by giving full proof of his ministry, to make himself worthy of it in bringing many sons to grace and glory; so that he finishes his course with joy; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, receives a crown of glory which never fades away. Thus, the pulpit becomes a throne of mental, moral, and spiritual power; the sermon a real oration; the Sabbath a delight; the sanctuary an attraction; the pastor a model man; the ambassador of Christ the true preacher of the age; his voice the certain echo of the eternal God; and the circle of its sound man's training-school for glory, honour, and immortality.

Modern Fables.

FROM CHRISTIAN FABLES, PARABLES, ETC. BY HERR PASTOR D. VON MAGDSTEIN.

NO. V.

A FAMOUS COOK was engaged by a noble family, who were proud of the merits and fame of their artiste. The man himself was thin, pale, lean, and looked almost dying of starvation. 'Don't you partake of any of these choice viands that you prepare so skilfully?' asked a kind observer. Of none,' was the reply. But why not? Surely you are at liberty to eat your fill.' 'Oh, yes; and it is even my duty to taste of all that I send up, before doing so.' How, then?' 'Oh, I've no appetite for food; all my satisfaction is in exercising my skill as a professional; there is such scope, sir, for consideration and invention; and then I have a name, sir, a name.' 'But does that satisfy?' 'Oh, well, then, there's the pay besides.' And he remained a sallow dyspeptic while he lived; and by-and-bye he died.

NO. VI.

The hop boasted of the rapidity of its growth. See! I've shot up more than sixteen feet within a few weeks.' And she shook her beautiful cluster, like a maiden's curls, in the sun. 'And there's this rough, brown, peasant-looking oak does not grow as many inches in a year! ! And she shook her grape-like ringlets again, gracefully, but vain-gloriously. And how long shall you last?' gravely inquired the oak. Don't talk to me, you coarse thing you, don't. Last, indeed!' In another month, the hop was a withered, black piece of bine, trampled underfoot by the pickers in the grey autumn morning, who, having plucked the fruit, cared no more for the plant.

NO. VII.

When a certain famous cook presented even the choicest specimens of his art to his employers, it was observed that they never ate of any. They admired the elegant arrangement of the board, and took their seats at it; they sniffed the rich, steaming, savoury odours; they

nicely discriminated between them; they were carved for; plates were set before them, and after a time removed; but they never ate, or, at most, only now and then picked over a bit, just to taste, or scarcely so much. One asked them the reason, and they said (only he was not to tell) that, somehow, it was quite enough to come to table; they enjoyed the sight, and it afforded them a good opportunity for increasing their critical powers, and then, they had the satisfaction of hearing their cook praised everywhere as A No. 1.

A little shepherd boy laughed out loud at this, and went off whistling to the hedge to eat his bread and cheese. And ever as he thought of the people that kept a cook, and came to dinner, yet did not eat, he laughed outright again.

Mem. I dedicate this to some congregation that I know.

NO. VIII.

An apple-tree boasted to an English oak, and tried to provoke it to jealousy. What an object of beauty I am, in the spring, all covered with pink blossom; and in the autumn, when the morning sun is glistering among my leaves, how every one admires my rosy fruit!' True, my little friend,' said the oak. 'My fruit makes the merry children happy, and my apples are placed on the festive board, beside the sparkling wine, while none but swine eat your acorns.' True, again, my pretty little pet.' 'But what can you say for yourself, you mere producer of acorns for pigs?' 'Men eat the pigs,' answered the oak. 'Is that all?' asked the apple-tree, and shook with a tremor of delight. 'Well,' said the oak, in an easy tone, and yet half reluctant to say so much, 'in life, I suggest thought of strength, and fortitude, and endurance to many; I have furnished wreaths for victors in my day, and watchwords for patriots. But it is chiefly after I am dead that my use begins. Then I serve the architect and carver, and especially the shipwright, and carry Britain's thunder across the main, while a whole nation exults and feels joy and pride in the wooden walls of old England.' Hem! after death! usefulness after death! What's that worth? I should like to know.'

Record of Chrisitan Missions.

WE confine the few observations that our space enables us to make, in connexion with the progress of Christian missions, to a subject that, not long ago, occupied much of the attention of the Church-the progress and prospects of Protestantism in Turkey. It will be seer. that the latest information is not very encouraging. The enthusiastic hopes entertained some time since are being gradually broken. There is work being done, and some results are flowing from it, but not on the magnificent scale that we once dreamed. We had all forgotten that God very seldom works with a rapidity equal to man's vain anticipations.

