"O Lord our God, stretch forth thy almighty arm, and make it bare in the sight of all the nations. Shed abroad the saving influences of thy good Spirit on the hearts of multitudes, that they may believe and turn unto thy Christ; May the great Saviour of his Israel be found of them that seek him not; and in the compassion of his grace may he manifest himself to those who inquire not after him."DODDRIDGE IN PART.

EXHORTATION TO MOTHERS." Mothers, we want your sons to stand in those spheres which we shall soon vacate. Yours, to be pillars in our churches; yours to go to the isles of the ocean; yours, to go the burning sands of Africa; yours, to carry light into the dark heart of India; and yours, to go to the snows of the north. Yes: there will, I trust, be mothers that read this appeal, whose sons and daughters ought to rise up for God, and cry, Here are we: send us.' Train them up to this service -to holy service of being agents in redeeming mind,' immortal, imperishable, 'mind,' from sin and Satan, to train them up to the work of plucking brands from burning, and quenching them in the blood of Jesus, and seeing them become stars in the kingdom of God. Thus you can,' and 'will,' hasten the jubilee of the earth. And, though your eyes will soon close in death, yet, from the foot of the throne above, you shall welcome those whom you and your children have led to Jesus. They shall come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and shout, Grace, grace!' Train up your child to live and act for eternity.

You remember that the poor widow gave her two mites; and it was more than all that the rich could do. The cup of cold water offered to Christ shall be rewarded. But what are such offerings? Who can bring an offering so rich, so costly, as the mother who brings her child to the service of God? She makes a sacrifice which no money can purchase, which no tongue can describe; and she shall have a reward proportionate to the gifts. O what streams of joy No. 1958.

and blessedness will flow for ever into the heart of the faithful mother! Christ will own her as his mother, and her sons and daughters as his brothers and sisters. Was she unknown on earth, and was the fire which she ever kept burning on the altar of her heart unseen by man? Behold, her reward shall be sure: she shall "enter into the joy of her Lord!" (J. Todd).

NEGRO EXPOSITION.-A missionary to the coloured people in the southern parts of the United States observes that "oral instruction has not been perfunctory and merely in word: let me give you a practical illustration. I was once instructing a coloured candidate for baptism in the Lord's-prayer: explaining clause by clause, we came to Thy kingdom come.' 'What do you mean when you say these words ?' 'I don't mean, massa, that God's kingdom may come in the world and the sky: God is king there already; but I pray that his kingdom may come in our hearts.' What do you mean by God's kingdom coming in our hearts?' 'I pray that God, by his grace, may rule in my heart and in the hearts of all men.' Thinking still he might be speaking by rote, I asked, What do you mean by God, by his grace, ruling in our hearts ?' 'I pray that God, by his Holy Spirit, may make me and all men what he wants

us to be.'

THE SOUTH SEA MISSION.-(From a despatch in February last by the committee of the London Missionary Society to their mission in that region).-"From its earliest days the South Sea Mission has occupied a high place in the regard of the society's friends. Dr. Carey was anxious to commence it: the good countess of Huntingdon had planned it. The thrilling stories of Cook and Vancouver had laid these unknown tribes open to the world's gaze; and, while India and China, Negroes and Hottentots, and catholic Europe, were all closed against the gospel, the Christian church saw an opening for its efforts among these distant isles. Thus it was that the 'Duff' brought out its first band of labourers. How slow their progress with the

