Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

that he was sorry he had nothing else to East India Company, that now ruled over offer me.

Native ideas of the incarnation. At another place I visited the house of a respectable zemindar, or landholder, and as I approached it I feared that I might be driven away with abuse, but to my surprise I was most politely received, and after being seated, between twenty and thirty persons came together, who all listened very attentively while I spoke to them of man's ruin by sin and the way of salvation by Christ. No interruption was offered until they found that I insisted on Christ's being the only Saviour. This they were unwilling to admit. "They would not deny that Jesus Christ was an incarnation of the Deity, but so was Ram, and therefore Ram and Jesus Christ were the same, only differing in the time and manner of the incarnation. The Deity had become incarnate at various times and in various modes, and in these last days, in this dark and evil age, he had become incarnate in the person of the Hon.

all India. The Hon. East India Company was therefore Ram in a different form, and was consequently entitled to the homage due to Ram. And," said the chief speaker, "I believe Ram is in every sahib (or European); and since Ram has given them the sovereignty of the country, of course it is my duty to treat every sahib with profound respect." The poor deluded man was so very consistent with his profession, that he received us with all honour, but it was not for Christ's sake, alas! it was for Ram's sake, whom the poor deluded man believed to be in us. We laboured long and hard to dispel some of the darkness from his mind, but all our efforts were apparently fruitless. He tried to behave with all deference, but he still retained his awful opinions. From this case you will perceive what fearful ignorance, error, and obstinacy we have often to contend with. What can be done without Divine help? How much do we need that our dear Christian friends should strive together with us in prayer to God that this help may be granted.

SAGOR.

Acting upon the peremptory advice of the physician, our brother MAKEPEACE is on his way to England. His health has for some time been failing, and he is at last constrained to leave his station for a more invigorating clime. He leaves at a most interesting moment. "On the first sabbath in October," he says, "it was my privilege to baptize an interesting young man on a profession of his repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Another excellent individual had been accepted by the church, and would have been baptized, had not indisposition prevented. This is truly an exciting time with me. Though so many have been baptized, yet there is a greater number of individuals upon whom we can look with interest and hope, than at any previous period." Thus our brother is laid aside, in the all-wise counsel of God, at the season his labours are bearing richest fruit. Their very toilsomeness and success involving the decay of the labourer.

CEYLON.

COLOMBO.

Our last Herald conveyed the afflicting intelligence of the decease of our esteemed missionary Mr. DAVIES, in a letter from our brother DAWSON. Mr. ALLEN, under date of the 15th November, has communicated some further particulars of his last days. A month previous it had been arranged that brother ALLEN should remove to Colombo to assist Mr. DAVIES, and to carry out the reductions proposed by the Committee. Mr. ALLEN therefore now occupies the station.

One of our little band is no longer an has said to him, "It is enough, come up inhabitant of this lower world. The Master hither, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

Our brother Davies, as you are aware, had been long labouring under disease, evidently the effect of a climate unsuited to him, and five short years have laid low one who was an able minister and missionary.

When I came to Colombo, about six weeks ago, on finding him no better for his residence in the cooler regions of the island, I urged him to leave whilst a probability of his reaching England remained, but it was too late. Finding him utterly unable to do anything, it was arranged that I should take the duties of the station, and he prepared to leave by the Garland Grove, about to sail, but it was ordered otherwise. On Saturday, the 27th of October, he, with Mrs. Davies and the children removed to the residence of Dr. Elliott, for the sake of a little change, and that the Dr. might have him more immediately under his attention. He was then suffering from acute dysentery, which had been long feared as the climax of the disease which had prostrated him for nearly two years, and which baffled alike medical skill, and the colder climate of Newera Ellia, until it brought down the poor clay tenement. All that kindness and skill could do was done, but in vain. His work was done, and he went to live in a higher scale of existence, and amid higher scenes of enjoyment.

His death and funeral.

On the following Friday, November 2nd, on the seventh day from his removal to Dr. Elliott's, he breathed his last, in the presence of the Dr., brother Dawson, and myself. On the Saturday we laid the body in the grave, surrounded by a vast concourse of spectators who came to pay the last token of respect to the remains of him, who was held in high estimation by all ranks and classes of society, from those high in authority to the humblest inhabitant; and on the next

evening, the sabbath,-and his first in the assembly that ne'er breaks up, I had the melancholy duty of preaching his funeral sermon, to an assembly that more than filled the chapel, many, if not all of whom were it is hoped profoundly impressed with what they heard.

