1856.] SAU QUALA. 117 truly "sojourners in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles." May God increase the number of such labourers a thousand fold! Tirumungalum, April 5, 1856. www SAU QUALA. (Continued from p. 106.) T. S. B. THE history of this convert is so interwoven with the progress of the Karen Mission, that in tracing the one we become insensibly acquainted with the leading facts of the other. Various responsibilities demanded the attention of the Missionaries: first, the translation of the Holy Scriptures into the Karen language; then the education of promising natives as assistant agents in the work of evangelization amongst their countrymen; and, as the congregations increased, the providing of native pastors, by whom, under the superintendence of the European Missionaries, the infant churches might be cared for and sustained. Of the usefulness of Sau Quala in these labours Mr. Mason thus speaks Sau Quala is the assistant that has been writing by my side every rains for eight or ten years; and he has been the almost constant companion of my travels ever since I entered the Mission. With him I first began the study of the Karen language; and with him I commenced the translation of the New Testament, and he has continued with me throughout the work. Besides copying for me, I have constantly consulted him, as I went along, for words, their signification, and their construction, precisely as, in cultivated languages, a student consults his dictionaries and grammars. While I have thus been gathering knowledge from him, I have not been unmindful of imparting knowledge to him. I have often thought that, could I leave him, when my labours close on earth, an able minister of the New Testament, I should not have laboured in vain; and latterly I have indulged the pleasing hope that God would more than fulfil my desire, and make him a useful minister even while I live. Formerly his mind was exceedingly obtuse, as are the minds of uncultivated people generally, and utterly unable to make any rational distinction between words and things that differed; but he now possesses, comparatively, quite a discriminating mind, and I am sometimes surprised at the nice distinctions that he occasionally points out as existing between the significations of words. I do not suppose there is any one of his nation who can make any approach to him in the matter of judicious criticism on Karen composition. This is saying nothing to the disparagement of any one else; for no other has had the same years of discipline that he has had. He has, however, acquired something more valuable than a knowledge of criticism: he has obtained a very tolerable knowledge of the principal parts of the New Testament, and of the sentiments of the Scriptures in general. He has copied all my translations at least twice, and I have always told him to ask questions about any thing he did not understand. It very often happens, too, that, to get at the exact word for a passage I am 118 SAU QUALA. [OCT. translating, I have to explain it to him in various language, in order that he may distinctly apprehend the precise idea, and thus give me the proper word, if any such exists in the language. In this way much truth has been imparted in a far more effectual way than in that of direct teaching. Furthermore, he is "apt to teach," and a very good preacher. When in the jungles, he is continually engaged in informal preaching from house to house and by the wayside; and I often set him to preach at evening meetings, when I have an opportunity to hear his more regular productions; and he frequently gives an exposition of a passage of Scripture, of which an educated man in America would not be ashamed. The Burmese government, untaught by the experience of the past, continued its hostility to the Missionaries and their work; so much so, that the visits of the European Missionary to the Karens who lay within the Burmese frontier were found to be impracticable. To supply this deficiency, it was thought desirable to ordain some of the native helpers; who might be able, undetected by the Burmese officials, to itinerate amongst their countrymen, and instruct them. In the year 1842 the first ordination took place, and two of the assistants were set apart for this arduous work-arduous indeed, as will appear from their own account of it. One of them, Sau Le, thus describes what they had to endure I wish to say to my brethren who dwell in the land of the foreigners, that we, who reside under the Burmese government, have many obstacles to overcome, and numerous difficulties with which to contend, in order to preach the gospel. We can hardly go to preach where we may wish to go. It is exceedingly difficult. I went recently with a companion to preach in a certain village. Night overtook us before we could reach the place of our destination, and we got up into a tree to pass the night. It came on to rain and to blow dreadfully, and we were afraid of tigers and wild elephants, for we were in a desolate forest. [A tree is no certain security against wild beasts. The leopard, as large as an ordinary-sized calf, is in the constant habit of ascending the trunks of large trees in search of his prey; and the Karens think, but probably erroneously, that the tiger has the same habit. A Maulmein Christian told me that he was travelling on one occasion, before his conversion, as this assistant was, with a single associate; and when they were overtaken in the darkness, they made little bamboo platforms, on which to sleep during the night, in the branches of a large tree, one on a lower main branch, and the other on an upper large branch. During the night the man on the lower branch was awakened by what he thought to be a tiger, but it was probably a leopard, creeping up the body of the tree above him. It had passed his branch, and was climbing up to where the other man slept. He called out: the man answered, and the leopard was still not a claw moved. But the sleeping man could not rouse himself, and in a few seconds the leopard rushed up, seized the man in his sleep, and, jumping down with him, devoured him at the foot of the tree, regardless of all the noise the narrator could make above him. Our native preachers, travelling in small companies, are exposed to greater dangers from wild beasts than most people are aware. During my 1856.] SAU QUALA. 