decide what I will do. I will put it off a little while, and see if I can forget it. Who knows but the writing of the above may cajole me into the belief that I have discharged my duty in the premises. Sometimes we can talk down a sense of duty, and why can I not do it by writing? Sometimes I say I will see if the Lord will not send Peter's trout with an X in his mouth that I can send to you; but if the V comes, it is not plain that it is my duty to send it. O dear! 27th April, Sunday. I inclose $2, received to-day, for the use and benefit of the A. B. C. F. M. P. S. I received $2.50 (I retain the fifty cents) for a visit to a man sick with consumption. I wish I had charged $3, and sent all. It would have been a very reasonable charge for the visit, but it is better to charge too little than too much for one's services, even if the avails are given to the Lord. The Honolulu "Friend," noticing the occasion, says: "Sixteen years ago, away nearly 2,000 miles to the S. W. from Honolulu, there were living 30,000 or 40,000 inhabitants on the Kingsmill or Gilbert group of islands. They were living in the very lowest state of heathenism, without a written language, reported very cruel and savage, dwelling on low coral islands, without any commodity except cocoanut oil to exchange for articles of civilized life, and having no desire for trade except for tobacco. Their clothing consisted of the veriest fig-leaf arrangements made of the pandanus leaf. Among such a people, Mr. and Mrs. Bingham took up their abode in 1857, and commenced the study of their language; and now, after sixteen years have rolled away, he has completed the translation of the entire New Testament. "At the gathering to which we have referred, nearly all the old missionaries residing in Honolulu were present. It was eminently a social and congratulatory ANOTHER TRANSLATION OF THE NEW TES- occasion. His Majesty honored the gath TAMENT. On Friday evening, April 11th, there was a joyful gathering at Honolulu. Mr. Bingham writes: "On the morning of that day I was permitted to complete the translation and proof-reading of the Gilbert Islands' New Testament. What words shall I use to tell you of my great joy! It has been a blessed privilege, for which I would ever be thankful to my Master. During the fourteen years in which I have been more or less engaged in this work, my health has repeatedly been such as to make it seem very doubtful whether I should ever be able to finish it. But my life has been spared; and I call upon my soul to bless the Lord. "Friday evening was made the occasion of thanksgiving to God for this special mercy. We called together some fifty of our friends and neighbors, and more especially the members of the Hawaiian Board and their wives, saying to them, 'Rejoice with us.' They began to assemble about half-past seven o'clock. Among them was His Majesty, to whom I had sent an invitation." ering by his presence, and the informal but highly appropriate manner in which he conducted the venerable Mrs. Thurston to the adjoining room, where a generous repast was spread, was a most pleasing feature of the occasion. Before partaking of the 'good things' which were provided, there were some exercises worthy of note. Prayer was offered by the Rev. Lowell Smith, the Rev. Mr. Pogue, Secretary of the Hawaiian Board of Missions, most appropriately addressed the Rev. Mr. Bingham, who read an historical sketch of the translation.' One most interesting feature of the gathering should not be omitted. Several Gilbert Island natives came forward and received each a copy of the New Testament, on that day completed. The price having been fixed at 60 cents, each one paid for the book as it was handed out. Among them was the one who has been assisting in the work of translation, and his intelligent countenance and prompt answers indicated that an educated Gilbert Islander will take a high rank among Polynesians." A CHANGED SAVAGE AND THE SLAVERS. At the late annual meeting of the London Missionary Society, Mr. Lawes, a missionary from Savage Island, said, "The vile Peruvian slavers, who visited our island some years ago, took away, on one occasion, a large number of young men; and at night a fine youth was brought on shore a corpse, shot through the head by the wretches who had visited the island. The next day was our ordinary service day, and, instead of preaching, we had a prayermeeting, and I called upon an old man to pray who a few years ago had been the most feared and dreaded warrior on the island. His Christian name was David, and his own son, a few weeks previous, had been taken. He stood up and prayed, and I shall never forget his prayer. He prayed for those who were sorrowing, whose sons and husbands had been taken away; he prayed for the stolen, that God would be with them; and then he prayed for their vile captors, that God would have mercy upon them, lest they should die in their sins. The cruel, bloodthirsty warrior, had become a disciple of Him who prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'" A WORD TO CHURCHES AND PASTORS BY A LAYMAN. (FROM the Address of E. M. Blatchford, Esq., at the Triennial Convention, Chicago, April, 1873.) "How can the tide of selfishness, which in this age of worldly enterprise threatens to engulf the Church, be stayed, unless Christians exemplify, in their own lives, the positive commands of their Lord for entire, hearty service? We forget the meaning of our Christian calling, 'Come out from among them, and be ye separate.' We forget God's ideal of of Christian living, if we would see the Church advancing in an upward path. We are unworthy to bear the Christian name unless we so identify our work with Christ's work, that we can say, 'It is all for Thee.' For such standard-bearers does Christendom wait. "And here, brethren who are pastors, permit me, as a business man, to assure you that you need not hesitate, from fear of giving offense, to urge upon your congregations this duty of liberality, so vital to perfectly developed Christian character. We often have special, powerful, eloquent pleas for certain benevolent objects; but do we, when no special cause demands an immediate collection, have