose word is taken as truth, and whose example many would gladly follow if they could muster the moral courage to break loose from the shackles of prejudice or worldly interest which enthrall them.... "This is not all. The results we see are but the blossoms just appearing in the top of the tree, which are destined to cover every bough with beautiful flowers,

that will in time yield an abundant fruition.... When we consider what a revolution has taken place since the missionaries first went to Turkey, forty years ago, what a general commotion has succeeded the profound stupor of superstition which then oppressed Christian and Mohammedan alike, we find abundant encouragement for future effort. To go into the details of the changes in Turkey which are traceable to missions would be to write volumes; those only who have lived there many years can fully realize what has been performed, and how great is the promise for coming ages."

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL.

"Life by the Ganges, or Faith and Victory." By the late MRS. MULLENS, of Calcutta. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Publication Committee. 16mo. pp. 288.

THIS is an American edition of an English work, with some changes by the American editor, Rev. J. W. Dulles, himself formerly a missionary in India. It is a very interesting story, "founded on fact," doubtless, of a Brahmin family, of which first one member and then two others became Christians; and presents much information, not readily found in books, respecting the opinions, feelings, and domestic habits and character of such families, and a very striking view of the sore trials which come upon such converts to the truth, and which their conversion brings upon their heathen friends also. The editor says of the work, in his pref"It is with no ordinary satisfaction that we give to the American public this unique book, a book which could scarce have been written save by its author. The daughter of one of the noblest of men, the Swiss Missionary Lacroix, she was from childhood intimate with the language, the habits, the ideas of the people of Bengal. As the wife of the eminent Dr. Mullens of Calcutta, and his enthusiastic co-laboror, she made diligent use of her rare opportunities for penetrating the recesses of the Hindoo home, that she might bless the inmates of the Zenana. Hence her ability to lift the veil, and combining imagination with knowledge and

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The legacies have slightly exceeded the amount anticipated at the beginning of the year; but the donations have fallen decidedly below the sum which the Prudential Committee felt obliged to ask of the constituency of the Board. Consequently, the expenditures are in advance of the receipts. Will not the churches, which are to make their collections during the last half of the financial year, keep this fact in mind? Will they not count it a privilege to send the missionaries whatever is needful for the vigorous prosecution of their work?

A Generous Offer for China. A gentleman of Montreal offers to the American Board eight hundred dollars per year, in gold, for ten years, and longer if life and means are spared, to support a missionary in China, in addition to those who would otherwise be sent. Where is the man to go? One of the Board's most successful laborers in that field expresses the opinion, that the best men for China are such as have had experience, for a few years, as pastors at home, and are from 28 to 32 years of age. Many things-among them the recent appointment, by the Govern

ment, of Hon. Anson Burlingame to an important mission to Western powers indicate that there is increasing readiness in China to receive light and influence

from Christian nations. Will not the church of Christ press her missionary work?

FRIENDS of Dr. Goodell may be glad to know, that individuals in Hartford, Connecticut, have recently contributed $500 to stereotype his sermons in Armenian, and the Church of the Covenant, New York City, Dr. Prentiss pastor, has given $755.35 to print an edition of the same for circulation in Turkey.

MISSIONS OF THE BOARD.

Greece. A letter from Dr. King (page 125) states that he has been again cited before a court of justice, to answer to an old charge.

Western Turkey. A letter from Mr. Livingston, of Sivas (page 125), notices some trying experience at that place, and promising appearances at certain out-stations; and gives a very interesting account of the faith and zeal of a poor young man, who is striving to obtain an education that he may preach Christ.

Eastern Turkey. Mr. Barnum's letter from Harpoot (page 117), will be found to have many points of interest. What is said of Diarbekir will recall to the mind of the reader the missionary (Walker) who fell there in 1866, after less than fourteen years of missionary life; but who has left results of labor in that Protestant community, more abundant and

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