pendent, or London Mission, has also done great good, especially, as many of you have heard, in the South Sea islands, and among the Hottentots and wild Bushmen in South Africa. And if you are not tired of hearing missionary tales, here are some that are very interesting. They were told by Mr. Moffat, a missionary, who has come over from Africa, at a great meeting in Birmingham Town Hall, when 3,000 children were present. We have selected them from a pretty little book, published by Mr. Showell of Birmingham, and which may be had of any bookseller, for a penny. It is called

AFRICAN SCENES.

Mr. MOFFAT began by saying, that to see such a sight as that before him, was worth coming from Africa. He was going to tell them what, he was sure they would not forget. He remembered what he heard when he was a very little boy, and he was sure they would. He knew, he said, a little boy, whose mother loved him, and prayed for him, that he might fear and love God. When he grew up, he left home, and his mother, before they parted, after many entreaties, for he was very unwilling, got him to promise to read in the Bible every day.

Well, my children, the boy made the promise, and he parted with his mother, and he went to another part of the country, where there were no mother's eyes to watch over him, no mother's

voice to warn him, and there he did what he liked, naughty little boy that he was. He was

fond of music, and could play the fiddle, and he liked to go to balls to dance, for he was very fond of these nonsensical fooleries of the world; but mark well, for I know his history. That boy, when he came home, sometimes from a dance, and from playing the fiddle to large dancing parties, would then think about fulfilling the promise which he made to his mother, and he would sit down and read the Testament, and perhaps, after coming from a dance, he would read the 16th, 17th, 18th, or 19th chapters of John. Now, my dear children, what an awful thing it was to unite dancing with the reading of these chapters, giving an account of the Saviour's death on the cross! It made him very 'unhappy, and he thought he would not keep his promise to his mother. He tried first to read without thinking, but he could not do that; the more he tried to forget, the more he thought of what he read. He then resolved at last to break his promise to his mother; and he went to bed once and again, and tried to forget his promise; but no, his mother's face and his mother's tears were before him, and he was obliged to get up in the dark and light a candle and read a chapter. Well, that was the means in time of saving that little boy from destroying himself; for he had almost done this, he had almost gone into the gulph of suicide; and then he rejoiced in God,

and prayed for his mother, and thanked God that he had a praying mother.

This young man, for he had now grown up, became very zealous, and went about talking to every one that would hear him; and thought to convert them all. It was hard work, but he did what he could. One day, while visiting in a town about seven miles distant, he happened to see a placard on the walls, announcing a missionary meeting, and he began to think within himself what kind of a meeting it was; and as he returned home he still kept thinking about it, and he called it to mind so that there was a resurrection of all he had once heard from his dear mother, by the fire-side; for his mother used to keep him at home, and taught him to knit stockings, rather than let him run about in the streets and get into mischief; and he remembered what his mother told him about Greenland, and the South Sea islands, and other parts of the world; and by the time he got home he was another boy altogether. He began to think and pray for the heathen, and in his exhortations to others he desired them to pray for the perishing heathen. In the course of time, a wonderful Providence brought that youth into a position in which be was himself sent out to be a missionary. He was at first afraid that his parents would not allow him to go, and he thought of leaving them without letting them know any thing about it; but when at length his mother heard of it, she

rejoiced very much, and she said " I wish all my other sons were missionaries too." Well, that boy went out as a missionary, and laboured amongst the heathen for five and twenty years, and learned languages, and saw hundreds brought to the knowledge of God; and saw schools established, and people taught to read in their own tongue the wonderful works of God. And that missionary came back and saw his mother; and he was one time preaching a missionary sermon in a chapel where his mother was, and when he came down from the pulpit he found his mother in tears, and he said to her, " Mother, you seem to feel what I have been saying;" and she replied, "O yes, my son, my heart rejoices at the spread of the Redeemer's kingdom."

Now, that boy is going to see his mother again, and here he is-I am that boy; and he is come to tell you this day, something of what he has seen in Africa. Now, let me tell you about it. This is what people call an introduction to a sermon, and now for the matter of fact itself. I come from Africa. Yes, was sent to Africa, and when I was sent there, I got a commission, that is, a commission to preach the gospel. A Bible was put into my hands, and do you know who it was that put the Bible into my hands? Many years ago I was ordained a missionary, with Mr. Williams, whom you have all heard of, and who was cruelly murdered in the South Seas. And who put the Bible into

my

Here he

hands? It was your Chairman.* sits, this day, before you. Never can I forget that period. Oh, when I look back, it seems only yesterday, but when I look at all the events that have occurred since that time, I say, that his prayers and wishes in my behalf have been heard in heaven. You may well think that I saw a great deal during the twenty-five years I was among the black people of Africa, and when I look on a scene like this, I almost wish that you were all black children, for then I should be at nome; but I will talk to you with as much familiarity as if you all had black faces together.

You may wish to ask me, what do children do in that land? I will tell you what they did be fore the gospel was sent to them. They did nothing but mischief. They were taught from their childhood to pierce with the spear, and draw the bow, but they could not read, they knew nothing of God, and never heard of heaven, or of another world. So you may conceive what lives they must have led. There was no meetings of this kind, no Sabbath, no Monday, no Tuesday, no such days at all; it was one long week from the beginning of their lives to the end. The boys there were instructed, it is true, but I will tell you what kind of instruction they received. About the age of twelve or fourteen, they were initiated into what is called manhood, and that is a very severe thing indeed. They

The Rev. J. A. James.

DUR

the