The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-02-01
ITEMS FROM THE MISSION
ETETD

III Cue island OF NlnatlVe. InlS person
was formerly an officer, whom Mr. Hast
ings found deeply interested in Chris
tianity year and half ago. He beg
ged portion of Scripture which he re-
ceived and read with much interest, and
afterwards procured complete copy of
the Bible. He made no secret of his
change ofopinions, but everywhere boldly
proclaimed the name of the Saviour Ee
had previously been the strictest of hea-
then, yet he was a man of upright life,
and spent his money freely for the ex-
tension of Sivism. He was also a great
Tamil scholar, and read extensively the
books of the Sivite religion. Still he did
not find peace, and on sick bed, when
visited by Christian teacher and ply
sician, his heart at once responded to the
gracious offer of salvation.
His profession of Christianity greatly
incensed his relatives, and even his wife
refused to minister to his wants, saying
that, since he had drunk the blood of
dead person, he was unclean. When Mr..
Hastings visited Ninative his case was
the subject of general conversation, and
many bitter speeches were made against
him.
The Missionary Herald also mentions
that the manager and priest of d small
heather temple at Chavagacherry, in
Ceylon, was admitted to the church in
March last. Two other adults from hea-
then families were admitted to the church
at the same time.
Mr.. Jenney writes to the same journal
cheering letter from Macedonia. "Our
bookseller finds wonderful success all
over Macedonia g. The Turks appear
more and more interested, and buy many
copies of the gospels. An intelligent
Mohammedan priest, who reads the Old
and New Testament, asked me why be-
leved in Christ as my Saviour. Iproved
to him in many ways and to his complete
satisfaction the necessity of redeemer,
and then explained how Christ is that
Saviour. He thought for while, and
In the presence of several Turks he said,
Yes, we must have redeemer, and
there is no one but Christ who has shown
himself as a SaviC ur, and He is our Sa-
viour.
Mr.. Atkinson writes from Japan /:
"The Imabari church is doing nobly. {.
Mr.. Ise has three colporteur evangelists,
and three evangelists in his field. On
the Goth he expected to receive ten adults
into the church One of these is his
grandmother, who is an intelligent old
lady. 1t was only last fall that she be-
came in the least degree willing to listen
to Christian teaching. . But now the
whole Ise household is Christian-the
grandmother, the mother, the sister, the
wife, and the old nurse, who has been in
the family twenty-seven years"
The Church Missionary EntezZigencer
reports the baptism of Ahmed Tewfk
Effendi, a distinguished member of the
Ulema, the great Mohammedan Council,
in Constantinople. Our readers may re-
member that this man was condemned to
death in Constantinople for assisting DR.
Knelle in the translation of the Bible,
and that, through the Intervention of the
British ambassador, his sentence was
changed to Punishment. He was bap-
tized in London on November the 18th.
The Church Missionary Iate16gepacer re-
marks: "This baptism is great event.
No convert of equal eminence has, it is
believed, ever been won from Moham-
mechanism. He was in the very front
rank of the Turkish hierarchy in learn
ing and reputation.
From Madras Mr.. Miller, of the Free
Church Of Scotland, writes an interesting
account of the baptism of young Brah-
man. What is very remarkable and
very encouraging about the matter is the
way in which the people of the district
have taken an occurrence that is so
strange to them. 1t is a district distin-
guished rather than otherwise for the
number and the zeal of its Brahman pop
ulation. "Yet" (Mr. Miller proceeds to
state in his letter. "the young man still
Il