REV. R. PHILIP'S VISIT.

THE PILGRIM MISSION AT THE CHURCH | which in the days of their power could blight the OF ST. CHRISHONA IN THE BLACK gaiety of the boy, and shake the very strength of FOREST. the warrior as he listened to the wild tales of the Ritter Roland, or the sound of the spectral horn pealing at night amidst the dark gloom of the forest. This kind of memory it is which has always made this spot a favourite resort of the inquisitive English traveller; but the Rev. R. Philip was influenced in the visit, an account of which he has kindly enabled us to lay before our readers, by more than the mere desire of gratifying his curiosity. The intimate connexion which has of

THE Black Forest is one of the most peculiarly interesting spots of Germany. The great gathering-place in the middle ages, and even later, for the predatory bands, who wasted the substance and population of the empire, it has acquired a large degree of interest from the traditions so intimately connected with it. But beyond these traditions there are other more potent traditionary legends,

late years subsisted between England and Germany, made him, from his connexion with our own missionary institutions, naturally anxious to learn something about Home Missions in the land of Luther. In attempting to gratify this wish, the Black Forest presented itself to his mind; and, after a few arrangements respecting his introduction abroad to the members of the foreign home mission, he started two months since, in company with a friend, for that part of Germany.

The population of this district amounts to 200,000 souls; and with one who was fond of promoting the welfare of his brethren, many questions respecting their religious and moral condition arose, which could not be satisfactorily solved without actual personal knowledge. From the Archdeacon of Basle they received much interesting informa

tion on the Sunday after their arrival, and in the evening of the same day, determined to visit the forest. This determination was prevented by a heavy thunder-storm, which drove them for shelter into the Basle Mission-house, and the subject of the religious condition of the Black Forest became the theme for a good deal of conversation. On the Monday they first entered the forest, and had the church of St. Chrishona pointed out to them. This ruin has many interesting remembrances connected with it, being one of the first three places of worship constructed for the purposes of prayer in the forest. It was built by the elder of three sisters, who, after their consecration amongst the nuns of St. Ursula, dedicated themselves to the improvement of the foresters, and took up their abode in this scene of gloom and retirement. This act of devotion

can never become ministers, and therefore a different mode of education would but unfit them for hardship. The grotesque appearance of the groups that come into the neighbouring cities on the Sabbath from the Black Forest, may be taken as a fair index of the difference between them and the remaining portion of the German peasantry; and though the observation of the passing stranger could not be sufficiently minute to render him a judge of their intellectual character or their moral constitution, enough would be evident in a brief observation to convince him that little has been done for their moral improvement.

made the shrine popular, and the consequence was, | Amongst these they must live and labour, for they that even in ruins they had retained much of the veneration of the peasantry: perhaps we might also detect some lingering superstitions at the root of this veneration. St. Chrishona, however, has lately been completely repaired, for the use of a Home Mission in the Black Forest. The venerable Herr Spiedler, who had long been the secretary of the German Evangelical Society, and who had previously made himself eminently useful as the founder of the Basle Orphan School, and the agent of the Bible Society, had been visited with the same wish to improve the condition of the Black Forest as Mr. Philip. But possessing many more facilities than that gentleman, from residence, intimacies, and friends, in his own land, he had at length made the first step in such a desirable object. He had in consequence obtained the church as a grant from government, for his own benevolent purposes. This mark of confidence himself and his colleague well deserved; and, if any doubt as to its propriety could possibly have previously existed, that doubt must have been wholly removed by their noble use of it. The name of Mr. Spiedler's association is "THE PILGRIM MISSION," and it is of its kind perfectly unique, being the only mission of so simple a formation in all Europe. Preaching is for various local reasons wholly impracticable in the Black Forest. Conversation, visits, prayers, and the distribution of Bibles and tracts, of course form the principal occupation of the young men engaged on the mission; and to qualify them for this work, which is frequently accompanied by hardships, they have to combine both study and industry.

The tower of the church is fitted up as a dwelling-house, and the ground-floor is their kitchen, in which they cook their food in turn. Adjoining it is the workshop, with its turning-lathe, in which they manufacture bone buttons, for which purpose they are supplied with bones by the mission college in Basle. The manufacture is carried on at lathes, before which the Bible is open, so that study and work go on at the same time. To judge from appearances they are equally healthy and happy, and the only regret expressed by them to Mr. Philip was, that they could not obtain mothero'-pearl to make buttons of, as that would pay much better, and give them additional time for study.

The next floor in the tower is their dining and lecture-room, above it is their dormitory, both exceedingly plain, but all beautifully clean and orderly; so also is their large garden around the church, which is well stocked with vegetables and vines. Difficult as it must have originally been to unite so many young men for such a purpose in such a place, it is perhaps the only way in which missionaries could have been trained for the Black Forest, in a manner suitable to the people who most need them, the woodsmen, herdsmen, and vinedressers.

Mr. Philip felt that the religion of the country could not have turned its hand in good earnest to their civilization; and that even in times of the old Rhenish barons they must have possessed far more enterprise and simplicity of character than at the present moment, when they see Romanism on its good behaviour, and Lutheranism simplified.

