Christ is near, perhaps beholding my sinfulness. He looks into the hearts of men. It is well for me to grieve in the morning, in the evening, and at night, that my sins may be blotted out.' It having been considered that this application should be attended to, his four children were baptized, together with the infant son of the writer, all the Missionaries at the station being sponsors."

Next year Taiwhanga was himself received into the Church, with

two others:

"His baptism was calculated to produce an important effect npon the natives. He was a man of strong natural passions, who had not taken this step hastily, but after long deliberation and in the face of much opposition. When he advanced from the further end of the crowded chapel, with firm step but subdued countenance, an object of interest to every native as well as to every English eye, and meekly kneeled where six months before, at his own request, his young children had been dedicated to God, it was a sight which would call for joy among the angels in heaven, and filled the hearts of those who were present on the occasion with joy and thankfulness. This Mission from the first had excited much interest, but had hitherto been carried on with great expense and very little fruit, while the minds of those employed in it had been continually cast down, and their faith had long been in exercise waiting for the fulfilment of that which had been written. But now the time seemed to have arrived when the New Zealanders were about to receive the Gospel. The interest manifested by a few of those in the settlement at Paihia now became almost general, and the cry as soon as evening prayers were concluded was, May we not come to you and talk ?" One youth observed, that not a fortnight before in the house in which he lived there was nothing but bad language; he went away to his friends for a week, and on his return this language was no longer heard. All the quietly-disposed first came forward, and their example drew others after them.

66

One evening, when the natives had shown marked attention during an address at prayers, Mr. Davis invited all who might be disposed to attend to come to his house for conversation. About thirty men and boys responded, and an interview of deep interest followed. After a prayer for God's blessing, one of the natives stood up and spoke in a very affecting manner. He requested all present to be attentive to what was told them by their teachers, to forsake all sin, and to go to God continually in prayer for strength to enable them to believe, that they might be saved. Another said, 'Let us all do as you say; let us live to God, and then we shall be happy.' Some said that they had a great desire, others that they had a little desire, to believe in God. A suitable word of advice was given to each, and there was reason to hope that it was not in vain."

In spite of many drawbacks and temporary discouragements steady

progress seems on the whole to have been made from this time. 1833 Bishop Williams writes:

In

"The number of Christian baptisms up to this period was confined for the most part to a few natives connected with the different stations; and with these it was the endeavour of the Missionaries to use the greatest caution. We read of the course pursued by Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, that 10,000 of the men of Kent were baptized under his direction before he had lived twelve months in his new diocese. But in New Zealand, after nearly twenty years of labour, the native Christians did not exceed fifty. They were subjected to a lengthened period of instruction, during which there was opportunity given to obtain an insight into general character. We are solicitous,' it was stated, 'to err rather on the side of caution in admitting persons into the Church; and the consequence has been, that of the number baptized there is scarcely an instance in which there is cause for regret.'

"A few of the Christian natives were now also admitted to the Lord's Supper."

In 1838 Bishop Broughton visited New Zealand. In a letter to the Church Missionary Society, he said:

"At every station which I personally visited the converts were so numerous as to bear a very visible and considerable proportion to the entire population, and I had sufficient testimony to convince me that the same state of things prevailed at other places which it was not in my power to reach. As the result of my inspection I should state that in most of the native villages called Pas, in which the Missionaries have a footing, there is a building containing one room superior in fabric and dimensions to the native residences, which appears to be set apart as their place of assembling for religious worship, or to read the Scriptures, or to receive the exhortations of the Missionaries. In these buildings generally, but sometimes in the open air, the Christian classes were assembled before me. The grey-haired man and the aged woman took their places to read and undergo examination among their descendants of the second and third generations. The chief and the slave stood side by side with the same holy volume in their hands, and used their endeavours each to surpass the other in returning proper answers to the questions put to them concerning what they had been reading."

(To be continued.)

March 1, 1867.

MISSION LIFE.

CENTRAL AFRICAN MISSION.

ITS RESOURCES AND ITS WORK.

IN looking at the present financial position of this Mission, it is difficult to say which feeling ought to preponderate-thankfulness for the contrast which it affords to the state of things which existed a year ago, or dismay at the disproportion which still exists between the available resources of the Society and the work which the Church has entrusted to it to carry on.

Many of our readers will, perhaps, be startled to learn that at the beginning of 1866 the only reliable annual income of the Mission, exclusive of interest on capital, was less than £400 a year.

This was attributable partly to the fact that, with few exceptions, the original subscriptions to the Mission were terminable at the end of five years and in most cases were not renewed, and partly to the depression consequent upon Dr. Livingstone's adverse reports about the Mission, and the uncertainty which for a time seemed to exist as to the possibility of its original designs being carried out. When, however, we say that the income above mentioned has been nearly trebled during the past twelve months,* by the amounts received mostly in annual subscriptions,

* The total income for 1866, inclusive of interest on capital (about £600 a year), offertories, and collections, but exclusive of money paid direct to Bishop Tozer, amounts to about £2300.

VOL. II.

11