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thence over the Pacific to Japan, and onward to China, India, and Egypt, where I have been familiarised by numerous visits. I may again get sight of Jerusalem ere I return; and from the "city of the great King" to Rome will be an easy and natural course. I shall be glad to make the acquaintance of missionaries and Christian friends by the way, and it would add greatly to my interest on arrival in Rome if I could there meet with an agent of the General Baptist Missionary Society. Brethren and friends, shall it be so?

Yours, very truly,

THOMAS COOK.

Leicester, Sept. 12, 1872.

P.S. In my tour round the world, it will give me pleasure to be the bearer of messages of friendship and affection to any whose addresses may be sent to me at the Post Office, San Francisco, to be posted not later than the 5th of October. I expect to call at Yokohama, Hong Kong, Calcutta, Bombay, and other oriental ports. Would that I could take a trip to Orissa, to shake hands with our brethren there! But that, I fear, will not be possible.

LETTER FROM THE REV.W. HILL,

TO THE SECRETARY.

The inundation at Bilepada-Baptism at Piplee-Changes in seventeen years.

Piplee, near Cuttack, India, July 31. IN a former letter I gave you an account of the recent severe inundations in Orissa. As I therein stated, every house in Bilepada, including the little bungalow, has been destroyed, and the entire village will require to be rebuilt on a fresh and higher site. Some of the wood work we shall be able to use again, but to put the houses in a position to what they were before the flood will involve a considerable outlay, to meet which however, we hope to have no need to appeal to friends at home. As a temporary arrangement I have had a kind of shed erected in which the farm-boys will be able to live till the cold season. I now begin to fear, however, that in the greater portion of our land the next rice-crops will be an entire failure, and as they can obtain only one crop a year, this makes the failure a very serious matter to the cultivators. Immediately after

the flood subsided we had the land resown, but owing to a fresh in the river, and to breaches in the embankment, the land has again become submerged, and all the young rice, I fear, destroyed. So long as the breaches remain open the water, with every rise in the river, spreads itself across the country, and to make good the breaches in the rainy season, is a most difficult matter. In several places where repairs had been effected the earth was so light and loose that a recent rise in the river swept it all away. Under these circumstances there is but little prospect of a harvest in the neighbourhood of the breaches. Towards the sea and Chilka Lake, where the country is lower, matters are in a much worse plight than in this locality. The engineer told me that for a distance of twelve miles the embankment had been swept away entirely. It has become necessary therefore to adopt measures to save the district from being swamped, and I understand that the government have recently sanctioned a scheme by which the waters of the Mahanuddy are to be cut off from the Pooree district, and the present river courses turned into canals, which are to be used for irrigation and traffic. To accomplish these works an expenditure of forty or fifty lacs of rupees, i.e. £400,000 or £500,000 will be required. Moreover, to enable the Mahanuddy so to carry off the water to the sea as to prevent inundation the river will have to be made considerably wider, a work which is to be accomplished by setting the embankments further back. As the present space between the embankments can contain only a certain proportion of the immense volume of water which flows down the Mahanuddy during the heavy rains, inundation is a necessary consequence. Exposed, therefore, as the ryots, or cultivators are, to the entire or partial loss of their crops every few years, now by inundation and now by drought, no wonder that they remain in a poverty-stricken condition. Should the government succeed in their endeavours to avert these two causes of destruction, not only will they confer a great benefit upon the people, but also save themselves from the heavy losses occasioned thereby.

Turning from things secular to things spiritual, I am happy to inform you that on Lord's-day, July 7th, we had a

baptism of seven candidates, five of whom were from the famine orphanages. One of the latter was a Mahommedan girl, and quite blind. The committee appointed to converse with her were delighted, and astonished, with her extensive acquaintance with the scriptures, and with her clear views of the plan of salvation. Thoma, in remarking upon her case, said in the churchmeeting, that though blind with the bodily eye, she could very clearly see with the eye of the mind, and that there need be no hesitation in receiving her as a candidate for baptism and fellowship. She is one of the very few descendents of the followers of the false prophet who have joined our christian community, but in the case of Mahommedans as well as of Hindoos the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. The candidates were baptized by Thoma in a large tank in the mission compound, and which had been filled to the brim by the recent rains. Could the opponents of immersion have witnessed the ease, the simplicity, and the quietness with which the ordinance was administered, they would, I think, have been constrained to give up some of their strong arguments against it. The clean white robes in which they were clad looked the very opposite of indecent, and the facility with which, without the slightest approach to indelicacy, they were able to change their dress, quite demolished the objections about bathing dresses and robing rooms. It was not till we had come out of chapel and were going towards the tank that I asked Thoma whether he would baptize. His reply was that if I wished it he would; and without any previous intimation, or alteration in his dress, save putting off his shoes at the waterside he went down into the water and baptized the candidates. In the afternoon they were cordially welcomed into the church and were addressed from 1 Peter ii. 2.

