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words which follow; I give them exactly as they are here: "These wise men might just as well have said that the grant to Maynooth would bring down the divine vengeance upon us, which would be exhibited next winter by the prevalence of east and north winds, by a dearth of corn, and by a considerable rise in the price of butcher's meat and Irish potatoes. The one assertion would not be one iota more contemptible than the

other.' That is from the Weekly Dispatch-a Balaam compelled beforehand to prophecy the truth. Men exhibit before the world the present difficulties of the country as that which the scoffer thought to be contemptible and impossible. Oh, let him learn-may God teach him-that there is some truth, some wisdom, some reality in believing the Word of God, and in confessing this truth before his fellow-men."

THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

WE subjoin a curious calculation which we have extracted from a

Scottish newspaper. The object of

the writer is to shew that the Free Church of Scotland collected a larger sum by the voluntary contributions of her members during the past year, than the united incomes of all the ministers and schoolmasters of the Scottish Establishment.

We do not believe that, in proportion to the population of the two countries, the income of the Church of England is larger than that of the Scottish Establishment, although it is much more unequally divided. When will it be said of us, that we annually raise a sum by voluntary contributions more than equal to the fixed income of the Church? And yet what is there to prevent us from doing within our Establishment, what the Free Church has done out of theirs?

"This, let it be remembered, is the fourth year since the Disruption, when, according to certain prophecies, the excitement and effort produced by that event should have been greatly abated, if not extinguished. The mere force of novelty, and the mere impulse of party spirit, if these were all that gave life to our great movement, have had ample time to die away. This has also been a year of scarcity and famine, of monetary alarm and commercial depression. It has been a year, therefore, calculated to test the principles and liberality of the Free Church body. Let us look, then, at the amount of money raised by the Free Church

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BIBLE SOCIETY.

AT the anniversary meeting of the Chippenham Branch Society, in 1845, a suggestion was offered by one of the speakers, that much good might be effected by ladies or gentlemen residing in sequestered parts of the country, not included in existing Bible Associations, if they obtained a stock of Bibles and Testaments, and made it known to their neighbours that they could be supplied at the cost prices of the Society. At the close of the meeting, a lady requested permission to converse with me on the subject. She was soon put in the way of obtaining a supply; and the result will be found in the following note, which was put into my hand at the annual meeting of the same Society in the last year:

"MY DEAR SIR,-It may give you pleasure to know that my depôt was not opened in vain. I have now sold nearly 1000 Bibles and Testaments. While I would not, on any account, have my name mentioned, the circumstance may encourage others to adopt your suggestion. I am prevented attending the meeting this evening, but have sent my servants. I shall be with you in spirit."

What good may not one pious individual do, when God graciously inspires the desire!

A similar suggestion having been thrown out at the Marlborough meeting, was speedily acted on by another lady, whose account of her proceedings has already appeared in the "Bible Society Reporter" for October (No. 18.) Since I began this letter, I have received another from her, dated 5th inst., in which she says:

"We have now done for the winter, as the severe weather, with the high prices of food, renders the poor unable to purchase; but should our lives be spared, and health given, we hope to begin again in the spring. We have sold 822 Bibles and Testaments, all at the cost prices of the Society. To any one inclined to take up this work I would say, 'Never despair.' A son of ours, a youth, thought the village in which he resided was a very unlikely place to sell Bibles, as the

people were so very poor. He went to every cottage a distance of four miles round, and, being engaged during the day, he spent several evenings in his work, and already he had disposed of 80 copies.

"We have sold to all characters. Ten copies were purchased on the premises of a trainer of race-horses; and one man, who had bought a Testament, said he had not a book in the world, and he did not know that the one he had now purchased would do him any good, for he knew he was a wicked sinner; but it would amuse him. I told him it was the Word of God, and he knew not the good it might bring to him.

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To Collectors I would say, 'Carry out specimens of the books with you, and I believe you will soon sell double and treble the number you now sell.""

I can fully confirm the value of this last recommendation. It has been carried into effect in this city and neighbourhood, as well as in many other places, with invariable success,

FROM THE REPORT OF A MEETING, HELD SEPT. 2, 1846, IN NEW ZEALAND.