The information contained in the following pages is derived from the papers of the Turkish Missions Aid Society. We gather from these papers:

'A variety of interesting correspondence has been received, some of which is of a less recent date, and the whole too voluminous to publish in extenso. As to the reaction to Islamism, our earlier letters,' says the editor, 'continued to be written in a somewhat desponding tone as to present prospects, though not letting go faith in the ultimate success of the gospel. The influence of England appeared to have declined, and the old-fashioned Mussulmans had resumed a temporary ascendancy; so that the preaching of the gospel was somewhat retarded, and inquirers were kept back through apprehension of unfavourable times at hand. Our letters also stated that this reaction had been increased by some glowing public announcements made in England as to a great movement of a religious kind in Turkey, and it was considered that Roman and Greek enemies of Protestantism and of England had hinted to the Turks of distinction that Islamism would find a dangerous antagonist in Protestantism. Therefore, it was apprehended that the missionaries and the converts would probably experience less quiet times. Several facts, illustrative of the reality of these apprehensions, were communicated, some of which it was not thought prudent to publish.

'But, happily, more recent communications inform us that these clouds are passing away. The advent of Redshid Pasha to power, and the apparent restoration of the influence of our ambassador, has dissipated very much the gloom that was gathering on our horizon. A letter, dated 1st Nov., says:—

"Such a change is being felt here ipso facto. Everybody, on the part of the Turks especially, knows what it means. The position England has taken in the present complications has already done immense good in this country. A decided stand of England, and a positive influence exerted by her, seem to be among the first providentially-appointed means for the propagation of the truth in this land; and is, in fact, the condition sine quâ non of every degree of safety, and every step of progress, in this deeply-rotten country."

'Of the work among the Armenians, we learn, from the Rev. Dr. Hamlin (who has arrived safely at Constantinople), that it never was more prosperous. He says, amongst other things:-"We have a fine class of theological students in the seminary (Bebek), and my time will be now much devoted to them; but there is such a demand for labour in the city, that I shall take the faubourg of Psamatia, containing, I presume, 10,000 or 15,000 Armenians, and try to bring forward the incipient work there."

'It may be interesting to mention that two of Dr. Hamlin's Armenian scholars, who served the British army faithfully as interpreters during the war, have resolved to set up as photographers in Constantinople, and he has written to procure here the instruments and materials for that purpose. So civilization follows in various branches in the train of the glorious gospel of the blessed God.

'As to the proposed mission to Bulgaria, one of our correspondents says:—“I find the Catholics moving actively for Bulgaria. There is a Bulgarian Catholic priest here who was educated in France, and he is labouring to bring over influential Bulgarians to Rome by the promise of great spiritual and material advantages. I trust we shall soon have men to meet and counteract that project. I have written twice, as regards Bulgaria, to Boston and New York and shall write again,

If you argue and press the matter upon the board, they will, I trust, move in the work efficiently."

And in a still more recent letter he says:-'We feel very strongly as a station that our board must enter Bulgaria, and I have no doubt but that we shall do so in the spring. This will give a great and noble work for the Turkish Missions Aid Society to do."

