Scriptures into Maori is now complete." "On the other side of the waters they have long enjoyed the entire word of God, whilst we remain here longing for it, but not able to procure it. Let us rejoice in the possession of God's word, which points out the course to be pursued and the evil to be avoided." Selwyn, monitor of Kohaya school, seconds it. "Let me ask, why do we rejoice? 1st. Because God's word is translated. The way of life is made manifest. 2d. Because God put it into the hearts of our Christían friends to translate the word of life." Hori Tauroa moves the fourth resolution-"That this Meeting recognises the duty of aiding by contributions the British and Foreign Bible Society." "We must honour God's works. Let us show our love by giving our mite to the Lord's work." Paora Katuhi, monitor of Maire, seconds it. "When there is no cheerer in the canoe it goes slowly, but when the cheerers stand up and urge on the crew, the canoe flies. Now you have plenty of cheerers, show your spirit, pull heartily, and bring this Society to the haven, when the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." Kairapu, monitor of Tuahau, moves the fifth resolution-"That an Association be formed, and collectors appointed, &c." "Formerly we only heard of God's word: now we see. So we first heard of the Europeans: we first heard of their clothes, their ploughs, their animals, their wealth, now we see them and possess them. We heard of the Bible, year after year, year after year: now we shall soon have the whole, through the kindness of this Society. Were it not for the love of God we should not possess His word. The Bible is for each man, woman, and child, that the light may shine in every place. This is not a work for us to lay aside, but to persevere in year by year." More, monitor of Kohanga concludes. "I will say to you, as the chiefs formerly said to their dependants when they desired them to carry food for the war expedition, 'Friend, make your heart strong like the green stone. Remember, the food is for you as well as for me.' So I would say, I ask you for money: do not withhold it. Remember the word of God is for yourselves as well as others, and in blessing others you will yourselves be blessed.' At first we were foolish: we called things by wrong names; biscuit we called pumice-stone; sugar, sand; and tobacco, rope. God we knew not, nor His truth. Now we have the Bible, and know the true doctrines of Christianity." The Rev. R. Maunsell made a few remarks confirming the sentiments expressed by the last speaker, that they ought not to withhold their substance from a work of this kind, because the money was not to be expended in this one district; for they would share in the blessings showered on the labours of this Society. He told them how worthless God's word would be without the enlightening Spirit, illustrating it by extinguishing one of the candles on the table, showing that the unlighted candle was of no benefit in a dark room. A hymn, and a prayer by a native Christian, closed the Meeting, the collection on the occasion amounting to 97. 1s. 4d. Let us rejoice with good Mr. Maunsell. He has borne the burden and heat of the day, and now he is reaping the fruits of his labours, "bringing his sheaves with him." It was a happy day for England when she had the whole Bible presented to her in her own tongue. Nor can we doubt for a moment that the same Book, blessed by the same Spirit, will have the same power in New Zealand-the England, as it has been called, of the southern hemisphere. If we could hear the voices of our Missionaries as they call to us across the ocean, their message would be— "BRETHREN, PRAY FOR US, THAT THE WORD OF THE LORD MAY HAVE FREE COURSE AND BE GLORIFIED, EVEN AS IT IS WITH YOU." (2 Thess. iii. 1). Subscribers and collectors of one penny per week are entitled to a copy of this paper free. CHRISTIAN FRIENDS How solemn it is to think of the third of the human race-some THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY MILLIONS of immortal souls-inhabiting those vast regions which we call CHINA, of whom it is calculated that 33,000 daily pass into eternity. Some of our readers may form a very indistinct idea of 1,000,000; and the reckoning of 360,000,000 is something amazing. Let us help them to think of it, by supposing for a moment that we could divide this population of 360,000,000 into regiments of soldiers of 1000 each, and that one regiment passed daily through any one of our towns or villages, it would then take 1000 years for all the regiments to march through the town. Alas! this whole population is sunk in infidelity or in superstition, under the names of Confucianism, Taouism, or Buddhism; but the people generally sit loose to their creeds, are semi-infidels, and lazily indifferent to all that can be said to them of the true God and Jesus Christ, whom, in his love, He has sent to save a ruined world. This sad apathetic indifference forms the chief obstacle to our Missionaries in preaching the Gospel of peace and goodwill. It would interest you to see one of our Missionaries preaching in one of the Buddhist temples in China, the priests and people listening with cold indifference, or, with Chinese politeness, seemingly agreeing to all that