Rajas said. This your assurance comforts me in my last hours."hoblida 37 In this year, Mr. Kolhoff, and also Mr. Janicke were appointed Missionaries of other Society in India, Mr. Kolhoff was alscady labouring in that vineyard. Mr. Janicke was sent from Europe. The Rev. Dr. Vincent addressed to him an admirable Charge, on the occasion of his departure. We were struck with the pious prayer of this learned divine: Would to God, that not only this nation may be roused to forward this good work, but that every Pro testant power in Europe may be animated by the same spirit!” and no less with the acuteness of the following observation: squence of the communicationis made by these gentlemen to the Board, un which they set forth the importance of Calcutta as a station from whence the knowledge of Christianity might be diffused, considerable efforts swere made to procure a suitable, Missionary to succeed Mr. Kiernander. The Rev. ANT. Clarke, of Cambridge, was nominated to this office! But after havingore sided a few months at Calcutta, he abandoned his mission, and entered as a chaplain into the Company's service; and the mission church must have been shut up, had not the Rev. D. Brown, and the Rev. John Owen! (now chaplain-general of the navy and army), regularly continuť ed to perform Divine service in it. Mr. Swartz, in a letter from Tan jore, makes very bonourable mention of Mr. Hippesley, the late resident at Tanjore, as having always been disposed to serve the Mist sion. He statesThat the new King, in compliance with the promise of his brother, before his death, had delivered to him a written docu ment, sealed by himself, and&his chief ministers, in which he made "If any opinion of an individual may be hazarded,- —it is, that Christianity cannot take root effectually till there are native priests and ministers.speak this from authority; because in Greece, Asia; and throughout the Roman empire we scarcely read of any successor to, or fellow-labourer with, the apostles, who was of the Jewish nation, ex cept Aquila and Priscilla The im becility of mind which pervades the native Indians, we are well informed of by the correspondence of the Missionaries, who allow that they discharge their duty well under the guidance of another, but are not possessed of stability sufficient to be left to themselves. This, however, we conceive from the general nature of man, that to repose a confidence begets an inclination to deserve it; and to give a man rank, and conse quence inspires him with camemulation to promote the provinciał lation to support it”of quamen s In the Report of 1788, it appears that Mr. Kiernander, the Society's Missionary ath Calcutta, had been obliged, from age and infirmities, to relinquish the service of the Mission, and to transfer the mission charch; school, &c., (to the Rer. David Brown, W. Chambers, Esq, and Cr Grant, Esq., who had provided for the usuak English and Portuguese services, until the Society could send outpar Missionary. In conse an appropriation for every of a vill lage, of the yearly income of about five hundred pagodas, for the school, and more especially for the orphans." The village is situated on the con fines of the territory belonging to Tranquebar... "He further states, That the Hon. East India Company, in their general letter to the Government of Madras, had intimated their reso schools, and accordingly had dis rected she said Government to pay towards each of such schools 100%. sterling per annum; that such schools were then about to be esta blished at Tanjore, Ramanadabu. ran and Sivagenga, and that where ever others should be instituted, the said sum of 1001, per annum to ach should be paid. Government had sent him sabstracts from the Company's letter, and desired to know. bow be meant to apply the said au A nual donations. Upon which, he conferred with the vestry, and sent their minutes to Government, who returned an answer entirely, approv ing the proposal, Mr. Pohle and Mr. J. Kolhoff were proposed for superintendants, which Mr. Swartz had suggested, not because he intended to withdraw himself, but in consideration of his own advanced age, and with a view to make the circumstances of those two brethren more comfortable. 1 Mr, Kolhoff had been admitted into the number of the Society's Missionaries, on the recommendation of Mr. Swartz, by whom he had been educated, from his eighth to his twenty-fifth year. The ac, count given of him by Mr. Swartz, is, that his mind was truly upright, and that he had given, "satisfactory proofs to the English and Malabar congregations, of his sincerely practising the duties he had learned from the holy Scriptures. Humble, and content with little, he was will ing to instruct others. The New Testament he read in its original language. Latin and Hebrew be had not then studied. The Malabar language he spoke fluently, and had preached in it above four years. The Portuguese language he also under stood. The Moorish language he knew, and in the Persian he could express himself with tolerable propriety. The English and German languages, he understood so far as to be able to speak them with some elegance."ur mers, and a few native soldiers; all having their employments, and none living on charity. The church is a neat, small building, with a tiled, roof, and was built by a Braminy woman, who was instructed, and baptized by Mr. Swartz one or two of the English gentlemen assisting her with a supply of some materials An able and pious catechist, named Sattianaden, has the care of