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Christian, either openly or in secret; he must certainly be thus regarded.

"At the time of the suppression of the Suttee by Lord Wm. Bentinck, even the Hindoo widows came forward with their contributions of two annas or four annas each, as they were able, in aid of the Appeal then made to England for its revival; by this it was known that the great body of the people of the country adhered to their own religion. We do not see the same eagerness in regard to the present subscription, and hence we suspect that the number of Hindoos has greatly diminished. We well know that many call themselves by Hindoo names, while they eat and drink with Englishmen and Musalmans. Many, on occasion of the death of father or mother, will during the daytime appear as Hindoos, wearing the clothes and eating the food appointed for such times of mourning, while at night they will array themselves in fine clothes, and sit at the table to take meat and wine. How many pious Hindoos are there in Calcutta, who will not go to Government House, or in the

time of the Mohurrum to the house of the Haji Karbalai, for the purpose of consuming the rich provisions? We everywhere see Hindoos paying no regard to the sraddha of their father or mother, submitting to be shaved, and eating fish and flesh, during the time of mourning for their relatives. If those who are Christians in secret, but openly Hindoos, are permitted to inherit property from their ancestors, will the Government allow that those who sincerely embrace Christianity and openly profess it shall be deprived of their paternal wealth? If the Hindoos had not thus secretly adopted the habits of the Christians, the Government would not have ventured to show this kindness to those who have openly renounced their former faith. The Hindoos have opened this door of misery themselves, and unquestionably those who are firm in their own faith have fallen into great distress. Let then every one who desires still to be counted a Hindoo, give all the assistance in his power to the present movement; otherwise he will be very blameable.'"

NAGERCOIL.

In the following letter, the writer, Mrs. Lewis, appeals for sympathy and aid on behalf of her Female Boarding School for Hindoo children, and we feel pleasure in giving it publicity. In inviting attention to its statements, we need only assure those of our readers who are more especially interested in the cause of female education in India, that any pecuniary aid in furtherance of Mrs. Lewis's plans and efforts will be well bestowed and gratefully appreciated.

TO THE FRIENDS OF HINDOO FEMALE EDUCATION:

DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIENDS,

In a retired corner of the Lord's vineyard, in the little village of Santhapooram, forty miles from any European cantonment, is a Female Boarding School for Hindoo children, containing seventy-seven girls, whose ages vary from four to fourteen. They learn in their native language, which is Tamil, to read, write, and cipher; also geography and grammar. Their principal study, however, is the Word of God, which many of them can read fluently. By this means, as well as by

constant attendance on the ordinances of the Gospel, they are tolerably well versed in Scripture history and in the fundamental doc. trines of our holy religion. The girls in the higher classes have long ago learnt the whole of Dr. Watts' First and Second Catechisms, also a large catechism embracing the principal points of history in the Old and New Testaments as well as the principal doctrines of the New. In addition to this they have committed to memory all the hymns in our Tamil Hymn-book to the number of one hun

dred and forty. Such an amount of Scripture knowledge will not, we trust, be as seed sown in unproductive ground, but bring forth fruit to the glory of God.

Though we have not yet been privileged to see any of them decidedly converted to God, yet we have the satisfaction of knowing that the girls in the higher classes constitute by far the most attentive, intelligent, and promising part among the females of our congregation at Santhapooram. Of course we except those who can read, and are already members of the church. While the women who are not able to read can scarcely give me an intelligent account of the sermons they hear on the Sabbath, the bigger girls both repeat the texts as well as the heads of the dis

course.

Thirty seven of my little girls are the children of widows, five have neither father nor mother living, and the remainder are the children of poor parents. All eat, and sleep, and learn together, without any distinction of caste, and all are instructed in the knowledge of that religion which has the promise of the life which now is, as well as that which is to

come. Whilst, however, we instruct them, owing to their great poverty we must feed and clothe them, and this we cannot do without the co-operation of kind Christian friends in our dear native land. Our school is, at the present time, considerably in debt; and unless we speedily receive some relief, we shall be obliged to dismiss the greater part of the children, to our great sorrow of heart.

