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1855.] CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCES IN NEW ZEALAND.

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humble manner she gradually won upon the affections of her parents and others, so that they not only ceased to ridicule, but admired her simple walk and conversation. One day she was telling her father how God would punish the wicked, and urged him to pray to Him. He replied, "I do not know how." "Then," she said, "let me teach you;" and immediately repeated the Lord's Prayer. She also began to teach him to read. She was also earnest in telling her other relatives that their foolish ceremonies were of no use, and that notwithstanding that she often met with ridicule and reproach-e. g. "Your God was only a carpenter." Before her sister was old enough to come to school, she had taught her the first Catechism and short prayers. For some months previous to her death she used to take her olla to church, and write down the text. Very often she came to me, urging me to baptize her. I agreed to do so, if her father would consent; but he refused, saying she was a little girl, and might obtain baptism hereafter.

She was ill several weeks with fever, during which time she was very patient, and said she was not afraid to die. I visited her one afternoon, and spoke and prayed with her, and said a few words to her relatives. She seemed in a very happy state of mind. We considered she was getting better, and would soon be well. The next morning she told her teacher she was very glad I had been to see her, and hoped he would come and read and pray with her every day. She still expressed a great wish to be baptized, and to be called Mary; but her father again put it off, saying, "You can be baptized when you are better." I should have gone and baptized her had I known that she was growing worse instead of better; but I was not aware of it, until one morning we heard with surprise that she was no more. Sad to relate, the parents and all the other children have been cut off by cholera.

The Jaffna district has hitherto been a barren and unproductive soil. Such gracious manifestations are therefore the more precious, as they are rare. But do they not rebuke our unbelief? for that which God has wrought in these encouraging instances, He is able to accomplish in many others also. Only let us be prayerful, and, sooner than we could have anticipated, the wilderness may become a fruitful field, and tardy Jaffna yield its harvest.

CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCES IN NEW ZEALAND.

LAST year, we regret to say, was one of extraordinary sickness, tribulation, and death, amongst the natives of New Zealand. Measles, hooping cough, and influenza, have grievously wasted them. The Lord does not willingly afflict nor grieve the children of men. These afflictions are not causelessly sent: they are intended to work out good. The New Zealanders are a people of excitable temperament, and very much of this temperament entered into the rapidity with which they embraced a profession of Christianity; so that, while many were moved by divine impulses, others were moved by mere natural impulses. A new excitement has now arisen, in the opportunity which presents itself of becoming rich, in consequence of the increased demand for provisions of all kinds in the Australian colonies, and the high prices which they obtain for their agricultural produce. Many, therefore, of whom better

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CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCES IN NEW ZEALAND. [AUGUST, things had been expected, have grown cold and inattentive to the means of grace; and many who appeared prepared to attach themselves to Christ have gone back, and walk no more with Him. Perhaps, therefore, these afflictions are seasonable. They come in time to check this immoderate excitement. May it work for good!

But when a season of affliction comes upon a land, the Lord's people are not exempted from it. It comes, indeed, with a different message to the worldly and the godly. To the one it is a warning, and a solemn call to repentance. To the faithful it is a weaning and a ripening process and at such a season the Lord gathers in many of those who are His own from this far-off place of trial to be with Himself. It has been so in New Zealand. The Rev. B. Ashwell mentions, for the edification of the church at home, the peaceful manner in which many of his Christian people have gone to sleep in Jesus.

"I rode," he says, "after dark to a pa a few miles distant, to see the sick, with one of whom, Jeremiah, I was much pleased. He said he now felt how vain were earthly hopes and joys. His words were, 'The only great thing is the salvation brought by Christ. I have no goodness of my own. Christ alone is my Saviour, my righteousness, my all.'

"I visited Joanna, a woman of rank. Whilst suffering from the fever occasioned by the measles, she bathed in the Waikato, which brought on inflammation of the lungs, which in a few days proved fatal. I was pleased with her state of mind. She told me that Christ was her only dependence. As she had been exceedingly regular in her attendance at church and the Lord's table, I feared lest, unknowingly to herself, she should depend upon these outward ordinances. She said, I am wicked and sinful, but Christ, and Christ alone, is my leaning post-that is, dependence: my only hope.'

"I called upon another woman, Priscilla. I said, 'You are very ill: are you happy? What is your comfort?' She replied, 'Christ is my only comfort.' 'Do you pray?" She said, 'Yes.' 'What do you pray for?' She then gave me the following prayer-'Oh, my God! send Thy Holy Spirit to change my heart, that I may listen to Thy words. I cannot listen without Thy Spirit. O give me Thy Holy Spirit to turn my heart, for the love of my only Saviour Christ.' I used to think this poor old creature very ignorant, especially as she could not read her Testament."

We add one more. "I visited poor old Martha, the widow of Wesley Te Pake, the account of whose happy death I forwarded in my journal of July last. I asked her what hope she had. Her reply was, I have no hope but in the one salvation of Christ my Saviour.' I said, 'Martha, after your husband's death you wished some of his things to be tapusacred.' 'Yes,' she said, 'it is true. It was wrong. Great was the sin: I am dark about it.' I asked her if she prayed. She replied, "Yes: this is my prayer-O God! mine is a native heart. Give me Thy Holy Spirit. Change my heart. Forgive my sins in the blood of Jesus. Strengthen me, take care of me, for Jesus' sake.''

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So goes forward the transfer of human life, from time into eternity. "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord."

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"IN PERILS IN THE CITY."

