a vagabond for ever. Achan sinned, and work. He had to leave his throne and he was stoned to death. Jonah sinned, come to earth, and bleed and die in agony, and he was swallowed by a fish. Ananias before God could forgive a single sin. an Sapphira sinned, and they were imme- Then stand in awe, and do not sin. diately struck dead. How do you know but if you sin, your name may then stand upon the list of those who thus have suffered! 4. In the difficulty there was to atone for it. All the angels in heaven could not atone for it. Jesus had to undertake the But you have sinned. Then come to Jesus, and his blood can wash it all away. The past you cannot undo; but you can get it forgiven.. "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." "Come unto me, he says, "and I will not cast you out.” May he pardon you! Price d., or 4d. per dozen. Published by J. GALL & SON, 38 North Bridge, Edinburgh. HOULSTON & STONEMAN, London. 4 Mr Judson Presenting the Scriptures to the Emperor. Ir is delightful to know, dear children, that all the different bodies of Christians are seeking one great object-the bringing of the world into subjection to Christ. For this they all pray-for this they all labour-for this they all plan-and to this they all look. Hence one party takes up one field, and another another. One goes to China, and unfurls the banners of the November 1845. cross in that great land; another to Tahiti; a third to the Kuruman; a fourth to Serampore; a fifth to Ceylon; and a sixth to Burmah. No matter what name they go by, or what particular forms of religion they adopt, you see they are, at any rate, all one, and are seeking but one great end. How must angels rejoice to see them at their work; and how must 82 BURMAH AND THE BAPTIST MISSION. Christ rejoice as he beholds them trying to gather in the reward for the travail of his soul! If you never found it out before, I think you will see from your little paper how true all this is. I tell you of the labours of Moravians, Presbyterians, Independents, Methodists, Baptists, and so on; and all seem to tell the same truths, and to gain the same end. I hope, by this means, if ever you grow up to be men and women, to get you to feel that all true Christians are really one, whatever be the names they bear. Amongst those who have laboured much in missionary work are the Baptists, and amongst the fields of labour they have taken up, one of the most interesting is Burmah. country began learning the language. It was very difficult to learn, as their teacher could not speak their tongue; but at last they so far mastered it as to be able to converse with the natives. For three long years they laboured on with no helpers in their work, and with no apparent success ; but they felt the Lord had sent them there, and so they were contented, In 1816 two others joined them, and now they got on better. Mr Judson wrote and printed two tracts in Burman, and translated the gospel of Matthew; and Mrs Judson had an interesting Bible class of Burman women, which gave her much satisfaction. A little chapel was also built, and Mr Judson began public worship. Many difficulties had, however, still to be borne; and as the Burmah is in Asia, and you may find it magistrates or officers were much opposed by looking for a seemingly narrow strip of to their labours, they had often to bear land, running down towards the south, from much annoyance from them. Rumours of the south-west of China and east of India. wars, too, in the country, and between It is a warm climate, and in many parts a Great Britain, often reached them; and beautiful country. The people are idolaters, they sometimes feared they would have to and worship, amongst other things a white leave the work, Meantime Mr Judson elephant. This white elephant lives in a continued his labours of writing and transpalace, and has a whole establishment of lating tracts, and in preparing a copy of servants and officers, of high rank, to wait the Scriptures in Burman for the people. upon him. He is next in rank to the em- They now became very anxious to get full peror, and of higher rank than the queen. leave from the emperor, to preach the gosAnother of the deities of Burmah is the godpel, and labour in the country; and for this Budh; and another, the emperor himself. You may be sure when the people can worship an elephant, and say their prayers to it, they must be very much sunk in ignorance and sin; and so they are, as you will find out before all my stories about them are done. end requested a meeting with him, which was granted. Mrs Judson has written the account of this meeting; and as it is very nicely told, I will give it you in her own words : "We proceeded to the palace. At the outer gate we were detained a long time, Several years ago a very interesting mis- until the various officers were satisfied that sion was begun amongst them at Rangoon, we had a right to enter; after which, we by some good Baptists in America. The deposited a present for the private minister first missionaries they sent were Mr and of state, Moung Zah, and were ushered inMrs Judson. You have perhaps heard of to his apartment in the palace-yard. He Mrs Judson. She was a very devoted wo-received us very pleasantly, and ordered man; and the account of her life is a very interesting book. They were sent out in 1813; and as soon as they reached the us to sit before several governors and petty kings, who were waiting at his levee. We here, for the first time, disclosed our char BURMAH AND THE BAPTIST MISSION. 