from our own pastors the duty of systematic, generous giving presented as essential to vital godliness, as a necessary part of Christian worship, as a proof of Christ's religion in the heart? We are too apt, in pleading essential to the onward movement of for these grand enterprises, each one so Christ's kingdom, to identify with them our poor selves in such a way as to shrink and stammer, when we should with boldness plead for the Lord Jesus in the persons of his poor, thus failing 'to declare the whole counsel of God.' Where in God's Word do we find his commands doubtfully stated, encumbered with those fatal conjunctions if and but? They are not here. The commands ring out clear, God speaks, and ye are his ambassadors. "A brother from a feeble frontier church says: 'My church cannot afford field. My brother, I appreciate your one cent for anything outside our own case; but I believe this is a false position. Act on this principle, and you would dry up the fountain itself. The means that will afford even the scanty support to your church, will supply a mile, at least, to the claims outside; but enough to convey sym discipleship, Ye are the temple of the living God.' The Christianity of to-day is endeavoring, by a so-called rational, in-pathy and encouragement to an object of Christian benevolence, and secure a reflex influence of strength to yourself and flock." your nocent conformity, to win the world. Brethren, never can it be done. Our business life, our social life, our home life, must be of a type so pure, so exalted, that even casual observers will recognize its divine source. And our children must be LENDING UNTO THE LORD. FROM an earnest missionary band at imbued with these fundamental principles the Sandwich Islands come letters expres sive of heartiest thanks for the gift of a carriage sent them not long since by Boston friends, at the suggestion of a lady, who, having been for several years a resident at the Islands, knew the needs of that company of faithful laborers. The Bingham family, as missionaries there, have long been known to the religious public. Now the second generation occupy the missionary premises, "reaping" where their parents "sowed." Miss Lydia Bingham, Principal of the Kawaiahao Seminary for native girls at Honolulu, writes, on the reception of this timely gift, with that "keenness of pleasure that is akin to joyous pain," how deeply they have all been touched by the generosity and thoughtfulness of these New England friends. TO RETIRED PHYSICIANS. A WANT IN CHINA. SOME months ago, Dr. Osgood wrote from Foochow, China, as follows:-the want has not yet been met; who will meet it? "I am in need of an articulated skeleton and a set of anatomical plates. There are a few young men here (two of them Christians) who are desirous of studying Western medicine; and as it is impossible to teach Anatomy by actual dissections here, it becomes almost indispensable to have a skeleton (one wired together) and a set of plates. It may be that some Christian physician who has retired from practice, or the widow of some physician, has either the plates or the skeleton, and would gladly donate the same to aid the medical work in China. I shall be pleased to acknowledge such a donation by a letter, and will send the annual report of the hospital to the donor." THE PRESBYTERIANS PAYING A DEBT. THE Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions were constrained to report a debt of $128,000 at the recent meeting of the General Assembly at Baltimore. What should be done? The Missionary Com mittee reported a motion in favor of retrenchment. There was opposition to this policy, and the matter was laid upon the table, in order to test the willingness of the Assembly to lift the debt at once. Then commenced a hearty and earnest giving of pledges, personal, and for a specific church or Presbytery, and in a short time $75,000 were pledged, in about two hundred subscriptions; "and the stream was still flowing when it was cut off by action intended to extend the appeal to the whole church." We heartily congratulate our Presbyterian brethren - the Board and the missionaries in view of a movement so auspicious. GLEANINGS. DR. JESSUP reports twenty-eight as received to the church at Beirût, Syria, during the last year - a larger number than in any previous year of the mission's history. The average Sabbath congregation is from 450 to 500, and the Sabbath school, numbering from 300 to 400, is full of energy and work. Mr. Bird writes, "The light is surely spreading in this land"Syria. The Foreign Committee of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States announce, that since the day of prayer for an increased supply of missionaries, in December last, a missionary physician has been raised up and appointed for Japan, five young men in the Theological Seminary in Wisconsin have expressed an earnest desire to be sent to the foreign field; two presbyters and four deacons in Hayti, colored men, are waiting for appointment; and from some others, also, in seminaries and elsewhere, the response comes, "Here am I, send me." Is there more missionary zeal among Episcopalians than in other denominations? The Lieutenant Governor of Bengal has just taken measures to extend female education in his Presidency, but demands that it be based on religion. "Natives will not have their daughters taught without the moral safeguards given by religion, whether Hindooism or Christianity." Efforts so much lauded for a time in the other direction, have utterly failed. About 11,000 pupils in the schools of India are now learning English. Prof. Seelye's example has called out a course of lectures at Bombay, for students and educated natives, by Dr. Wilson, of the Free Church Institution. One of them contrasted the Prayers of the Bible with those found in the Vedas and Avesta. Mr. Coan reports his monthly concert collections as having averaged $100 a month for several years. The whole number gathered by him into the churches under his care, on profession of faith, exceeds twelve thousand. What a record for one missionary life! What Rome teaches may be seen from the following extracts from a work entitled, "the Glories of Mary," which is heartily commended by the late and present Archbishop of Westminster: "In heaven we have but one advocate, and that is thyself [Mary]; thou alone art truly loving and solicitous for our welfare." - Page 158. "All who are saved are saved only by the means of this Divine Mother."