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have laboured, during the past year, in their respective stations, with the same discretion, energy, and devotedness which, in former years, has elicited your warm approval.

They are unceasingly occupied in visiting Jews, not only in the towns in which they are stationed, but in all the surrounding villages and rural districts. They frequently attend the worship of the synagogues, and avail themselves of the opportunities, often given them, of addressing large assemblages of Jews at the religious meetings usually held at the close of the synagogue service. They distribute suitable tracts, and copies of the Word of God. They take a special interest in Jewish schools and schoolmasters. They preach in the parish churches as often as occasion offers, and hold weekly meetings for prayer and exposition of the Scriptures. And they endeavour to stir up in the minds of the small number of faithful Protestant ministers in their several districts, and of the more numerous class of pious laymen, a warm interest in the spiritual welfare of their Jewish neighbours. In almost every quarter their visits have been kindly received, and their statements of Divine truth listened to with respectful attention, and frequently with eager interest. In not a few instances they have good ground to think that a favourable impression has been made upon their Jewish hearers; while, in the case of some, there is little room to doubt that the truth of Christianity is inwardly acknowledged by them, although they are still hindered, by various considerations of a worldly and prudential nature, from its open profession. Our missionaries use extreme caution in dealing with professed inquirers; and though various applicants for baptism have come to them, they are slow to receive them until both the extent of their knowledge, and the sincerity of their conviction, have been searchingly and fully tested.

Extension of our Mission.

The Committee are most anxious that their efforts for the conversion of the lost sheep of the house of Israel should be more and more extended, by the occupation of new fields, and the employment of additional labourers; and are specially desirous of securing for this great work the services of well-qualified probationers of our own Church. With these objects in view, they invited Mr. Sutter to spend six weeks in Scotland during the course of last winter; and sent him, along with Mr. Laseron, to our University seats for the purpose of diffusing information among the students regarding the General Assembly's Missions to the Jews, and

exciting an increased measure of interest in their behalf in the minds of the aspirants to the ministry in the Church of Scotland. These visits of the two missionaries were cordially welcomed, and highly appreciated. They have been instrumental, to a very great extent, in removing prejudices that had previously been entertained against this interesting department of the missionary cause, and in stirring up an earnest zeal for the promotion of it. And as one important result of them, the Committee are happy to state, that one young man, of high character and distinguished attainments, now undergoing his probationary trials, has already been induced to offer them his services; and they have reason to believe that several others are disposed, when ready for license, to follow his example. This is a consummation greatly to be desired. For though we have every reason to be very highly satisfied with those able and devoted men on whose agency we are at present dependent, there can be no doubt, that if natives of our own land, and preachers of our rearing, would give themselves to this good work, a much greater interest would be felt in its advancement on the part of the various congregations of our National Church.

It is the intention of the Committee, so soon as they have taken any of our own probationers into their employment, to send them, in the first instance, to Germany, to serve, as it were, an apprenticeship to the missionary work under the able and judicious superintendence of Messrs. Sutter, Lehner, and Stern; and, ultimately, to appoint them to such fixed stations, whether in Germany, or Syria, or elsewhere, as may seem to afford the fairest opening for their

exertions.

In the meanwhile, the attention of the Committee, has been directed to Paris as an eligible field for the Church of Scotland to occupy. In that city there are twenty thousand Jews, nearly all Germans ; among whom, it is believed, that there are peculiar facilities for missionary labour, if the services of a well-qualified agent could be secured.

LONDON CITY MISSION.

Ir has often been said that London contains the best and the worst of everything. We have a striking illustration of this when we contemplate the deep degradation of its

wretched masses, and the earnest energy that is at work to raise them from their dungeon-darkness to the daylight of a Gospel hope. It is in the doings of the London City Mission, as they are reported to the annual meeting that assembles, with eager interest, in the great metropolis in May, that we see this picture realized. The Report of the past year shews how busy sin and Satan still are in that mighty city; but it gladdens us by proving that the soldiers of Christ are manfully and successfully fighting against these adversaries. Let us listen to some of the statements

