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THE CONVERT AND HIS TEACHER.

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or set forth the love of God in Christ, we have felt, as we saw their earnest, attentive looks, how true was that word of the Saviour, "To the poor the Gospel is preached." We shall watch with interest the reception which these poor people give us on our second round, d which we have commenced with the new half-year. i

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at ritod Our Missionaries have not yet had much help from the native church in Madras. They had three visits from one of the native pastors, whose preaching at the tents and in the villages was greatly valued. One catechist also came and gave good help for a week. But we trust that the very fact of European Missionaries travelling about amongst the heathen, without native helpers, will rouse our native Christians to effort.

May the good Lord bless our Missionaries in their work, and make them a blessing!

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THE CONVERT AND HIS TEACHER. ⠀⠀ diwas TAM-CHING, a Christian Chinese, at present studying for the ministry at Canton, thus comforts the Missionary, who in California, had been the instrument of his conversion, and who was in deep affliction, having lost his wife gust out ofida ona brudova ult Wishing the illustrious teacher, from the most high Jehovah, which is the true God in three persons, may receive grace and peace.

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bus I remember that formerly in God's house I heard the doctrine : it pointed me to heaven. With the deepest thankfulness, I received those distinguished favours. It is now a long time since, by your kindness and pains, I received those benefits, but though my heart was cut in twain, I could not forget. 292 vild stifl JoLim-olqar The report is, that the lady has bid adieu and departed from this dusty world, and, relying on the grace of the Lord, has ascended up to heaven's mansion, there face to face to chant the praises of the one true God in three persons. 91% bit,atorconia orous Souls was it pumpolqator 926lliv According to man's reasoning, this is the sundering and separating of one body; and truly it is a cause for grief and weeping! But according to the teachings of the book of glad tidings, Paul says, For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain also he says, To depart and be with Christ is far better. Jesus says, I will cause that where I am there shall ye be also. Therefore, from these points of view, considering the subject, we contemplate the soul while in the body as a lamp covered by an earthen vas véssel: if suddenly the vessel is broken its light shines out bright as the sun and the moon. Now say whether it is a cause for mourning, or a cause for rejoicing? trod but our rada shy I worek me red ow rottul

While in this world there is not one thing we can call our own but having departed from the world suddenly we become possessors of all things then which is better, to be poor, or to be rich Ah, how blessed is it to go home! ni mzot the 975 54 inly bus: 2 bis 1991l ferAlthough the husband and wife in all affairs-in feelings, in love are Modong out to vote od) mod blo, bu, (9yalfiv niz ft most matails

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THE TINNEVELLY MISSION.T

intensely bound together, and belong to one another, and when suddenly. I one is taken from the world, it is like the sundering of the string of a harp, whose heart, thus broken, would not be in extreme distress? Yet let mer express ten thousand hopes that the harp-string may be again united.

Properly my duty requires that I should hasten to your palace, and in person set forth and expand my words for the comfort of your heart; but, alas! the distance is great, hills and streams separate us, and though hurriedly I might run I would never get through. Therefore earnestly I arrange a few words, and embrace an opportunity just now offering, respectfully to send my composition, which is as uncultivated as thei crowing of the fowls, but yet offered with a sincere heart, though the penmanship is coarse, and the style wanting in elegant diction and in the respectful phraseology. dur zeg7 97 6979 of boot 18 T. LX

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anco od tridt samment end to tubomoa og 207 SA 2920 #1 NA LIVING OR DYING TO CHRISTI \/ at #dok I know not what to choose--whether to liveb üld of grunar A little longer here, or to depart :

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w od bo That would be sweet to be at rest, to toile „bo, at No more; no more feel pain, to have no griefs,

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No anxious fears, nor for myself nor others,

That would be sweet; and sweeter still, to have

No more for sin, affection or desire:

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But to be near, and feel that nearness; near
Unto my Lord: to have a thrilling sense

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Of blessedness, the certainty of joy life are2AS tetur,red At hand yet greater ; safe, for ever safe.197 at nad od „denda - stevior e Left So to be resting would be sweet, and yet To live for Christ—to live to do His pleasure,

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To fight the fight, clad in His panoply,
Jedan Knowing that He looks on the while, and smiles
By love unfathomable ever moved.
To go and tell to others of His grace,
The bliss unutterable of the life
That is in Him.