We have recently received from our Missionary, the Rev. J. S. Burdon, of Shanghae, an account of a visit made by him and a brother Missionary, Mr. James H. Taylor, medical Missionary in connexion with the Chinese Evangelization Society, to two islands of the great

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THE MISSIONARIES BEFORE THE MANDARIN.-Vide p. 99.

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"IN PERILS IN THE CITY."

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river the Yang-tze-kiang, and also to a city on the north bank, about 100 miles distant from Shanghae. We propose to bring before our readers some of the facts which this narrative contains. They may serve to exhibit the great need of China's vast population, living and dying without God and without hope, and the possibility of communication being, to some extent, opened with the dense millions which lie beyond the consular limits, that, by preaching and the distribution of books, something may be done to make known to them the name of Jesus. It is true that they who undertake this office must prepare themselves for rough work; but the difficulties and dangers connected with it will only bring out more clearly the Lord's gracious care of those who go forth evangelizing as opportunity presents itself, not knowing what shall befal them.

On April the 17th Messrs. Burdon and Taylor sailed down the Woosung river, on which Shanghae is situated. This river, which is only a tributary to the Yang-tze-kiang, is as broad at Shanghae as the Thames is as at Greenwich. What, then, must the parent stream be? After four hours and a half they reached Woosung, at its mouth. Here, opposite this town, lie the receiving-ships, that is, the armed vessels, belonging to British merchants engaged in the opium trade, whither the boats of the native smugglers come to purchase opium, the store of the drug on board the receiving-ships being kept up by continued supplies from Hong Kong. Men, who ought to know better, for the sake of gain feed a vicious propensity, which has become the master-sin of this unhappy nation, with a pestilential drug which is destructive to the physical, intellectual, and moral health of those who use it. The merchants have a large per centage of gain, the Chinese a large per centage of misery: must not such misery, sooner or later, re-act on such gain in the way of righteous retribution? Woosung, as might be expected, was full of opium shops and opium smokers, and the smell from the one was as disgusting as the appearance of the victims of the drug was piteous and deplorable.

Next day the island was reached. Formed of mud deposits, it is flat, but in soil beyond measure rich, and the whole under cultivation; its length from E. to W. being upwards of 50 miles, and its breadth from 15 to 20 miles. Some interesting occurrences took place here, which we must reserve to a future Number; and therefore, passing by for the present this island, we must ask our readers to accompany the Missionaries to Tong-chow, on the north bank of the Yang-tze-kiang, which they reached on the 26th. This is a Chow city, one of the second order in China; and the Missionaries were forewarned that adventuring themselves into this city in their foreign dress could not be done without much hazard. The native teachers who accompanied them tried to dissuade them; the boatmen advised them to desist; but, commending themselves to God, they resolved to go on. Their servant then prayed that he might be excused from following them, as he was afraid of the kiang-yoon, or soldiers. At length they set out, through rain and muddy roads, in barrows, which squeaked unceasingly as they moved along. As they approached their destination, the possibility that they might be rudely dealt with, and perhaps injured, crossed their minds; but prayer to Him who has promised to be with His people in the discharge of duty,

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"IN PERILS IN THE CITY."

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and never to leave or forsake them, comforted and encouraged them. Scarcely had they reached the gate, when a fierce, powerful kiang-yoong, the more formidable from being partially drunk, rushed, with a tremendous shout, on Mr. Burdon, and nearly knocked him down. In an instant they were surrounded by a dozen or two of the same sort, and, amidst the most fearful shouts and horrid countenances, were roughly dragged along they knew not where. Wrenching himself from the grasp of the man who held him, Mr. Burdon so far outstripped them by running as to keep a-head of them, but his companion was most unmercifully dragged along. Our Missionary, having got somewhat a-head of his tormentors, endeavoured to make the most of the dubious liberty still left him, and, as he went along, distributed his books; but the soldier, with the most violent gestures, snatched the books away, and called for manacles to prevent this being done. Happily none were forthcoming. "The books," writes Mr. Burdon, "I had under my arm, and my carpet-bag they attempted to seize, but in vain. I held on to both successfully. As we were hurried along, I began to suspect they had no intention of taking us to the magistrate, and tried to ask some respectable men whom we passed the way to his office. The majority shrank from me as from a wild beast, but one or two pointed out the direction. We were taken through all sorts of back streets, and occasionally there was a quarrel amongst the soldiers themselves which way they should lead their victims. Whilst going along, one of the soldiers maliciously whispered in my ear, You are no foreigners;' by which he meant that I was one of the rebels belonging to Tae-ping-wang in foreign disguise, and of this my unshaven head was a proof. At last, almost fainting with exhaustion, our tongues cleaving to the roof of our mouths from thirst, and covered with perspiration, it was the greatest relief I ever knew to find ourselves near some place, which appeared like the Ya Mun. As we were kept some time waiting, I got up on a step and addressed the people, many hundreds of whom were within hearing. They astonished me by their quietness and attention, and there I preached Jesus to them, and briefly told them the object of our visit."

After considerable delay they were conducted in chairs to the principal place of business, and Mr. Burdon describes how pleasant a change it was from the hands of a rude soldiery into the presence of a courteous Chinese gentleman. By him they were kindly treated,* and permission given them to distribute their books, of which he took copies himself, an escort being sent with them to protect them from further injury. In this manner they walked through the city; and, so soon as it could be done without further violence, were ushered out by the very same gate which had given them entrance. Mr. Burdon expresses his hope that they had not entered this vast city for nought. Copies of the Scriptures and tracts had been distributed, where, according to the magistrate's testimony, no foreigner had yet been, in a city containing not less than half a million of inhabitants. How dense the population of China! We have as yet only had a peep into the interior, yet how boundless the field of labour that it presents!

* Vide Frontispiece.

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