His illness.

through the blood of the cross. His resig nation to the will of God most high, was instructive and impressive too. He found support and consolation in the doctrines and promises of the gospel, which he preached to others, and which he held in faith and in righteousness of life. I had opportunities, when alone with him in the day, and in the dead of the night, of asking him how he felt in reference to eternity, and it was more than satisfactory to hear him, with his dying breath, tell me that he had no fear or anxiety, that his hope was sure and stedfast, founded on the rock of ages. At no time had he a single doubt with respect to the future. All was calm, peaceful, and joyful. Once indeed, he told me that he felt distressed concerning his family, but on directing his attention to the promises of our God concerning the widow and the fatherless, his faith grasped them, and he resigned them to him.

On asking if he had any thing to say to me and the native preachers and churches, he breathed a prayer that I might be blessed in my labours, and be more successful in turning sinners to God than he had been. Tell the Pettah people, he said, that I feel grateful for all their personal kindness; that I should like to speak to them once more, but I cannot; that I intended to write them a letter for you to read from the pulpit, but I am too weak even for that. Tell them while I because of their carelessness and indifference thank them for their kindness, that I mourn to spiritual things, and that I have been so discouraged as to think that my preaching seech them to be reconciled unto God, and was vain. Tell them these things, and beembrace the gospel-perhaps your voice will

move them.

when sensible, except occasionally, “ Allen, As his end drew near, he said but little, Dawson, Elliott are you here, do not leave me. The pain is dreadful, but it will soon be

over.

that he was ill, the inquiries that were made When it became generally known proclaimed the estimation in which he was funeral showed that his loss was felt as a held, and the immense gathering at the public one.

Our loss.

You, dear brother, and the society have We watched him night and day during his lost an able man and missionary, and the last illness, which though short, was severe. two surviving missionaries have lost one, who, He had been so reduced by the old com- though cut off in early life, at thirty-four plaint, that it was manifest he had not years of age, was mature in mind, sound in strength to grapple with so fearful an enemy judgment, and wise in counsel, and an able as dysentery, and we saw his strength dimin- fellow-labourer-God's will be done. ish, and his pains increase, until death made him to bow himself. It was painful at times to behold him in such circumstances, and yet it was good to be there, to mark the triumphs of grace over every weakness and Is it quite beyond the means of God's infirmity of human nature, and at last over people in our fatherland to send another to the great enemy, death. He triumphed occupy the place of him who has just fallen

We thought we could ill spare him, but God would teach us perhaps that he could do without him, and that we should submit without a murmur.

on the high places of the field? It was painful to leave Matura, and painful for us all to abandon the poor people there; and it is painful here to look on multitudes who are without instruction of a religious kind, and equally painful to know that even our own people cannot have as much attention from the European as they need, though the native assistants do well. Are there no

hearts in England that can be touched by the cry, "Come over and help us?" The people need the missionary among them; they are perishing for lack of knowledge. We ourselves die daily, and are willing to die with the harness on; and as we fall one by one, are there none to be found who will step into our places, and maintain the battle, and achieve the victory in the name of the Lord?

The high estimation in which the Christian character and abilities of our departed brother were held, may be gathered from an obituary notice which we extract from the Ceylon Overland Observer.

The deceased missionary was cut down to a passage in the Samaritan Pentateuch, a early in his career, his age not exceeding version as old as the days of Rehoboam, thirty-four; a fact which struck with surprise nearly 1000 B. C., in which there occurs the many who had long admired the maturity of ancient name of Ceylon, Sarandib.' This his judgment, the expansiveness of his mind, led to a discussion in which he poured forth the largeness of his views, and the extent of such a flow of learning as I had seldom his acquirements. Conscientiousness was listened to before. Our conversation, and the leading feature of his character. He never received a statement, an opinion, or a doctrine upon trust. All were submitted to the patient and industrious scrutiny of a mind naturally acute, and which had been trained and disciplined to the severest principles of the science of reasoning. The Christianity which he professed and preached, he lived up to. Its precepts were his guide through life; its promises his support in affliction and in the solemn hour of death. A closing scene more replete with calm triumph has seldom been witnessed. It was his last seal to the truth of a system-the reality of doctrines which, having thoroughly examined, he sincerely believed.

The large concourse at his funeral, of persons who came to pay the last token of respect to his remains, was such as is seldom witnessed save on the occasion of what is deemed a public loss. Amongst those who stood round the grave we noticed the Honourable the Chief Justice, the Honourable the Colonial Secretary, the Honourable the Queen's Advocate, &c.

His attainments as a scholar.