language and with the people! what depths of heathenism they found among them! They beheld cruelties unheard of in Europe since the middle ages; canoes launched at Raiatea over the bodies of prostrate captives, as they are still dragged in Fiji; the Areoi society; infanticide on system; the people under a most crushing despotism; quarrels and bitter wars almost without end. These bright volcanic islands present to you scenes of wondrous beauty, which it must be no trifling pleasure to contemplate. When you approach the reefs of Rarotonga, or turn into the broad harbour of Tutuila, or sail along the wooded shores of Chinambrym, you look upon gems of tropic beauty which can scarcely be matched throughout the globe. But, in the removal of that black heathenism, and the spread of the gospel amongst these people, you are giving them a moral beauty incomparably higher. And how grateful should our churches be that this transformation has, beyond all question, been very great. The society is now carrying on four groups of missions, which have been blessed with most solid results. Otahite and the Leeward islands were those first evangelized. The Hervey group followed; Rarotonga being discovered in 1823. In 1830 Samoa received the gospel: our Loyalty mission was commenced in 1848. Nowhere have the triumphs of the gospel been greater than in Niue, the Savage island' of recent years; but Christianized now, after long patience, brave effort, and earnest prayer. Thus, by degrees, increased breadth has been given to our labours, and a larger number of converts and of heathen have been brought under their influence. Yet the number of English missionaries has not been greatly increased, though their services have been economized and consolidated. In Rarotonga, where once three missionaries resided, we now have one; and in the Leeward group three, where there were five. The increased supply of competent native agency, and the wider missionary experience wrought into system, require and permit this change. Before passing on to other matters, the directors cannot but acknowledge the many excellences of the Polynesian churches: the great liberality which they have displayed for many years; the severe trials and persecutions to which many have been exposed; and the courage and patience with which they have been borne. In the Loyalty Islands the converts are forbidden to expend contributions away from their own group. In other islands, without exception, the contributions are large and generous. The great group of Samoa stands out very prominently; but Rarotonga, Mangaia, Niue, Raiatea, and others are not far behind. The small islands have done well; and even our little Ellice group, evangelized the other day, have begun to offer their gifts of gratitude and love. The total amount of these contributions every year now approaches £1,800. That sum will about cover the teachers' supplies, the supplies for the institutions, and the expenses of the ship. Thus the society will have to bear only the personal expenses of the missionaries, which will amount to £4,800 a year. From the outset your people have borne all the incidental

expenses of worship, church ordinances and schools. Their chapels have been built by themselves; and, as in lands more highly civi lized, they continue to improve on their early models. We have read much about the handsome chapels of Samoa: all who have visited Niue speak with admiration of the chapel at Alofi; and Mr. Krause informs us that, to make that at Ngatangiia strong, the people imported beams from New Zealand at a cost of £200." A corroboration of the preceding statement comes to us from an American quar ter: "Incessant war, merciless cruelty, infanticide, indescribable vice, in many places cannabalism, made the strong races, in the South Sea islands, a ceaseless terror to each other and to the world outside them. In all but Western Polynesia the gospel has swept this heathenism away. The four great societies which have sent their brethren forth as messengers of mercy, have gathered into Christ's fold 300,000 people; of whom 50,000 are members of the church. They have together expended on the process less than £1,200,000; a sum which, now-a-days, will only make a London railway, or furnish the navy with six iron-clads. Yet how wonderful the fruit of their toil! "The wolf dwells with the lamb: the leopard lies down with the kid"" ("Missionary Chronicle").

WESTERN AFRICA.-Abeokuta and LagosThe rev. H. Townsend (at present in England) has recently received letters from this place, and gives the following summary of their con tents: "I have received by the past mail several letters of great interest, containing the gra tifying intelligence of the re-opening of our church at Ake, at which there were, it is esti mated, 1,000 persons: 800 inside, and 200 outside unable to get admission for want of room. The collection after the service amounted to 2,226,000 cowries and £1 10s. in coin. The total value would be about £73; I cannot tell exactly, as there is a fluctuation in the rate of exchange. The cowries would require about 111 persons to carry them. The Lord's supper was administered the same day; at which $16 persons communicated. I think these are telling facts. I enclose a letter, in which some details of the state of the church are given. You will notice that the lay element is strong; and con ferences are spoken of for mutual support and advice in sustaining the church. They endea vour to maintain the system we adopted of classes and class-leaders, and a fixed payment of every class member: thus there is a system and government, incomplete it is true, but very useful, sufficient for the time, and leading to something more complete. The walls of the new church at Igbori are completed." The announcement has been made to the Church Mis sionary Society of prospective relief to the amount of £250 per annum by the transfer of the day-schools at Lagos, now supported by the society, to a local committee of Europeans and natives, by whom the funds neces sary for the support of these schools will be raised and expended. The announcement was received with much satisfaction, and the hope expressed that this spontaneous effort on the part of the community of Lagos will tend

gain access even to the homes of the rich and powerful; while thousands of humble dwellings welcome our presence; and I am convinced that encouragements will not be wanting in the future, as certainly they have not been in the past, to reward every faithful worker in this humble sphere of Christian effort" (From "Our Life in Christ," by H. E. E. Nevins. New York, 1869. Thirteen years' experience as a missionary's wife).

