aim of the Turks appears to be, by praiseworthy internal reforms, to strengthen their rule, and to shake off foreign interference. With them, religious liberty has clearly been the result rather of outward pressure than of inward impulse. Let us not wonder at this, but rather give glory to God, that, in claiming for themselves perfect religious liberty, the subjects of the Porte now stand squarely upon the law of the land. Let us remember, too, that as the pledge of toleration was the result of foreign pressure, so for the practical enjoyment of toleration, foreign pressure is still needed.

TO PASTORS AND CHURCHES IN NORTHERN NEW ENG

LAND.

My dear BretHREN, — I feel forced to make effort for a deeper interest and a better organization in my District. These are needed in the missionary work generally. They react upon each other; interest promotes system, system awakens interest. I must now move for these with earnestness in my field. Will you bear me out in this? I trust you will.

I cannot touch the public charities, or any system regulating them, aside from Foreign Missions. And here my agency is only advisory and coöperative; but on this subject I feel free to speak and to act. The time has come when a deeper interest and a better system must be reached. The cause has moved heavily hitherto, for want of these. We must expect greater things; we must seek for greater things; we must accomplish greater things for Christ and his inheritance the heathen.

A great empire China is thrown open to us. The "uttermost parts of

the earth" are to be brought to our door. These are promised to Christ for a possession. (Ps. ii.) Has not the time come to take possession of that empire in his name? A world is massed in it. The gates thereof are lifted up,-yea, the 'everlasting doors,' that the King of glory may go in. The whole Bible has been put into that most difficult language. A beginning has been made in missionary work there as a base for future conquests. This great land, presenting the anomaly of intelligence veiled in superstition, of civilization sunk in barbarism, will soon be brought very near to us, if we measure distance by days rather than miles. A hundred missionaries are there already. Twice one hundred native helpers are in the work. More than 3,000 communicants are already gathered, as the first sheaf of the final harvest. Let this work be carried on with the zeal and boldness that becomes us as a Christian people, and the clock of the centuries will not strike again till China shall have been given to the Lord.

Do we desire God's favor as a church and a nation? Then let us arise at once to this grand work! For ages the church has been asking for these ‘uttermost parts of the earth' for Christ. What was meant by this petition, that has rooted itself so deep in the divine promise? Just what the friends of Christ are now moving to accomplish for this long neglected land. And could a higher motive than this be put before the churches, to impel them on to noble effort and sacrifice? Let us no longer point to our monuments in the past, but on

ward to conquests and triumphs in the future. The things that have been done are great, but those that remain to be done are greater. And the doing of them will be for the glory of the church and the salvation of the world. This will be a positive argument against infidelity, and a prevailing one. The best possible defense of Christianity is a resistless movement on the part of its friends to save this world. That movement has commenced. It is in the line of Christianity. It is the last conquest of faith.

The appeal now is two-fold, for our sons, and our resources. Both must be put upon the altar for Christ, in this final work. We have been in the school of moral discipline and heroism, and for what purpose? To fit us for a still greater work. The church needs, the nation needs, this grander moral enterprise, to supplement properly the vast national sacrifice just offered. This will be lost, in part, if it do not impel us to something greater and better in the way of Christian achievement.

This great moral movement has been delayed, for want of light, and by lack of interest, facility, and system. I will then urge,

That there be more light and thought upon this subject. There is need of more reading, more hearing, and more reflection, with reference to a lost world. Thought inspires feeling, and leads to action. There must be light, or there will not be zeal, and love, and activity.

The Missionary Herald should go into the families. It is all aglow with gos pel thought, and record, and inspiration. It is the cheapest and the best thing abroad upon this subject. It acts as a grand reflector, to throw back the great work of foreign missions upon Christian lands and eyes. How could the spirit of the late war have been kept up without the war news and appeals? So with respect to this greater warfare. One that does not read will not feel for the world. Let this monthly record — which costs but little - be put into the families generally. Other reading on this subject will then be sought, and will often be furnished at the Missionary House. Nothing is reached and accomplished, in the work of foreign missions, without the diffusion of knowledge upon the subject. Thought awakens emotion, and impels to action.