Will you, dear Christian friends, allow us to do this; or will you pity the souls of these poor children, and help us to support them? We trust that you will be enabled to do this; and we pray that God will bless you in proportion as you bless these young immortals, whom He has in infinite wisdom created, and who must through all eternity inhabit the blessed regions of joy and purity, or, like their forefathers, sink into endless misery and despair.

I am, my dear Christian friends,
Yours very faithfully,
EMILY LEWIS.

Santhapooram,

near Nagercoil, South Travancore,
September 7th, 1850.

COIMBATOOR.

OBITUARY OF THE NATIVE TEACHER, “THOMAS THOMPSON NECK." THE triumph of Christian principle, as evinced in the holy lives, the evangelical labours, and the happy deaths of those who have renounced heathenism for the faith of the gospel, so signally attests the value of Missionary effort, and is so calculated to sustain the hope and to stimulate the zeal of the friends and promoters of the good work, that we feel assured our readers, while sympathising with the Missionary in the loss of so exemplary a coadjutor, will be gratified to trace, in the following memoir of the deceased, the unequivocal proofs of a heart and life entirely consecrated to the Saviour.

The Rev. W. B. Addis, under date

"I did not anticipate, when I sent you the journal of Thomas Thompson Neck, in July last, that I should so soon have to apprise you of his death; he was then as well as usual. He died at Sattiamungulum, the outstation he occupied for many years, on Sunday, Sept. 15th. He had been on an extensive

October last, writes :—

mission tour among the inhabitants of the Collegal hills, and returned poorly, though no immediate danger was anticipated by his family; but he rapidly became worse, and died, in the full hope of the Gospel, on the above date.

"I subjoin the following particulars of this excellent man, and valuable preacher of the Gospel among his fellow-countrymen.

"Eighteen years ago he was a stanch and zealous heathen, holding the situation of 'sacrificer' to a village temple, a few miles from this place. And on his brother (the lamented Vathaniathum) embracing Christianity, he became much opposed both to him and the new religion.' Still he read the Bible and our tracts; but being a man of considerable firmness of mind, he took nothing for granted, but sifted all that was to be said on both sides, and was slow in conviction, supposing that his own religion was suitable and proper for himself and countrymen. After a considerable time, the conviction of the truth of Christianity and its adaptedness to all men gradually took possession of his mind, and at length became so strong that he felt he must relinquish his official connexion with the heathen temple, and communicated his intention to the headmen of the village, to their no small surprise. He carried his determination into effect, and gave up honour, emolument, and all, and worked with his own hands, and provided for himself and large family for more than a year, during the whole of which time the people of the village kept his former office vacant, expecting that either by promises or threats he would resume it. But he was firm in his purpose, and openly attended the means of grace, and appeared to be under the influence and teaching of the Holy Spirit. Some time after, on discovering his abilities and attainments, I proposed that he should enter my preparatory class, which he consented to do, and daily attended with great humility and diligence to his preparatory studies, and delivered up his usual portion in class with those far younger than himself. After some

time spent in this manner, I appointed him as an Assistant Reader, in which office he was zealous and diligent, and travelled much in the surrounding country; and in 1836 was appointed by me to occupy the out-station of Sattiamungalum as a Native Teacher, where he continued to reside up to the time of his death, and where his wife and one of his children died, and were buried in his own compound; and he now lies beside them. He has left two orphans, who were dependent upon him. He had other sons and one daughter, who are married and have families of their own.