is said, while they do not believe one sentiment in the doctrine, nor mean to follow out one moral precept into practice; or to see the Missionary toiling through a Chinese city, the streets of which are so narrow, that you can shake hands from one shop with your opposite neighbour, the Missionary having porters laden with books before him and behind him, distributing to the pressing multitudes portions of the word of God, or Tracts, until he is obliged unwillingly to seek rest from the great exertion. The result of our Missionary labour amongst this people has, as yet, been very small. In the five Chinese ports open to the Christian Missionaries from Europe or America, we cannot reckon upon more than 700 converts; but you will understand that, when Protestant Missionaries speak of converts, they mean persons really changed by the grace of God -born again of the Holy Ghost; not what some mean who call themselves Christians, and who reckon their converts by outward baptism. Such conversion is, in reality, little better than a change from one form of idolatry to another. We have a great deal that we could say about China, full of deep interest, but there is not room in this small paper for it: we must therefore content ourselves by giving you sketches of some of their national habits, one of which is illustrated in the picture on the first page. We will call it a Chinese Funeral Procession. The saying of the Chinese sage concerning filial piety which is most frequently in the mouths of the people is the following- "While your parents are alive, serve them with proper respect; when they are dead, bury them with due ceremony; pay the offerings (lit. sacrifice to them) with due cere mony." No saying has been more strictly attended to than this; and none has caused, or probably will cause, so much perplexity to the Missionary. There is, of course, no difficulty as to the first and second of these commands: they enforce only what has been recognised by every civilized people-duties to which Christianity has always paid most marked attention. It is the injunction to offer the customary sacrifices that gives us trouble. There is certainly nothing that causes greater reproach to the new convert than the neglect of so sacred an obligation while there is great indifference felt as to what is believed in or worshipped, the neglect of those duties to deceased parents (sanctioned by the unbroken tradition of nearly three thousand years) exposes persons to great contempt and reproach. Our picture represents the funeral of a person of the poorer class, and requires some little explanation. The scene is laid outside the city walls. There are occasionally, in the suburbs of large cities, public burial-grounds, the gift either of Government, or of some wealthy individual; but these are only occupied by the very lowest of the people. The great majority of the graves or rather tombs of the citizens lie scattered about the surrounding country. Where hills are near, an elevated spot is preferred, as being more dry, and commanding a better prospect, and also open to the more genial influence of heaven; but where the whole country, as at Ningpo, is plain for ten or fifteen miles round the city, a spot of ground is first carefully selected, and then slightly raised, by artificial means, above the low rice grounds, planted with the fir or cypress tree, and then, in the case of rich and noble families, the tomb is made in the artificial mound with ornamental stonework in other cases the coffin of wood or sarcophagus of stone is placed on the surface of the ground; or sometimes a conical mound, to the height of about six feet, is raised over it, which is seen in the spring time, when the annual offerings are made, surmounted with small white flags or streamers. Most usually, however, the coffin is merely placed on the ground, and either has a tomb of brick built around, and covered with a stone slab, or is left to withstand, as it best can with its naked planks, the decaying influences of sunshine, frost, and rain. The sedan-chair contains probably some old lady of the family, who is unable to walk. Another sedan, similar to this, may be supposed to precede, which contains the tablet, an ornamented piece of wood, about a foot high and four inches broad, inscribed with the name of the deceased, which will be : brought home, and placed in the ancestral hall of the family, which, or the semblance of it, even the poorest families have. The gong, with strings of squibs and crackers, is used to keep off the intrusion of evil spirits. The coffin, borne by two men (or more if necessary), is made of very stout boards of wood, which are so cut as to look still thicker than they really are. Within the coffin, with the body, is mixed some quick lime, to hasten the decay of the flesh; the corpse is dressed out in a full suit of good clothing, as if ready to start on a journey; the constant companion, the pipe, with any other favoured articles, is also enclosed; the lid is done down with strong cement, and fastened with nails. The figure following the coffin is most remarkable: he carries a round tray with a lighted candle (protected by the umbrella) and cups of tea and wine, with a bundle of incense, and plates of cakes or