It

The Monthly Concert should be made far more of in the churches. helps to bring the world before us; and to make the churches a unit at the throne of grace, for Christ and his inheritance. This bond of prayer, that gives visibility and strength to Christian union itself, gives oneness, also, to the great missionary work the world over. Let not this meeting languish; we are too near the end for this. No one has need to be at a loss how to conduct it; interest in the cause will always suggest the way.

And this cause should be presented from the pulpit, in its turn. If the people could be stirred up to national sacrifice by the pulpit, why not, still more, to Christian enterprise? Let the claim of foreign missions be urged upon the people often, and as a matter of personal duty. It may well come before each one, whether yet a Christian or not, in this form of individual obligation, which, surely, impenitence cannot destroy. And let the subject, in its moral grandeur, come before the churches, as an ever-present obligation and inspiration.

There is need of a better system with regard to collections. Why not take the monthly concert contribution in the afternoon, rather than in the evening? This ordinance of giving ought not to be crowded into a corner, nor into the darkness. Let it be regular, systematic, visible, and bold.

But the monthly gifts should be crowned by an annual offering, that shall be general and thorough, and worthy of the cause. This can be taken by the use of cards upon the Sabbath, or by collectors, to go through the parish. A neglect here impoverishes. Nothing tends so certainly to moral pauperism and meanness as withholding from Christ. It is proved that our infant mission churches grow in grace and in prosperity just in proportion as they are taught to give. And why should it not be so? Is God forgetful of his promise? He has connected prosperity with faithfulness, always; and the law of his kingdom cannot change.

I will venture to suggest that each one have a principle and a system of giving; and lay aside, or set apart, something each day or week, for this object. It brings our interest to a test. It makes our giving a fact, rather than an accident. It gives it the dignity of principle and system, and tends to swell the amount. But best of all, it tends to keep this grace of love alive in the heart. I will give the children their word in due time. They have done well in this work for the mission schools; but well enough has not yet been reached. I mean to ask for an offering from each Sabbath-school scholar in my district, each year. If it be but a mite, it will tell, and become a ray in that morning which we are now making in China. Whatever I ask of the children, in reason, they will do. Sincerely yours,

W. WARREN.

LETTERS FROM THE MISSIONS.

Greece.

LETTER FROM DR. KING, December 7, 1867. RETURNING from the United States, Dr. King left Paris November 19, and reached Athens on the 29th of the same month, where "he met a most cordial reception" from all his friends. He writes at some length respecting the labors of a few Greek Protestants — Messrs. Kalopothakes, Constantine, and Sakellarios, the progress made, under their influence, during his absence, and the present condition and prospects of the evangelical Protestant cause at Athens. Commencing with an account of his first Sabbath, after his return, he states many facts of gratifying interest.

Protestant Sabbath Services. "Last Sabbath, at half-past 10 A. M., I went to hear Mr. Constantine preach, in his own hired house, near the Medresé, the prison, which I was a few years ago condemned to en

ter. In the afternoon I went to a Sunday-school, composed of Cretan refugees, and under the superintendence of Dr. and Mrs. Kalopothakes. There were about two hundred scholars present, whom, at the request of Dr. Kalopothakes, I addressed on the importance of reading and believing the Word of God. In the evening I attended the Greek service of Dr. Kalopothakes, which he has in his house, near the Temple of Jupiter Olympius. After the sermon, Mr. Sakellarios offered the concluding prayer.

"It was to me most interesting to see these three native Greeks laboring in the same cause in which I had been laboring for so many years, and in the midst of so many difficulties. Two of them are ordained ministers of the gospel, (one was ordained in Virginia, by Presbyterian ministers, and the other in Massachusetts, by Congregationalists,) and the third is the son of a Greek priest, and studied theology for a while in the Baptist Seminary in