INDIAN MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. MADRAS. It is most cheering to hear that the labours of our missionaries at Madras have not been in vain in the Lord. The hearts of these devoted men have been comforted by seeing fruit, to the praise of the glory of divine grace, in the conversion and baptism of SEVEN Hindus. And we trust that the unbelief of the Church at home is to be rebuked, and her faith quickened, and her zeal very much increased, in carrying on our Indian Missions, by so gracious an effusion of the divine blessing on her comparatively speaking few and feeble efforts in the work of the Lord in foreign lands. "On Sabbath evening, the 17th December, a very gratifying service was held in the Mission House, Madras. At the close of public worship, which was conducted by the Rev. W. Grant, the missionary, seven Hindu converts, who had all been for some time-several, indeed, for a long time-candidates for baptism, took their places in front of the pulpit. They were,-1, Chinnatumby, (now Paul,) by profession a native doctor, upwards of fifty years of age; 2, Agambrum, (Aseerthan.) a young man, about twenty-five years old, who had been employed for upwards of two years in the mission; 3, Therooman, (Isaac,) a young native, about twenty; 4, Monicum, (Paul,) 5, Ponambulum, (John,) 6, Comorappen, (David,) these three last were about eighteen years of age, and had been living for a considerable time in the mission; 7, Vigeum, (Kezia,) a native girl, about sixteen, who had also been residing about a year in the mission house. "Mr. Grant gave a short account of each, stating that all had been under Christian instruction for a considerable time at least a year-some, indeed, for several years; and that they had, during a period of probation, afforded every reason to believe that they were sincerely desirous of being truly the Lord's. He then put a number of questions to them, some in English, and others in Tamil,-regarding their past state as heathens, and their present hopes and resolutions as disciples of Christ. Having received satisfactory answers, after prayer for the divine blessing, and an address to the candidates, he proceeded to administer the sacred ordinance, the seal of their admission into the Church of the Saviour; and then, in prayer, committed them to the care of the Shepherd and Bishop of souls. May they be strengthened with might in the inner man by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them, and enabled so to live as to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things!— The attendance of Europeans, East Indians, and native Christians on the occasion, was numerous. A number of heathens were also present." "A LITTLE WHILE.” COME, let us sing our blessed hope, While in anticipation now Our upward way we wing. "A little while," and we no more Sweet is the song of victory, That ends the battle's roar; Sweeter beyond the "little while," We praise Him for His promise now, Nor fear that He'll forsake ; And heaven's ten thousand echoes soon We have been favoured with the following extract from a letter of the Rev. D. Massey. We are sure our readers will be glad to be reminded how much good can be done by a little aid in providing food for the poor children attending Scriptural schools in Ireland. It prevents the necessity of sending them to workhouses to be corrupted by the errors of the Popish priests, and secures their attendance at schools where (as in the case which Mr. Massey's letter describes) the children are taught to read and "search the Scriptures." The supplying of the "bread that perisheth is, in the peculiar circumstances of these poor children, a most direct means of providing for their being nourished spiritually with the bread of life; and, therefore, truly a dutiful compliance with the Lord's own command to feed the lambs of His flock. Mr. Massey says:— "I am in the habit of asking each, in turn, to point out the verse which particularly struck them in reading the chapter. This very day I was thus employed for an hour after the usual time for breaking up school. The attention of the children never flagged. For instance, when we read John xxi., one said, on verse 5th, I see the Lord Jesus wishes little children to have enough to eat; and when I tell Him I have have none, He will send it to me.' Another, on verse 10th, 'Whatever we have, we ought to bring it to Jesus.' A fine intelligent Roman Catholic boy said, 'Verse 22d is my text; Jesus says, Follow me, and I will follow Him.' A Roman Catholic girl said, 'Verse 15th teaches me that Jesus is anxious, above all things, that I should love Him; does He not say, Lovest thou me?' As we were closing, a little fellow cried out, 'Verse 15th is my text; Jesus Christ wishes His lambs, His quiet children, to be fed; He says, Feed my lambs.' 