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PERSECUTION OF KAREN CHRISTIANS.

him why he read the Bible. Without the least hesitation he replied, "To teach me the way to heaven, sir." "Why, does the Bible say anything about little boys going to heaven?" "Yes sir: it says, 'Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.'" His replies to many more questions were equally appropriate and sensible, and in Scripture language. It struck me, he must have been in a Sabbath school. I asked him whether he had attended a Sabbath-school, and his eager reply was, "Yes I have, among the Methodists." Here was a sailor boy relieving the tediousness of affliction by reading his Bible, and carrying into practice the instructions he had received in a Sabbath-school. him several times afterwards, but he was always reading his Bible. Sabbath school teachers, take encouragement, and persevere. "Be not weary in well doing, for in due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not."

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Your affectionate son,
J. BROCKS,

MISSIONARY ANNIVERSARIES. ILKESTON AND NEWTHORPE.-On Lord'sday, Feb. 4th, we were favored with the services of Mr. Stubbins at our missionary anniversary. Mr. Peggs preached in the morning, from," He will famish all the gods of the earth," &c. In the afternoon Mr. Stubbins preached, from, "Blessed are the people which know the joyful sound ;" and in the evening, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." On Monday evening a very interesting missionary meeting was held at Newthorpe; Mr. Barber, of Babbington, took the chair, and the meeting was addressed by brethren Brocklehurst, (Wesleyan) Peggs, Smith, and Stubbins. Much interest was manifest in the great object of the meeting. Collections, £1. 13s. 9d. On Tuesday evening a very delightful meeting was held at Ilkeston. Mr. Bailey, one of our manufacturers, presided, and addresses were delivered by Messrs. Stevenson, Smith, Peggs, Brocklehurst, and Stubbins. Mr. S. spoke for about an hour and a half. Great satisfaction and delight have been expressed in the meeting. Collections, £6. Os. 6d. The severity of the weather, and other collections in the town, were unfavorable circumstances. On Tuesday morning Messrs. Stubbins, Smith, and Peggs, accompanied Mr. Barber into the coal pits at Babington, about 150 yards deep. They were much interested with the subterraneous world, and held a religious service among the colliers before they submerged to the light of heaven. The Babbington missionary meeting is deferred till the new chapel is opened. A FRIEND.

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CONINGSBY.-The friends of the General Baptist cause, and of missions generally, in Coningsby, enjoyed a rich treat on Sunday and Monday, Jan. 8th and 9th, in the visit of the brethren Stubbins and Buckley, on behalf of the mission. On Sunday each of them preached an appropriate and excellent sermon, which was listened to by large and attentive audiences. On Monday, at two and six o'clock, the missionary meetings were held, which were addressed by friends from the Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist bodies; after which the thrilling statements of the deputation were listened to with the deepest interest by overflowing congregations, numbers being unable to find seats; every part of the chapel, vestry, and school room, being filled. The meetings were considered the best of the kind which have been held in

Coningsby for many years. Collections, £10. 10s.

C.

ISLEHAM.-On Lord's.day, Jan. 21st, two sermons were preached by the Rev. I. Stubbins, on behalf of our Indian mission, An interesting and numerously attended missionary meeting was held on the following Monday evening, when addresses were delivered by the Revds. M. Slater, D. Rees, J. Cranbrook, and I. Stubbins; J. Balls, Esq., in the chair. Collections, weekly contributions, &c., amounted to £13. 3s.

HUGGLESCOTE, &c.-On Lord's.day, Jan. 28, sermons were preached at Hugglescote, Whitwick, Coalville, and Ibstock; by Messrs. Stubbins and Buckley; and interesting public meetings were held-at Coalville on Monday, and at Ibstock on Tuesday evenings. They were addressed by the above brethren, the Rev. J. Goadby, and J. G. Pike, Sec. MEASHAM.· An interesting missionary meeting was held at this place, on Wednesday, January 31st, when each of the above brethren delivered addresses.

