back,-what are these among so many? It is a remarkable fact, that we never have had any male converts from the out-schools, and very few female. The converts made by education have been in boarding schools, where the children have been to some extent removed from the influence of their heathen relatives, or in large English schools, where one, two, or three missionaries devoted themselves to the work. Young men will flock to learn English, because, in most cases, it is a passport to situation and good living: but while we may be the means, in the Lord's hand, of arresting the serious inquiry of a few, by far the majority remain heathen or semi-infidels, and sometimes are the greatest opponents of the truths of the Gospel. Wherever any important movement has taken place, as in Tinnevelly, New Zealand, &c., it has been by preaching, and then teaching follows in its train.

"The American deputations ordained one minister when here: not one of the hundreds whom they have educated at Batticotta, but a devoted Christian who has learned nearly all he knows from the Bible in his own tongue.

"The conclusion seems, therefore, to be this, that preaching should be the chief occupation of the missionary to the heathen; and if he does any thing in the way of education, it should be especially for the children of his converts, and carried on by really sincere men, spiritually minded, having a spiritual object in view."

In illustration of that plan of missionary work which makes "the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word," the great means of seeking the salvation of the heathen, we again quote the following sentences from the "Church of England Missionary Gleaner."

A missionary in the Telugu country, under date of March 20, 1856, informs us of the ready reception which he met with while itinerating amongst the heathen.

"We have, during the last three months and upwards, been travelling through the villages of our district. We have had very interesting meetings with every class of people, from the Brahmin downwards. Some learned Pundits sat down in our tent for hours together at Motúr, and elicited from us a clear and full account of the way of salvation. When they arose to leave us they said, "We were under the impression that you had something very foolish to tell us, but we find that what we have just now

heard is not to be despised, and that, before we oppose you, it is necessary to read your books.' We gave them the books they wanted. One village excepted, where the Brahmins would not allow me to preach, every village received 'the truth as it is in Jesus' with marked attention. The people, as soon as they saw us, came out in numbers, and, spreading a mat for us under a tree, invited us to sit down, which we did at once, and unfolded at length the natural depravity of man, the holy justice of God, and the wonderful escape provided for the former in the atoning blood of Jesus. It was quite encouraging to see the attention paid to our message, to hear their rational and sensible inquiries, and to notice their desire to obtain our works. In one village our tent was crowded from morning till evening. In another village the Brahmins carefully impregnated the unsuspecting minds of the Súdras with many groundless and ridiculous fears, which kept them from us for several days together; but it was soon discovered that we did not deal in mysteries-that our books were given to all, and our preaching conducted in public. Then they came to us freely, and took away, we trust, more than the bare hearing of the Gospel."

MISSIONS ABROAD.

TENT PREACHING IN SOUTH INDIA.

THE following is an extract from a letter, lately received, from the Rev. J. E. Sharkey, Masulipatam.

"I am now writing this in my tent, which is pitched by the side of a large village. I am in a delightful grove of trees. There are a great many weavers in this village, and no small proportion of Brahmins. The former I find simple enough, and I can get them to sit and listen to the truth with much attention; but the latter are not so docile, and, instead of giving a fair and impartial hearing to our message, they proceed to attack us with much severity of language and bitterness of spirit. I had a Brahmin priest in my tent this morning, and he was endeavouring to show, by very subtile arguments, that the living principle in man is an emanation from God, and that after its release from the body, which he supposes to be a composition of the five elements, it returned to its oneness with the All-pervading Spirit! He held that God does not trouble himself with

the affairs of our world, and that the distinction between virtue and vice is altogether arbitrary and conventional. He represents a large class of the educated Brahmins, who show their cleverness, not so much by argument as in their illustrations, which go for arguments in their estimation, and are used with much dexterity and readiness. The next visitor I received was a Brahmin schoolmaster. I asked him to define sin. To kill an ant is a sin,' he replied. To kill a cat is a greater crime in Hindoo theology, than to murder a Pariah or Shoo-drah! Then I gave my visitor St. John's definition of sin, and our blessed Lord's summary of the law, and explained how every sinful act was a violation of the law of love; he was much surprised. I followed it up by presenting Christ to him, and gave him a Gospel of St. Matthew to read. The Hindoos are easily discouraged. They open the Gospel of St. Matthew, they find the opening verses full of hard names, and supposing the rest of the book to be just as difficult they give up reading entirely, and cast the book aside. We are obliged now to point out where the history begins. The Gospel sounds in the streets of our villages and towns, and the men have so far got over their prejudices as to venture to visit us in our tents. It is a defilement for a Brahmin to come into a tent made of cloth. So far we can speak of success; but what is this where the heart is kept back? The women of the higher classes are still inaccessible. Degradation and ignorance are still their lot. They are perfect slaves, though willing and apparently cheerful slaves. They count their drudgery a privilege, and to wait on their husbands with folded hands and trembling looks is looked upon as the very essence and pattern of a faithful wife. Sometimes these poor women look over a low wall, or peep through a narrow window, or get behind a door with just one eye visible, while I stand preaching to the people in the streets. The old women are bold enough, and bolder sometimes than men. Much requires to be accomplished, but we know who has said, 'By my Spirit,' &c."

