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Rev. Mr. Burgess, secretary of the ForeignAid Society, and the Rev. Mr. Dalton, of the University of Cambridge, were present at this ceremony, when a violent and brutal opposition in the shape of a charivari, was made by the Catholic party, and the same spirit is occasionally evinced. Nevertheless the number of Mr. Vleugels' parishioners, under the influence of Divine aid, is on the increase.

We have before spoken of the remarkable awakening which the Lord has inspired in Nessonveaux during the last three years, and all our reports lead us to hope that the work will be still more extended.

A student of the University of Geneva, Mr. Ledune, has laboured during his vacation at Verviers, under the direction of Mr. Auquier; this is a field which has already produced much fruit, and promises much

more.

Finally Liege has shown us likewise new results of the preaching of the Gospel; during the past year, the pastor of Liege was invited to visit Lize, a village with a population of about four thousand souls, belonging to the parish of Seraing; he accordingly went, and found a room placed at his disposition, and since then, the preaching has continued to take place every fortnight. Here is a field ripe for the sickle, and we have no labourers to get in the harvest: Lize should have a minister, but we have no means to supply one. What would our friends think of a congregation in London of eighty or a hundred persons, sometimes more, hearing a service only once in the fortnight, with a room too small to contain them, and the people crowding to the windows to catch a word of truth? but how much more interesting to consider, that these are all Catholics, only a few months awakened to the truth! Can you consent to leave them to their lot? we have men suitable for the task, but we want the means!

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Three colporteurs have traversed Walloon country, during the last year, and two continue this year. Their reports teem with matter calculated to excite the feelings of all those who are interested in the reign of Christ. The book of life is placed in their hands, and the sweet savour of the Gospel has penetrated in all directions.

Religious tracts are disseminated in abundance, by the colporteurs, or by the ministers, and depôts of them are established in those places which form the centres of our stations; these dumb missionaries have silently impressed many with a desire for the truth.

A library has also been opened in Brussels, at No. 33, Rue de l'Impératrice, for the purpose of facilitating the means of obtaining Bibles and religious books, by the Catholics.

Our schools continue to be subjects of great satisfaction; unhappily there are many

of our stations which pressingly require them, but which, from the state of our finances, we are obliged to refuse. The province of Liege has felt exceedingly the want of several, since many years; and now, so far from having any prospect of fulfilling the desire of the several congregations, we have been obliged to suppress some of those which we had, and the school which was of such service to the stations of Charleroi, we have been obliged to close; the two which were at Fontaine-l'Evêque, have been reduced to one only. The reports of the masters, as well as of the pastors of the stations, announce great progress among the children in the different branches of their instruction; and while the understanding is improved, the heart is directed to Him who loves them and gave himself for them.

The following are some extracts which the committee have recently received from their agents.

NESSONVEAUX.

"Things progress well here: notwithstanding all the united malice of our enemies, the Spirit of God advances His work tran-quilly; we have continually the joy of seeing Catholics passing from the power of Satan unto God. Every returning Sabbath we preach to crowded audiences. O how desirable is it that we should extend this work, which, by the blessing of God, and under His direction, is here commenced! The awakening at Nessonveaux is truly remarkable. I never met with such zeal, such charity, such abundant and complete union and eagerness for the propagation of the truth as it is in Jesus.

"Lize continues to advance in piety; our audiences increase every day, and the congregation becomes each Sabbath more compact: the Papists are alarmed at our progress: my visits are consequently fatiguing, but I always return with my heart full of joy and gratitude."

The cholera has made many victims in the station of La Bouverie, but this scourge has not been without benediction. Mr. Andry, teacher at this station, writes as follows:

Our Brother, J. B. L., feeling that his end was approaching, desired that I should be called; I obeyed without delay, and found him in bed, in a room about three yards square; at the foot of his bed was another one, in which was laid his eldest son. After some inquiries respecting his bodily health, I inquired concerning his spiritual, when he said: "Thank God, I do not fear death, I wait for it without anxiety."-" And on what do you depend then, that you wait death without anxiety?"-" On the infinite merit of Jesus Christ my Saviour," was his answer.