I am reminded that it is seventeen years ago this very day since our farewell services at Loughborough. Death has laid his cold hand upon many friends of the mission since then, and his dark shadow has brought grief into many a happy home. If those who remain of the crowds who on that day thronged Baxter Gate chapel, could once more assemble in that hallowed building,

many well remembered faces would be missing. It is somewhat remarkable, however, that of the eight missionaries who then took their farewell, all are still living, four in England, and four in India. But is it not sad to think that only three fresh missionaries have been sent by our society to Orissa during the period under review? two of whom enjoy the blessedness of those who die in the Lord, who rest from their labours, and whose works do follow them.

"Long do they live; nor die too soon, Who live till life's great work is done." Happy they, whether in England or India, whether engaged in secular or spiritual callings-who can say, "For to ME to live is CHRIST, and to die is gain."

A MARRIAGE ANNIVERSARY

THANKOFFERING.

AN esteemed friend has sent five pounds for the Mission as an expression of gratitude to the Giver of all good for unnumbered domestic mercies during a period of more than a quarter of a century. This mode of celebrating the anniversary of their marriage was suggested by remarks made at the Nottingham Association in reference to the state of our beloved Mission in Orissa. The writer, who wishes the offering to be in the strictest sense anonymous, and hence whether from husband or wife we do not indicate, remarks:

"Can it be, that after the labour and solicitudes, the sacrifices and prayers of more than fifty years; when, so far as success is concerned, our hopes are being more than realized, when scores of converts are being added to the mission churches yearly; and when the schools connected with the Society are in the highest state of efficiency; can it be, that under these circumstances, our missionary zeal should flag, and the cause, either through lack of funds or lack of agents, should, as a General Baptist organization, become extinct? A host of voices at every meeting throughout the connexion would utter the emphatic, No! But more than emphatic words is needed. Mr. Johnson's suggestions at the meeting referred to will, I cannot but hope, be remembered and adopted by many that were present. One of them was that superfluities in dress,

&c., should be curtailed. This done, on a very limited scale, would enable the members of the denomination to contribute such an additional sum yearly to the Mission as would render its position financially beyond the reach of danger. Mr. Johnson's challenge, also, is not to be forgotten. How many among us might double their yearly subscriptions without in the least abridging their ordinary comforts! May we not hope that gratitude to God for his distinguished favour to ourselves, and to the cause of Christian Missions with which we are identified, will prompt many to respond to the noble and generous challenge of our most excellent friend? The writer of this will see to it, if life be spared for the next five years, that an sovereign shall each year find its way into the Mission treasury."

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Will not other friends, when celebrating the silver or the golden, or other anniversary of their marriage, follow the excellent example of our friend, and give similar practical expression of their gratitude to God for domestic and family mercies ? idea is an excellent one.

The

A BIBLE FOUND IN THE ARNO.

THE following interesting history of a Bible, with the gracious and blessed influence it wrought in the mind of a reader, is furnished by Mr. Bruce, the Bible Society's agent in Italy :-In the year 1852 a man called Innocenti was bathing in the Arno, at Signa, a small town to the west of Florence. When in the river he felt something unusual under his feet. This he took out of the water, and on examining it afterwards, found it to be none other than a small Bible. The binding was much injured, but not the book, as the leaves had been tightly bound together. The fact that it had been found in the Arno, and that it was a prohibited book, excited much attention at the time, so that it was read by various persons, but in secret, for the persecuting Grand Duke was then on the throne of Tuscany, and many were suffering in various ways for the crime of reading God's word. We have no reason to suppose that at that time there were any Bibles or Bible readers at Signa, so there is no

doubt that some one in Florence, being afraid to possess the book, had thrown it into the Arno, and that it had been carried by the current to where it was so strangely found. Among those who read the book at Signa was a joiner, who not only read it himself, but also aloud to others. Of him we know nothing, but among his hearers was one Georgi, a stone-cutter, who listened with interest, and in whose mind were awakened longings and desires which during the twenty years that have intervened never entirely left him. His want he could not well define; he sought a peace to which his mind was a stranger. Not very long ago, he went in his simplicity to a conference of Free-Thinkers, but turned away unsatisfied as before. The Good Shepherd was mindful of the wandering sheep. The Lord, in His lovingkindness, led him one day to the depôt of the Bible Society in Florence, where he told his tale to Signor Fabbroni, who has been of much use to him. He thankfully got a New Testament, of which he is a diligent reader; he goes to hear the gospel preached, and is now becoming anxious to do good to others. The year 1852 was a troublous year in connection with the Lord's cause in Tuscany. Dr. Mazzinghi, Rosa, and Francesco Madiai, with others, were then imprisoned or exiled, and the Bible was circulated only at great risk. The Arno doubtless did what no colporteur dared do. It bore the blessed volume to Signa, and we hear the gracious results of this bread cast upon the waters after the long period of twenty years.