the congregation, A school has likewise been established, and a schoolmas ter provided; and both catechist and schoolmaster receive their salaries from Mr. Swartz, Palam cotta is a fort, at the distance of two hundred miles from Tanjore: it bes longs to the Nabob, but has an English garrison. One of the country priests visits the congregation annually, for the administration of the sacraments, The English Lis turgy is translated, and used regus larly before sermon. Mr. Swartz mentions, that the scholars, in the two provincial schools very lately established, were making a rapid progress, in learning to read and write the English language. The Mission schools, both English and Malabarian, were continued as before: in the former, thirty-one boys were instructed in reading, writing, arith metic, and geography; and as these young people were likely to remain in that country, the Tamulian and Moorish languages were made part of their study. The Malabar school consisted of twenty-nine children, instructed by a native. The MalaMr. Swartz speaks of the Bibles bar congregation had been augmente and other books sent by the Society, ed with forty members, thirteen of as a treasure, and trusts that the whom were children, born of Chris soldiers of the 72d regiment and the tian parents. The English/congre school-children would have reason, gation consisted of his Majesty's re to praise God for them. Adverting giment stationed there, before whom to the state of the Tanjore church, Divine service, including a sermon. he observes, that both there and at was performed every Sunday; but Tranquebar, the Christian converts every evening there was a meeting of the higher and the lower casts, for prayers, which such as chose sit were famcotta consisted of about exercises bad had a good effect upon were nearly equal. The congrega might frequent. These devotional tion at one hundred and twenty persons, the soldiery, and were encouragedi some inferior merchants, some arti- by their commanding officer.odi ficers, some washermen, some fare " At Tranqueban thirty-eight hea thens bad been converted, among whom was a physician of great learning and reputation." Some years back, he had acquired his first convictions of the excellency of the Christian religion, in a remote country, by reading a letter, printed at the Mission Press, which induced him to inquire into its principles This he did first of the Roman Catholics, who were nearest to him; but, finding amongst them the aps pearance of idolatry, he came to Tranquebar, and before he address ed himself to any of the Missionaries, he conversed with some of their people, and listened to the sermons at the church door. He at length applied to the Missionaries, received their instructions, and, being well settled in the principles of Christ's holy religion, was baptized, together with his family. Soon after, he delivered up his idol of brass, though a heathen had offered him fifteen pagodas for it: he brought likewise many rare books to them, of Malabarian learning, of some of which, copies had been taken, for the service of the Mission. The Christian doctrine of self-denial seemed still to him somewhat difficult, but hopes were entertained of his experiencing more and more the blessedness of the poor in spirit; and how far the riches of grace surpass the riches, honours, and pleasures of the world; nor was a doubt made of his becoming an useful man in many respects." iz The whole number of Christians on the books of the Tranquebar Mission since its commencement, was 17,716. min The Missionaries state :" That January 23, 1787, was one of the most solemn days ever celebrated at Tranquebar, when their senior and dear brother, the Rev. Mr. Kolhoff, kept his jubilee, and had the inex pressible satisfaction of seeing-bis eldest son, a worthy young man, ordained in the mission church and invested with the holy office of priesthood, according to the ritual of the Lutheran Church. The several Missionaries, both English and Das nish, propounded to the candidate questions in divinity, which he an swered to their great satisfaction, shewing how well he had employed his youthful years under the tuition of Mr. Swartz. The Danish Go vernment, and all the European families of the settlement, together with a great number of Malabar Christians and heathens, attended the service, and a general awe was conspicuous, particularly during the ordination sermon, which Mr. Swartz preached, from 2 Tim. ií. !! Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus!® After the ordination, our young bro ther entered the pulpit, and preach ed a Malabar sermon with stich â graceful ease, that it was pleasing to every one that understood it. They had the greatest hope of his continu ing a faithful servant of Christ, and a great help to their brother Swartz in his old age." They had worked off a new im pression of the Tamal Testament and Psalter.-Their Report concludes with stating, that "amidst the trials and difficulties they experience, it is their great and mutual comfort, that, with their brothers, the English Missionaries, Swartz, Gerické, and Pohle, they are, as it were, one heart and one soul, assisting each other in their work, giving to, and receiving advice from, each other, mutually sharing in sorrows and joys, receiving and giving thanks for each other's gifts, and praying for each other. They are often deeply wounded, sometimes by the inefficacy of their well-meant endea vours, and at other times by sad disappointment respecting individuals. However, they are comforted again, and comfort each other." To be continued.) do d To the Editor of the Christian Observer.. 