"He was a man of great power and ability in controversy with the heathen, having been so long and so intimately acquainted with all their ways, subterfuges, &c. None who entered the list with him long held out, for no sophistry could escape his detection, and I have at such times watched him with surprise and thankfulness. He was very greatly respected by the inhabitants of the town of Sattiamungalum; Brahmins often visited him at his house, and all classes attended his funeral. He was also well known by the villagers for many miles around, whom he frequently visited and made known the way of salvation through Christ. He was a Boanerges among his heathen countrymen, and a Barnabas among his Christian brethren. His end was peace; and he bore witness to the numbers of heathens who surrounded his dying cot, of the truth of the doctrines he had made known to them.

"In personal appearance the deceased was a man of handsome features; and although about sixty years of age at his death, he had lost scarcely any of the freshness and activity of youth. Only a few weeks before he died, he out-walked a vigorous man scarcely more than half his age, when out on a mission journey."

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CONVERSION OF A HOSPITAL PATIENT.

THE Medical Missionary, while applying his professional skill to the cure or alleviation of bodily ailments, deems it his peculiar privilege to

avail himself of all suitable occasions for directing the minds of his patients to the Great Physician, who alone is able to relieve the more inveterate maladies with which their souls are afflicted. Instances happily are not wanting to show that these evangelical efforts of the Medical Missionary have been attended with the most salutary results; and the following narrative introduces us to the case of an individual who, having long sordidly practised upon the credulity of his superstitious countrymen, is at length brought, through his attendance on the Hospital at Hong-Kong, to embrace the truth as it is in Jesus. The case was incidentally referred to in an article which appeared in our Number for November; but the circumstances are of so interesting a character, that the fuller details now given cannot but prove highly acceptable. Under date the 27th of September, Mr. H. J. Hirschberg writes:

"I am very happy to be enabled, through the Lord's mercies, to report a case of conversion in connexion with our Society's Hospital in this place.

"A-Poon, the subject of the present narrative, was formerly a Fung-shui Seen-Shang, (literally translated, 'Wind and Water Firstborn')—a wind-and-water geomancer-and as this might sound strange to an European ear, I will briefly explain it. The Chinese are a very superstitious people, and if they have an important work before them, they cannot enter upon it without first soliciting the favour of the gods to its happy accomplishment; and as these geomancers are supposed to be endowed with a superior knowledge of the will of the gods, they are applied to to name the most auspicious time to begin a building, or the place for burying the dead, or the hour for celebrating a marriage, or the day of opening a shop, &c., &c. If a person dies, the family send for the wind-and-water geomancer, to find out a place where they might bury their dead; which would be the least exposed to the wind, and from whence the water, after a heavy rain, would soon run off, and therefore, not spoil the grave so easily. If the family is rich, it then becomes a very long and difficult task for the diviner to find out a suitable place; for the greater number of days he has to wait upon the gods, the more pay he gets;-so that when the search has extended over three or four weeks, their entreaties become proportionably pressing; and the more urgent they are, the more difficult he finds it to obtain the propitious smile of the gods. But when the family

happens to be poor, the Seen-Shang has little trouble, and soon points out the most eligible burying-place.

"Such was the profession of A-Poon; and whilst he was walking about in Canton seven or eight years ago, deceiving others and himself the victim of deception, studying the climate, the aspect of buildings, doors, graves, &c., in the exercise of his profession, God, who had pity on him, gave him opportunities to hear the blessed Gospel. A Chinese is very proud, and you can imagine how foolish the words Jesus, sinner, repentance, &c., sounded in the ears of him who was a favourite of the gods, who understood their will, and whe besides knowing the climate and so many other things, never was in prison, and therefore not a sinner (a Chinese saying): the preacher therefore, most assuredly could have no reference to him. Several times he heard the Gospel in Canton, but it seemed as if spoken to the wind, and as seed sown upon the sandy rocks.