83 the hall, as far as the pillars would allow, and presently caught sight of the modern Ahasuerus. He came forward unattended, in solitary grandeur, exhibiting the proud gait and majesty of an eastern monarch. IIis dress was rich, but not distinctive; and he carried in his hand the gold sheathed sword, which seems to have taken the place of the sceptre of ancient times. But it was his high aspect and commanding eye that chiefly riveted our attention. He strode on. Every head, excepting ours, was now in the dust; we remained kneeling, our hands folded, our eyes fixed on the monarch. When he drew near, we caught his attention; he stopped, partly turned towards us, Who are these?' The teachers, great king,' I replied. • What! acter and object-told him, that we were missionaries or propagators of religionthat we wished to appear before the emperor, and present our sacred books, accompanied with a petition. He took the petition into his hands, looked over about the half of it, and then familiarly asked several questions about our God and our religion, to which we replied. Just at this crisis, some one announced that the golden foot was about to advance; on which the minister hastily rose up, and put on his robes of state, saying, that he must seize the moment to present us to the emperor. We now found that we had unwittingly fallen on an unpropitious time, it being the day of the celebration of the late victory Over the Cassays, and the very hour when his majesty was coming forth to witness you speak Burman-the priests that I the display made on the occasion. When heard of last night? When did you arthe minister was dressed he just said, rive? Are you teachers of religion? Are 'How can you propagate religion in this you like the Portuguese priests? Are you empire? but come along!' Our hearts married? Why do you dress so?' These sank at these inauspicious words. He con- and some other similar questions were ducted us through various splendour and answered; when he appeared to be pleased parade, until we ascended a flight of stairs, with us, and sat down on an elevated seat, and entered a most magnificent hall. He his hand resting on the hilt of his sword, directed us where to sit, and took his place and his eyes intently fixed on us. Moung on one side; the present was placed on the Zah now began to read the petition. other, and Moung Yo, and another officer "The emperor heard it, and stretched out of Mya-day-men, sat a little behind. The his hand; Moung Zah crawled forward scene to which we were now introduced and presented it. His majesty began at really surpassed our expectation. The the top, and deliberately read it through. spacious extent of the hall, the number and In the mean time I gave Moung Zah an magnitude of the pillars, the height of the abridged copy of the tract, in which every dome, the whole completely covered with offensive sentence was corrected, and the gold, presented a most grand and imposing whole put into the handsomest style and spectacle. Very few were present, and dress possible. After the emperor had those evidently officers of state. Our si- perused the petition, he handed it back tuation prevented us from seeing the fur- without saying a word, and took the tract. ther avenue of the hall; but the end where Our hearts now rose to God for a display we sat opened into the parade, which the of his grace. 'O have mercy on Burmah! emperor was about to inspect. We re- Have mercy on her king!' But, alas! mained about five minutes, when every one the time was not yet come. He held the put himself into the most respectful atti-tract long enough to read the two last sentude, and Moung Yo whispered that his tences, which assert that there is one etermajesty had entered. We looked through nal God, who is independent of the inpi 84 NAIMBANNA, OR EVIL PASSIONS SUBDUED. dents of mortality, and that besides him master's will in the following terms:-' In Little, as you see, was gained by this visit; but Mr Judson had presented the word of life, and he rejoiced in having at (To be continued.) NAIMBANNA, OR EVIL PASSIONS SUBDUED. ABOUT the end of the last century, an African king resolved to improve the state of his people, and introduce among them a new religion. He had heard that there were several kinds of religion in the world, and he first wished to know which was the right one. To learn this as well as he could, he sent one of his sons into Turkey, among the Mohammedans; a second into Portugal, among the Papists; and a third he sent to England, to study the Protestant religion. By the report of his sons, it appears, he meant to be guided in the choice of a new religion for his people. Naimbanna was the name of the son who was sent to England. His skin was of a deep black colour, and his hair was quite woolly. In temper, when he was opposed, he was fierce, impatient, and liable to break out into a violent rage. It will now be seen how true religion enabled him to overcome his evil passions. The young African prince was taught the Christian faith, and became very fond of reading the Bible. Mrs Hannah More took a great interest in him. She has stated, that such was his love to the Scriptures that he appeared never wearied of reading them; and that she had often, by his desire, read to him until she was quite tired. Through the blessing of God on pious instructions, he was brought to feel his state as a sinner, and led to look in faith to the Saviour for pardon. One From this time Naimbanna made the Bible the rule of his life. If his behaviour was at any time wrong, and a passage of Scripture was shown him which forbade such conduct, he at once attended to it. Of this many instances are given. relates to dress. He was naturally vain, and fond of finery and ornaments, like the rest of his countrymen. His kind teachers showed him the text, "Be clothed with humility," 1 Pet. v. 5; and also where Christians are directed to " put on the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit," 1 Pet. iii. 4. These passages of God's word at once checked his vanity, and made him ashamed of the pride he had shown. Naimbanna once heard a gentleman speak against the negroes, and in favour of the slave trade. What he heard filled him with anger; and he declared that he would kill the gentleman wherever he met with him. His friends said to him that it was wrong to show a revengeful temper, for it was written in the Bible, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord," Rom. xii. 19. This calmed him in a moment; and he never afterwards showed the least enmity to the gentleman, but appeared ready to do him any kindness that was in his power. |