119 residence in Tavoy, no fewer than three of our Karen assistants, who had been in my theological classes, were devoured by tigers. These dangers they never shrink from encountering; and though Sau Le escaped that dreary night, yet they fell next evening among men as savage as the beasts of the forest.] When the day dawned we continued our journey, and reached a Burman village where we preached. The Karen village for which we had started was near; but we found the Burmese on the way were engaged in warfare with each other, and it was not possible to pass through them; so we had to return the way we came. However, we turned aside towards another village. Darkness overtook us at the monastery of a Buddhist priest, so we went up there to pass the night. [They are the caravanseries of Burmah, where travellers are always allowed to stay.] After eating supper, and when we were about to lie down to sleep, we thought that, before going to rest, we ought to preach to the priest. So I drew near him; but when I had uttered one or two sentences, and he discovered we were Christians, he seized a cudgel, rushed at us, and drove us away in the dark. After this, some evil-minded persons informed the governor that I was going about preaching; so he sent his officers to seize me, who took me to Rangoon, and threw me into the stable of the prison, where my feet were put in the stocks, and then drawn up, so that I could neither sit nor lie; and in this painful position I had to remain all night. Then it was the cold season, and they stripped me of all my clothes, giving me nothing but a little dirty rag, so that I suffered much from the cold; and they gave me nothing to eat, though I was very hungry, and no water to drink, though I was exceedingly thirsty. The next day they brought me before the governor, hung me up by the heels in the Court-house in the presence of the people, while a spotted-faced executioner stood over me with a cane, to beat me till I gave up the names of all the Karen Christians. I committed myself to God, prayed to Him in my heart without intermission, and He so sustained me that I did not feel afraid, but resolved to suffer and die, if necessary, rather than betray a single individual. I knew that if I told them of all the Christians, they would all be persecuted, and I thought it were better for me to suffer alone than that they all should. If I died I should die one only. So when they demanded, "How many have become disciples of Jesus Christ?" I replied, "I am not able to say. Should I mention this one or that one, perhaps he would not prove to be a true disciple. I cannot tell you. You may take two stones and beat me to atoms, with one on the top of the other, if you like, but I cannot give you the names of those who worship Jesus Christ. Perhaps I should tell you wrong, and then God might hold me guilty." These examinations were repeated for several days; but on the eighth day I was dismissed, on the condition that I should pay a fine of 500 rupees, which I did. I was put in jail again for continuing my preaching, where I was detained seven days, but was set at liberty by paying a fine of two hundred rupees. After the second imprisonment, my mother tried to stop me from preaching any more, but I would not listen to her. I remembered that Christians anciently suffered exceedingly for the name of Christ, yet they remained stedfast; so I have continued preaching with undiminished 120 LUKE XXI. 1-4.-NO BIBLE FOR THIBET. [ост. zeal. Brethren, pray for us, that every thing which hinders the preaching of the gospel may be removed, and that it may be with us as with you. Such are the trials which these faithful men have to endure. Sau Quala was not one of these, his sphere of labour lying within the Tenasserim provinces, and under British jurisdiction. LUKE XXI. 1-4. In a suburban church, within eight miles of the great metropolis, a sermon, having reference to the great duty of Christian Missions, was preached on Sunday morning, September 14, 1856, preparatory to a Missionary meeting on the next evening. One there was present who felt the appeal-a poor widow in the congregation. She did not act at once, but thought and prayed. The meeting was held, and a collection made. Still she waited. A few days after, she came privately to her pastor, and told him what was in her heart. She had been strongly moved as she heard of the wants of millions, and desired to do something, that they also, with her, might have the gospel. She had known better days, but was now poor; and all that remained to her of her former prosperity consisted of two old guineas. One of these she wished to give to the Missionary cause; and she has done so, humbly and unobtrusively, with the request that her name might not be mentioned. Liberality this indeed, out of deep poverty! With two guineas only, she gives one! How many, who have thousands, who have never given so much, or think they have discharged all claims if they contribute a single sovereign during the course of the year! Shall not this guinea rise up as a testimony against those who, with large means, want what the widow had, the large heart; large, because opened by the grace of God to understand and embrace the love of Jesus? wwwww NO BIBLE FOR THIBET. If there were a version of the Scriptures in the language of Thibet, thousands of volumes might annually be sent into the interior of Asia, from five different points along the immense frontier of British India. There have been strange hindrances in the way of this translation. It was supposed at one time that it was contemplated by the American Bible Society; but if so, the plan was never carried into effect. A similar project was entertained by the English Church Missionary Society in the year 1815; but just as the Missionary, who had devoted himself, for that purpose, to the acquisition of the language, was entering the work, he was cut off by death. His successor, labouring on the border of Bhotan, fell a victim to the climate, and, two years later, the British officer who originated the Mission died also. Dr. Carey saw the importance of the version into a tongue so widely spoken and read, not only all over Thibet, but by the Lamas in Mongolia; but his knowledge of the language was slight, and he did not feel warranted to add it to his other acquisitions. From the graves of these Missionaries, and from all that populous region, the cry still comes up-" No Bible for Thibet."-Baptist Reporter. In our Frontispiece our readers will perceive a singular-looking group of people; and when they read the name, "Quelpartians," some, perhaps, will at once exclaim, "Quelpartians! what part of the world do they come from? We never heard of them before." That, very probably, is the case; but, what is more disastrous to the poor Quelpartians, they have |