and of the Heir, is plagued with their being cast out of the vineyard, and the removal of the Word of the kingdom. But love-sickness near the throne is near to influences of grace and glory, as sweet-smelled herbs are near to such influences, so as presently they yield honey. Some refined earth, curiously hardened by the influences of the sun, is near to be turned into fine gold, or choice silver. When we go about earthly business with half a heart, or godly indifferency, and with a distance from the creature, we grow more heavenly, and more disposed to receive the influences of God. But such a promise as this, made to an unrenewed man yet in nature: "This do, and ye shall be converted," I read not :—or let nature do, and grace follow, or let common grace begin, and the special grace of conversion shall follow.

For, 1. This is to bid men keep a distance from holy Jesus, and not come at Him or touch Him by faith, though the soul be humbly trembling before Him, (as the woman, Luke viii. 47, 48,) until they be holy and righteous. It is very like to this: "Come not within sight of the Physician, by faith, until first you be healed and reformed:" or, "Come not to buy the fine linen and the righteousness of the saints, until first you be well clothed with your own inherent righteousness." But who shall heal the sick, and clothe the naked sinner, if it be not Christ? Now Christ, not believed in for pardon, is He at so huge a distance from a sinner, that He cannot heal?

2. This is to bring in an inherent physical pardoning, and justification by works. The Scripture knoweth not of any justification but one, and that is through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

SINCE we last reported on our Foreign Mission work, several communications have been received from the Rev. George Anderson, in all which evidence is not awanting that our agents are prosecuting their arduous work in and around Seoni with commendable zeal and considerable success. Agreeably to the Synod's decision, ORPHANAGE is about to be enlarged, so as to provide accommodation for at least 25 children. The proposed alterations will not involve much expense, but will necessitate the erection of a new place of worship in a different part of the Mission compound. For some time past the little congregation at Seoni, numbering from 30 to 40 worshippers, has been assembling in the class-room of the Orphanage. As this apartment is now to be used as a girls' dormitory, a small and inexpensive CHURCH will require to be built. The SCHOOL cou

tinues to prosper. The keen opposition experienced at its commencement has now all but subsided, and the members of the Zillah School Committee are actually petitioning the Government officials to hand over their school to the Mission. Should this be done, it will be a great point gained, as the education of all the boys in the town would then be under the direct supervision of the missionary and his associates, and the children would receive a religious training. Work among the females is being carried on by Mrs. Anderson, assisted by the wife of Imdad Masih. David Gajadhar is busy pushing the sale of the Scriptures and religious books, which are supplied to him by the "North India Bible Society." Happily the famine, which has produced such misery and death in Southern India, has not been felt in Seoni. Mr. Anderson states, however, that "the rains are threatening to be scanty this year, and some are beginning to fear the approach of famine. As yet there is said to be no real want of rain; but there is no superfluity."

The following unexaggerated account of some inquirers will be perused with mingled feelings, and will show how hard it is to win the followers of a false religious system over to Christ's side. No marvel that missionaries often get disheartened, and think their labour lost. Yet the Lord can enlighten and save the most obdurate and perverse. To Him must our prayers be directed, and on Him must we with confidence rely in such a work as this. Mr. Anderson writes:

On 30th March last Munshi Imdad Masih met A. D., a Kabir Panthi, at a fair, by whom he was invited to pay him a visit at Chaonri, a village about six or seven miles from Seoni. On the 3d April I accompanied him to that village, where, besides holding a meeting, we had some interesting conversation with A. D. He seemed pretty candid and intelligent, but much attached to the doctrines of Kabir. On the following Sabbath, I think, he came to Seoni, was present at worship in the school, and accompanied us to the bungalow, where a lengthened conversation ensued. He admitted, with some reluctance, that his religion was of recent date, and so could not be divine. On the 13th April Munshi Imdad Masih again went to Chaonri; but this visit was not attended by any marked result.

Some time after this A. D. called at the bungalow, bringing with him N. D., a bairagi, or Hindu religious beggar, whom he was trying to persuade to become a follower of Kabir. We found out afterwards that A. D. is a kind of missionary of the religion to which he belongs. I spoke to them both about the necessity of salvation from sin, of the folly of professing a religion such as that of Kabir, in which there is no way of salvation set forth, and of Christ as the only Saviour. N. D. seemed convinced by what I said; but A. D. wished to go towards Nagpur and Amraoti, to get some books that he might compare them with the Bible. I warned him of the shortness and uncertainty of life, and urged him to seek instant salvation in Christ.

