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THE KROO PEOPLE OF WEST AFRICA.

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of God spoken to us by his servant, our brother. I feel from my own heart that they are words of truth-that if we wish to be saved, we must deny ourselves of our lustful desires, and then come and follow Christ.' I beg of you, my countrymen, to consider these words seriously when you go home, and change your ways. As for myself, I do not say I am righteous, but, thank God, I am able to declare publicly to you all, that since that good white man in the grammar school (meaning the late Rev. J. Millward) led me to Jesus, I have continued to own him as my Saviour and my God. Once, indeed, I was blind, but now I see. I'll tell you how I maintain my position. After the death of that good white man, as there was no church built here expressly for us, as at this time, I went and unbosomed my feelings to my neighbour, a Christian brother of the United Missionary Free Churches, who took me to his minister, and told him that I wished to join myself to their class-meeting. The minister asked me why I was desirous to be a member of his class. I told him, because I should like to have a teacher who would be always telling me of Jesus, as that white man in the grammar school used to do. A few months after this I was married, and then baptized by him, and thus I and my wife became members of his church; and though she is now dead, and I alone am left to bemoan her loss, yet I have not forgotten the good that God has done to my soul, nor have I yet forsaken Him. I always beseech Him, in prayer, to keep me from falling again nto those sins of which I am now ashamed. And now, fellow-country

men, I would beg of you, in addition to what you have already heard, to begin to think of your souls' salvation, and turn from your evil ways, that so, when you die, you may, to your joy, be found at God's right hand in heaven."

In the address and confession of this Krooman (though of another connexion) we see at once an evident token of good. We sincerely hope that such may happen to all his countrymen, who have heard from his own mouth, and oftentimes seen in him, the testimony that "He has been with Jesus."

On the 24th of December I was highly gratified in hearing from one of the people another pleasing proof of the change that has been wrought in him by regularly attending the means of grace. As we went out this day, on our usual visit, we met two of our people conversing together, We-ah and Wa-ca-do, the one a class member, the other not.

"Do you know," I asked both of them, "what day to-morrow would be?" "Yes," they replied, "to-morrow will be Christmas-day." "What do you think," I continued asking, "you ought to do on that day?” Wa-ca-do said, "Christmas-day is the proper day to eat plenty of rice and cassada, and drink plenty of rum, and then dance from morning till the evening." "What would you do then?" "I don't know yet," he answered, "until I am spared to see the day." Turning to We-ah, alias Jack Smart (a class member), I said, "Tell me, Smart, what do you think you ought to do to-morrow?" "I think, massa, it is right for me to go to church. On last Christmas-day I indeed went down to the Bay, in a drunken state, and wrestled and danced, as I was fond of doing on all other Christmas-days, as well as Sundays; but since we have had a church built for us, and I have put down my name in the class-book, I feel,

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from what I used to hear in the church and class-meetings, that I must not spend my days any longer in working wickedness, which would cause me to go into a bad place when I die."

This resolution of his heart Jack Smart attended to on the following day (December 25th), and after divine service he accompanied me home, and continued with me till evening, during which time I explained to him the object for which our Saviour was born into the world, and that is, "to deliver us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us. The Lord, indeed, has not suffered the preaching of his word in this place to return to Him void.

I am sorry, however, to state that Jack Smart was not permitted to live long in this world, after that he had begun to know that Christ Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; but, contrary to our expectation, he breathed his last in the evening of the 4th inst., deeply lamented by us and all who knew him. His remains were interred by me on the following day at eight A.M.

PREACHING TOURS.

ITINERATIONS for the purpose of broadcasting the Gospel seed, and affording to the largest possible number of the heathen the opportunity of hearing the message of mercy, are being extensively carried out in every part of India. In one of these enterprises the Rev. C. B. Leupolt has been engaged, going out from Benares as a centre, and having for his companion a very remarkable man, who, when a heathen, had been a sort of demi-god amongst the people, and was followed by many, who thought he had the power of working miracles. With this man the Missionaries had several conversations; and it was evident that there was some conviction struggling in his mind, and that he was uneasy and disquieted. For three or four years, however, he disappeared, all respecting him had been forgotten, when one day it was announced that Ramaiya Baba had come back, and wished to see the Missionaries. He was indeed altered; no longer the wild-looking man he had been, but sad and sorrowful. With downcast countenance, and voice scarcely audible, he said that he had come to be instructed in the way of salvation: that he had tried all the ways of the Hindus, and had found no satisfaction; and his only hope now was that he might find rest and peace in Christ. This man, after due instruction, was baptized; and, by thus publicly professing Christ, has lost much that men esteem valuable. He has sacrificed his popularity, and the large presents and offerings he used constantly to receive. He is now acting as an itinerant preacher and pioneer, without receiving any pay.

