6 One man to tell us that 'plenty Missionaries come.' said, ‘Ah! white man he no fear dead, like black. If black see danger so, he can't go; but white, this come, he die; t'other come again. Ah, true! White man he love we poor black too much. I hope God will spare them life.' Another said, when gathering a few pence for the Society, and one or two began to demur, What? You go grudge two or three copper? Society send Missionary here many years to we. Mr. Renner come, he die; Mr. Gerber come, he die; Mr. Davey come, he die; Mr. Bates come, he die: but plenty more for we.' He then said, with great energy, 'What you can think about? Black man can do this fashion? No. We send we child, he die; we send t'other one again? No, neber. But white man he do so."" SHORT REFLECTIONS ON TEXTS OF (Translated from the French, for "The Cottager's Friend.") "When John had heard in the prison the works of Christ." (Matt. xi. 2.) I. JOHN was righteous, holy, beloved of God, the forerunner and herald of the Messiah. Yet here we see him in prison, loaded with chains, for having discharged his duty, and maintained the truth. Often are the people of God an afflicted and a persecuted people. God makes the sincerity and strength of their love of truth manifest by the sufferings which they endure under its influence. He chastens his children for their profit, that they may be partakers of his holiness. If we are reproached in the service of God, let us rejoice: it is one part of the heritage of saints. II. St. John consoles himself in prison by considering the works and miracles of the Saviour. But we possess a yet richer source of consolation. We are called to behold, not only the example of our Saviour, suffering and persecuted for righteousness' sake, but also the cross of Christ, suffering and dying as the propitiation for our sins. And shall we complain? Should not a cross-bearing Saviour have cross-bearing disciples? Although the Son of God, yet the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through sufferings. Let not sinful man think it strange that through much tribulation he has to inherit the kingdom of God. III. St. John, though persecuted, neglects not his work, so far as he had the opportunity of attending to it. His disciples had access to him: he converses with them of the works of the Messiah; he sends them to our Lord; he still discharges his office as his forerunner. But we, if reproached and persecuted, how soon are we ready to yield to the storm, as though we had become ashamed of the Gospel of Christ! whereas we ought to be willing to suffer affliction with the people of God, counting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. He who renounces his profession to shun the cross, awakens the suspicion that he was not animated by a pure desire to glorify God, but rather by some motive supplied by regard to man, by interest, by self-love. When the people all held him to be a Prophet, and multitudes crowded to his ministrations, he directed his disciples to the Lamb of God; and when imprisoned by a jealous tyrant, whose will was law, whose passions he had reproved, whose pride he had offended, (John in the dungeon was as John by Jordan,) he sent his disciples to Christ. True faith looks not at outward circumstances, but at the promise; and, in like manner, true obedience looks only at the command. If at all times we trust God's promises, and obey God's commands, at all times we shall enjoy God's blessing. GEOGRAPHY. No. I. INTRODUCTION: ADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM THE STUDY. WHY should I seek to know anything of geography? It might be answered, that it is pleasant to know something of the world we live in: but to the Christian cot tager, a stronger reason may be given. It is useful as well as pleasant; and useful considered in both a moral and religious point of view. It is often said that things appear to be great or small rather by comparison than as being what they actually are: they, therefore, who refuse to extend their thoughts to the survey of the dwelling-place of that human family to which themselves belong, will be in danger of having a very contracted mind, and, as a consequence, a large quantity of the self-conceit which seldom fails to be connected with ignorance. They will be all the world to themselves. While, on the other hand, they who, in a right spirit, obtain, as it were, a view of all the countries of the earth; learn their different circumstances, and various productions; and ascertain the number, condition, and character of their inhabitants; will have larger conceptions and feelings; will regard themselves as belonging to one great community, and will look, not at their own interests exclusively, but will consider them as connected with those of the whole. Commanded to love their neighbour as themselves, they will send their thoughts abroad, seeking to become acquainted with the circumstances of those whom they love, not in word only, but in deed and in truth; and will cherish that expansive benevolence which takes in all mankind. Nor is it a slight benefit conferred by the knowledge of which we are speaking, that it furnishes the means of agreeable and profitable employment for our leisure hours. For want of something to do at such seasons, many become idle, listless, weak, even to a degree which materially interferes with their devotional exercises. Others become gadders-about, busy-bodies in other men's matters. It is really true that some persons fall into that most evil habit, the habit of tattling gossip, (which soon slides into backbiting and evil-speaking,) for want of having something better to talk about. A proper degree of geographical knowledge enables its possessors to read with pleasure those accounts which travellers give of their journeyings in other lands. Par -? ticular statements can only be understood where there is some general knowledge previously existing. Here is a volume of travels in A- But where is AHow far off? With what other countries connected? The book is of no use to us, for want of knowing a little beforehand. How much of the Bible is But we may go further. shut up to those who know nothing of geography? They read about Egypt, and the Wilderness, and the Red Sea; about Judea, Samaria, and Galilee; they read the Acts of the Apostles, and, of these, the travels of the Apostles are an important portion, marking much of the first advances of Christianity; but they read all this with far less profit than they would receive, did they, along with a devout spirit, possess such a knowledge of these various countries, as would make them comparatively at home in these frequent references to them. And then, the world is God's work; and therefore in its various productions are shown the manifold wisdom and goodness of God: it is God's kingdom, and all men are his subjects. Should we not wish to know something of the dwelling-places, and something of the behaviour, of our fellow-subjects. And let us not forget that we are to pray for all men. Should we not seek to know something about them, and their circumstances, that we may not be as though we were praying for some sort of beings in another world? But there is Missionary work and for this, if we be not prepared by geographical information, we shall often be sadly at a loss. We go to a Missionary Meeting. We hear the Report; and it runs on from country to country, till it seems to have gone over the world. The speakers follow, and one refers to one country, another to another, following the track of the Report, till one comes who strikes out into the regions beyond, and tells of countries unvisited as yet by the heralds of Christ, the messengers of salvation. But what ideas do all these references awaken as to the countries themselves? Where is Tahiti? Where is Ashanti? Where New-Zealand? What sort of countries are they? Some knowledge of the places, and of their position, would assist in giving a far more definite and impressive character to our knowledge of the inhabitants. It is possible, most assuredly, to know all about the world, and to care nothing about it; but if we have a true concern for the souls of them for whom, as well as for us, the blood of Christ was shed, it is likely to become more powerful, by its connexion with clearer views of the actually existing circumstances of its objects. Have we not said enough, even though we could say no more, to show that even to the plain Christian cottager it must be both pleasant and profitable to have at least a general knowledge of geography? We propose to devote to this subject a series of articles, one in each of the twelve Numbers for the year. Only let our design be remembered, or our plan will be misunderstood. We are not going to write a school-book on geography. Our papers will not have room for all that a school-book should contain. And at the present time, many young scholars, in day-schools established by an enlightened Christian benevolence, are in the way of learning much more than can be put into our monthly articles. We want to give cottagers, and others who had not in their younger days advantages such as the young often now possess, that general notion of the world they live in which may serve to enlarge their minds, increase their stock of useful information, enable them to read books of travels, or extracts from them, with advantage; and especially which may contribute to render their reading of the Bible more interesting, and thus more profitable; and also to prepare them for reading Missionary Notices, attending Missionary Meetings, and listening to Missionary addresses, with more pleasure and benefit than could possibly be the case, had they no knowledge whatever of the subjects which geography is intended to teach. The entire science is, indeed, a very comprehensive one. We shall endeavour to make such a selection of the principal subjects, and |