This, however, I only knew in part, until I visited him in the last hours of life. Then I was most deeply affected, and, at the same time, most happily surprised to observe the ripeness of his soul for heavenly glory. With a frame wasted to a skeleton, and shaken with a most violent cough, his soul was an altar on which burnt heavenly fire. His bright, clear faith discerned nothing in death to fear; he saw his sins all pardoned, and his spirit washed in the precious blood of Christ; and he rejoiced in certain hope of the glory of God. Surprised at many expressions evincing this blessed state of mind, which had fallen from his trembling lips, I said to him "But your sins!" Deliberately raising himself on one arm, as far as his strength would permit, he said, "Though to man's eye I have never been a great sinner, I know that I am truly so in the sight of God; but I know also that he has forgiven all my sins through the precious blood of Christ, and in that day I shall meet him with joy, with joy, with joy." "That world is very different from this world," I suggested, thinking with wonder of the mansions of glory to which he was soon to ascend, from the miserable hut in which he was then lying. "This world," he replied, "is a world of sorrow, of suffering, of death. That is a world of joy, of glory, where God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. Oh, we will go to that world; we will go, we will go," he exclaimed with an emotion which drew tears from my eyes. I wondered, I adored, for I did not look for this. Truly may we say of the God of our salvation, "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform." At another time he said to our Catechist, Samathanam, who had been reading to him an account of the death of Christ, "Look at this. The Lord of Glory, the Creator of all things, suffered all this for me, became a man-a corpse-shed his blood. In his body were marks of wounds-in his side, in his hands, and in his feet. I have none of these: I wait for death with joy." The day before his death he called around him his aunt, his wife, and his children; and, having addressed to each of them some appropriate advice, he committed them into the hand of the Lord. He then prayed for a blessing upon the Catechists of his acquaintance. Just before his death he again called his family to him. His eyes were fixed on heaven, his face suffused with a smile, and he was evidently speaking. His aunt said, "What are you saying?" He replied, "I see Jesus Christ-the angels are come for me: I am speaking with them," and so he died. DEATH OF MRS. MEAD OF THE TRAVANCORE MISSION. WE are grieved to announce the decease of Mrs. Mead, of Neyoor, on the 6th of February last. The intelligence is contained in the appended extract of a letter from our bereaved brother, Mr. Mead, in whose deep affliction the Directors earnestly sympathise, while they commend him to the God of all comfort for higher consolation and support. He writes: It is my very painful duty to inform you of the removal, by death, of my beloved partner in life. This mournful event took place yesterday afternoon, after an illness of about three months. She was afflicted with a kind of asthma, which came on in the last rainy season, and gradually became weaker till she fell asleep in Jesus, with a hope full of a blessed immortality. By the natives generally she was justly and highly esteemed. She had for a period of twenty-eight years devoted herself to promote their temporal and eternal interests, for which her thorough knowledge of the Tamul language, and her love of doing good, eminently qualified her. We have, indeed, lost a mother in Israel. DEATH OF THE REV. J. RODGERSON OF BORABORA. WITH very deep regret we record the death of our devoted Missionary, the Rev. John Rodgerson, of the Leeward Islands' Mission, on the 4th of November last, after a short but severe illness. Our departed brother formerly laboured at the Marquesan Islands, but subsequently removed to the Island of Borabora, where he continued his faithful services, amid many trials, to the period of his decease. He was devoted to the work of the Lord among the heathen-his course was marked by steady application to the advancement of its interests ;-and his end was peace. Our friends will pray that the widow may be graciously supported under her heavy bereavement, and that God may prove himself more than husband and father to her and the numerous family now deprived of their best earthly protector. Mr. Charter, by whom we have been informed of this truly afflicting dispensation, writing under date of Nov. 8, adds the following particulars: On Tuesday evening last we received a note from Mrs. R., informing us that her husband was very ill, and expressing a hope that one of us would go down. The same evening I went over to Tahaa for Mr. Krause; we left that place at three on the following morning, and reached Borabora a little before noon the same day. The scene we were called to witness upon our arrival was very distressing. Mrs. Rodgerson had been confined on the previous Thursday, and, consequently, was unable to leave her room. One of the children was ill with the scarlet fever in another apartment, and our dear brother, suffering under the same malady, was in a high state of excitement. By the time of our arrival the