The diffusion of Scripture knowledge done no good! What has terminated the sanguinary wars of the New Zealanders? William Naylor, a powerful chief of Waingaroa, known to some of you, told me that it was an argument drawn from Scripture that first induced him to give up fighting. He was on the eve of departing on an expedition of war, to seek revenge for some of his friends that had fallen in a previous contest, A missionary arrived at his "kainga," and, just as they were going to start, reasoned with him, and tried to dissuade him from his purpose; and it was this argument that prevailed :"Leave it," said the missionary, " till the day of judgment, and the Great God will avenge the death of your friends; for He will judge every man, and reward every man according to his works." That fastened on his mind. He called to his friends,

"Listen; the Pakeha says, that God will utu the death of our friends; let us leave it with Him;" and from that time to this he has never engaged in war. What saved the few remaining aborigines of the Taranaki district, that had been well-nigh utterly depopulated by successive years of war and bloodshed? The diffusion of Scripture principles has preserved them alive. Some may say that war has not entirely ceased. It has not. New circumstances, into which the half-civilized New Zealander has been thrown, have, in some cases, led to war; but I am fully persuaded that their late wars have been much less sanguinary than they would have been, if they had not had the Scriptures among them. I was struck with this on one of my visits to Manukau. During the late quarrel, when on my return from the Ngatiteata to Bunting's camp, I found them all on their knees, in solemn prayer to God that he would interfere, and prevent the threatened kino. Instead of charging their muskets, with which to receive the other party, they commended the affair to God, and met them with empty guns; and who can tell but that Divine Providence, in answer to their prayers, prevented bloodshed on that occasion? What was it that taught them this but the word of God? As to the general

good effects of the reading of the Scriptures on the mind of the New Zealander, I can give you another fact, that transpired not 100 miles from this place, nor six months ago. Some Europeans had engaged natives to accompany them on a journey, and carry their luggage. The Sabbath overtook them on the road: the Pakeha wished to proceed: the natives said, "No, it is Sabbath; we must rest." The Pakehas went forward without them; and when the natives accomplished the journey, they refused to pay them, assigning, as a reason, they would not travel with them on the Sabbath. The natives inquired, "What are we to do with the law of God?" "What have I to do with that law? what is that law to me?" was the reply. The native rebuked his friend, by saying, "You have much to do with that law. Were it not for the law of God, we should not have exercised the forbearance we have, on your refusal to give us payment; we should have robbed you, and taken all you possessed, and sent you about your business. You have that much to do with the law of God." In the face of such a fact will any man dare to say, much less publish to the world, that the New Zealander is worse for the instructions he has received; or that the Scripture has done him no good?

FRANCE.

I HAVE already mentioned that one priest, after reading my letter, had sent in his resignation; several others who have written to me are about to do the same, only imploring me to come to their aid by procuring for them some employment. These circumstances have induced me to desire the formation of a committee for the employment of priests who are "demissionaires," the best of whom might act as Scripture readers. Oh, if means could be found for such an object, I am convinced that multitudes of priests would abandon Rome, and their retirement would open the eyes of many whose faith is bound up with that of their clergy. Divine worship continues well-frequented at Mansle. Yesterday evening, at half

past seven o'clock, a comedian gave notice that he intended to commence a theatrical spectacle; the drums beat, and he announced this in the marketplace, when the people of the town told him he was losing his time, as no one would attend, for everybody would be going at that hour to the preaching of the Protestant pastor. The poor comedian called upon me quite humbled, and told me how I was thus the cause of his misfortune. He appealed to my generosity. I was divided between pity and the fear of assisting one carrying on such a trade-at last I compounded the matter, by giving a present of thirty sous -he said it was very little, and that the receipt of it would not prevent his performance; but an hour afterwards

he returned and said, he had been told since that very few persons would attend, and that even those who did would be annoyed that they had been prevented from attending the sermon, and that he had decided not to play. Do you know that it is not a little thing in France that a sermon should have been preferred to a comedy? I had that evening 500 hearers. Now I intend starting to-morrow with the uncertainty of a mendicant to collect

some money in the south of France, for I have the church at Mansle well filled with hearers, but the purse is empty that is to pay for the construction of the well-filled edifice! Added to this, the church at Angouleme, which I propose to open in a month, the expenses will amount to about £1000, but I do not wish to alarm you too much.

Yours affectionately,

(Signed)

LETTER FROM ITALY.
Italy, July, 1847.

I AM very glad you are going to
send me the Eco;' those you sent
me free will return to you fourfold,
both by the good they will do, and
by the obligation I shall feel myself
under to try to send you a sub-
scriber for every copy sent. I know
a young Swiss at
to whom I
could send any quantity, and who
would distribute them fearlessly. I
am very willing to be your agent for

and

,

Every

N. ROUSSEL.

thing you send, whether Italian or English, will come to good. I most earnestly press on the minds of all those interested in Italy to work now, we do not know when the night may come. May God aid us to spread the knowledge of his Christ throughout the land. Things are wonderfully changed since I last wrote the harvest is ripening. Send, oh! send labourers, viva voce labourers—there is not one yet to be seen!

GERMANY.-THE "NEW CATHOLIC" MOVEMENT, &c.

