held. They had there the representatives of Russia, Sardinia, Portugal, and of many other states. It is impossible to do justice to the value or extent of the discoveries which had been made by Dr. Livingston. The unarmed and unassisted exertions of the missionary, contrasted most favorably in their results with those attempts made at discovery by armed men, and companies provided with every facility for travelling. On behalf of all scientific men, he returned their grateful thanks, not only to Dr. Livingston, but to the London Missionary Society, which had been the means of accomplishing more than it had cost the country thousands upon thousands of pounds to achieve on former occasions. For no man who preceded Dr. Livingston, had traversed half the space in the far distant and benighted regions of South Africa that he had done.'

Sir H. Rawlinson next took the platform, and observed: "It was not, perhaps, generally known, how much the science of Geography was indebted to the missionary's exertions; but if they examined the history, either of Asia or Africa, they would find that, from the remotest ages to the present day, all great discoveries had been made by missionaries."

The strong language of approval, applied to the London Missionary Society and its servants, will apply also to other and kindred societies, as promoters of science, commerce, and all the improvements on which national progress and happiness depend. Such is Christianity, in its legitimate results, blessing the life that now is, as well as that which is to come.

WRECKED SAILORS AND THE ESQUIMAUX.

In the summer of 1849, the ship Graham, while conveying stores to the York factory, for the Hudson's Bay Company, met with large masses of ice, and finally sunk. Her crew took to the ship's boats, and for fourteen days pursued their perilous way along the coast, suffering the greatest hardships. One of these boats was lost, and all in her perished. The other, after eleven days more of intense suffering, fell in with two Esquimaux in a canoe. The Esquimaux approached the boat with caution at first; but, on ascertaining the real situation of the strangers, they at once jumped on board, took the oars from their weakened hands, pulled them on shore, caught a supply of fish, which they quickly cooked, and treated them with the greatest

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kindness and attention. The news of their arrival soon spread among their party of thirty or forty men and women, who proved to be natives of Okkak, a Moravian missionary settlement on the coast of Labrador. As the shipwrecked crew approached the shore, the whole of these Christian people assembled at the landing-place, and greeted them with hymns of praise to God for their preservation. They then conveyed them to their tents, and supplied their wants. What a different reception might they have met with, had the Gospel never visited these shores! Mariners have special reason to thank God for the establishment of Christian missions in the pagan regions which they are obliged to visit, or into which they may be driven. Jour. of Miss., 1850, p. 23.

RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE IN INDIA.

Many instances are recorded, in this volume, of extreme persecution, and the loss of all things, endured by Hindoos embracing Christianity. British law, however, enlightened and guided by the Gospel in the hands of missionaries, has of late put an effectual check upon this spirit of intolerance and cruelty. Of this measure the "Friend of India" thus spoke in 1850 :

"This is the great charter of religious liberty now about to be established for the first time throughout the British dominions in India. The new law will establish the rights of conscience in India, and enable any man to profess the creed he prefers, without the fear of being thereby deprived of all the property to which he would otherwise have been entitled. It was idle to talk of anything like liberty of conscience, while the provisions of the Hindoo law formed part and parcel of our code. The present act is, of course, a complete abrogation of that portion of the shaster which was intended to keep the land of India forever bound to the support of Hindooism, by ordaining that no one should enjoy the fruits of the soil, who did not adhere to the Hindoo religion. But the legislation of Menu belonged to the age of Hindoo conservatism, when the rights of conscience were as little understood as in the days of St. Dominick, and it would be preposterous to suppose that it should continue in force in the present age, when India has come into the possession of those who pride themselves on honoring those rights. We are fully aware that the feeling of abhorrence towards all who embrace Christianity is almost incredibly

intense in the Hindoo community; and we can easily account for the feelings of indignation which the new law will for a time engender. But it is a law of essential justice and equity, and no effort which the Hindoos can make will turn government from its purpose."

The above law is understood to have gone into practical operation in British India, thus shielding the more recent Hindoo converts to Christianity from the most appalling sufferings in this life, and illustrating, in another form, the temporal benefits of the Gospel.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE.

"THEIR FOOT SHALL SLIDE IN DUE TIME."

DEUT. 32: 35. "I have trusted also in the Lord, therefore I shall not slide." - Ps. 26: 1. "The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well-nigh slipped."

Ps. 73: 2. These texts are strikingly illustrated in the following narrative of a missionary in Northern Hindostan, Rev. Joseph Warren: "During my journey in the Himalayas, I was often reminded of these and other similar passages of Scripture. The mountain roads are very narrow. They are not often wide enough for more than two men to walk together, and we generally find it easier to follow in single file. I never saw the men who carry loads walking two abreast. There are ascents and descents so steep as to require the traveller to plant his foot firmly and carefully, in order to prevent his falling-sliding-down the hill. In some places the road leads around the side of the mountain, or along the bank of a torrent, with a precipice either perpendicular, or nearly so, immediately on one side of it, of hundreds of feet in height. Sometimes the sharp ascent or descent is combined with the precipice on one side; and a further complication of the difficulty is made by both a slope of the road towards its outer edge, and a chalky or friable kind of stone in the pathway, affording no safe hold to the feet. In many of these places, the traveller looks down a giddy slope of a hundred, a thousand, or two thousand feet, on which no foothold could be found; with the consciousness that a false step, or a breaking of the bank under his feet, would precipitate him into the ravine below, without his having the least ability to prevent the catastrophe. Once, when riding along the bank of a ravine filled with stones, I came to a place where the bank above the road

had slipped down and filled the pathway, excepting about eight inches at the outer edge. As the ravine was not very deep, and therefore did not look very nervous, I rode around the heap, and my horse's hind feet broke down the remainder of the pathway. He carried me safely over, however, but I could not help saying to myself the words quoted at the head of this article: My steps had well-nigh slipped.' A great part of the wilderness in which the children of Israel journeyed is mountainous; so is the greater part of Judea. The figures derived from this fact are very expressive. No one can feel their full meaning, unless he has had some experience of mountain paths.' - Pres. For. Miss., 1854, p. 180.

THE RECEIPT OF CUSTOM.

Matthew 9: 9. "And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom" (or rather at the custom-house). Any person may see this ancient custom exemplified to this day, at the gate of Smyrna. The mirigee, or collector of customs, sits there, in the house allotted him, and receives the money which is due from various persons and commodities entering into the city. The exactions and rude behavior of these men are just in character with the conduct of the publicans mentioned in the New Testament. I was myself, the day before I left Turkey, grossly insulted by a man of this class, because he chose to suppose that the mule on which I was riding was liable to pay duty. A terrible fracas took place, in which some Franks, who came to my assistance, tore the animal away from him by main strength. When men are guilty of such conduct as this, no wonder they were detested in ancient times, as were the publicans, and in modern times, as are the mirigees. Hartley's Researches in Greece, p. 216.

"CURSED BE THE MAN," ETC.

In India, the birth of a boy is greeted, both by parents and relatives, with the liveliest manifestations of joy. So in Arabia whenever a son is born, one of the domestics, after announcing it hastily to the family, runs to the door, which she beats with all her might, to attract notice, exclaiming all the while, "A male child! a male child! a male child is born." In Persia, when such an event takes place, some confidential servant is generally the first to get the information, when he runs in great haste to his master,