66 Every visit to my school shews me the immense benefit conferred on it by your Association. Many children are preserved from the vile contamination of the poorhouse. They look healthy in consequence of the regular wholesome food; and their parents meet me everywhere with grateful smiles. When I see them grouped in merry glee round their allowance of food, I cannot help thinking how fully the spirit of our merciful Redeemer actuates our kind friends; for here they are feeding, in this corner of the wilderness, a number of hungry children, who would otherwise faint by the way while learning His blessed Word." OUR MISSION TO FEMALE JEWS. THE Ladies' Association for the Christian Education of Jewish Females have sent female missionaries to co-operate with those ministers whom our Church has engaged in preaching the Gospel "to the Jews first." And "those women which thus labour with them in the Gospel" have proved very helpful to our missionaries, finding access to many Jewish families, and especially to the daughters of Israel, for sowing among them the good seed of the Word of the kingdom. Miss Mittelbach thus writes from Karlsruhe, 28th February 1855: "Work we have enough. The circle of the daughters of Israel whom we are visiting is pretty large. We are generally well received, and find a ready hearing. Many take pleasure to enter into religious discussion with us, and often they acknowledge that they feel benefited by our endeavours to teach them in the ways of God. They feel that they have nothing, and that the words which we address to them are power and life. Our visits are appreciated, and they often express their gratitude for them. Thus far all is right and encouraging; but for decided results and success, which we would wish to see in real and open conversions, we are put upon patient faith. We have reason to believe that the seed received into the hearts is growing; and if growing, we may hope that it will ultimately be ripened into fruit. Meanwhile, it is matter of joy and gratitude to my mother and to me, that we have such a large field of usefulness. We endeavour to nourish the souls who are entrusted to our care, as much as we are able, with the bread and water of life. "I will now, after the usual custom, endeavour to write down a few details: CONVERSATION WITH A JEWESS. "A Jewess, whose brother, on a previous occasion, had spoken rather unbecomingly, endeavoured to apologize for him. She felt very sorry, she said, on my behalf, because it must have been very painful to my religious feelings to hear her brother making use of such language. 'But' she added, 'I think you are rather too serious-you are quite dead to all the pleasures of the world; I wish to enjoy my life without neglecting religion.' She then admonished me to visit the theatre. By and by, she begged me to prove that it was really wrong 'to enjoy one's life.' I said, "The Word of God is plain enough. It says, "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof," and, "No man can serve two masters." When David prayed, "Create in me a new spirit, O God," &c., he was certainly in another disposition than you can be in the dancing room.' I asked her: 'Whether what she called the pleasures of this life made her really happy?' She acknowledeged that this was not the case. At length she came to say, that she had not hitherto viewed things in the light in which I put them. She would, at all events, remember my words, although she could not promise to forego the pleasures of the world. This conversation took place upon a walk. When we had walked about for two hours with each other, a third person happened to join us, and the conversation dropped. She soon went away, and in the presence of the person who had interrupted us, she thanked me for the company, but more especially for the 'edification,' which she had derived from me. A MISSIONARY'S VOYAGE. OUR readers will be glad to learn, that the Rev. Mr. Laseron, one of our missionaries to the Jews at Cochin, arrived at the scene of his labours on the 25th January last, and has again commenced his missionary work. During his voyage he encountered great hardships, and was exposed to great danger; through the goodness of God, however, he was preserved in the midst of these, and permitted to reach Cochin in safety.. Mr. Laseron, with his wife and sister-in-law, left this country for Bombay, on their way to Cochin, by the Seringapatam, on the 5th July last; and on the 9th July, when the pilot left the vessel, everything gave the promise of a safe and prosperous voyage. This expectation was, however, not to be realized, as will be seen from the following extract from one of Mr. Laseron's letters. He thus writes "After getting out of the Channel, we had a continuation of fine weather, with favourable wind, till reaching the Cape of Good Hope, when, for several days, we had the heavy gales usually prevailing; and the alarming discovery was then made, that the ship was in a leaky condition, and that the pumps were required every two hours for her preservation. Soon afterwards we encountered more severe weather, and the ship could be kept afloat only by the uninterrupted use of the pumps. Our situation was perilous in the extreme-each successive night threatened to be our last-every hour the water in the ship was to the depth of three or four feet. We had only one double pump on board, and had any hindrance occurred to impede its working, nothing, humanly speaking, could have saved us. I was afterwards reminded of the words of Hagar, 'Thou God seest me;' and found great comfort in the 46th Psalm, God is our refuge and our strength."" Wednesday, the 13th September, was a day of great peril, -it seems to have been the crisis of the danger, and a day to be remembered by every one on board the vessel. The gale during the whole day was fearful; the waves were running mountains high, and the ship was labouring to so alarming a degree, that, if the storm continued, it was ascertained that she could not hold together for six hours. The events of the evening we give in Mr. Laseron's own words : 66 'Having introduced regular family worship ever since |