BARLESTON AND NEWBOLD. Sunday Scholars. At the annual tea meeting of the teachers and scholars of these schools, held in December last, which were addressed by Messrs. Derry, Cotton, and Stubbins, £1 16s were secured as profits, to be devoted to the Orphan Asylum at Berhampore.

MARKET HARBOROUGH.-An interesting public meeting was held at this place, on Monday, Feb. 12. The speakers were, Mr. Buckley, (their late pastor,) Mr. Stubbins, and other brethren, ministers in the town.

PERSECUTION OF KAREN CRHISTIANS.

THE following is an extract from a letter recently received by the missionary Kincaid,

now in America, from his associate in missionary labour, Mr. Abbott. The letter was dated Sandoway, April, 1843.

"The poor Karen Christians have suffered persecution again since you left. More than twenty were imprisoned for two months, among whom were women and small chil. dren. They were apprehended on their return from a great meeting, on the hills this side the frontier. The men were beaten, 'tonnzed,' the meaning of which you well understand, as you have been in Burmah.After they were dragged to prison, they were put to servile labour, and did not suffer more than prisoners usually do in Burmah, except from hunger. Being Karens, the Burmans in the city were either afraid or unwilling to give them food, and you know how prisoners fare in Burmah! When they were apprehended by inferior officers and beaten, an effort was made to extort from them some retractation, or an agreement that they would no longer embrace and follow the new religion. They were a few leading men among the prisoners, upon whom these attempts were made. But the Karens bore a most honourable testimony to the truth, and declared their determination to worship Jesus Christ, in the most fearless manner. When they were being examined before the Bassien, 'Myoo Woon,' another attempt was made to frighten them into some compromise; they were threatened with being buried alive, and with other Christians, which you are well aware the Burmese government know how to practice. But they did not swerve from their integrity in the least-thanks be to the grace of God. 'Kill us,' say they, "if you like.' 'If we live, we shall worship God.' So bold were they that the Myoo Woon said,' These Karens are very bold.'

"And all through their imprisonment, their steadfastness and fearlessness of death were remarkable, and sent surprise through the land. Many of the common people are favourable to the 'Religion of the Karens.' I really suspected they would suffer martyrdom. But it seems there was a disagreement between the officers and Bassien, by which means they were liberated-not, however, without being obliged to pay the jailor and his underlings, some 600 Rs. It was well for them, I think, that no missionary was near at the time, as, if one had been there, he would have probably interfered in some way; and you know the extreme jealousy of the Burmese government in such cases,

"Notwithstanding word was given out by the government, that all the disciples of Jesus were to be buried alive, still the threat remained unexecuted-and will 1 think; for, before these Karens were liberated, 200 Christian families had congregated, forsaking all their rice, which they had just harvested -but bringing with them some 400 buffaloes,

they escaped over the fronters in parties in the night: whole villages, men, women and children, buffaloes and dogs, and bringing as much of their goods and chattels as they could; and all these 200 families escaped without the cognizance of the officers of the land. Of course the government at Bassien are aware that if they persecute the Christians, they will leave the country. These emigrants have settled in this province, in two villages; and our very good friend, Mr. Shayre, according to his usual kindness, supplies them with rice for a year, and they pay him as soon as they can.

"The ordained pastors live in these new villages, and I am now training schoolteachers for them, and hope to have dayschools soon, as it is impossible to get one in ten of the children into a boarding school."

CAREFUL REVISION OF THE

HOLY SCRIPTURES.

