pupils on the premises. Two more are approved of from other islands, and several are in course of applying for admission.

A poor Hindoo boy from Madras, one of the coolies imported into Demerara found his way to this island. We were constrained by compassion to take him on trial, and kept him nearly four months, but were reluctantly compelled to part with him as unsuitable to become a regular pupil.

In conclusion we would still take courage and seek grace, daily to obey the precept-"In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether both shall be alike good." ALLAN HAMILTON.

Antigua, December 31st, 1852.

We would draw the attention of our readers to the interesting remarks contained in the following letter.

Dear Brother :—

From Br. J. Kogel.

LICHTENAU, July 14th, 1852.

I was much interested with your account of the great exhibition in London, and more particularly with your report of the efforts made by various Christian societies to promote the spiritual welfare of the numerous visitors, by preaching and by the distribution of religious tracts. If these efforts have not been crowned with as direct and obvious success as the preaching of St. Peter on the day of Pentecost, yet we trust that feelings similar to those experienced by the hearers of the Apostle, have been awakened in many a heart; for the Word of God shall not return unto Him void, but it shall accomplish that which He pleaseth, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto He sent it. Nor will the Lord withhold. His blessing from the faithful endeavors of His servants assembled in Evangelical unions, Ministers' conferences, etc.; and especially those connected with "the Inner Mission," intended to bring the Gospel of Christ to all classes of society. I feel assured that more would have been effected already, had the spirit of the Gospel been suffered to operate with greater freedom; but by too rigid views, by too strict adherance to things of secondary importance, and by party spirit, great obstacles have been placed in its way, Through how much tribulation will the Church of Christ have still to pass, before she will have learnt this important lesson. At the same

time it appears to me, that the Missionaries of all Christian denominations have greatly failed in this respect, and that the progress of the cause of Christ has been much impeded thereby. As soon as by the preaching of the Gospel a number of heathen were converted, the Missionaries have been generally too eager to apply the forms brought from home; and if the natives submitted to be moulded into these, too much stress has been laid on the effects produced. But to teach them our peculiar forms of worship should not be our chief aim. The first object of a Missionary should certainly be to make himself acquainted with the language, the manners, the way of living and thinking of the nation to which he has been sent, and afterwards to act with consideration. It is impossible to labor successfully among a people whose nationality one has not thoroughly studied. Few Missionaries have been impressed with the importance of this task; a David Zeisberger among the Indians, a Williams among the South Sea Islanders, a Guetzlaff among the Chinese, and others have felt it, and have endeavored to realize it, and not without success. A Missionary may live for years among a heathen nation, and yet he may see no results of his labors, because he remains a stranger to them, and they to him. I assure you, myself and my colleagues make daily experience, that we are far from knowing the Greenlanders as we should wish to do. I would not have you think, however, that I consider this knowledge as the only requisite of a youthful Missionary; still it remains true, that though he may be full of zeal, if this experience be wanting, he will meet with great difficulties.

Our dear br. Kleinschmidt continues in blessed activity in our newly established Training-school, and manifests the greatest interest in the progress of the Institution. He has acquired the Greenlandish language to perfection, and there has scarcely ever been either a Missionary, whether German or Danish, who has entered so deeply into the spirit of it.* It would be remarkable if it were reserved to our Church to carry the message of peace to the interesting Mongol race, to whom the Gospel is still comparatively strange. Our brethren in Australia will have to contend with many difficulties, and will require much grace and wisdom from above, if anything is to be effected. Yet it must be a great comfort to them to find a kind friend and counsellor in your dear brother the Governor of Victoria. Our expectations to hear something in reference to br. Miertsching and the Arctic Expedition have been hitherto disappointed.

As for ourselves, we have to thank the Lord for the measure of

* Br. Kleinschmidt is the author of a Grammar of the Greenland language, which is acknowledged by competent judges, to be the best that has yet been compiled, and which has been lately published at his own risk, by an eminent bookseller in Berlin.-Ed. Per. Acc.

health bestowed upon us, and which has enabled us to perform our severally allotted duties without interruption. With the exception of that unhappy feature in our Mission to which reference is so often made, the dispersion of the Greenlanders, no impediment has been thrown in our way. I often think, that if we improved more faithfully the opportunities we enjoy, we should see greater results.. Having heen left almost alone for six weeks, we have again a good number of Greenlanders around us, and are enabled to hold meetings with them. Last Saturday, we celebrated the Lord's. Supper to which ordinance 141 communicants repaired. At the speaking previous to it, we were rejoiced to trace the operation of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of many; in some, however, we could discover but little evidence of the life of God.

Last autumn, the Government mining-party which had been here the year before, returned again, and succeeded in discovering some copper-ore, and also a little silver, on an island in the neighborhood of the Colony. The winter being mild, and comparatively freefrom snow, they were enabled to work without intermission. The copper-ore procured is calculated to be worth 12,000 Danish dollars, and has been conveyed to London. Time must show, whether Greenland will become a second California!"

GENERAL CHURCH INTELLIGENCE,

Or WEEKLY LEAVES, communicated by the U. E. C., in Berthelsdorf, from Feb. 27th, to May 21st, 1853. (No. 9-20.)

1. Respecting our congregations in Kaffraria. br. Rudolph Kolbing writes from Gnadenthal under date of January 7th..

The principal force of the rebel Hottentots appears to be collected in the Zuur mountains, not far from our station Enon, which is thereby placed in a critical position. Single marauding parties of these Hottentots have advanced till to the town and committed depredations upon the gardens of our brethren, and yet the neighboring farmers harbor the ungrounded suspicion that Enon favors the rebels. The congregation there was, however, enabled to hold a quiet and blessed celebration of the Christmas holidays.

