Portland gazette and Maine advertiser. (Portland, Me.) 1805-1818, 1815-11-15
as,ere.lang.
THE BIBLE.....No. ",

A Missionary on his passage from England to
| Sierra Leone, was wrecked on the Iangur Rocks,
about twenty miles south OF the GAMBIA river. he
natives took possession of thevesSel and cargo
cept some boxes Of bibles and teStaments with which
he and the rest of the crew led TO Goree, from
whence he wrote to trader on the GAMBIA, where
he supposed many of the goods were sent for sale
requesting bin II he had bought any, TO send them
10 ban. and ESPECIALLY the Arabic Bibles he ira
der, in answer informed him that the natives would
not part with them at all though he went 50 far as
10 offer for one 10 the value of 81. Thus" said
he, at appears that the Word Of Tod is more high.
ly esteemed among theMaho nmedans than in many
places where the gospel of Christ has been ibtrodu
ced." An old slave trader there, who had bought
some of those things, was told by some of the Ma
homnedans that he did wrong in buying them, be-
cause they belonged to,a Bookman who was on
board that wrecked vessel and if he did not return
them to that Bookman again, God would punish
him, by burning his house and all the goods. The
trader laughed at them. His house, however, and
goods became prey to the flames two days after
A Farmer in one of the northern provinces in
Norway, Who had often endeavcred to procure
Bible but never so happy as to get that pre-
cious volume into his possession, brought at last
cow to the next market town and offered her in
exchange for one, but in vain. There being none
for sale.
The Rev. J. Paterson on bis Journey through
Estonia. writes as follows had no conception
that there really existed such want Of the holy
Scriptures in this district Here lat kanapal there
are about 106 600 inhabitants and among this num-
Der, they assure me that not 200 New TestauIents
are TO be found. Yea, there are thousands here
who have never seen the New Testament; there
are even pastors who have hone in the dialect in
oh tba Vat in
are above IL 900 pious people"
Extracts ofn letter from The ReU. L. Fan Ess, Ro-
man Catholic Clergyman at Marburg.
81 appear before you charged with thanksgiv-
ings of thousands Of your German fellow christians,
for the Gift of love you have bestowed upon them,
namely-for the 200I appropriated for the distribu-
ton Of 5000 copies my German Testament. The
eagerness to read the Scriptures is very great, and
the application of the INDECENT for the New Tesla
ment very frequent.
at sa melancholy fact that in some surrounding
provinces and districts, scarcely one schoomaster
out of twenty, is furnished with Bible. In most
schools, the Bible is not to be met with at all
Never were the minds of men more accessible
to the word of life never was the necessity OF re-
ligious comfort so deeply felt; never was the en-
trance of the kingdom OF heaven more widely open
than now. D my beloved friends satisfy this hum
ger with the bread Of life, foster this flame with
heavenly oil; continue to hasten TO the relief Of the
immortal souls of thousands of your brethren, pur-
chased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ !;
not merely thousands Of individuals, but thousands
of schools, those nurseries for the garden Of Christ
claim our assistance. Let these little ones be con-
Quoted to the friend Of Children, and be directed
TO seek and find him in his gospel"
[The piety anu zeal Of this Roman Catholic eier-