100% 19 1 A CORRESPONDENT, who adopts the? signature of • AN INQUIRER;” p. 338 of your Magazine for September, deduction which would be necessary to demonstrate either the Inquirer's hypothesis or my own, would pro bably he unsuitable to your publica tion: but surely it becomes him to assign his reasons for treating with contempt an authority so closely connected with Sacred History. The prophets seldom indicate any na tion otherwise, than by the name of its first progenitor; and if the Jews did not preserve authentic traditions of national origins, such indications would have been useless both to them and to us. If they did, where are such traditions to be found, but in the writings of Josephus? The ques tion, therefore, whether his state ment on this subject, is to be de! pended on, or to be scouted as mere random assertion," deserves a place in your very valuable mis cellany; and, after so bold a censure has been inserted, it surely demands discussion, ik beg leave, on this ground, to call upon the Inquirer for the reasons of his censure and to request from you, an insertion of bis arguments, and of such an inves tigation of them as they may res quire, The only intimation which the Inquirer has already given, of his motive for despising the authority of Josephus, is, that the Scythians came from Asia into Europe, after the time of Moses; or, as he (I think, less correctly) expresses it, were an original Asiatic nation." all nations were. Josephus himself states, that Magngb settled first at AleppowThe Inquirer admits that the Scythians occupied Caucasos, which is near the border of modern Europe. Why the Inquirer regarde this division of the earth as corred sponding precisely with to the isles of the Gentiles," and why he sup poses that no nation of Japheth's posterity originally settled beyond its boundary, it is necessary that he should explain. The whole coun try north of the Euxine, or even of the Caspian, might, for any reason I can perceive to the contrary, be des V Extracts from the Writings of Luther. Anh đái nú signed by the aisles of the Gen is a happy one, and so highly es isles of 1 tiles; 22 as it is, in the one case teemed by the Lord, that he will wholly, in the other nearly, sepa- leave nothing unpunished which rated by seas, from countries with was concerned in it. But the dewhich the ancient Jews were fa- vil, who caused their death, he will miliar. bring forth to judgment, and punish with eternal pains; sin he will destroy, and death itself he will cast into hell. And as he values them so highly, he will assuredly not stop there, but will bring them up again from the grave, so that their death shall really be no death, but a new life with Christ in eternal brightness and glory. If, indeed, "the Scythic descent of the Franks is an undoubted historical fact," as the Inquirer roundly asserts, it may be inconsistent with the descent of the Scythians from Magog, even according to the testimony of Josephus himself. But this objection appears to me so far from having any force, as to be wholly without foundation. Nothing but a vague or lax application of the Scythian name affords a shadow of connection between the Franks and the Scythians. The Slavonic, not the Gothic, nations, are the real descendants of the latter. It is unnecessary to refer to Mr. Granville Penn's interpretation of the prophecies concerning Gog, after what I have intimated. These prophecies, indeed, we cannot expect to be fulfilled, or understood, till the close of the Millennium Rev. xx. 7, 8. ANOTHER INQUIRER. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Eph. vi. 10. Would you be strong and invincible, you must take the Lord Christ as your strength. Lay fast hold of Him, and exercise yourself in relying upon Him, that He may be well known to you, and his word be held pure by you, and be daily used and learned with all diligence; that thus of God's word and your heart there may be made but one thing; and the truths of it be as certain to you, and more certain than your own life. When have done this, you will be strong and secure, and will you really able EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF to remain safe and unconquered 7996 LUTHER. (Continued from p. 283.) Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Psalm cxvi. 15. 14 when the devil or his messengers come against you. * bad redusa 1 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we "might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the Into; for by the works of the law, shall no flesh be justified. Gal, i -16. Gon opens, in death itself, the gate of life to true believers who love and keep his word, by the death and resurrection of Christ; whether they die on the rack, or be hanged, or burnt, or drowned, or be taken off by fever or pestilence. He proTake heed that you make no misnounces in the text, that the death take here, nor suffer yourself to of his saints is dear and precious, led off from faith to works. Good before the Lord. He accounts their works a man must indeed perform ashes a valuable treasure, a costly but not on them must he place his jeweb of earth. Whether Satan? confidence, but on the The work of strangle the true Christian on his Christ. And we must resists bed, or the executionémions the galds death, and hell, not with our lows, it is declared that such a death but they must lead us from our b be |