HOW CAN I GIVE SO MUCH?

A RICH merchant in St. Petersburg has supported a number of native missionaries in India, and has given like a prince to the cause of God at home. When asked how he could do it, he replied, "When I served the devil, I did it on a large scale and at princely expense; and when by His grace God called me out of darkness, Ï resolved that Christ should have more than the devil had had. But how I can give so much you must ask of God, who enables me to give it. At my conversion I told the Lord His cause should have a part of all that my business

brought me; and every year since I made Him that promise it has brought me in about double what it did the year before, so that I can and do double my gift to His cause.-Christian World.

A WONDERFUL FACT!

THE British and Foreign Bible Society has already distributed more than sixtyfive millions of copies of the Scriptures! Only think of this "Fact!" Just calculate for yourselves, and you will see that if these books could be put side by side, and they only measured on the average one inch across the back, they would require a shelf upwards of one thousand miles in length to hold them! If you could only weigh all these sixty-five millions of books, and on the average they only weighed half a pound each, you would find that the weight of them would be upwards of fourteen thousand five hundred tons! And if you had to count them, you would have to count sixty a minute for ten hours a day, and for six days a week; and at this rate of counting the books, you would be employed for more than five years and three-quarters at your task! These calculations may help you to understand how vast a number of copies of God's Holy Book, in whole or in part, the Bible Society has already sent out into the world. Juvenile Herald.

THE MISSION HOUSE HYMN. THIS beautiful Hymn is translated from that sung at the Mission House at Basle, Switzerland, which has sent out so many and such devoted workers to the mission field.

OUR Work is thine, Lord Jesus Christ,
We follow thy command;

And as thy work, most highly prized,

It will for ever stand;

But ere the grain of wheat we sow
Its growth and fruitfulness can show,
It has beneath the ground to be,
Must get from its own nature free-
Dying made free-

From its own nature free.

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Received on account of the General Baptist Missionary Society, from
August 18th to September 18th, 1872.

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Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the General Baptist Missionary Society will be thankfully received by T. HILL, Esq., Baker Street, Nottingham, Treasurer; by the Rev. J. C PIKE, the Secretary, and the Rev. H. WILKINSON, the Travelling Agent, Leicester, from whom also Missionary Boxes, Collecting Books, and Cards may be obtained.

GENERAL BAPTIST MAGAZINE.

NOVEMBER, 1872.

MORE ABUNDANT LIFE.

THE need of a more robust, selfdenying, and full-toned spiritual life in our churches is painfully felt and generally confessed. Can the need be supplied, or must we continue at this dying rate? Are the conditions of Christian life so hard in this nineteenth century that we must admit defeat, and allow that the gospel is conquered? Is it absolutely necessary that a dwarfed, selfish, and feeble type of character should obtain in so many instances, and neutralize, to so large a degree, the devotion and earnestness and higher Christian service of the "few" in each church?

Assuredly not. Up in the hills. where the breezes are freshest and the air purest, there is no lack of firm muscle, deep-chested breathing, power of action and of endurance. Where summer suns shine, and tropical climates reign, the earth fails not to gladden with beautiful bloom and luscious fruit. So if we dwell where the spiritual life-forces are fullest, and are in constant communication with the Fountain of Spiritual Being and Power, we must be strong, self-conquering, soul-saving men. Our poor barren nature will be fed with the infinite fruitfulness of God, and will yield many a golden sheaf of the finest wheat.

God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. We are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. There are no assignable limits to the inheritance of any brother and joint heir of the Lord Jesus Christ. No inventory can tell

VOL. LXXIV.-NEW SERIES, No. 35.

his stores; no faithful spy describe his Land of Promise. He has not a godly aspiration that may not be satisfied, not a Christian hope that may not be fulfilled. Whoever he be if he has any spiritual blessings he may have all. God does not bestow upon us His free forgiveness, and there leave us. This early fruit of grace holds eternal glory at its core; and the beginning, feeble as it is, looks forward to and promises the end. It is not so elsewhere. Some men have countless treasures and never know an unsatisfied temporal want; others are born into poverty and never can get out of it. Some faces glow with ruddy health, others are pale with devouring disease. But to each Christian all things are given that pertain to the saintliest life, and the most perfect godlikeness. The "feeblest may become as " valiant as "David, and the house of David" as victoriously strong "as God."

It is more of God we want. It is more of God we may have. Every Christian breathes a life inspired by the breath of God, and need never abide in weakness or prolong his decay. He is born from above. He is a new and divine creation, God's workmanship, for which He cares more than artist ever cared for his best picture, or poet for his most sublime fancy. The Father makes His abode with him as a guest. The Son lives in Him, as his life and hope. The Holy Spirit consecrates his heart as His temple, and having hallowed it by His presence,

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