PEKING.-The Hospital Mission of the London Missionary Society. The hospital report last issued by the mission describes very fully the varieties of cases in which the medical missionary has been called to assist the people. Rich and poor have both been treated; and to both have been offered those Christian instructions which may bring health and grace to their souls. Amongst others who aided in this work by his faithful and earnest exhortations in the mission chapel, was the late rev. W. C. Burns, of the English Presbyterian mission, to whom the love and confidence of all the missionary brethren were given in a remarkable degree. "The preaching to patients and others has been regularly kept up during the year, at dispensary hours. The preachers have been Mausien Sheng, assisted by the late rev. W. C. Burns, during the first six months, and by Ying-sien Sheng during the latter months. Mr. Edkins reports that the number of persons baptized at the hospital-chapel during the year, more or less connected with the preaching of the gospel to the patients, was twenty-three adults and six children. The practice at the hospital has been very much the same as in former years. The cases generally of a simple character and chronic. Total number, 4,340. No epidemics have raged during the year, although the mortality and sickness, both among Europeans and natives, have been excessive. Among the former, within three months, two medical gentlemen and the wife of one were suddenly carried off; and the life of a third was despaired of. The summer was unusually hot, protracted, and without rain. The drought was excessive. Then followed two months of wet weather. In August alone it rained ten days, with a rainfall of ten inches, a thing almost unknown in this sandy plain. It was during the wet weather and the succeeding months that sickness prevailed so extensively."

H. S.

THE AUTHORITY OF GREAT MEN.

BY THE REV. C. RAWLINGS, B.A.

all sympathize with such persons. There must be something wrong about them: there is a want of humility, a want of that self-distrust which is based on self-knowledge. If I found that my views of a given subject were opposed to the views of a great man of established reputation, who may have devoted his time and talents to that subject, I should be prepared to distrust myself, and to suspect that I was in error. This, I think, would be both natural consideration of the subject, I still found that I and reasonable on my part. If, on a careful recould not coincide in opinion with the great man, I think I should be justified in retaining my own opinion, and in holding fast by my own convictions, unless satisfactory reasons for a change of opinion were offered to my judg

ment.

There is something unworthy, nay, pitiful in all this man-worship, this excessive deference to man's opinion. Man is fallible: the wisest of men are still but fallible beings. A great man may be mistaken in some of his views and notions, and not unfrequently he is mistaken. The mind of a great man, however elevated and enlightened, is not exempted from the weakempted from prejudice and narrowness of connesses of our common humanity: it is not exception on some points. All human authority is necessarily fallible; and, therefore, we should not allow ourselves to be tied and bound by the ipse dixit of any man, whatever may be his merits and acknowledged claims to eminence and distinction.

We live in sifting times: the present day is not disposed to assume, or to take things for pre-eminently a day of discussion. People are granted: they desire to examine for themselves, and to bring every thing to the test. There is which arrays itself in opposition to authority of unquestionably a growing feeling amongst us every kind: what will not bear the shock of free inquiry and argument is rejected. Opinions, which were once accepted without a murmur of dissent, are now abandoned: they are cast aside as untenable, and perhaps even as absurd.

If the undue influence of the authority of a great man is to be carefully guarded against in matters of ordinary importance, in matters which relate to this present world, and which are connected with the interests of time, there is a subject in reference to which the influence of man's authority should be much more jealously watched: it is the great subject of religion, the subject which involves the highest interests of man as destined to an immortal existence be

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