"I am writing this in the midst of my network. May the Spirit of prayer be poured out on the Church of Christ, and may the kingdom of the stone soon become the kingdom of the mountain, at His coming whose are the kingdoms of this world!"

"I HAVE DONE GIVING."

A GENTLEMAN of high respectability, and a member of the church, made this remark, when informed that an application was about to be made to him in behalf of some charitable object. "I have done giving," said he. When I heard of his remark, it awakened in my mind a train of reflection, which I have thought it might not be amiss to communicate.

"Done giving !" Has he indeed? Why, has he given all? Has he nothing left to give? Has this disciple done what his Master did? Was he rich and has he become poor for the sake of others, that they, through his poverty, might be rich? (no; he is rich still. He has the greatest abundance: more than enough to support him in elegance, and to enable him to leave an ample inheritance to his children. What if he has given a great deal? He has not only not impoverished himself, but is probably richer now, through the favour of Providence, than he would have been had he never given anything. Now if, by honouring the Lord with his substance, his barns, instead of being emptied, have been filled with plenty, he had better continue this mode of honouring Him. He should rather increase than arrest his liberality.

"Done giving!" Why? Is there no more need of giving? Is every want abundantly supplied? Is the whole population of our country furnished with the means of grace? Is the world evangelized? Have missionaries visited every shore? Is the Bible translated into every language, and distributed in every land, a copy in every family, and every member of every family taught to read it? Are the accommodations for widows and orphans as ample as they should be? Is there a house of refuge for every class of the human family that needs one; or have the poor ceased from the land? O no; there are no such good reasons as these for ceasing to give. Why, then, has he done giving? Is it because others do not give as they ought? But what is that to him? Will he make the practice of others his rule of conduct, rather than the precept of Jesus Christ? If others do not give, so much the more should he. Will he add another name to the list of niggards?

Does he feel worse for having given away so much? Has it made him unhappy? Is his experience different from that of the Lord Jesus, who said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive ?"

Has he who thinks he will give no more been led to

that conclusion by having found that what has been given hitherto has done no good? And is it so, that no good has been done by all the Bibles published, and all the tracts distributed, and all the missionaries sent abroad into our own land and into the world; and all the schools established, and all the children taught to read, and all the civilization introduced, and all the asylums opened, and all the poverty relieved? Has no good been done? Good, great good has been done by what has been given; but still more will be done by what shall be given hereafter. Bibles can now be printed at a cheaper rate than heretofore, and the conductors of our charitable operations have learned by experience that economy which can be learned in no other way. And yet, at this time, when a trifle goes so far in doing good, here is a man who says, "I have done giving ?" If I had his ear for a moment, I would ask him if he has done receiving-if God has done giving to him. I would ask him, moreover, if he has done spending, or done hoarding, or done wasting. Now, if he has not, he surely should not stop giving. When he ceases to waste, to hoard, and to spend, except for the merest necessaries, then he may stop giving, but never till then.

"Done giving "—that is, done lending to the Lord; done Sowing and watering; done offering the sacrifices with which God is well pleased; done making the widow's heart leap for joy, and bringing on himself the blessing of them that were ready to perish. Well, I am sorry,-sorry for the sake of the poor, and the sick, and the orphan, and the ignorant, and the heathen. But no less sorry am I for the man's own sake. Poor man-poor with all his affluence; for there is really no one more poor than he who, with the ability to give, has not the inclination. He has it in his power to give, but not in his heart. He is enriched with abundance, but not with liberality.

"Done giving;" well, then, if he will not give his money he must keep it. And yet how short a time he can keep it! Had he not better freely give away some of it, than to wait for it all to be torn from him? The thought that he has given will be at least as agreeable a meditation in his dying moments as the reflection that he spent, or that he laid up.

I hope that gentleman who said, “I have done giving," will recall his resolution, and, taking revenge on himself for having made it, give more liberally than ever.*.

Extracted from an interesting little volume entitled, "Lovest thou me?" by the late Rev William Nevins, 'D.D., of Baltimore, which we cordially recommend to our readers.