THE following will interest our readers. It shews the great care bestowed on the translation of the word of God. It is from Mr. Wenger, bearing date November 14, 1843:

To the Old Testament in Bengali, now in course of publication, I daily devote several hours. The selection of the references devolves upon me exclusively. The share I take in the other parts of this work is the following. When a page, or rather a long slip amounting to about a page, has been set up, I read it, with a view to ensure a correct pointing and orthography. This done, Dr. Yates compares it with the Hebrew, and makes the necessary alterations accordingly. Then it is corrected at the press, after which it returns to me. I compare it with the Hebrew, and write my observations on the margin. In these I propose emendations, and state the reasons which lead me to propose them. Then I write the references at the bottom, after which the proof goes to Dr. Yates. He reads it, weighing my suggestions, and either adopts or rejects them. Then the proof is corrected, and returns to me in the shape of a page, regularly set up, with the references, &c. below. This page I compare either with Dr. Carey's version, or else (and this I have commenced since we came to the prophets,) with De Wette's German translation, the best in the world, as far as I know, except in the passages which refer to the atonement and the divinity of Christ. The margins of such a page are again bestudded with suggestions. Dr. Yates next reads four pages (a form,) again considering my previous remarks. In this proof he corrects chiefly the style. When he has seen it, it returns to me for correction. Another proof of four pages is usually

NEW ZEALAND.

the last Dr. Yates sees: I read that also, and a subsequent one, in which I chiefly pay attention to the typographical correctness, which being satisfactory, the proof is ordered for press. This is for the quarto edition. 1 am also responsible for the correct reprint of it in the octavo form, although I confess that the pundit alone usually reads the eight pages when put together. I only glance over it cursorily, before it goes to press. This, you will acknowledge, is tedious work, though by no means uninteresting. We are now far advanced in Jeremiah. You can easily imagine that sometimes much time is spent over a few verses. Occasionally Dr. Yates and I meet personally to discuss some particularly difficult passage. Although our progress, in this way, is but slow, yet we hope it is sure; and the work, when com. pleted, will stand for a considerable time. That it will be the final or standard version, I do not expect; for the language is still in a transition state, and forms an awkward medium of expressing true and Christian ideas on religion. When Dr. Carey came, he found the language scarcely so far advanced as the Greek was in the time of Homer. All the literature was of a poetical nature-and poetry, not like Homer's as to the ideas and the colouring, but like the poorer parts of the Odyssey as to versification. Dr. Carey was the first Bengali prose writer of any note. Since then the language has made rapid strides; but when it has become thoroughly Christianized it will be something very different, I expect, from what it is now. Take, as an instance, the word rain-bow. The real Bengali word for it means Rama's bow; but to avoid the heathen term, Christian writers use a word which means cloud-bow, a word which may be justified by passages, I believe, from Sanscrit authors, but which the natives, as long as they are heathen, will not understand so well as they would Rama's bow. standard version of the Bible will, I think, be executed some ages hence, by native Christian scholars: but it is of the highest importance, in the mean time, to supply the best temporary version that can be made.Baptist Magazine.

NEW ZEALAND.

BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF MISSIONARY TEACHING.

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Dec. 4th and 5th.-I met the brethren in the District-Committe, and on the evening of the latter day I held several interesting conversations with the natives. Aporo, (Apollos) a native teacher, said, " In our heathen state we sat like beasts in ignorance; and as dogs,

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seeing others with something good in their mouths, snatch it from them and fight, so we fought and killed each other. When a woman was found guilty of adultery, the tribes to which the parties concerned belonged made war, and killed the innocent as well as the guilty. When any one broke the tapu, murder was committed; when our women were confined, we put up a sort of tapu, and if any man approached, we allowed him to come near, and when he retired, we pursued and killed him. In our wars in former times we were not satisfied with the death of a few of our enemies, but sought for the entire destruction of the tribe to which they belonged, that we might take possession of their land. If murder was committed, we sought revenge for generations on the children and children's children of the murderers. If our friends and children died, we considered them as gods, and looked to them for support in war, and supposed they came and whistled to us. Our priests said they could see these gods, and from their appearance could tell whether we should be successful. We used to make as many mounds of earth as we wished to represent tribes, over which the priests prayed; and at night they said the gods came, and so marked them as to inform us what would be the fate of each tribe. Those who were slain in battle were cut up, as we cut up pigs; to each man was given his share. We then made a fire, burned off the skin, and when the flesh was cooked, beat it with a stick to make it soft, and ate it with potatoes. The heads we stuck upon posts. I asked him if he had eaten any: He replied, "Yes; and we used to think it sweet, like pork." Pursuing his narrative, he said, "Our attention was first drawn from these things by European articles. This commenced at the north, and afterwards found its way down here. The articles were axes, guns, spades, and pipes. We supposed the musket to be a god, and were much delighted when we got one. We thought it would go off by blowing into the touch-hole; but when we found it would not, we applied a piece of burning stick. It went off immediately; and we were sure it was a god. When the muskets came, we began fighting with them from this place to Kawia and Teranaki, killing all we met with. As the thing just named came from the north, so did the good things. We heard, that while we were fighting, missionaries and their followers were praying. By and by Mr. W. came here, went to Kawia, and returned by way of Waipa, leaving two native Teachers. Another Teacher came from Mangungu. Through their instructions a young Chief embraced Christianity; and at length a number of others. Afterwards Mr. Woon came, and then Mr. Whiteley and Mr. Wallis; and by their means a great number embraced the Gospel.