Very large and most deeply interesting details have been communicated concerning the open door which God is affording for the evangelization of the Mussulmans; but so strict are the injunctions, and so nervous are the apprehensions of our correspondents on this subject, that we are compelled to suppress material facts, with dates and circumstances. Dr. Schauffler says:-" I hope our generous friends in England will continue to repose this kind of confidence in us for a little while longer. If we continue not to let our left hand know what our right hand does, we shall probably be enabled, ere long, to labour with both hands, and all the world may know it." Meanwhile, it is needful, as well as interesting, to make it known that the conversion of Mohammedans to Christianity is no longer a debateable possibility, but a fact accomplished, and accomplishing in a satisfactory manner and on a growing scale. It has been already stated in the public prints here that two more young Mohammedans were baptized in November last. We learn that their baptism was preceded by what was considered a true, sincere, and satisfactory profession of living faith in Christ. One is a Turk; the other a fugitive from Persia; both of literary education, and the last-named doubly valuable in that respect, as being an useful help in the translation from the Persian of the great controversial works of Pffander on the foundations of Mohammedanism and Christianity. He knows both Persian and Arabic, and also Turkish and some Armenian. Added to these is a third, who, with the others, has given up all for Christ, and who also is of a literary capacity, knowing something of all these languages. It is impossible to learn these facts without perceiving the hand of the Lord in thus preparing instruments for the extension of his work amongst the Mohammedans. All these and several other Mohammedans, now Christians, and Protestant rayahs of the Sublime Porte, are educated or supported by the funds of the Turkish Missions Aid Society. And it has now also been resolved that for the future the Turkish language shall be taught to all the students in the seminary in Bebek, so as to be preparing a band of educated missionaries for all Turkey to the Mohammedans. In one of his letters, which, for prudential reasons, we are obliged to defer publishing, Dr. Schauffler adds:—“I might mention several families and a number of individuals, both here and in the interior, who will probably soon come into a closer connexion with us. I shall (D.V.) soon communicate to you some interesting items from the Kurdish mountains. The Kuzzilbashis keep pressing us for admission into the Protestant denomination, and we feel embarrassed about it. We desire, first, to see some real spiritual work among them, not to have an ignorant and carnally-minded nation thrown upon our weak shoulders; and we should, at any rate, first raise agencies to preach the gospel to them regularly, and to teach them, parents and children, but especially the latter. Whether we shall succeed in keeping them quiet till then, though we strain every nerve to make speedy provision for their instruction and edification, I wot not." "Some of the Mussulmans above-named are now being instructed in a

catechetical course, based on the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England; a translation of which, sufficiently accurate for use, exists in the Turkish translation of the Book of Common Prayer, which, Dr. Schauffler has stated, he considers a remarkably good translation.

"This leads to the mention of the subject of Turkish literature, which begins to be a matter of primary importance, both for secular and religious purposes. On this subject, Dr. Schauffler writes very urgently. Dictionaries, grammars, voca bularies, and elementary books, are much needed. France and the Jesuits are actively at work to supply a Turko-French literature of a pernicious kind; and it is no slight importance, as an accessory to the spread of the gospel among the Turks, that a sound, moral, intellectual, and a religious literature should be speedily provided for them. As to the preparation of a popular Bible for Turkey, Dr. Schauffler writes that at length the primary difficulties have been overcome, and that he has now commenced the work of transcribing the Armeno-Turkish Scriptures (Dr. Goodell's version) into the Arabic character. This work was originally undertaken by the Evangelical Alliance; but, since the Rev. Dr. Blackwood's return to England, the British and Foreign Bible Society have, at their own instance and request, undertaken the work, which has, therefore, been transferred to them, and will now be performed at their sole expense. Dr. Hamlin writes, of Dr. Goodell's new Armeno-Turkish revised edition, just out, Those Turks who have learned the Armenian alphabet, read it with great delight, and praise its perspicuity and beauty. They are just the persons to judge of its adaptedness to the people; and they declare that nothing is wanting but to put it into the Arabic character."

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The influence of the hatti-humaioun is described by the travelling agent of the society as greater than has been represented. When in Constantinople, two or three months ago, I found that the prevailing impression was that the hattihumaioun, so far as any practical results were concerned, was as yet a dead letter. The missionaries and the Protestant Christians in general were in a very desponding state, and, as I ventured to say to some of them, they did not seem to appreciate, as we do in England, who viewed the matter at a distance, all that God had lately done for them. I am truly thankful, however, to say, that in passing through the interior of the Turkish empire, and hearing the views by all classes, which I have had every opportunity of doing, I am more and more confirmed in the opinion that the hatti-humaioun is no dead letter, but that the principle of religious liberty is generally approved by men of influence, and is being carried out through the whole empire! I have had many very convincing and satisfactory proofs of this, which I hope to have the pleasure of relating to you and the friends of Turkish missions on my return to England. It will be no difficult task to prove that already tremendous barriers of Turkish intolerance and bigotry have crumbled before the power of European influence, which is extending itself on every side, and the aid which England and France have afforded to Turkey in her hour of need has greatly tended to increase this influence. The people of the land, of the various nationalities, and of all grades, delight to hear about the wonderful development of European civilization to which hitherto they have closed their eyes; and I am sure nothing could exceed the polite attention which