THE AGED CONVERT OF GORRUCKPORE.

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remain fresh (green) and flourishing. For one year more I will continue to look for and expect you: till then, may the land into which you scattered the seed remain like a well-watered garden; and may this little bed of earth, my heart, be every moment refreshed! If in a short time you should not return, bid me to England; and I will go, just have an interview, and take my leave of this world for ever. Every day is a year to me, because I am left thus alone. There is nothing like love: it is stronger than death: it will live for ever. May love divine fill my soul! May the Holy Spirit evermore dwell in this heart, and make it ready for death-ready to meet the Judgment-ready to inherit Heaven! Forget not this old man, and pray that the sickle may not do its work till the corn is fully ripe. And should this one sheaf be gathered in soon, and be safely deposited, yet forget not the thousand that still remain ungathered, unripened, uncultivated. Still remember, that the harvest is great, and few the planters, and few the cultivators, and few the reapers. May many, very many, enter into your labours, when this now tottering staff shall be broken! and may you be crowned, when the great harvest of the world shall come! May this reach you from this slave of earth and dust. Written A. D. 1841, 19th of the month.

Few things in the New-Zealand Mission have been more remarkable than the degree in which Christian Truth has been made known by the sole agency of the Natives themselves; and this, not only by those who have been specially instructed by the Missionaries for this purpose, but by some of whose labours the Missionaries had no idea. Many, like Andrew and Philip, having found the Saviour themselves, have sought their brethren and friends, and endeavoured to bring them to Jesus. The case of the Western District, which has been referred to, is a remarkable illustration of this. In many parts of the interior also, when the Missionaries have journeyed over ground never before trodden by Europeans, they have

106 PERSEVERING ATTENDANCE ON PUBLIC WORSHIP.

been astonished to find chapels built, some of the Natives able to read, and many in the habit of assembling for Worship.

Mr. B. Ashwell, describing a journey which he made to the southward, remarks, in a Letter dated April 20, 1841:

In the course of my trip, I made known the Gospel at thirty-two Pas, and found the Natives exceedingly anxious for instruction. Books, especially the New Testament, are prized more than gold or trade of any description. All the Natives I met with in this journey, with the exception of those in Mokau, profess Christianity, and some few possess it. There is not a Pa I have passed through, but some of the Natives can read; and only one Pa in which I did not find a Testament. The distance I travelled is 402 miles.

PERSEVERING ATTENDANCE ON PUBLIC WORSHIP.

THE REV. J. Smithurst records, in his Journal, the following instances of persevering attendance on Public Worship, which cheered him in his labours in the North-West-America Mission:

Aug. 23, 1840: Lord's Day-After Service at the Grand Rapids this morning, I was accompanied to the Indian Settlement, a distance of thirteen miles, by a number of young men, some on horseback and some on foot, who desired to attend the Service. May God bless His Word to their souls, and make them amends for the toil of a journey of twenty-six miles!

Dec. 6: Lord's Day-I left home at sun-rise for Grand Rapids. The thermometer was very little below the freezingpoint. I had a most delightful ride, skirting the river for about three miles, and then through the woods for five miles, to the Fort. The rays of the sun, shooting through the trees, gave to their stems and branches the appearance of being gilt, while the icicles suspended from the twigs sparkled like diamonds. Although an uncultivated country like this must at all times appear wild and dreary, yet such was the life thrown into the scene by the rising sun, that it appeared indeed an apt emblem of that light which dawned upon the world when the Sun of Righteousness arose with healing in His wings, shedding His benign rays on those

SCRIPTURAL ILLUSTRATION.

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who sat in darkness and in the region and shadow of death. On entering the open plain beyond the Fort, I could see persons hastening toward the church from every quarter: many of them living eight miles from the Rapids, they would have sixteen miles to walk. I could not but fervently pray that God might bless their souls, enlighten their minds, and warm their hearts with the gracious influence of His Spirit. The Church was quite full, and the people remarkably attentive.

Jan. 3, 1841: Lord's Day-I was driven to the Grand Rapids by one of my Indian Boys; but such was the intensity of the cold-more than 40° below zero, mercury frozen-that though I was almost buried in woollens, and covered with a buffalo robe, I could not keep myself warm. The horse was completely white with hoar-frost, and the icicles were hanging from that part of the boy's hair which came below his cap. Notwithstanding the severity of the weather, the church was, as usual, quite full.