Then the Missionaries left: I did not turn Christian when they were here; but I went to look on, while a native Teacher was addressing the people. I saw myself a sinner, and thought I should be left behind as many were turning to God. I felt sorry on account of my sins, and had great distress of mind. I thought of my friends long since dead, and prayed to God, and said, "Though my friends are hidden or lost, God shall be my friend.' I found relief, not by going back to my old practices, but by looking constantly to God, and remembering that Christ, the Son of God, made the pay. ment for my sins. Then peace was made between God and my heart. If old things come upon me and throw me down, my peace will be broken; but if they do not, my peace will not be broken, and I shall get to heaven.

I

Hoani Piha (John Fisher) said, "I was first led to the house of God by two native Teachers, who were left at Waipa by Mr. W. When I heard them preach, it deeply affected my heart, and made me weep much. heard a great deal about repentance. My heart was very dark, and I was very unhappy: I wept, and prayed to God to forgive my sins, for the sake of Jesus Christ. After I had prayed a long time, I felt joy spring up in my heart, and it was all light. By the living word of God I first found pain of mind and darkness of heart, and then the Spirit of God came to my heart, and gave me peace and joy. By the living word of Christ I was born again."— Wesleyan Notices.

BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

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CHITTAGONG, INDIA. ·Persecution and perseverance.-Mr Johannes gives the following interesting account:" Not long ago I mentioned our prospects as bright and cheering, and so we were warranted to conclude from hopeful and encouraging appearances. Our labours at first were well received and appreciated-every visit made and received afforded mutual encouragement. Our kindness was reciprocated and acknowledged. Our presence amongst them was hailed with delight. Their houses were open to us at all times, and prejudice did not bar the entrance. Their communication by letters and their personal visits to us proved their attachment to us and the gospel of the ever blessed God. But our horizon was soon overcast for a time. Our books, our conversations, and instructions wrought no small change in their minds. This was apparent to all. As long as they did not publicly declare themselves for Christ and Christianity, hostility was asleep. Hopes of their returning to their gods, gooroos, and people, were strongly entertained, at some favourable time. At