In accordance with the permission conceded to us, we append the following testimony to Mr. Davies's character and attainments, especially as a scholar, from the pen of one occupying a high position in the government of this colony, and in the ranks of literature. It says all that we could wish to say, and much more gracefully than we could say it. The tribute is alike creditable to the living and the dead.

"Such was his singular diffidence as to himself and to his own attainments as a scholar, that it was not till some time after our first acquaintance that I almost accidentally discovered the profundity of his erudition, and the vast extent of his reading and research. It arose from a casual allusion

much subsequent correspondence, turned on these subjects--the identity of Ophir with Ceylon; the knowledge of the Hebrews concerning India and China and their productions; the probability that traces of this knowledge were to be found in the Hebrew term for cinnamon;' the early trade of the Phoenicians and Arabs with countries still futher to the east; these, and a multitude of similar inquiries, called forth almost unconsciously his vast stores of information. And they were displayed not merely in his critical familiarity with Hebrew and its cognates; with the dialects of modern India and their ancient roots; with Greek, both Hellenic and medieval; with German and a variety of modern languages, but with the literature in which these are preserved; the coliations of the Septuagint and the early versions; the Greek, Roman, and Arabian geographers, the early travellers who after the revival of learning brought back to Europe the lost knowledge of the east; and the works on natural science compiled or illustrated from their researches.

"All these, from early study, he seemed as familiar with as though his later years had been spent in the luxuries of a boundless library, instead of being passed in the jungles of Ceylon.

6

"And what was most charming in all these disquisitions, was the singular modesty of this highly cultivated mind. His clearest views he always put forward as suggestions;' his soundest conclusions as probable conjectures;' and I possess now some of his valuable dissertations elaborated with the utmost care and inquiry, but all sent to me not as essays, or treatises, or comments, but as notes, or thoughts, or ideas of his own.

"In all this, and throughout his whole demeanour, there was apparent the gentle spirit of that Master whom he so faithfully served. His was indeed the charity which

suffereth long and is kind, which envieth not, and vaunteth not itself. And when, a few evenings ago, I turned homewards from the spot where I had seen the sun setting on the green turf where his poor remains had been lowered into the grave, amidst the regrets of

those who crowded there, to pay that last unavailing tribute to their friend and benefactor, I remembered the touching words which I had heard himself repeat but a few short weeks before, multis ille bonis flebilis occidit nulli flebilior quam mihi.””

WESTERN AFRICA.

FERNANDO PO.

Our readers will already have learnt the decease of our dear and esteemed brother MERRICK. As we have not yet been able to obtain any detailed account of his last days, the following affecting letter, written shortly before his death, will be read with deep interest.

Out at sea.

MY DEAR MOTHER AND SISTERS, It is uncertain whether I shall reach land. I am so weak, so feeble, a watery grave may be mine. All is right. I commend my dear Elizabeth and Rosanna to your constant attention, and hope you will love and do all you can for them for me. I cannot write more. All my books and private property I leave to my dear Elizabeth; she is to order them to Jamaica. All my private papers are at Jubilee, and to be sent to Jamaica to my dear wife. I commend my dear wife and child to the care of our Committee, and hope they will remember them in all their cares and troubles. I leave this letter open

to be showed to our Committee, or any other friend.

And now, my dearly beloved wife, the wife of my joys and sorrows, of sickness and health, I leave, I bequeath thee to Christ thy Saviour; to Christ, too, I bequeath my beloved Rosanna, and mother and sisters, and all that are near and dear to me. I can leave them to none more precious, more dear, more faithful, more covenant keeping. And now, dear mother and sisters, dear wife and child, and all that are near and dear in Christ, I commend you to God and his grace, who is able to build you up, and give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Amen. Yours ever in Christ Jesus,

JOSEPH MERRICK.

To this we append an impressive letter from Mr. SAKER, dated October 3rd, 1849. Mr. MERRICK sailed from Clarence on the 6th. The apprehension expressed by Mr. SAKER was realized in fifteen days from the time of Mr. MERRICK's embarkation.

The return of our brother Merrick is a deep affliction to us. But I am quite apprehensive that you will not see his face again. His stay of four weeks here, waiting for a passage, has been a severe trial to his constitution. He has gradually declined every day, and I almost fear he will be prevented from embarking. His lungs are thought to be diseased; his sleep is broken by a painful cough, his energy is gone; his debility is so great, he cannot walk but for a few seconds; he cannot ride. We fear he cannot live many days, but our hope is in God.