disease had made rapid progress. Mr. Krause at once administered the medicines, which he hoped would check its progress, but no good effects appeared. The throat was exceedingly bad, breathing very difficult. On Thursday we thought his head was a little better, but his throat was not. In the afternoon our dear brother expressed a wish that we should hold a prayer meeting with the deacons in the house. We sent for the deacons ; three of them came, and we offered our united supplications to God on behalf of our dear brother. Our supplications for his recovery were not answered; and, about twelve that night, he expired. In consequence of the nature of his disease, we could not converse with our brother; but we know that his end was, indeed, peace; that our loss is his eternal gain. The event was a severe stroke to Mrs. Rodgerson, but she bore it with exemplary resignation, and from the promises of the Gospel derived much consolation. The Directors will not cease to pray for her, and the dear fatherless children. MUNIFICENT CONTRIBUTION TO THE FUNDS OF THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY. THE Directors take the earliest opportunity of offering their most grateful acknowledgments for the Munificent Benefaction presented to the Society by Miss Fleaureau, of London, amounting to £5150 Consols, the annual interest of which is to be applied, at her request, to the permanent support of a Missionary in China. The Directors feel greatly encouraged by this timely and noble act of christian generosity, and they devoutly hope that, while the benevolent donor will reap the reward of her munificence in the growing prosperity and extension of that Mission on whose behalf it has been exercised, her example may stimulate many affluent Members of the Society to do likewise. SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE SPECIAL FUND RECEIVED SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF THE MISSIONARY MAGAZINE FOR APRIL. ACKNOWLEDGMENT FROM REV. W. ELLIOTT. OUR kind Christian friends, who contributed sums of money, or parcels of clothing and other useful articles, for the relief of the sufferers by the Caffre War, will be glad to receive the following assurance from our brother, Mr. Elliott, to whom the distribution was committed, of the actual appropriation of these seasonable offerings to the purpose for which they were intended. Writing from Cape Town on the 10th of January, Mr. Elliott thus addresses the friends whose bounty he under took to communicate : MY DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIENDS,-On my arrival in South Africa in May last, my first care was to forward to the Missionary Stations, which had most deeply suffered from the Caffre War, the kind expressions of your humane and liberal feeling. From the great distance of many of these Institutions from Cape Town, a considerable time elapsed before I could obtain acknowledgments of your bounty; but I am now happy in being able to convey to you the cordial thanks of our esteemed brethren, in the name of their respective Churches and Congre gations, for the very efficient and seasonable aid which your christian kindness has afforded them. The sufferings of the Native Christians, and others connected with our Missionary Establishments, have indeed been great: almost all the men capable of bearing arms were withdrawn from the several Institutions in defence of the Colony, leaving their wives and families in a state of great wretchedness and destitution. To these, your generous contributions have afforded a most seasonable relief, and many a grateful prayer has been offered up on your behalf, that "God may supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ!"' I remain, my dear friends, your grateful and affectionate servant, W. ELLIOTT. ARRIVAL OF MISSIONARIES IN ENGLAND. ON Tuesday, Dec. 21st, the Rev. James Paterson, with his motherless children, per Windsor, from Calcutta, on a visit to England, for the restoration of his health.-On Thursday, April 12th, the Rev. William Gillespie, from Hong Kong, on a short visit to this country, by the ship Monarch, Captain Duncanson. In the same vessel Mrs. Alexander Stronach, of the Amoy Mission, accompanied by three children. Rev. E. Crisp, from Bangalore, via Madras, per Wellesley, April 18th.-Rev, W. G. Barrett and Family, from Jamaica, per Clio, April 21st.-Rev. J. C. Brown and Family, from Cape Town, per Lord William Bentinck, April 21st. -Rev. Messrs. Woollaston, Hill, and Storrow, at Calcutta, March 6, all well. MISSIONARY CONTRIBUTIONS. From the 18th March to the 18th April, 1848, inclusive. Legacy under the Will of Legacy of the late W. Reid, 97 0 8 Maidenhead:- Collection at Town Hall 10 11 3 Ditto for Widows and 1 00 73 14 7 Independent Meeting ... 48 5 2 tude for deliverance fron For Native Teacher Tho- 270 0 0 Juvenile Association for 19 19 0 372 511 Trinity Chapel, Brixton .. 32 2 5 W. A. Hankey, Esq., for the Sufferers at Hankey 20 0 0 Trinity Chapel, Poplar.. 110 18 4 Collected by Master H. N. Special Donations For the College at Cal cutta.. For Queen Pomaré For the Ship Edkins, for the Chinese Native Children at Ban- 10 0 0 10 0 0 53 15 5 Lady Huntingdon's Chapel 13 2 8 153 14 6 3 12 10 150 1 8 .120 0 0 070 4 19 3 7 8 61 3 16 6 Collected by Misses Messer Less Expenses..... 19 14 6 |