WE have received a letter from a respected correspondent, giving an account of the present aspect of the Protestant interests in Germany. The following is an extract :

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"I dare say none of your readers consider the desertion of Rongé and his followers from the banner of Rome, as a victory on the side of Protestantism. Those New Catholics,' as they term themselves, are nothing more than men who felt themselves galled by the Papal yoke, yet have no feeling in common with the true Protestant. While they attempt to overthrow the old edifice, they have no foundation on which to build another. They are Church revolutionists-madmen, who would hurl God from his throne, and place themselves and reason' in his seat. They have shaken hands with the rationalists of the Protestant Church, and have formed an alliance with the 'Friends of Light.' But at the same time a great deal is doing for the spread of Protestantism, true and undefiled.' It advances with gigantic

steps. The Bible is its bulwark, and none can overthrow it. The German Missionary Societies of Elberfeld, Hamburg, Bale, Berlin, and Dresden, are at present all engaged in preparing missionaries for China. The missionary Gutzlaff showed us the want of Germans there, and immediately every Missionary Society in the country turned their attention to that distant land. So much interest is there taken in this mission, that a work on China has just been published in order to stimulate us to still further exertion. plan is to be attempted here, in Hameln, for the education of missionaries: It is this-an institution is to be set on foot, in which for every nine paying pupils a tenth shall be maintained and educated FREE. This tenth pupil is to be brought up for a missionary; he is to participate in all the privileges, and take part in all the studies of the other pupils, and, besides, is to be instructed in theology, &c. Suppose, then, the number of pupils altogether to amount to one

A

hundred, we shall thus be enabled to send forth annually ten young men trained for the missionary work. The free pupils are to be nominated by the Directors. Our first has been recommended by the Count de Recke Volmerstein; he has been for some time an inmate of his institution at Dusselthal. The plan met with such universal acceptation, that the townauthorities immediately put at our disposal a house and ground for our new undertaking. Of course we cannot expect to send out any young missionaries for some time, as we contemplate that they will require at

least four years' training. Upon our endeavours I am sure every one will look with pleasure; and many a hand will be outstretched to that Lord of lords, who alone can further our good work."

Our correspondent also mentions that Industrial Schools have been set on foot in various places; but, indeed, this is nothing new in Germany, as every one must know, who has read or heard anything of the noble institution at Dusselthal, near Dusseldorf, supported solely by that devoted Christian philanthropist, the Count de Recke Volmerstein.-Edinburgh Ad

vertiser.

BORNEO.

THE recent acquisition of territory in the Island of Borneo by James Brooke, Esq. opens a new and vast field to the Christian missionary. By grant from the Sultan of Borneo, Mr. Brooke now governs with undisputed authority the fine province of Sarawak, of which he has been constituted the hereditary ruler. In furtherance of his enlightened views for the improvement of the Dyak and Malay races, for whom God has already enabled him to do so much, he will encourage by all means in his power any welldevised scheme for their education, and elevation in the scale of social beings; the crowning purpose of which will be to bring them to the knowledge of the saving truths of the Gospel.

The position which Mr. Brooke occupies in that beautiful country, and the steps by which he has attained to it, are without a parallel. Almost for the first time, in the history of nations, the naked and untutored savage has learned to date the beginning of peace, order, and happiness, from the arrival of his European governor.

Uninfluenced by any sordid motive, or any ambitious feeling, but the noble ambition of doing good, unsupported by any force to compel acquiescence in his plans, whether for good or evil, Mr. Brooke landed, almost a stranger, on the shore of Borneo, about seven years ago. Sent forth by no court or government, the messenger of no prince, church, or embassy, equipped

at his own expense, and dependent only on his own resources, he had deliberately abandoned the comforts of his English home, with the settled intention of casting his lot among these distant Islanders, and of doing what in him lay to benefit them. By steady perseverance in the principles of truth and justice, and strong in the integrity of his purpose, and the God in whom he trusted, his influence rose and prospered, until he was besought by the native rulers to take upon himself the government of the province, where the beneficial effects of his interference first manifested themselves. Each year of his rule has been marked by new services to the cause of humanity. Under his mild and equitable sway, the rights of property are now respected, personal violence has abated; at his instigation, piracy has been attacked in its strongholds, defeated, and discouraged; his subjects and his neighbours begin to understand his lessons, how much preferable are the peaceful pursuits of industry and commerce to the roving warfare, in which they have hitherto placed their pride, and found their sole profit. Already he counts his immediate dependents by thousands. His influence extends, far beyond the limits of his government, as widely in Borneo as his name is known. The grateful and simpleminded Dyaks are ready to welcome with cheerful confidence any who will come among them in the name of their "white friend."

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