a Congress has not the merit of A poor woman, enciente, has recently Her The members of been whipt unmercifully. being original. was ridiculous: the Peace Society were loud in their offence being advocacy of a similar plan a dozen found, contrary to law, in the years ago. The emperor, however streets after dark without a lantern. small may be the chances of any She was walking home one night such Congress, which the Times in through the streets of Warsaw with a grandiloquent mood describes as her husband. They met a friend. She an Amphictyonic Council - has passed on while the two chatted gained two things by his proposal, together, and, having no lantern, -a new toy for the French people to was suddenly pounced upon by a play with, and time. The empress soldier, carried to the guard-house, Eugenie, it is said on good authority, notwithstanding the protestations of is a most devout Catholic, and by her husband, and was then most her predilections and whims gives barbarously whipt.-The new king her imperial husband no small of Greece has reached Athens. His trouble. He hates the priests: she frankness and suavity have won him sides with them. He would with- much favour. He 'frames' well, and draw his troops from Rome if he may yet lift the Greeks to an dare, and writes sharp notes to the honourable position among the Pope. She sells her jewels, and nations.-America still drags on collects money intended for other her fratricidal war. At the present purposes, and sends the result to moment the Federals have gained Pius the Ninth. The empress is some few advantages. But the already fading, and her once peerless termination of the war, which Mr. beauty has to be dressed like a Secretary Seward has prophesied damaged wax bust in a hairdresser's any time these two years was about window. The inhumanities in to end speedily, is apparently no Poland grow daily more revolting.nearer its termination. - Marriages and Deaths. MARRIAGE. many years was an esteemed member of the General Baptist church at Leake and Wymeswold. October 7, at Costock, Notting November 4, at the General Baptist chapel, Burnley-lane, by Rev. O. Hargreaves, Mr. J. Dean, con-hamshire, aged 61 years, Mr. Henry tractor, to Mrs. Jane Robertshaw, Follows, deeply regretted by a wide widow of the late Rev. W. Robert circle of friends. shaw. November 10, at Quorndon, aged 75 years, Richard Cross, Esq., formerly of Thorpe-in-the-Glebes, who for many years was a valuable the General Baptist deacon of church at Leake and Wymeswold. ་ Missionary Observer. THE MISSION DEBT. It will be remembered that a strong desire was expressed at the Annual Association, held at Nottingham, in June, that the remainder of the Mission Debt, amounting to £1,400, should be paid off by DECEMBER at latest. At present we have only cashire distress. Several churches, however, made their Sacramental collection as usual. It is hoped that a larger number will find it convenient to remember this important object on the first Sabbath | of the new year. BUCKLEY. received £229 3s. 5d. on this account, LETTER FROM THE REV. J. as may be seen by the monthly lists of donations, published in the Observer. We trust that there is a large amount to come in during the present month from the cards taken by ladies throughout the Connexion, and from other donations. We would remind our lady friends that the sums already acknowledged must be increased to twelve hundred pounds before we can claim the promised donation for the last two hundred pounds of the debt. Let there be a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether, that so the last trace of the debt that has caused so much anxiety and discomfort to the friends of the Mission, may disappear with the end of the year 1863!! SACRAMENTAL COLLECTIONS FOR THE WIDOWS AND OR- Cuttack, August 10, 1863. WE have recently had a most anxious and trying time on account of the school, and in the christian village prevalence of small pox in our near us. less for four months, but has now It has prevailed more or happily passed away. There have been thirty-eight cases, seven of which have been in the school. One case only has had a fatal termination, and considering that several of the cases have been of an extremely malignant kind, and that most of those who have suffered from this terrible disease have been children, this appears somewhat remarkable; but we have learnt by painful experience that when the disease has passed away its effects remain, and these are often as bad, sometimes worse, than the disease itself. The natives are, I think, well acquainted with the mode of treatment that should WE beg to remind the members of be adopted in this disease, and judgour churches of the resolution of ing from the observations made the Committee, inviting them to during these four anxious months, augment their usual contribution I should say that those who are at one of the Sacramental Collec-inoculated for it have it in a much tions during the year, and if possible on the first Sabbath of the year; the amount in excess of the collection on ordinary occasions to be appropriated to the fund for making provision for the Widows and Orphans of Missionaries. No public reference was made to this subject last year on account of the efforts that were being made at the time for the relief of the Lan milder form. We do all we can to promote vaccination, but the prejudice of the natives against it is very strong, and I am sorry to say that facts undeniably prove that even when it appears to be successful it is no preventive against small pox, nor against its assuming a maligant form. In this country, too, either owing to the heat of the climate, or to the vaccine matter not being good, it does not take effect at all in a large number of cases. The cold weather is the best time to give it the trial. In May, when the small pox was raging, we had eleven of the children vaccinated, but it did not take proper effect in a single instance. I noticed in the papers that this frightful disease was prevailing in London at the same time as here. I desire to acknowledge the goodness of our heavenly Father in mercifully preserving us at this time of anxiety and peril. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." For three weeks a dear little child (Henrietta), who has narrowly escaped with her life, was in the house; and the anxiety by night and by day, and the heart-piercing cries of the little sufferer cannot soon be forgotten. She is still unable to walk, though entirely recovered in other respects from the effects of the disease. ORISSA IN THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF 1862. arrowroot flour, which is then washed in cold water and dried in the sun. It is sold among the European residents of Cuttack, the price being a little under sixpence per English pound. The wild arrowroot is a plant growing abundantly in the jungles of the district." On cotton the Committee remark, "The first sample of the raw material and the thread, which are Nos. 90 A. and 92 A., were presented to the Committee of Cuttack by the Rev. George Taylor, of Piplee, a missionary in connection with the General Baptist Society, who has for some time persevered in an experiment, on a small scale, to grow this useful staple, with the view of affording to the colony of native christians under his charge some more lucrative employment than the growing of rice. His plants are reared from American New Orleans seed; and yield, as calculated on his data, at the rate of three hundred pounds per English acre, at an outlay of about twenty-one shillings the acre, on a light sandy soil, the plants requiring manure and irrigation only in the hot months, or from March to June." Mr. Taylor's specimens were so well approved by the Judges that a medal has been awarded him. The catalogue was, I believe, prepared by our estimable friend, Mr. Lacey, and is creditable in a high degree to his ability and research. It THE CHAPLAIN OF CUTTACK V. THE MISSIONARIES. A CATALOGUE has recently been published by the Local Commitee of Cuttack of the specimens of local produce and manufacture sent to the Exhibition, from which much interesting information may be obtained, not elsewhere to be met with, of the natural productions and capabilities of the province, especially of the tributary estates. extends to thirty-one pages, and is admirably classified and arranged. It may be interesting to know that the arrowroot sent was grown by one of our native christians at Khunditta. The Committe observe, "This arrowroot is of excellent quality, and the process of manufacture is as simple as may be. The tubers are taken up in the cold season, washed, put into a large wooden mortar, and mashed. The mash is then taken out and well washed in cold water; the water drained off and put to stand in large flat vessels, when it deposits a large proportion of the A YEAR and a half ago I gave your readers some particulars of the dying experience of the late chaplain of this station. His successor is a man of very different spirit as a correspondence in the Freeman a few months ago would show. In one of his recent sermons, alluding to our weekly tea meeting, he described us as "a canting, ranting set, who meet at each other's houses for religious exercises and tea, and wind up with scandal and backbiting." And in the same sermon he said, "They rant and rave ahout hell as Rajah. What caste were you before you became christians? Answer. We were what men call Soodras. if they had been there themselves!" It will be seen from this that the "woe" pronounced on those of whom "all men speak well" is not likely to fall upon us. I need not say that these vulgar effusions of priestly intolerance and impotent malice will be treated with the compassion and contempt they deserve. We are disciples of Him "who, when he was reviled, reviled not again." A few months ago a tablet in memory of Mr. Lacey was placed in the chapel at Cuttack. The inscription is appropriate. It is as follows: IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE GENERAL BAPTIST MISSIONARY IN ORISSA, AGED 52 YEARS. His acquaintance with the language, religion, and habits of the people was intimate, his love for their souls intense, and his efforts to promote their spiritual welfare through a period of more than twentyeight years were untiring. He was permitted to achieve a large amount of success, and died in the peace and hope of that gospel which he laboured so abundantly to proclaim. DHEKANAL CAR FESTIVAL. THE following native brethren attended the car festival at Dhekanal, on the 18th of June, viz: Jagoo, Thoma, and Ram Das. It being the rainy season, the journey was attended with difficulties and privations, but these sink into nothingness when we set before our eyes the future reward. On our arrival we sent the rajah a letter that had been furnished to us by our beloved pastor Stubbins Sabib. As soon as he read it he sent for us and began freely to converse, the following are among the questions and answers that transpired. Rajah. Well are you christians? Answer. Yes, we