some future period the brahmans expected to reap their usual gain in the devotion of these alienated disciples. But when a course of vigorous effort was adopted-when five heralds of the gospel-three not unlike them (save in their religious views) were sentprejudice took alarm; Satan would not allow an easy conquest over his once faithful and warm votaries; but stirred up many to oppose the progress of the work. The poor simple weavers, who never knew what persecution was, began to feel the effects of it. Their zemindars, relatives, friends, neighbours, and gooroos all rose against them. Accustomed to visit their heathen neighbours, to eat and drink with them, now they were forbidden; their pipes' fire was not given them. They were not allowed to drink out of the same lota. The barbers objected to shave them. Their children were not allow. ed to mingle with them or play. They were viewed as pests in the community. Under circumstances of so trying a nature, strong faith was required; much of the principles of the gospel to animate and buoy them up. If notwithstanding the example and presence of the Saviour many apostatized, in reference to whom he addressed his weak disciples, "Will ye also go away?" what could be expected from this weak unlettered people, who with a little glimmering light of Christianity_could only "see men as trees walking?" To us these things did not seem strange. The more trial to a Christian, the more gain, more devotedness of heart to God, more zeal, more dependence on God, more abhorrence of self, more appreciation of all works, services, and endeavours, strong sense of unprofitableness, clinging, trusting more in Christ and him crucified. We knew the efficacy of faith which overcomes the world. We knew to whom belongs the exclusive work of conversion, and his pledged word to keep all whom the Father has given him, faithful and persevering to the last. In humble dependence upon God we abated not in our zeal, nor slackened in our exertions. While almost all had deserted us, one man stood firm in his adherence. Ramcharan, a middle aged man, who had heard the gospel for three years, and had profited thereby, came forward and de. clared his renunciation of all his former sinful ways and pursuits, and avowed his attachment to Christ. Our joy at this juncture was great in proportion to our disappointment, and we knew this was the Lord's doing; for such an open account of his belief in Christ, in the teeth of persecution and hostility, could never originate with man. We welcomed him, quoting the heart-cheering words of Jesus, "Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

IRISH CHRONICLE.

FOR MARCH, 1844.

"BE NEIGHBOURLY."

WHEN famine invades a city, and only a few of its inhabitants have food to dispense to the hungry, it is not seemly for them to minister relief to those at the outskirts, whilst their near neighbours, with whose wants they might be more accurately acquainted, are passed over. We should feel in such a case, that their conduct was unkind, and that their charity was rendered somewhat suspicious. Be kind to all, we should say; but do not, whilst dependents upon your bounty are at your own doors, pass them by to seek out the miserable at a distance.

Every reader will at once understand the object of our illustration. We do not wish the claims of India, or Africa, or any other country, to be overlooked by English Christians; but we do protest against the claims of Ireland being well nigh forgotten in the distribution of their bounty. That this is not an over statement of the case, former papers in the Chronicle have proved. Compare Calcutta and Dublin, Jamaica and Ireland; and then say whether our words be not true.

It often happens that benevolent individuals are far better acquainted with the objects of charity at a distance from their house, than with those who are within a few doors of them. Who has not seen the look of surprise with which information of a neighbour's poverty has been received by persons who had hunted for cases to relieve out of their own district? The incredulous look, the hasty exclamation, have exposed and condemned their ignorance; condemned it, because they might have been aware of it had they done rightly. But this, too, applies to Ireland. Talk to English ministers and English Christians about our foreign missions, and they can enter into the conversation readily, can expatiate upon the ignorance and the cruelty inseparable from superstition, can insist upon the necessity to send more missionaries to this or that station, and the duty of increasing the means for their support. But, speak of Ireland-they are dumb! Mention her wants-and they start with surprise! Summon them to exertion, and they are motionless! Now, "be neighbourly," British Christians. You send your money to the ends of the earth, in the hope of thereby relieving the wretchedness of men. Come with us, and visit your neighbour, your sister land! Let us point out her wants and display her wretchedness to you; and we are then sure your eye must "affect your heart."

Here are nearly seven millions of men held in bondage by the galling fetters of Romanism. But though they are slaves to a spiritual despotism, they use the language of freemen. They are unacquainted with their own degradation, and therefore use no exertion to attain their proper position. They are laid prostrate in reverence, or thrilled with delight, by ceremonies which only awaken your pity or your contempt. They have clear heads and vigorous imaginations; but they have been for ages familiar only with falsehood, and have been the dupes of impostors. They have been sick; but the medicine prescribed for them has increased, instead of removing, the malady. And their very sickness has excited the derision, and provoked the taunts, of her professed friends. Every insult which malice could devise, and every wrong which fraud could inflict, have been the portion of Irish roman catholics from their so called protestant friends !

Look at yon Irishman. His wretched appearance bespeaks your sympathy. But his broad, good-humoured countenance for a moment makes you forget his rags. You speak to him. His wit amuses and his shrewdness instructs you. His

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