ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

The thanks of the Committee are presented to the following friends—

Miss Rhoda Thomas, through Mr. Hinton, Portsmouth, for a parcel of useful articles, for Africa;

Mr. R. T. Whitwell, for a parcel of magazines;

Friends at Leamington, by Miss Rawson, for a box of clothing, &c., for Rev. J. Merrick, Bimbia;

Teachers and children of British School, Loughton, for a parcel of clothing, for Miss Vitou, Clarence.

The Rev. G. Cowen, of Trinidad, desires his "cordial thanks to the friends at Ipswich, Bury St. Edmunds, and Lymington, for boxes of clothing; also to Miss Waring, of Shirehampton, near Bristol, for a package of tracts kindly sent " him.

CONTRIBUTIONS,

Received on account of the Baptist Missionary Society, during the month

Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the Baptist Missionary Society will be thankfully received by William Brodie Gurney, Esq., and Samuel Morton Peto, Esq., M.P., Treasurers, or the Rev. Frederick Trestrail and Edward Bean Underhill, Esq., Secretaries, at the Mission House, 33, Moorgate Street, LONDON: in EDINBURGH, by the Rev. Christopher Anderson, the Rev. Jonathan Watson, and John Macandrew, Esq.; in GLASGOW, by Robert Kettle, Esq.; in DUBLIN, by John Purser, Esq., Rathmines Castle; in CALCUTTA, by the Rev. James Thomas, Baptist Mission Press; and at NEW YORK, United States, by W. Colgate, Esq. Contributions can also be paid in at Messrs. Barclay, Bevan, Tritton, and Co., Lombard street, to the account of the Treasurers.

IRISH CHRONICLE.

A QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED.

"WHAT Would you convert them from?" Such was the question somewhat tauntingly preferred by an intelligent Irish Catholic to our Secretary at the close of one of his addresses in Fifeshire, about a fortnight back. "And pray, Sir, what would you convert them from?" Candour, however, compels us to say, that neither in the conversational discussion which followed that night in the chapel, nor in the continuation of it in private, on the subsequent morning, did the opponent of our Society and its aims, abandon the courtesy of the gentleman, or the honesty of an honourable disputant. Our friendly antagonist is gonepledging himself, however, to assail our Society and our statements in the public press-his question, and the thoughts which it originated, still remain with us. From what would you convert them?" We can readily understand the motive which prompts those whose craft is in danger, to put the question; we can understand why certain political agitators who traffic in the credulity and ignorance of their fellows should frown upon our efforts to reduce their capital. But for an intelligent and warm-hearted Irishman-Catholic though he is a lover of his country and his countrymen, a man of large observation and historic knowledge, to condemn a Society which even he admitted is benefiting his countrymen, is to us incomprehensible. The secondary evils of Ireland, however, great though they unquestionably are, and which our Society in striving to achieve its primary aim, must necessarily mitigate, if not ultimately remove, fall into insignificance when contrasted with those greater and giant forms of evil against which we specially contend. "What would we convert them from?" From the darkness and death of sin, into the obedience of faith, and the liberty of the children of God; from the delusions of superstition, into the sound knowledge of gospel truth; from another religion, "which is not another," into the religion of Christ and of God; from a blind reliance on priestly or saintly mediators, and which, in the strong phrase of the Hebrew prophet, will prove to them but "a refuge of lies," to rest their hopes on the alone Mediator between God and man, the only refuge from the storm, and the only hiding-place from the tempest. "What would we convert them from?" From superstition and mummeries, invocations and penances, absolution and indulgences, to an enlightened knowledge of the religion of heaven; and to teach them what is the spirit of the religion of God, and what is the nature of that worship which a spiritual Being requires from his intelligent creation; to inscribe on their very heart's core the solemn truth, and to make it the habit and the governing feeling of their daily lives; that external worship without internal devotion, is an abomination in the sight of a holy God; that charms, incantations, masses, and anointings, are neither in themselves, nor are they incentives to, spiritual and true worship.

While we write, we have before us the abandoned oil stocks of a once Roman Catholic priest-the sacred vessel containing the holy oil, viewed with so much veneration and awe by millions-inasmuch, as they fondly imagine the smallest drop of its contents can make smooth for them life's voyage to heaven. There it stands, with its three initial letters, and which might conjure up in a fanciful mind, the three-fold thing of another mythology. The vessel is becoming rusty from neglect; the oil is rancid from disuse. And is it possible that in such a thing as this rests the hopes of millions of our fellow-subjects? Alas! 'tis too true! Then, from these false hopes would we convert them. And we appeal to our friends and readers more earnestly and more entreatingly than ever to aid us in our efforts to reclaim, to elevate, to save a noble and interesting people from crime, degradation, and death. We want help now, brethren, and whatsoever our hand findeth to do, let us do it with our might.