- Page 71. "Mary so loved the world as to give her only begotten Son."- Page 469. The (London) Record, May 5, 1873. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. The Reformation. By GEORGE P. FISHER, D. D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History in Yale College. 8vo. pp. 620. New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co. It is not our purpose to repeat the commendation so generally bestowed upon this volume, as a clear, concise, impartial, and, withal, eminently readable history of the Great Reformation. It has special interest for us in presenting the attempt made, the success achieved, and the subsequent failure to revive a pure Christian faith in those nominally Christian lands in which the American Board has recently established missions. We would gladly have a copy of Dr. Fisher's work placed in the hands of every missionary engaging in this new effort, and in all our Seminaries abroad for the instruction of young men in preparation for the ministry. One lesson only can we refer to as taught with emphasis in these pages - the futility of all attempts at the renovation of the Church of Rome from within. The grosser practical abuses that creep in under the shadow of ecclesiasticism, may be purged away, or suspended for a time, without impairing the strength of the system. Men of culture in Italy, that seemed not far from the truth, yet remaining within the pale of the church, eventually became its ablest supporters, and helped to turn back the tide of reformation that at one time seemed likely to reach the shores of the Mediterranean. "Come out from among them and be ye separate ❞— a command with a most precious promise - suggests the only method justified by experience in dealing with Rome, or the churches of the Orient. Suggested Emendations of the Authorized Version of the Old Testament. By ELIAS RIGGS, D. D., LL. D., Missionary of the A. B. C. F. M., at Constantinople. 12mo, pp. 130. (Retail price, $1.00.) Andover: Warren F. Draper. 1873. This little volume is one of the incidental but rich fruits of twenty-six years of labor in the study of the text of the Scriptures, while translating them into the Armenian and Bulgarian languages. Its publication is timely, while the high reputation of the author, as among the foremost of Oriental scholars, - hardly less esteemed for his patient accuracy than for his reverence for the sacred volume, will justly command respect for such a contribution to biblical learning, from his pen. Prof. Thayer, of Andover, as a labor of love, has kindly seen the work through the press, and added a few notes of interest. Prof. Thayer's estimate is expressed in an introductory note, as follows: "The unlearned reader will be gratified to find texts which have been enigmas to him, cleared up by a rectification of the rendering; and in his daily perusal of Scripture, this little volume will prove to him a summary of many commentaries. The student, in his turn, will be interested to discover what view is taken of obscure passages by one who, to occidental learning, has added the advantages of a life spent in biblical studies amid the lan- terized by profound thought, logical stateguages and customs of the East." If some good friend would put two hundred copies of this work into our hands, we would gladly give them a world wide circulation among the missionaries and the native pastors who read English. We would like to join with this another volume, just from the press of the American Tract Society, Boston : The Ministry we need. By SETH SWEETSER, D. D. (Price 75 cents.) This is a book for the times. No minister, no student, can read it without finding his views of the high duties, the precious privileges, and the solemn import of the sacred office, enlarged, and his heart quickened to a new consecration to Christ and his cause. We bespeak for it a circulation in all our colleges and seminaries. Prof. Seelye's Lectures in India. The "Bombay Guardian" of April 12, says: "We are happy to announce the publication of 'The Way, the Truth, and the Life,' Lectures to educated Hindoos, by Professor Seelye. Four lectures delivered by Professor Seelye when among us, recently, are included in this very handsomely got up volume. The first lecture is on The Desirable End of Progress,' the second shows the Christian Religion to be worthy of Examination, the third treats of "The Light of Life,' and the fourth is on the 'Need of a Divine Work in Man's Redemption.' We may be in error, but we have the feeling that nothing more admirable than these lectures has ever been given to the theists of India. They are charac ment, real clearness, simplicity, frankness, and faithfulness. The sincerity, and cordial, kindly feeling of the lecturer are constantly manifest. We cannot but hope that this little volume will be accepted by our native friends in the same spirit in which it has been written. The volume has been published in different bindings by the Bombay Tract and Book Society." DEPARTURES. REV. S. B. STONE and wife, of the Zulu mission, sailed from New York in the Canada, for Liverpool, May 17, returning to their field in South Africa. Rev. Thomas L. Gulick, son of Rev. P. J. Gulick, of the Sandwich Islands mission, educated at Rutgers and Williams Colleges, and Union and Andover Theological Seminaries, and Mrs. Alice E. (Walbridge) Gulick, from Chicago, Illinois, sailed from New York, May 17, in the steamer Anglia, for Glasgow, on the way to join the mission in Spain. DEATHS. AT Rocky Hill, Conn., May 15, Mrs. Mary C., wife of Rev. John C. Smith, of the Ceylon mission. The Woman's Board of Missions has not only been called to a sore affliction, but has sustained a heavy loss, in the death of Mrs. Louisa F. Bartlett, wife of Homer Bartlett, Esq., the efficient Treasurer of the Board since its organization. She died at her home in Boston, on the 27th of May. |