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Surely a life so spent is blessedness, And all too little to repay His love-oord neer is goed The love of His most costly sacrifice. Which shall I choose-living, to live to Christ, dencio Or dying, die to Him which shall I choose? Whichever of the twain shall to Thy glory be," That, Lord, I pray, Thou wilt appoint for me."i

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THE following interesting fragments of intelligence have been communicated to us by one of our native pastors in Tinnevelly. Our readers are aware that we have now many of these men, doing the

THE TINNEVELLY MISSION.T

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Lord's work efficiently among their countrymen Last May there were sixteen of them: this month thirteen more have been added. The Lord increase the number of pastors and flocks more and more, until the plains of Tinnevelly be covered with them. Our correspondent, the Rev. V. Devanagayam, is in the Sivagasi district.

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23 stars prequat lua chil,tam ar soetab bit We have not as yet been successful in gathering any converts either from Brahmins or Mohammedans. Their prejudice towards our religion; does not seem to have diminished at all.pzoq non vor bigos of viites0291 Some of the Brahmins in North Tinnevelly are a wealthy class of people, though they are not proportionably intelligent. They are there fore little fitted to examine where truth exists and thus satisfy the cravi ings of their hearts. Of all the Brahmins I have ever met with, I can think of but one, who lives near Puthoor, to be a man of some learning. He was so confident of his learning, that he once proposed to have a discussion with Mr. Ragland. But it is his learning which Satan uses as a means to blind his eyes lest he should see see the excellency that is in Christ. I have, however, some hopes of a Brahmin who lives at Kaluguinalei, a notable heathen village not far from this place; and the way by which he has been led to know and appreciate the truth of Christianity is worthy of notice. You may remember an account given by me of an intelligent heathen schoolmaster of that place. He had received, through me, a Tamil New Testament, a gift of the Bible Society, and read it several times over, and, being convinced of the truth contained therein, although he has not publicly professed the name of Christ, he began to tell his friend, the Brahmin referred to above, what his belief was about the Christian religion. Hence arose a private discussion on the subject between them both for nearly ten months; and now, through God's mercy, the Brahmin has been thoroughly convinced. of the truth of Christianity, though h he h has not as yet overcome the fear of the world. The Lord, however, who has the hearts of all mankind, knows when and how to bring him and the schoolmaster to the fold. The schoolmaster now holds public discussion with the learned heathen of the place, advocating the truth which he found after two years' patient search and inquiry.

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Besides the Brahmins who hate Christianity, are some other classes of men here who are no less haters of our holy religion than the former, and these are the Zemindars and Kattukuthagaidan (land proprietors). The Brahmins dislike Christianity because their idol worship is exposed, and the difference of caste, of which the Brahmins claim to be the highest, is set at naught by the teaching and preaching of the Gospel. And the reason why the Zemindars hate Christianity is because it stands, to some extent, in the way of their oppressing their poor subjects; for they know by experience that when they begin to do wrong and injustice to their poor subjects, they join the Christians, and hence their cruel freedom of exacting unlawful gain is curtailed. Of this there. are several instances. But if any of these great men become sincere Christians, they will, no doubt, prove a great blessing to the church, as well as to their tenants, some of whom, at least, will, through God's

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THE TINNEVELLY MISSION.

blessing, be inclined to follow their great Lord's example. But the words of our blessed Lord, viz. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," are literally applicable to the case of these rich men. You ask me if I am in the habit of paying them friendly visits. I see them now and then, and make it a point to set the Gospel before them each time I see them, and they are outwardly civil to me, and listen attentively to the Gospel message; but I fear that their real wish is that I should never preach either to themselves or their dependants. The Lord open their eyes to see the unsearchable riches of Christ!

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Nearly 130 people in my district have come over during the last eighteen months. The motives of many of these are, I fear, of a very mixed character.