are christians. Rajah. Why have you been so foolish as to forske caste and honour, and bring the honour of your forefathers into disgrace? Answer. If you will only impartially consider you will perceive that caste is merely an ordinance of man, and that our forefathers can neither be disgraced nor honoured by any conduct of ours in this matter. Also that we ourselves can inherit neither praise nor censure from their good or evil deeds. In God's holy book it is written, "that every man shall receive the fruit of his own works." Rajah. I do not consider what you term God's holy book, to be altogether true, neither is it as a whole the gift of God. What it says about the creation may be true, but many other parts, especially the four gospels, are utterly false. The Hindoo Poorans are false except the Bades; the books of the Mahomedans are false except such parts as relate to Alla-God. Answer. That the Bible is true over all Hindoo and Mahomedan writings may be proved in four ways. 1. Purity and purity alone is the characteristic of the Bible. Other shastres contain unclean, foolish, incredible, or obviously false statements. 2. The writers of the Bible were men who lived in different times, in different countries, and moved in different spheres of life, but from the beginning to the end of their writings it will be found that they all wrote about Jesus Christ, and spoke of him as the only Saviour. There is, therefore, a unity of the whole on this most momentous of all subjects, showing it to be the gift of God. It is far otherwise with all other shastres. Each writer has carved out a Saviour for himself, hence all is confusion, showing that their shastres are not the word of God, but the work of men. 3. What is written of God in the Bible is every way credible; for instance, his eternal glory, his nature, his wisdom, his love, his mercy, his forgiveness, his grace, his justice and the like; but what is written of God in other shastres is often alike unfounded and unreasonable, opposed to every principle of honesty and common sense. 4. The writers of the Bible predicted events which received their accomplishment hundreds of years afterward, and in addition to this some of the wickedest men that have ever lived have had their hearts changed by the reading and study of that blessed word. Surely here is some evidence that the Bible is God's word. "These evidences," said the rajah, "are false. The forefathers of these sahibs wrote the Bible, and now they are endeavouring to send it into every country as the word of God. But what about Jesus Christ? What evidence do you give that he is the Saviour? Can he save others who himself died, and died by the hands of evil men? Truly this is incredible. It may be that you regard him as true as the Hindoos regard Krushna and the mussalman's Mahomet." Answer. Your highness knows that for all the people the earth contains there is but one sun, in the same way there is but one Saviour; for all, whether Hindoo, Mahometan, European, or whatever other people. Jesus Christ is pure, and those who embrace his religion become pure; but consider and see that he who himself is evil can never make another good; if Christ were sinful he could never make his followers holy. He is holy he is worthy-and by his death has saved the vilest of men. Neither Krushna nor Mahomet died for sinners, but in and for their own sins. Had Christ been unwilling, wicked men could not have slain him; but for this cause he became incarnate that he might give himself an offering and a sacrifice for sin. That Christ indeed is God is evident from the miracles he performed and his own triumph over death; and well do the Scriptures declare that there is salvation in none other. Hearing this the rajah seemed rather piqued, and in a somewhat sarcastic tone said, "yes, yes, I dare say you secretly mourn that in a thoughtless hour you abandoned caste, and that in your heart you wish you could regain it. Doubtless, you are sorrowful that you have daily to work hard, especially those christians who have to cultivate the soil." To this it was replied, if christians cultivate the soil, as many do, surely this is no disgrace, for in the absence of cultivators how would the rajah obtain his revenue? God's direction to all is to be diligent in business, and at the same time fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Here the rajah smiled and remained silent, when one of the brethren said to him, "be assured that if your highness rejects this true religion, you will find only shame and reproach at the last." What," said the rajah, rather scornfully, "I have shame ? " "Yes," said the preacher, "and not you only, but all who reject the truth of Christ." Here we took our departure and went into the festival to preach. While we were distributing books the rajah came up, and having called us to him, requested some books which were given to him. He then said, "it is not well for you to make Christ supreme and preach him in the way you do. I have read many books written by learned sahibs," he referred to Combe, &c., "also pamphlets and papers from Calcutta, and find that even the sahibs do not all believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in God, in his mercy, forgiveness, love, &c., and hold it as a crown on my head, but what you say about Jesus Christ, I cannot receive." 66 Many people in the festival heard well, and took books gladly, but the rajah's principal attendants took up the taunts of their master, and beyond him scoffed at religion. |