food ready prepared for offering at the tomb. This figure, and also the woman weeping, are dressed in white, which is the universal type of mourning in this and other eastern lands. The figure with the silver paper, and also the one behind with the paper boots and garment, show the nature of the offerings made by superstitious custom. The variety of these paper articles is very great; they are frequently presented at the anniversary of the death, and a whole street is sometimes seen lined with them: they hang on strings from evening till past midnight, and are then burnt, with striking of gongs and firing of crackers for the benefit of the departed. At the tomb the offerings are fewer, and there is no attendance of the Buddhist or Taouist priests, whose services "to help across the ferry," as it is called, are generally sought for, either during mortal illness, or some time subsequent to death. The funeral we suppose, in our picture, to have nearly reached its destination, one of those dry spots slightly raised above the level of the rice grounds. The right to place the coffin, if the land do not belong the family, may be purchased for the small sum of from ten to twenty shillings. One of the great Chinese feasts, in the month of April, is called the Tsingming, when family groups proceed to visit the family vaults or graves, to pay worship to their departed relatives: they take trays laden with offerings of pork, fish, and fowl, libations of wine, bundles of candles, and incense paper. There, with devout bowings and prostrations, they offer these things to their departed ancestors, with paper furniture, paper cloths, paper houses, pasteboard horses, buffaloes, sedans, &c., with gold and silvered paper in the shape of silver and copper money. All is set on fire to pass through the smoke into the invisible world, where it is re-coined into solid cash all are transferred in the same way to "Cloud land," for the benefit of the dead. Surely this sad superstition indicates some notion of an immortality to be provided for. How affecting to us, who know the glorious Gospel, thus to see millions of Chinese in their "Cloud land," when life and immortality are brought to light by the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ! Let us contrast the gloom of a Chinese funeral with the words which sound in our ears as we lower the earthly remains of a Christian into the grave-" But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. . . For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. . . It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. . . It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.. As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." (Cor. xv.) Again, Willing rather to be “absent from the body and present with the Lord." The Chinese appear to keep death continually in view, by having an apartment in their houses for coffins, ready to receive their bodies; but this does not in any way solemnize their minds with reference to eternity. All beyond this life is uncertain, vague, and dreamy; and while a Chinese will take a guest to look at his coffin-room, all kinds of frivolous amusements are going on close at hand. This is not unlike many in Christendom, of whom one has truly said, “They seem to have built their tombs, there to bury their thoughts of dying, never thinking thereof, but embracing the world with the greatest eagerness." An English Missionary once saw a Chinese acquaintance accompanying a splendidly-carved coffin. "Who is dead?" said I. "No person is dead," was the reply. "It is a present from me to my aged father, with which he is greatly pleased. It is a mark of great respect from me too: the coffin will be at his service when needful." While looking up from these coffins, you will probably see a theatrical show, with all kind of absurd figures; and, amongst them, daubs of pictures of foreigners (English or others), with outrageous dresses, every one crowned with carrotty hair, as they call us red-haired barbarians, and, before they became better acquainted with us, represented us as blind, with limbs without joints, all red-haired and fierce. So that a Missionary describes the observations made by a crowd that came to look at him-"His face is something like ours. His hair and dress is different, but he is not red-haired. He is not without joints; he is not black-faced; he is not a bear or a monkey; nor is he fierce or a devil: he can sit and talk Chinese, and eat with us. Well, is this really an Englishman ?" Information has just reached us from China, that, instead of being admitted to traffic with this wonderful people in five ports, all the coast of China is thrown open to us. What an opportunity does God afford us to carrying the Gospel of love to these vast regions. Let every one who reads this paper feel that God calls upon him to help in this work. Can any of you tell the value of one immortal soul? It is worth thousands, yea, countless thousands of pounds. Is not every labour and effort amply repaid, if one poor burdened sinner is made acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone can save from present and eternal misery? Subscribers and collectors of one penny per week are entitled to a copy of this paper free. |