made in the Report. It opens with the statement,—

"That, notwithstanding the great increase in the number of the Society's agents, not more than one-half of the poor of London had as yet been brought within the sphere of its operations; that many of the most deplorable and debased districts were still unvisited by any missionary, and that there were many families who were as ignorant of Christ and His salvation as the pagans; that one-seventh of the poor of London still professed the superstition of Popery; that not more than six out of every hundred attended public worship of any kind; that one family in six were without a Bible; and that the shops open for trade on the Lord's day were as numerous as those which were closed. Of the number of adults dying," the Report stated that 66 more than one-fourth received no other Christian visitation than that of this Mission. The number of visits made by the Society's missionaries during the year, was 1,439,313, being 199,000 more than in the previous year. 122,772 visits had been paid to the sick and dying, portions of the Scriptures had been read 432,407 times. The number of families assigned to the care of each missionary was 500,each family, on the average, numbering four persons. There were about 650,000 persons under the regular and systematic instruction of the missionaries, a number much larger than was under the regular public instruction of all the clergymen and ministers in the metropolis, in the churches and chapels at any Sunday service; and the 650,000 who were visited and instructed by the missionaries were almost wholly a distinct class from any that were found in the churches and chapels on an ordinary Sunday." It is stated that "23,035 family meetings for prayer and the exposition of God's Word, had been held by the missionaries during the year, and the persons who attended them were generally such as would not, in the first instance, be brought to the

house of God. The attendance at these services varied from fifteen to a hundred. The Society had distributed in the course of the year, 1,931,705 religious tracts, which, together with a library of entertaining books, supplied by the Religious Tract Society, had greatly aided the missionaries in their labour, and had done much in counteracting the pernicious influence of the cheap infidel and other irreligious and immoral publications." There had also been distributed during the year "6728 copies of the Holy Scriptures; 8853 children had been sent to ragged and other schools, through the intervention of the missionaries. 132 shops had been closed on the Sabbath; 569 drunkards had been reclaimed; and 307 families had been induced to commence the practice of family prayer. Many thousands of persons had given real evidence of conversion, in their reformed lives; 676 of these had been admitted to the Lord's table; 158 persons who had departed from God, had been restored to church membership. An extensive system of visitation had been carried on in the workhouses, and amongst the military and the sailors in the east of London. Many of the soldiers who had gone out to the war had been supplied with religious books and tracts; and, in all, 13,268 of those publications had been distributed by the missionaries amongst the soldiers and sailors going abroad. Religious books, in their own language, had been distributed largely amongst the Chinese in London. Everywhere almost the missionaries were esteemed by the poor, and treated with respect, even by the thieves in St. Giles."

How should the thought of all the ignorance and wickedness of these poor inmates of the lanes and alleys of London, excite our gratitude for all the mercies, both temporal and spiritual, of our lot! But let us receive the warning to take heed, lest while many are, by the means of these humble earnest Bible readers, brought from the east and west, and north and south of the vast metropolis, and made to sit down as the children of God in glory, any of us who think ourselves the children of the kingdom should, when weighed in the balance, be found wanting, and so be thrust out,-lest when the storms of calamity, and disease, and death begin to beat upon our house, it should be found to be built only on a sandy foundation, and so should fall; and great should be the fall of it!

FEMALE EDUCATION IN INDIA.

BAPTISM OF SIX ORPHAN GIRLS.

It is with feelings of sincere gratitude to the God of missions, that we put on record an account of an interesting service which took place at the Scottish Orphanage, Lower Circular Road, on Tuesday last, when six of the inmates of that Institution made a profession of their faith in Christ. and were admitted into the membership of His Church, Most thankful do we feel at this renewed manifestation of God's blessing on the instruction imparted in the Orphanage, and most fervently do we pray, that the efforts of the Ladies' Association, both in the Orphanage and day schools, to diffuse the light and truth of Christianity amongst the females of this land, may be abundantly owned of God as a means of increasing the number of His people from amongst the heathen, and others who are in spiritual darkness.

We understand that the girls who sought and obtained a name in the visible Church, on this occasion, have, for some time past, given evidence of a work of grace in their hearts; and there is every reason to believe, that they have been taught by a power and influence higher than that of man's to seek the Lord.

The service on Tuesday was peculiarly solemn. The Rev. J. W. Yule, superintendent of the mission, after singing, began with prayer. After which, the Rev. R. Henderson of St. Andrew's Church, read a portion of the Scriptures, and called upon the candidates for baptism to give expression of their faith in Jesus, and their desire to devote themselves to His service; which being satisfactorily done, he baptized them into the holy name of the Triune-God. After the administration of the sacred rite, Mr. Henderson, in an address of much tenderness and affection, counselled, encouraged, and warned the young disciples respecting their future walk and life, entreating them to keep near, at all times, to that Jesus whom they had, on that day, taken and owned to be their Lord and Redeemer.

The service was concluded by prayer and the benediction.

We were pleased to see such a good attendance of sympathizing friends at the dispensation of the ordinance; and we are sure that all must have felt that of a truth God was there.-Calcutta Christian Advocate of April 29, 1854.

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