Br. Gysin informs us that up to the commencement of the present year there had been no disturbance of the peace in Shiloh, and our missionaries there were well..

Br. Bonatz writes from Shiloh under date of February 4th:Since the conclusion of peace with the Tambukki tribes Shiloh has ceased to be a military post, and has therefore been restored to our brethren as the property of the mission. Notice has been given to the English who took up their quarters there during the war, that within two months time they must find other places of resi

dence. The greater part of the Hottentots formerly belonging to Shiloh have surrendered themselves up to the English: the men are to be kept in confinement a while, as criminals; but the women have returned in a large body to Shiloh, where they give our brethren much uneasiness, as only a few of them appear to be truly penitent, whilst the most display an unsubdued and insolent spirit. Br. and sr. Daniel Scharf, who had gone with a company of children from Shiloh to Gnadenthal, arrived with their charge at the latter place in safety. They were accompanied as far as Enon by br. and sr. Bonatz, who took a prosperous journey to the sea-coast for the purpose of making purchases (which could be obtained cheaper there than at Shiloh, where, in consequence of the devastations occasioned by the locusts, great scarcity prevailed), and then returned again to Shiloh in good health and without having met with any harm by the way. The field and garden fruits of our Missionaries at Shiloh were totally ruined by the locusts; the Fingoos, however, saved a portion of their harvest.

Br. and sr. Luttringhauser were on the point of starting for Europe, taking along with them a number of children to be placed in the schools at Kleinwelke. The departure of our late br. Teutsch and the termination of the Kaffir war have rendered it necessary for us to introduce some new regulations into the present arrangement of things upon our South African missions; and our brethren there have requested that a visitation might be made to that country on the part of the U. E. C.; wherefore our br. Breutel has received an appointment to that effect, of which he has accepted in humble dependence upon the Lord's assistance. We commend both him and his dear partner, who will accompany him on his journey, to the prayerful remembrance of the members of our congregations.

A number of new preaching places have gradually been opened to our brethren in Gnadenthal. On the 10th of February, the corner-stone of a new chapel and school-house was solemnly laid at Twistwyk, 2 miles from Gnadenthal, and many of the members of the latter congregation were present at the ceremony.

2. Br. Wullschlegel in a communication from Paramaribo of the 18th of January, gives us the intelligence that a small house of worship lately erected in Annaszorg on the Warrappa Creek (where a new mission-station has now been established in the most populous and healthy part of the colony, and to which the negroes from a great number of plantations have access) was solemnly consecrated on the 13th of January. Br. W. writes: "It was a day which the Lord had made,—a sweet and blessed festival. May the impression thereof be lasting upon our own converts, and also upon the heathen negroes who witnessed the solemnities." In the afternoon 18 persons were baptized into the death of Jesus. On the 7th of January, br. John Drechsler was solemnly presented

with a written ordination to the office of a deacon in the church of the United Brethren.

At Kleinwelke, on the 29th of March, the widowed br. Stanke was united in marriage with the single sister Henrietta Hauschildt, and on the 5th of April they had an interview with the U. E. C. On the 28th of April br. and sr. Stanke, in company with br. and sr. Theodore Cranz, set sail from Neuwendiep for Surinam.

The widowed sr. Joanna Sophia Bau, late Geissler, and br. Herman Clemens, arrived safely in Parimaribo on the 2d of March, (after a voyage of 5 months,) and on the 30th of the same month the former was there united in marriage with the widowed br. Elias Matthew Bau. The widowed sr. Voigt, after serving long and faithfully upon the mission in Surinam, has left that country to return to Europe.

3. The single br. Jens Paulsen Juergensen, of Christiansfeld, and the single sr. Christianna Antonia Gloeckler, teacher in the school at Kleinwelke, have been called to the mission in Mosquitia.

4. From br. Ludwig, of Bridgetown, Barbadoes, we learn that a fire broke out in that place on the 17th of February, but our mission buildings, though not far from the scene of destruction, were graciously preserved from harm. Frequent incendiary attempts have since been made, and as the town appears to be in constant danger, our brethren and sisters there request an interest in our prayers.

Br. and sr. Thomas Leopold Badhan set sail from London on April 7th, in order to return to their post in Barbadoes; br. Badham having on the 10th of March previous been ordained a presbyter of the Brethrens' Church by br. Seifferth, at Ockbrook.

5. Br. J. Gottlieb Muenzer has been called from the island of Barbadoes to the station at Bethel in St. Kitts, and br. Constantine Robert Maeder, from the latter place, to the island of Antigua. The single br. Edward Zippel, has received a call as teacher in the normal school at Cedar Hall, Antigua. Br. George Edward Seidel, missionary, destined for the island of Barbadoes, was united in marriage to the single sr. Maria Caroline Engeler, at Neudietendorf, on March the Ist, and on the 10th of the same month br. and sr. S. had an interview with the U. E. C.

6. Br. Enderman, of Friedensthal, Santa Cruz, has informed us of the solemn consecration of a new mission church at that place, on the 20th of March. Besides a numerous assemblage of hearers, his excellency the governor general, was present, and the peace of God was felt in the meetings which were held on that day.

7. By accounts from Jamaica we received the intelligence that the new house built for the assistant school in Fairfield, has been solemnly dedicated, and that the Lord's grace and the people's sympathy in behalf of this institution were manifested upon the occasion. Br. Theodore Sonderman and br. and sr. Lind landed