them. It was at this crisis that Mr. Davies entered the Pa, and there he found them surrounded by their armed followers, engaged in solemn prayer-praying especially for the pardon of their enemies with a white flag hoisted above their heads as a token of their desire for peace.

Mr. Davies then went out to meet Ripa and his party; and how striking was the contrast! With their bodies naked, and their faces painted red, they were listening to addresses urging them on to vengeance and slaughter. The addresses being ended, they rushed forward toward the Pa, yelling frightfully, and dancing their war dance, bidding bold defiance to the Christians. The Christians were assembled on the other side of the fence opposite the enemy, while one of the Christian chiefs quietly walked up and down between the two parties, telling the enemy they were acting contrary to the Word of God; and that his party, though not afraid of them, were restrained by the fear of God from attacking them. Ripa and his party only amounted to twenty; while the Christians were 100 strong. After many speeches had been made on both sides, one of Ripa's party, in striking at the fence with his hatchet, cut Noa on the head. This Chris tian chief tried to conceal the wound from his tribe; but some of them saw, by the blood trickling down, that he was wounded, and instantly there was a simultaneous rush

from the Pa, and every man's musket was levelled. In another moment Ripa and his whole party would have fallen; but Noa, the wounded chief, sprang forward, and exclaimed, "If you kill Ripa I will die with him;" and then, throwing his own body as a shield over Ripa, saved him from destruction. Peace was then made between the two parties, and there was great rejoicing. "Some years ago," adds Mr. Davies, "the very sight of blood would have been a signal for a dreadful slaughter."

Another Missionary sends the following very delightful account :

"Although I have distributed a very large number of copies among the natives in my district, they still prize the Word of God as highly as when it first arrived. On Christmas-day I had a very large assemblage of natives from every part of my extensive district, which includes a line of more than 180 miles of coast, and reaches upward of 100 miles in the interior. After the administration of the Lord's Supper to 345 natives, I assembled the teachers of every place, and forming them around me in a large circle, with their respective people behind, I had about 400 Testaments brought into the middle of the circle, which I then distributed for their schools in proportion to the population of each place-for the Sunday-school generally comprises the entire population-telling them that they had just partaken of one feast which Christ

instituted to commemorate his dying love for their souls, and here was another spiri. tual feast, even of his holy Word, which was given to nourish and sustain the soul to everlasting life. The sight was a very impressive one: there could not have been fewer than a thousand present; and to see the eagerness and anxiety displayed by young and old, as they crowded around, as the doves flying to their windows, was to me an evident token that there is good laid up in store for this people, and that the Lord is hastening the time when they shall be numbered among the kingdoms of the Lord and his righteousness. I likewise adopt the plan of writing each individual's name in his book, and adding, 'Let this be kept sacred to thee'-i.e. Let it not be parted with -which I have found has had a very good effect; as otherwise, according to NewZealand custom, they must part with it to any one who may ask for it. I have debited myself to the Church Missionary Society to the amount of £44 5s., which I have received for Testaments of the Bible Society, and with £10 more, being the share due to the Bible Society of money paid into my hands by Mrs. Mason, making a total of £54 58. This sum can therefore be paid over to the Bible Society, and will be a convincing proof of the estimation in which the Scriptures are held by the New Zealanders."

THE VOICE OF THE OLD YEAR.

I THINK the departed year has a voice for you little children, as well as others. As he pauses to bid farewell to earth and its inhabitants, I see him gaze with a sad but kind earnestness upon those rosy cheeked groups hastening to school; those happy young daughters prattling by the side of their mother; those restless boys by their father's knee, with minds thirsting for knowledge, and limbs eager for action. I see the old year turn his eye alike upon the studious circles seated on benches, and the mirth-loving multitudes by way-side or fire-side, in fields and in gardens, and he speaks to each as if he called him by name. Like some venerable preacher about to go into a far country never to return, he ga thers the little ones of the flock around him, and bids them remember his parting words. Hark! like the sigh of the evening wind, like the murmur of the distant stream, I hear his solemn voice. The warm hearts and the light hearts of childhood beat quicker and grow thoughtful as he proceeds with his earnest questions.

"Children!" says the departing year, "do you know that there is a God, who made the heavens and the earth, and all things; and that he is not only the greatest, but the wisest, the most lovely, and the best of all beings? Do you know that he is every where present, that he sees not only

your actions, but hears every whispered word, and knows your secret thoughts?

Who

"You are now living, full of hope and joy, and surrounded with blessings. A short time ago you were not. It was God who called you into being, and who graciously styles himself your Father. He made you to love and serve him, and has commanded you to remember him in the days of your youth. Have you listened when he spoke? Have you come when he called? Have you sought to become acquainted with him and to obtain his favour? Have you daily praised him for all his wonderful works, and rendered him hearty thanks for all his good gifts? What have you done for the good of others? has been made better by your exertions? "Do you know that God is holy, and looks with displeasure upon sin? And are you not sinful? Do you not every day think and do many things amiss, and provoke the great God to be angry with you? And are you willing to endure his anger for ever? Will you not come now and entreat him, for the sake of Christ his Son, who died for man, to pardon your of fences? Sweet it is to be at peace with God. Blessed is the child that repents of his evil ways, that forsakes his sin, and that, through faith in Christ, obtains mercy. Through Christ, the fountain of forgiveness, peace and eternal happiness is kept unsealed, and for ever full and flowing, and little chil