At this moment & Catholic priest entered the room. "I will not have a priest near me," said the sick man, "all my hopes repose on the merits of my Saviour Jesus Christ, and shortly I shall be with him;" and on pronouncing these words, he drew his hand from under the clothes and raised it to heaven. Seeing the invalid was op pressed, I cut short the conversation and said to the priest, "Sir, you probably do not know that the sick man is a Protestant, and you should know that the Protestants admit nothing in matters of religious faith, which is not strictly in accordance with the Holy Scriptures; you must also know, sir, that St. Peter has said, that there is no salvation save in Jesus Christ, and there is no other name under heaven, whereby we can be saved.'" "We believe also in Jesus Christ, but faith with us is not sufficient," replied the priest. "What!" said I, "faith not sufficient !

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Are you then wiser than the Holy Ghost, who says by the mouth of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians, 'By grace ye are saved through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast ?'" "Yes," said the priest," that is all well, but we must also have works." "Yes," I answered, to show that we have real faith, as says St. James, and to glorify the Lord, who has saved us, but not to merit salvation, Christ alone can pardon us." "In that case you do not believe, then, what the Saviour said to his apostles: he who forgiveth the sins of another, his sins shall be also pardoned, and he that forgiveth not, shall receive no remission of sins." "You deceive yourself, sir, in supposing that the apostles alone had the power to forgive sins; you may see in the Gospel of St. John, that the disciples of our Lord as well as the apostles had that power. Our Saviour breathed his Spirit on the disciples assembled in numbers, as well as on the apostles." "Then you do not believe that I have the power to forgive sins!" he said, with an air of astonishment. "Not only do I deny that such power can be vested in yourself, but I deny that it is vested in the Pope, your archbishops, bishops, or any of your hierarchy, and I believe, that if they do not repent of their sins, as well as yourself, and do not approach the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, as the only Saviour, you will perish in your unbelief, for there is but one road to salvation for all mankind." After I had pronounced these words with firmness, the priest became very pale, and did not answer another word. Notwithstanding the sufferings which our sick brother endured, he enjoyed the full assurance of his salvation to the last, and continually called on the Lord Jesus to claim him as his own.

If comparisons may be used, we would

say certainly, that no work, at the present time, has a greater claim on the liberality of Protestants of all denominations, than the work of the evangelisation of Belgium; glory be to God! Our British friends send their gold to the antipodes to convert the heathen, will they allow a work of equal importance to perish, because it is next to their door? and yet the work is perishing, for want of aid, for we are diminishing our labourers, and curtailing our work. Blessed be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we go spiritually forward; God has given us proof of this, by showing his strength in our weakness, and souls are converted to God and the truth, from under the Roman Catholic Church walls: we only desire our friends to come and see what we are doing. We wish, we implore that strangers would make a tour of our stations, and judge for themselves.

May God in his mercy let the fact of our pecuniary distress sink deep into the heart of the reader !

For the Managing Committee:
J. ROULET.

Brussels, July 15, 1849.

R. W. URLING.

L. ANET, Secretary.

GENEVA.

From the Rev. C. A. Cordes.

Geneva, July 25, 1849. THE following is an extract from Colporteur Frank's journal for June, received recently:

"It is distressing," he writes, "to hear how coolly the Roman Catholic priests forbid the people to purchase or to read the word of God. A Roman Catholic female told me, that after having bonght the New Testament I had been offering to her a few days ago, the priest had attempted to deprive her of it; that, however, she had resisted, and put to him the following question:-'Why,' she asked, 'may not my child, for whom I have purchased the New Testament, have that sacred volume, seeing the child takes pleasure in reading it to me who cannot read, and yet take pleasure in hearing it read?' The book is by far too sacred, and is not fit for children and common people, who are incapable to understand it,' was the reply. Whereupon the poor woman, recollecting something I had communicated to her in a former interview, asked the priest whether what the book contained were truth or not? Yes,' he said, 'it is truth.'—'Well,' replied the female, 'if what you read out of the gospel from the pulpit is truth, myself and my child may read it too.'