I am able, however, to inform you of a definite and interesting case of conversion that has taken place here a few months ago, in the person of a Naik of some importance. He had been, until he became a Christian, a priest to a heathen goddess named Dhioodhei; but he had received from Mr. Meadows and myself our books in Telugu, which he had continued read. He had also been in the habit of paying me a visit, with a view to learn a little English, having already known two of the native languages. Of course, each time he came to me I tried to speak the Gospel to him, entreating him to receive the Lord Jesus as his own Saviour. I did not know then that he was a heathen priest. His reply at each time was, that he had been convinced of the truth of Christianity, but that his stood in his way; that the moment she knew he became a Christian she would desert him. All my reasonings and expostulations seemed to make no impression upon him. The last time he came I found out, though not from himself, that he had been the priest of a heathen goddess; that people from thirty and forty miles had come to consult him, and worship the goddess through him, and that the fact was one of the chief reasons which kept him from becoming a Christian. I then told him plainly that he was not only accountable for his own sins, but also that the blood of all those people whose eyes had been blinded through his witchcraft would be required at his hands. He then went away, evia heavy heart, and that was the last time I saw him as a heathen. Ever since that time he became a more frequent reader of the Bible, and less earnest in the worship of his idol. But this always was so apparent, that it was at once noticed by his bigoted wife, who, while her husband was busy, seized seven of his Scripture portions, and destroyed them.

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You can fancy what might have been the feelings of the poor man, who was fondly attached to the books. He was quite indignant at his wife's rash conduct, went at once to his heathen temple, cut the wooden goddess in pieces, which had been worshipped with so much veneration for three generations in his family, the priesthood having come down to him from his grandfather, besides all the brass utensils belonging to the temple; declared to his wife and his other relatives that he was no more a heathen, much less their family priest, but that he had become a Christian; and so on the following Sunday he went and worshipped with my Christians at Alagaburi, which is near his village. Ever since he became a Christian ansoms honordgrit to boord & ea folltog i holbbad yout

GREAT VOLCANIC ERUPTION.

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he is obliged to cook his own food, his wife hating him with all possible hatred; and the extent of her hatred to him might be gathered from the following account of her treatment of one of her children, who is very fond of his father. The other day she found the child on his father's lap, upon which she was so enraged, that she laid hold of him, and, after beating him, she went on to put pepper into his eyes for going near his father. May God have mercy on the poor woman, and soon make her follow the good example of her husband! The man's name is Tola Naik, and his age is forty. He rejoices in his new profession, and appears to grow in grace, and even increases in fervency.

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THE great volcano at Hawaii, called Mouna Loa, broke forth in April last with a dread eruption. Fire was seen at four points, and the lava streams rushed down rapidly in different directions, the largest stream flowing in the direction of Kahuku in Kau. Then came the shocks of earthquakes, which were felt all round the island. At Kahuku the stone church was destroyed, as well as other buildings. Suddenly the eruptón stopped; the smoke and fires disappeared, but the jars, vibrations and tremblings of the earth went on almost incessantly, day and night. The ground quivered, and the island seemed as though it had no stable foundation.

At length, on the fifth day after the volcano had begun to heave, a shock of earthquake came, such as the island had never before experienced.

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The carth rose and sank, and its surface rolled like the ocean in a storm. Trees swayed to and fro; shrubbery and grasses trembled; stone walls fell flat; underpinning of houses was thrown down; houses reeled, trembled, cracked; some tilted, some slid nearly off from their foundations, a few fell. Timbers, ceilings, partitions, plastering, &c., cracked; furniture, earthen and glass ware, were shivered; book-cases, bureaus, wardrobes, cabinets, tables, &c., were started from their places, and many thrown down with violence; and all houses were filled with débris, from garret to cellar. Chimneys and smoke-stacks fell; stoves were smashed; ovens broken; baths broken up; machinery in sugar-mills disturbed; sugar-boilers and cooling vats nearly emptied; and all things on the earth's surface moved. The shock was terrific, and its violence lasted some three minutes. The earth rent, and seams and fissures, from an inch to two feet wide, opened in the streets and fields. Avalanches of rocks and earth fell from the precipices along the coast; banks caved off; watercourses ran mud; the sea rose and swept over the lower banks and barriers; and general consternation reigned among the people. The noise of the cracking earth, of the falling of thousands of feet of stone wall, of the rocking houses, breaking of timbers, boards, &c., and the smashing of furniture and wares, was confusing.

Some persons were killed, others marvellously escaped. A company of children were playing under a ledge on the sea-shore, when the great shock came. They huddled together like a brood of frightened chickens

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