"Not finding his business to answer very well at Canton, he left that place, and abont four years ago came to Victoria to try his fortune. Here he went often to Bazaar Chapel; and sometimes, he says, he had such a consciousness of sin, that he had resolved to acknowledge it openly, to confess before men Jesus as his Saviour, and to ask the foreign teacher for baptism; but as he was on the way such thoughts as these came into his mind. "These doctrines are not Chinese-the ancient wise men never taught them; Jesus is a foreign wise man; thou art not a sinner; your

countrymen will laugh at you, and scorn you,' &c., &c.; and he turned back, and for a long time abstained from attending the chapel.

"About that time a tumour began to form on his back, and increased so rapidly as to excite his alarm: his conscience being thus roused, he concluded it was meant as a punishment for his sins; he again repaired to the chapel, and was on the eve of confessing Jesus as his Lord, when Satan once more hindered him, and again he stopped away from the chapel. In the mean time hearing that the foreign doctor had opened a Dispensary at Bazaar Chapel, he applied to him to have his tumour cured. It was about two years ago that I then saw him for the first time, and therefore knew nothing of his mental distress. He sat very quietly, and seemed very attentive during the preaching; and when I began to see the patients, he came to me and showed me the tumour. I told him that it could not be removed by medicine, but if he would submit to an operation, I could cure it; and as he appeared to dread it, I told him to wait a little longer, to think the matter over, and when he would wish to have it removed, to come to the Hospital. He then received some tracts, was advised to pray to Jesus, and he went away.

"A few weeks afterwards, he came one morning to the Hospital, desiring me to operate upon the tumour. It so happened that two medical men were present, one of whom was Dr. Home, Staff Assistant-Surgeon; the name of the other I do not just now remember. Before I began to use the knife I told him that it would be better for him to sit down during the operation, as it would cause him some pain. 'Never mind,' said he, 'never mind. I had rather stand; and thus he got hold of the back of the chair, and leaning over it I began to operate. During the operation I asked him if he had any pain. 'No,' said he, 'I have no pain.' This answer he gave twice. I thought it somewhat strange, and could not explain it at that time. He then came regularly to the Hospital, and the wound soon healed. I had at each visit regular conversations with him, and he seemed to me to be one to whom the Lord had been gracious.

"One Sunday he came to Bazaar Chapel, and at the end of the sermon, when Dr. Legge had uttered the words, 'Now is the accepted

time, now is the day of salvation; who will come out and declare himself on the Lord's side?' he came forward and said that he was willing to do so, giving at the same time a long address in which he narrated the above facts, and added the following-' After I heard the foreign doctor say that I must submit to an operation, I prayed and said, "If thou, O Jesus, art the Almighty God whom the foreigners declare thee to be, save me from pain. I shall now go up to the Hospital; and if I have no pain during the operation, I will believe on thee, and worship thee as the only one true and living God." He then showed to all present the part where the tumour had been, and assured them that he had no pain whatever-that he would thenceforth worship only the God of the foreigners; and recommended his countrymen to do the same.

"As often as I came to see the patients at Bazaar Chapel, he also came in, repeated the above, and preached Jesus unto them.

He

"From this time he continued to attend divine service, and the missionaries and the Chinese Christians had frequent conversations with him about the one thing needful. believed on Jesus, prayed to Him morning and evening, but had not yet faith and strength enough to lay aside his business, which he was told he must do before he could be baptized. This was very trying to him, as he had no other means of gaining his livelihood; but one day it happened that Dr. Legge met him in the street, and addressed him upon the subject. The Lord blessed these words to his soul: he at once laid aside his business, came day after day to be instructed, and has since to our great joy been received into the Church of Christ.

"Not long after his baptism an incident happened in which he recognized the hand of the Lord, and for which he is continually expressing thankfulness. He wished to remove into another house, but the price demanded for it appeared to him a little too high; he had, however, fixed his mind upon the house, and thought that by waiting a few days the landlord would perhaps abate his terms, but if not he decided on giving the price demanded. At this juncture a fire broke out, consumed six houses, and burned three men in that very house into which he had resolved to remove. The next morning early he came to us and

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