With this man as his companion, Mr. Leupolt set out on a preaching tour. They penetrated through the jungles and up the hills, until they got amongst the Coles and Kharwars, a simple-hearted people, very ignorant, without priests, temples, or idols. It is the

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more necessary that Christian Missionaries should endeavour to lay hold upon them for good, seeing that the Hindus are endeavouring to make converts among them. They were told what God had done for sinners in the salvation of Christ, and their answer was, "Give us teachers to instruct us, and we and our children will come and learn God's word."

On another occasion Mr. Leupolt went with Ramaiya amongst the villages on the plains, and in this trip several new features presented themselves, which Mr. Leupolt recounts, and which we consider so interesting and important that we introduce them

The first that struck me was, that we had no occasion to go after the people, for they came to us from the surrounding villages, wherever our tent was pitched. We had numerous willing and attentive hearers from morning to sunset. We preached much, often till our chests ached. In our preaching we endeavoured to set before the people God's plan of redeeming mankind. We had also regularly morning and afternoon prayers, at which many attended, and I do not remember an instance in which any interruption took place during prayers; on the contrary, our mode of prayer impressed their minds. One man said to me, "You speak to God as if He were present: well, it is no doubt the way in which we should address God."

Another peculiarity was, that zenanas were opened to Mrs. Leupolt and Gopijan, Ramaiya's wife. We received invitations from Zemindars, former acquaintances, if not followers, of Ramaiya Baba, to spend the day with them. They provided us with food, and during the day Mrs. Leupolt and Gopijan spent part of the day in the zenanas, and, besides, collected the women of the village around them, to speak to them of Christ,and Thakur Singh and myself spoke to the men. It happened occasionally that we had the whole village before us, whilst others also, from the surrounding villages, joined us, having been invited by the zemindar to meet us. In every place we were received with the greatest kindness and much goodwill.

Another point, which I had not previously observed to that degree, was, the general contempt which the people manifested towards their idols, in almost every place we came to, whether the people had been followers of Ramaiya or not. More than once I heard them say, "What are our idols? Stones! They cannot save us." In one place a man exclaimed, "Our gods have become old and infirm: they cannot help us." "The truth is," added another, "our gods and idols are nothing.'

Connected with this

there appeared to be an aspiration in many to know something of the true God, and the question was literally asked, "What must I do to be saved?" Some who had thought a good deal about religion felt that they ought to receive Christ; but they said, "What can we do? There is caste, there are family ties all these things hold us back." Whether

:

we shall be received with equal goodwill when we come a second time and visit them remains to be seen. Meanwhile our duty is plain. We must follow up these visits with our prayers, and by revisiting those persons.

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The Lord hasten the time when they shall cast their idols to the moles and to the bats, and India, as well as Ethiopia, stretch out her hands to the Lord!

A CONVERTED NUSAIRIYEH.

FEW countries possess a more mixed population than Syria in Palestine. There are to be found Arab and Druse, Metawely and Nusairiyeh, Bedawin and Nowar, Maronite Greek, Greek Catholic, Armenian, Armeno-Catholic, Jacobite, &c.

The Nusairiyeh inhabit the villages north of Tripoli, extending round the gulf of Alexandretta into ancient Cilicia. They form a considerable portion of the population of Antioch. They are said to be a degraded, treacherous, and barbarous tribe of heathen, whose religion is sacred, and whose general character, as far as known, connects it with the abominations practised by the most ancient of the inhabitants of the land.

The American Missionaries, writing from Beyrout, give the following narrative of one of these people, who, after many wanderings, appears to have found rest in the sanctuary of scriptural truth.