Being much impressed with the apparent sincerity of N. D., and not being myself in good health at the time, I asked Imdad Masih to take the first portunity of paying him a visit. He accordingly went on the 18th June, and on returning informed me that N. D. had declared himself fully convinced of the truth of the Gospel, and ready to become a Christian by open profes

sion. On 5th July I accompanied Imdad Masih to Chaonri, where we had a meeting as usual, and conversed with A. D. and N. D. The latter repeated his former declaration of faith, and we brought him with us. He stayed with us till noon, and went away, promising to return next day. He was delayed in connection with some money which he had been induced to lend to some one under false pretences. On Sabbath evening, 8th July, both N. D. anti A. D. appeared at the bungalow, where there was a lengthened discussion, in which A. D. was completely silenced. N. D., who seemed in a very hopeful state of mind, put some puzzling questions to him. N. D. stayed at Imdad Masih's house all night and partook of his food.

Next morning N. D. met another bairagi, whom he brought with him to Imdad Masih's house. A. D. and some others were also present, the latter, though professing to be favourable to religious inquiry, doing all in their power to hinder N. D. from taking any decided step, and doing their best to show that, before doing anything serious in the matter, he should carefully examine the whole subject. Mr Bose, who took the lead in the discussion, thought it advisable to take N. D. and the other bairagi to his own house, so that there might be better opportunity of speaking to them at leisure. The second bairagi at length confessed, with tears in his eyes, that he had spent his life in vain, and that salvation could only be found in Christ. He said that he had never heard the Gospel before, for, whenever he had seen a Christian preach. ing, he always fled from the place.

We asked N. D. to stay in the compound, that he might have full oppor tunity of learning the truth, to which he consented, saying at the same time that he was not afraid of what others might say to him, his faith was so strong. We warned him to beware of trusting in his own strength. He went away, professing that he was going to Imdad Masih's house to get food, &c.; but he neither went there nor returned to the compound, which caused us no little anxiety. The second bairagi returned, and some interesting and encouraging conversation took place.

On Tuesday morning I went along with Imdad Masih to Chaonri, where we found N. D. He had seen several persons in Seoni, who had told him many falsehoods in regard to the way in which missionaries treat converts after baptism. I am sorry to believe, however, that they are not altogether without foundation in some places. A. D. had persuaded N. D. to delay for a time, promising to receive baptism along with him.

The second bairagi called at Imdad Masih's house that evening, and next day he again called. It came out in conversation that the enemies of the Gospel had been telling him that, after spoiling his religion, we would cast him off, that we would employ him in work which Hindus consider dishonourable, and that he would not get a wife if he became a Christian. We tried to show him that in thè matter of salvation he should consider that he had to deal with God and not with man, and that it would not profit him though he should gain the whole world if he lost his soul. We also tried to disabuse his mind of the wicked insinuations that had been impressed upon him, and assured him that they were the malicious falsehoods of wicked men.

In the afternoon A. D. and N. D. called at the bungalow. A. D. said that much of the error which formerly filled his mind had now been cleared away. Next morning they both called; but they were chiefly concerned about charge brought against A. D., to the effect that he was a bad character, in which N. D. was indirectly concerned, in connection with the money that he had lost. Probably enough it is a false charge; for cases of this kind are by no means rare here. N. D. said that he would get out of the way for about a fortnight, till it would he settled, as he did not wish to be mixed up with it. Neither they nor the other bairagi have appeared since, which leads us to fear lest they go back altogether.

The following graphic account of three days' itinerancy will, we doubt not, be read with interest. It shows the difficulties in the way of reaching many of the villages, and the need of strong faith and ardent love to the souls of men on the part of those actively

engaged in missionary work.

Anderson thus writes:

Under date 28th August, Mr.

As

A considerable time ago Mr. Bose visited a number of villages in the jungle towards the south-eastern boundary of the Seoni district. Some account of his trip was given in the Magazine shortly afterwards. Since that time we have been unable to visit them again, though we have often desired to do so. there had been Lo rain for about a fortnight previously, we took advantage of three holidays, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of last week, to go in that direction. We proposed to go on straight to Pindrai, a village between 30 and 40 miles from Seoni, which was owned by a Gond, said by his neighbours to be about 125 years of age.