"Another individual, to whom I presented the sacred volume, said-' Those books are forbidden us by the priest.' I replied, saying

that the Lord Jesus had commanded us all to search the Scriptures; and, moreover, many pious men and fathers of the church have recommended the diligent study of the word of God. The person in question then purchased a copy of the New Testament, and told me that, to the inquiry why the Sacred Scriptures were prohibited, the priest had answered, 'It was because so many corrupt or false versions of them were put into circulation, and that, he added, was the only reason.'

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Among Protestants," continues Frank, "there reigns a pious custom, that of presenting godchildren and others with a copy of the Holy Scriptures on New-year's day, which has been the object for which a great proportion of the books sold by me have been bought.

"In one place, the people being pressed to supply themselves with the Bible, the reply was- We cannot make use of it.' 'And what is the hindrance, pray?' 'We are too wicked!"-Bible Society's Extracts.

MAURITIUS.

Extract of a Letter from David Ratsarahomba, one of the Malagasy youths, to a Friend at Walthamstow.

Mauritius, May 12, 1849. Your very kind letter was received by me with the greatest pleasure, which when read made me say, Truly God has raised up friends for me in the country where I was but a poor stranger: thanks be to God who gave us his only begotten Son to be all in all, and reconciled his children who are on the face of the earth to sympathise and love one another.

Your remark about our dear friend Rafaravavy, in saying "her work was done or she would not have been called hence," that comforts me that it was her Saviour that called her hence. While we are here on earth we are to glorify our God for his love to us in giving his only Son to die for us sinners, and to do what he commanded us to be done before we are called to enter into the joy of our Lord, which was prepared before the foundation of the world.

We have commenced meetings for prayer at my house for the present, Saturday and Tuesday evenings. I have told them that the time they can come and find me every day is, from six to nine in the morning, and from four to six in the afternoon, for reading, or what they may want of me, and the interval of which, for me to go out to visit and to teach those who cannot come. We are going on very well, and in hope of improvement; may God bless our endeavour for his honour and glory!

Mr. Freeman was so kind, and wrote to me a letter on board the "Lady Flora" on the

30th Nov., which was ready to take him to the Cape, stating in his letter his leaving home, and that the Malagasy Hymns, Pilgrim's Progress, Spelling Books and Tracts in the Malagasy language, were just finished before he left England. I can assure you he must have performed his duties very early in the morning and sat up late at night; it is the grace of God that enables him to do his duties with activity; let us pray for him that the blessing of the Almighty God may rest upon him, and be with him wherever he shall be, to be useful to his generation for God's glory and honour. You of course can imagine easily, how glad we were when we read in his letter of the probability of his coming to Mauritius, in hope to see him once more in the flesh, though it would not be as the scene when we saw him in the pulpit preach at Antananarivo among the heathen, who became the followers of the Lamb; nor would it be like the scene a few years past, when I came to England with my companions in tribulation. Now we are scattered about upon the face of the earth, some have gone to their home to rest with their Saviour whom they loved, others in other parts, only one I see often now, my friend Simeon; however, in saying this, I do not sorrow as those without hope, but it reminds me that we are strangers and pilgrims here on earth. Blessed are they who serve God, and love Christ, and do his will, and are reconciled to him before they go hence and are no more!

I have the pleasure to tell you, how pleased the Malagasy were that dear sir, Mr. Freeman, has sent the long expected Malagasy books; we have commenced to sell the hymns and are going on very well. I have explained to them the reason of selling them, that they may have other books or tracts printed with that money; they said, "Do not explain that to us, dear David, it is enough what you explained to us the other day, that our Society does not depend upon the government, but upon God's blessing, as in regard to religious affairs, they serve God according to the means God give them, and by that reflection, and upon the favour of God upon them join to send the Gospel abroad to the perishing heathen, and ought we not to assist them with pleasure? If it were in our power we would pay anything that came to us for the benefit of the Society, but you know we are poor creatures, and it is a very small thing that we can do. May the people of God in England be blessed by God!"