We have just become much interested in the case of a converted Nusairiyeh, from that mysterious pagan sect which inhabit the mountains north of Tripoli, towards Antioch. He is now in Beyroot, apparently a firm Protestant, and his history is of such interest that I will state it in brief.

He was born in Antioch, about thirty years ago, and, when a child, removed to Adana, near Tarsus. At the age of seventeen he was initiated by the sheiks of his religion into the pagan mysteries of the Nusairiyeh faith. The initiation occupied several days; and he was bound by the most terrific oaths that he would never disclose the secrets of the sect, on pain of death. Being naturally of a shrewd and inquisitive mind, he devoted himself to the study of that faith (which none but the initiated can understand), learned the worship of the sun and moon, and adopted the horrible and gross superstitions of the sect. They hold to the transmigration of souls; that is, that all unbelievers are, at death, transformed into some one of the lower animals. The Mohammedans are changed into donkeys, the Christians into swine, and the Jews into monkeys, but the Nusairiyeh ascend to the milky-way, and are transformed into stars. They also teach that when a believer dies, the planet Jupiter descends, and takes his spirit up to the milky-way.

When this man, Solieman, began to investigate the mysteries of his faith, he determined to watch the planet Jupiter at the death of every Nusairiyeh, and see whether it actually descended to the earth or not. To his great amazement, though he watched the planet at the very moment when several well-known sheiks died, it did not remove from its place, nor undergo the least change. His faith was thus shaken; and he went on from one step to another, until he concluded that there must be a better religion than such pagan absurdities, and turned Mohammedan. He was a Mohammedan about a month, when, as he says, he

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"found in the Korán three hundred lies, and seventy great lies," so that he was unwilling to remain longer a Moslem. He then studied the books of the Greek Church, turned Greek, and was baptized by a merchant of Adana. Entering on this new faith, he was horrified to find, that though professing to worship the true God, the Greeks actually worshiped pictures, and ate their God (in the mass). He says he had read, in an old copy of Robinson Crusoe, translated into Arabic, about men eating one another, but here were people eating their God, for they claimed that the bread and wine in the sacrament were really changed into the humanity and divinity of Christ!

Finding Christianity to be of such a nature as this, and knowing of no better form of it, he concluded that he would become a Jew, as the Jews read the Old Testament in the original, and all sects acknowledge the Old Testament as true. For four years he continued a professed Jew, and learned to read the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Talmud. He was at first greatly troubled lest God could not admit a heathen among his chosen people; but says he was quite relieved when he read that Ruth and Rahab, both heathen women, were among the progenitors of David. Two things at length led him to leave the Jewish faith, viz. the absurdities and blasphemies of the Talmud, and the prophecies with regard to the coming of Christ. He then decided that he would become a Christian again, hoping to do so without adopting picture worship and transubstantiation. As he was baptized before by a layman, he now applied to a priest, but found no special difference, as he was obliged to worship pictures again, and eat his God. He could not remain a Greek; he had tried Paganism, Judaism, and Islamism in vain, and now began to look for something else.

The Grecks had told him of the "religion of the Angleez" (Protestants), and that they were an heretical sect, who denied the resurrection; and he wrote a tract against their heresy, bringing proofs from Scripture for the doctrine of the resurrection. A Greek from Beyroot, living in Adana, told him that there were learned Greeks in Beyroot who could convince him of the truth of transubstantiation and the propriety of picture worship. While visiting this man, he saw a book lying on the table, which he took up and began to read. It was a copy of Dr. Meshaka's work on the Papacy, in Arabic. He was so absorbed in the book, that the Greek, who had bought it for his own use against the Romanists, and not to make Protestants, became alarmed, and took it from him. He then went out, determined to get it for himself, and finally found Mr. Coffing and Adadoor, the native helper, whom he had before regarded as Sadducees, and obtained the book. He was delighted. Here was Christianity which neither enjoined picture worship nor taught transubstantiation. He became a Protestant at once, and wrote to Damascus, to Dr. Meshaka, thanking him for having written such a book.

The Mohammedans and Nusairiyeh were now leagued against him, took away his wife and child, and his property. He was thrown into prison, and two Moslem sheiks came and tried to induce him to become again a Moslem or Nusairiyeh. They pictured before him the sensual delights of Paradise; but he replied that they were welcome to his share of their Paradise: he was rooted to the religion of Christ, and would not