We accordingly left home about 4 o'clock A.M. on Thursday, travelling by the main road to Khawasa, 29 miles distant, from which we turned towards the east. The road was very rough and in several places very narrow, so much so that our small gàri could with difficulty get along. We had about 10 miles of this kind of road through the jungle before we reached our destination. On our way we called at a village named Khandasa, hoping to get some milk; but the only thing that we could get was a drink of water, not at all refreshing, and a few limes, the juice of which rendered it drinkable. We had had some refreshment at Korai, which is about 12 miles from Khandasa; but the heat of the sun was very intense, and I was suffering much from thirst. The patel sent four men with us to help us over the rough parts of the road. Their help was very necessary, as the road was in some parts very bad, and we had to cross several nullahs (streams), one of them pretty wide. Their channels were for the most part nearly dry; so that we had no thought of the difficulty of returning. In the evening we reached Pindrai, where we were hospitably entertained, though in a jungly fashion. We found that the old patel had died shortly after Mr Bose's last visit. His eldest son had lost his eyesight several years ago, evidently from age; and he complained that he was beginning to lose his teeth. The second son is the chief man, and seems to enjoy excellent health. They seem to be about 70 or 80 years of age-I should say nearer 80 than 70. There are seven brothers, who along with their families and grandchildren live together in the patriarchal style. In all, excluding servants, they number about 70 persons. Some of them have two and even three wives. We heard of a Gend who has six wives. Generally speaking, Gonds only marry one wife. After the villagers had partaken of their evening meal, they were called together to hear the Gospel. There was a fair audience; but we would have had many more, had the rain not begun to fall heavily. The meeting on the whole was a pleasant one. It came out in the course of conversation that the present patel (the second son) had many years ago got an image of Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god, put up in the village, by the advice of some Hindus. He offers pan to it every Saturday. Pan is a leaf, in which a little lime, betel-nut, and some spice are enclosed. After the meeting we retired to rest, not a little wearied with our journey. We slept on the common charpoys, bedsteads about 44 feet long, in a shed enclosed on three sides, and open towards the interior courtyard. The rain poured heavily all night; and in the morning it seemed impossible for us to go anywhere. I therefore wrote a letter to Mrs Anderson, lest she might become anxious about us should we not be able to return by the appointed time. No one could be found daring enough to cross the streams, aud especially the large one, which was now very deep and strong.

The rain continued more or less all Friday, so that we could not go to Piparwani, a very large village about a mile distant, as we originally intended to do. Being kept prisoners there, we spoke again to the patel and others who were within reach about the folly and sin of idolatry and the only way of salvation. The patel showed us one round and five oblong copper plates, all fastened together by a thick copper ring. On the plates there is an inscription engraved in a peculiar character, which as yet we have not been able to decipher. Neither the patel nor his father knew where they came from, nor how long they had been in the family, nor what is the purport of the inscription. Probably they are the title-deeds of the land, and they may possibly be in

Marathi; but the character is almost as unlike the ordinary Marathi as the Hebrew alphabet is unlike the Roman. I copied the greater part of the plate with the view of investigating the matter.

Friday night there was little rain, and Saturday morning was tolerably clear. After making inquiries of a number of persons, we resolved to attempt our journey homewards by another route. After crossing several streams, which had diminished very much during the night, and passing a village named Pulpula, we reached Babai. The road was, considering the circumstances, pretty good, but we needed the help of the villagers as we went along. The patel said that he could not give us milk from his own house, as he was engaged in the worship of Krishna; but he got some for us from another person. From Babai we took the kotwal and another man, who brought us along a miry road to the banks of the Bawanthari river, the largest of those that we had crossed two days previously. There it appeared that the water in some parts was so deep we could not cross, as it reached the armpits of some men who had crossed it, and was coming down with considerable force. We went to Khairghat, an adjacent village, where we were hospitably entertained by the patel. We stayed two hours, to partake of some refreshment, to give the bullocks a rest, to dry our socks and boots, and to address the villagers. We had travelled on foot almost all the way to save the bullocks. The patel accompanied us to the river, bringing eight or ten Gonds with him. The Gonds first carrried our baggage across on their heads, they then dragged the gari to the other side, and the driver took the bullocks. Mr Bose was then seated on a charpoy and carried on the men's shoulders, after which they returned and carried me over. We were very thankful when we reached the homeward side of the river, as there could now be no serious obstacle to hinder us from reaching home.

The patel of Khairghat is evidently a very amiable and intelligent man, considering that he has received no education. He put a number of questions which showed that he was thoughtful. For example, he wished to know about fore-ordination and the use of means. He wished to know why it was that Europeans are white, and those who come from the south dark. In his opinion this is caused by the fact that the heat is much greater towards the south than it is towards the north.

After crossing the Bawanthari we had no particular difficulty in reaching home, except that the jungly road was sometimes rather rough. ́At length we reached the main road, about twenty-three miles from Seoni, which was a great relief to us. When we reached Mohgaon, twelve miles from Seoni, we tried to get a fresh pair of bullocks, as ours were much fatigued. There were none to be had except those that had been ploughing all day, which would have been worse than our own. We were, therefore, compelled to come in with our wearied bullocks, so that we were much longer on the road than would have been necessary in other circumstances. We reached home about eleven o'clock on Saturday evening, thoroughly wearied with our journey. What we chiefly regretted was that we had been able to do so little when we were out. We had hoped that the Gospel would be preached in two important bazaars and in a number of villages, but were disappointed. I am thankful to say that neither Mr Bose nor I suffered any injury from exposure to sun and rain.

Literature.

The Gospel of St. John, its Authorship and Authenticity. By William Cæsar, D.D.-William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh & London. 1877.

WE have here an ably written and eminently satisfactory volume on a question which has of late been much discussed within the region of Biblical criticism-Did the Apostle John write the Gospel that bears his name? The question is a seriously important one, forming