We have not heard anything in regard to the Hova Government in Madagascar, no communication from them at all at present. We heard however from our friend Joseph Rasoamaka last month; there was a letter for me, and one for Mr. Le Brun, which I translated for him into English, together with one

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which was written by his converts addressed to us. The principal information is this: Joseph Rasoamaka had made two voyages to the island where Andrialaina is, and returned to his old place at Mohilla, where it seems he is more useful than at Maiotte. says, "I have been wandering about at the neighbouring island to look for a place where I might establish a school; but could not find any, so I shall go to Maiotte to get a vessel to take me to Anosibe, and from thence I will go to Anosimitsia to visit the people whom Rafaravavy and I have taught the word of life, and if the Sakalavas there would like me to teach them, then I shall stay among them, and if not then I will go to the Mauritius, for the people here are few to learn, and not only that, but are not at liberty." He asks Mr. Le Brun's direction what he should do.

As for me, I can say with thankfulness to the Almighty God, that through his protection I enjoy my health, and am strong, and nothing prevents me from serving Him in telling to the people the word of truth and love which comes from above; Jehovah in that resolves to show what his almighty grace can do. And while I am calling them to hearken unto me, that I may teach them the fear of the Lord, I tell them also what the Lord hath done for my soul, for we are commanded by the Apostle Peter, "Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear."

Wishing every blessing of our heavenly Father may rest upon you, believe me your most affectionate and obedient servant, DAVID RATSARAHOMBA.

LEBANON.

From Mr. W. Manning.

The Mountains of Lebanon, July 1, 1849. I AM now staying in a part of the Lebanon which has almost a European climate, and which I hope, through mercy, will soon restore me again, and enabled me to pursue the work of the Lord, which I humbly trust He has called me to. The books, I regret to say, did not arrive till after the departure of the pilgrims, which, however, was not of so much consequence, as they were this year but comparatively few, not exceeding, perhaps, 6000— about half the usual quantity-and which falling off is attributed to the unsettled state of Europe, and the prohibition of some of the rulers to the people's leaving their homes. The books which I had on hand-nearly half the former grant-I distributed as equally as I could, and in so doing had an advantage this year over the preceding one, by the kind permission of the commanders of the steamers, to make my distribution on board. By this means I avoided the risk of the books being taken away by the priests and left in the

convents a measure which my late experience has taught me was very necessary to provide against, as the circumstance of my residing at Jaffa had greatly increased the vigilance of the priests of all the denominations, for both Romans, Greeks, and Armenians are equally opposed, and prevent to the utmost of their power, the diffusion of light by the circulation of the holy word. For a long time previous to my leaving, their conduct towards me became particularly marked and disrespectful, such as not even to give or return a salutation at meeting.

When I went on board the "Grand Turk" steamer, there were from two to three hundred passengers embarked, consisting of persons from almost every part of the Turkish, and many from the Persian, empire; and upon opening the box before them containing the books, a number came flocking around, and anxiously asked if they were for sale; and being answered in the affirmative, they began immediately to lament their inability to purchase. This was a circumstance I was quite prepared for, and fully expected to meet, from the difficulty I had witnessed, on the shore, that many of them had in making up the money for their passage, for the smallness of their number had only increased the extortion of the priests at the convents, where everything that could had been literally wrung out of them. At length I told them, that such of them as had not the means of buying the books I would give, provided they would promise me to take care of and read them. Accordingly, in about three hours I had disposed of the whole, and was prepared to leave the ship; but just at this time an accident occurred, in the arrival of two priests as passengers, a Greek and an Armenian, who, as soon as they came on board, and learnt what I had done, went directly amongst the people, telling them that the books they had received were Protestant books, and which, if they persisted in keeping, would certainly bring a curse upon them, and entirely destroy the merits of their late pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre. Thus they went on, from persuasion to threatening, and at first I thought they would have prevailed; but upon asking them if they had ever read the books themselves, they said, with much bitterness, they had not, nor ever would. I then exhorted the people to use their own liberty, and judge for themselves; and if, upon reading the books, they found the priests' account of them to be true, to throw them away; but if, on the contrary, they found them to bear the marks of truth, I entreated them to take care how they despised and turned away from the only written revelation that God had given of himself to our fallen race; and that whether they believed or not, the Bible, and that alone, would assuredly be their judge at the last day.Bible Society's Extracts.

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Missionary Magazine

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CHRONICLE.

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EBENEZER CHAPEL AND MISSION PREMISES, WEST-COAST, DEMERARA.-Vide p. 490.

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