Jan. 12-The weather is so extremely cold, that I can now go out very little, except to the school-room. The Lecture this evening was very well attended; the cold, be it ever so severe, never prevents the Indians from coming to the school "to Prayers," as they call our Evening Service. What a striking contrast, in this respect, does our little village present, when compared with the state of highly-favoured England! Generally one half, and sometimes three-fourths of the adult population of the Indian Settlement assemble daily for the purpose of worshipping God, and listening to the truths of the Gospel.

SCRIPTURAL ILLUSTRATION.

ISAIAH XL. 6, 7.

THE very affecting images of Scripture, which compare the short-lived existence of man to the decay of the vegetable creation, are scarcely understood in this country. The verdure is perpetual in England: it is difficult to discover a time when it can be said, the grass withereth. But let the traveller visit the beautiful plain of Smyrna, or any other part of the East, in the month of May, and revisit it toward the end of June, and he will perceive the force and beauty of these allusions. In May, an appearance of fresh

108 "GOD'S WORK MUST BE DONE, AND I MAY BE DEAD!"

verdure and of rich luxuriance everywhere meets the eye: the face of nature is adorned with a carpet of flowers and herbage of the most elegant kind. But a month or six weeks subsequently, how changed is the entire scene!—the beauty is gone; the grass is withered; the flower is faded; a brown and dusty desert has taken place of a delicious garden. It is doubtless to this rapid transformation of nature that the Scriptures compare the life of man.

[Hartley's Researches in Greece and the Levant.

"GOD'S WORK MUST BE DONE, AND I MAY BE DEAD!" We take the following extract from the Missionary Register for November 1841:

A Chapel was to be built in Berbice. "In calling over the names, to ascertain how much the Negroes could give, I called," says the Missionary who records the fact, "the name of Fitzgerald Matthew. I am here, Sir,' he instantly replied; and at the same time I saw him hobbling, with his wooden leg, out of the crowd, to come up where I was standing. I wondered what he meant, for the others answered to their names without moving from their places. I was, however, forcibly struck with his earnestness. On coming up, he put his hand into one pocket, took out a handful of silver wrapped in paper, and said, 'That's for me, Massa.' 'Oh,' I said, 'keep your money at present; I don't want it now: I only wanted to know how much you could afford to give : I will come for the money another time.' 'Ah, Massa!' he replied, 'God's work must be done, and I may be dead!' and with that he plunged his hand into another pocket, took out another handful of silver, and said, 'That's for my wife, Massa.' Then he put his hand into a third pocket, took out a somewhat smaller parcel, and said, "That's for my child, Massa;' at the same time giving me a slip of paper, which somebody had written for him, to say how much the whole was. It was, altogether, near 31. sterling—a large sum for a poor field Negro with a wooden leg! But his expression was to me worth more than all the money in the world. Let me never forget it! Let it be engraved on my heart! Let it be my motto in all that I take in hand for the cause of Christ-God's work must be done, and I may be dead!'"

CHURCH MISSIONARY

GLEANER.

No. 10.

OCTOBER, 1842.

VOL. II.

REFLECTIONS UPON THE NIGER EXPEDITION.

Ar the Evening Meeting of the Church Missionary Society at Exeter Hall, on the 3d of May, the Rev. Samuel Rowe, Vicar of Crediton, Devon, seconded the following Resolution:

That the deeply affecting, but interesting results of the Niger Expedition demonstrate the obligation and necessity of employing, with increased vigour, every available means of training up Natives of Africa, to carry forward the Missionary Work in that vast and deeply-injured Continent.

We extract from Mr. Rowe's speech some passages of great practical importance, which we commend to the prayerful attention of our Readers.

With reference to the results of the Niger Expedition, although we feel humbled under God's visitation, we will not be discouraged: we may be perplexed, but not in despair. Despair, indeed, is a word which I would never desire to pronounce in connexion with the Church Missionary Society; and especially after what we have just heard, of the great progressive increase of the funds at particular junctures at the very crisis, it would seem, when

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