He will, if spared go from us, with the deep sympathy of every heart. The prayers of the church will daily ascend to God on his behalf, and we shall hope, against hope, that he may recover, be strengthened, and return to bless this dark land. His going hence we can scarcely endure, and we are ready to say our strength is departed. Indeed

And

we are too weak, we cannot spare him, he is a faithful man, devoted to his work, to the salvation of souls. We cannot spare him! we cannot spare him! If he goes hence, who is left? who will work? who will pray! Truly we are worms and not men! yet, sad truth! we must part. Our choice is to send him to you when there is hope, or lay him in the grave, where he will rest from all toil. In such a dilemma we cannot hesitate, and yet we grieve. Oh! that some faithful heart may soon supply his place.

Can we hope for another man of faith and labour? Clarence has called for a pastor for three long years, yet who responds? O ye men of God! is there not among your ranks, young men, whose hearts beat high for the Saviour's glory, who can lay down those hearts, yea, their whole lives, at the Saviour's feet? Must Clarence call for ever in vain for a man of God, capable of leading and instruc

good and faithful servant?" Be it, there is no ambition! yet is compassion quenched? Is mercy overwhelmed in the turmoil of Europe? Must these myriads of souls sink down to death, and none to help? will you withdraw the hand that only can save. Brethren, brethren, in eternity what thoughts will Realize it now, and if you us, plead with God, daily plead, that men of faith and patience may be sent; and sent speedily. Spirit of God! descend upon us. Descend upon our churches! churches, which sent forth, a Carey, a Chamberlain, a Burchell, and all that host of warriors who now wear the robes of conquest. Descend, O Spirit! to raise up men of like faith and patience, that souls may be saved, and Jesus loved. Spirit, descend and dwelĺ with us!

ting them in the way to life? And must the
continent sink into the pit of irreparable woe
for lack of teachers? Must we let go our
hold, and let the machinery rust? Must we
leave the lever on which is poised the destiny,
the eternal destiny of souls! O ye men of
God! where is the spirit of our fathers?
where is the faith, the devotedness, the wrest-fill your spirit?
ling prayers of the generation gone? where is cannot come to
the devotedness of the churches to Jesus,
which ought to glow in every heart? Is the
fear of fever, of prostration, of a premature
grave, so terrifying? Is the love of life, of
money, of ease, of home, of comfort, so strong
that you cannot move? May these things
bind you in this world, without binding you
in the world to come. Is there nothing
alluring in the crown of life suspended o'er
the path of devoted holy labourers? Is there
no bliss in the master's welcome, "Well done,

We earnestly entreat the prayers, sympathies, and aid of the disciples of Christ, at the present important juncture in the affairs of our African Mission.

WEST INDIES.

HAITI.

The following long and interesting letter from our missionary brother, W. W. WEBLEY, dated December 8th, 1849, will give a succinct and clear view of the work in which he is engaged, and the various obstacles to success that present themselves among the turbulent and licentious population of Haiti.

Nearly three months have now elapsed joy and thankfulness, though the causes for since I had the pleasure of communicating discouragement and depression seem often to with the Committee of our Society. My have preponderated. Three young persons long silence has been occasioned by pro- were baptized in February last. The first tracted and dangerous illness. During an of these was, and is still, a most useful and interval of three months I have suffered at devoted female assistant in the school. The one time from diarrhea, at another from in- second was a young man of promising ability termittent fever, and at another from irrita- and piety. The third was a daughter of one tion of the lungs. The last letter addressed of the members of our little church, who, to you from this station was written by my with his wife, was baptized last year. This dear wife at the time when I was most dear child is one of our first fruits from the severely indisposed, and when the greatest school. Two other children, still younger possible repose was required both for mind than this one, have also given evidence of and body. Through much caution and conversion. One of these is still, I trust, clever medical aid, and above all, through growing in the grace and in the knowledge the divine blessing, I am now nearly restored of God. The other, though only about five to health, and for some weeks past have been years of age, has, I do not hesitate to say, able to resume my labours almost without been gathered to her rest in heaven. We intermission. have also two other persons, one who is very young and another who is a married female, who are waiting to be baptized. The conduct, too, of many of the children of the school has recently given us much encouragement. Many of them for some time past seem to have been labouring under religious convictions, whilst the views and feelings of many have indicated the existence of at least

Joy and thankfulness.

My letter will contain a sort of summary of events that have transpired, and of difficulties that have happened to us in connexion with the mission during the year that is now drawing to a close. In reviewing that year we have certainly had some causes for

« ElőzőTovább »