With this conviction, and with a knowledge of all that had been done for their neighbourhood by the remarkable community in the valley of Kornthal, and by Dr. Barth of Wirtemburg, Mr. Philip acceded to the request of Herr Spiedler, that he should preach the first English sermon at Chrishona. This he did with some pleasure, and some hesitation. The latter principally arose from the possibility of his motives being misunderstood and misrepresented to the government-religious liberty, according to the English practice, being unknown and disliked even in Switzerland. This hesitation was, however, obviated; and from the very spot in the old church of Chrishona where the Roman priest used to chaunt the mass, Mr. Philip had the satisfaction of addressing a Lutheran congregation. The following account of the church, translated from the Basle History, by Wurstersen, may not be, in conclusion, unacceptable to our readers" Sancta Chrishona or Christiana is a chapel situated on the highest point of a mountain, about 4 English miles from the town of Basle. As long as Popery reigned over the land, it has been said and believed that Sancta Chrishona, one of the 11,000 maids of Sancta Ursula, had been buried there by a particular miracle. She is said to have died at Basle on her return from Rome, and her dead body could not be removed from the house where she died by any means, until two young bulls, which had never before drawn anything, were employed for that purpose. The bulls drew the body to this chapel, which she seems to have selected for her burial-place, and in ascending it the trees and rocks have all given way before them.

The chapel was renewed and enlarged in 1516, and on the 19th of March, 1634, the Swedes ruined the chapel. The soldiers broke all the windows in order to strip the lead from them for casting

NEW ZEALAND COLONY OF NELSON.

CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION OF EGYPT.

gave each a pair of scissars-a gift, in their eyes, | of immense value, and above all estimation, when compared with pincushions and needle-cases."

Mr. Lieder, who, with his lady and colleagues, suffered much anxiety during the late blockade of Alexandria, informs the Committee, in a letter dated January 20th, 1841 :-"I received the following letter from the Hon. Captain William Waldegrave, R.N., and think it ought to be communicated to the Committee, as it does so much honour to the kind care and sympathy of this distinguished officer:

"H. M. S. Revenge, off Alexandria, Nov. 27, 1840. "My dear Sir,—I write to you to inquire whether I can be of any service to you as an individual minister of our Lord Jesus Christ, or whether I can assist the cause in which you are employed? I was during more than six years one of the Committee of the Church Missionary Society in London, and remember your presence before the Committee. I now command the Revenge, one of the ships of the line off the port of Alexandria, and I can offer you not only my own assistance, but that of my brother-officers and sailors in the squadron. You may show this letter to Mr. Larkin, or Mr. Schutz, or any person whose help you require, who will confer a favour upon me if they will assist you. Wishing that the blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ may be upon you, and that his grace may be present with you in your duties, am, &c.,

"W. WALDEGRAVE.'"

It is encouraging to know that there were many British officers in the Syrian expedition, who, while they discharged their duty as brave and skilful commanders in their country's cause, did not forget that they were also enlisted under the more glorious banner of the Lord of Hosts. But it pleased God that the missionaries should not stand in need of this protection; they were enabled, during the whole period of alarm, to carry on their ordinary duties. The schools now contain as many boys as last year, and the number of girls has considerably increased.

Mr. Lieder gives an encouraging report of the progress of civilization and of the prospects of religion in Egypt; he writes, Jan. 20, 1841 - Notwithstanding all the various vexations arising from political, civil, and religious causes, we are able to say, that not only have the education of the young and the general civilization of the people advanced beyond all expectation, but that a pleasing religious movement has also been observed among the Christians of several denominations within this city." Speaking of the trials and difficulties of the missionaries, he says:"A spirit of fanaticism has recently been displayed in a much higher degree than we have for years seen it raised. It has appeared especially among the children and people of the lower classes. All the Europeans in Cairo

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have had to feel the consequences of this ignorant zeal, being often annoyed in the streets by the children of the lowest order, and not merely by insulting epithets, as 'dog,' 'infidel,' ' pig,' &c., but by stronger and more tangible indications of their latent ill-will. Mrs. Lieder had on one occasion à stone thrown at her, from which she suffered several days; while I myself have lately been several times spit upon by children.

"There have also been several fires; many of them happened in the night, and at a period when water was scarce; they were fearfully destructive, and always began in the quarter of the Christians or the Jews, from which circumstance it seems evident that they were not accidental, but wilful.

"Our schools have also not enjoyed the silent but favourable countenance of the government, especially during the latter months; indeed, ever since the consuls of the Four Powers had to leave Egypt. We have, therefore, been obliged to proceed with all possible quietness and circumspection in the different branches of our work. We have also put ourselves and schools under the protection of the consulate of the United States. Our esteemed friend, Mr. Gliddon, who now resides in Cairo, readily granted us every American aid : had not this been the case, there is every probability that we should have received orders to close the establishment. Nevertheless, with all these precautions, we have had to suffer several annoyances. Our testimonials, which have hitherto been respected, and which were given as a protection to the boys of the schools, have been openly despised, but only one boy taken. We have likewise found it necessary, for the sake of avoiding greater evils, to dismiss, for a short time, the Mahomedan children, as many injurious stories were being spread in regard to them, evidently for the purpose of gaining some apparently just pretence to attack the schools."

Mr. Lieder has drawn up a very full and interesting report of the Egypt mission for the year 1840, from which the following extracts are taken:

"Our schools now consist of a seminary and two day-schools, the one for boys, the other for girls; the seminary is under the care of Mr. Kruse, the schools under my care. The seminary through the past year has had twenty-five pupils, eleven boarders, and fourteen day scholars. The average attendance has been twenty-two; they receive instruction from one European and two native teachers. Seven of these pupils belong to the Coptic, three to the Protestant, three to the Roman Catholic, three to the Orthodox Greek, two to the Armenian, and two to the Maronite church, while five are Mahomedans. Fourteen have left the establishment during the course of the year, and fifteen fresh pupils have been admitted.

"The seminary consists of two classes, each receiving weekly forty-six lessons. The first class