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Church Missionary School, Peshawur

"I crept like a thief into my new and strange quarters

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Ir our readers will look at a map of Asia, we shall be enabled to point out to them a vast area of country where unbroken darkness rests: it is that part of the Asiatic continent which lies between the Euphrates River and the Persian Gulf on the west, and the Indus on the east, and which comprises Persia, Cabul, and Belochistan. These countries are the stronghold of Mahommedanism, and hitherto there has not been the same opportunity for the efforts of the Christian Missionary in these lands as have been found in the dominions of the Porte. They have been as a fortress straitly shut up.

We are disposed to think that this inaccessibility will soon be broken down. God's providence, in a remarkable manner, appears to be working to this end throughout the world; the breaking down of all barriers and hindrances which interfere with the divine declaration, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." It is in connexion with this that we regard with much attention the British expedition to the Persian Gulf. It is not that war, in any form, or in whatever quarter, can be otherwise than a subject of regret. These storms in the political horizon do, however, occur, and, after the hurricane has passed, doors have often been found thrown wide open, which had been firmly closed before.

It will also be interesting to our readers to be reminded that the Church Missionary Society has already passed the Indus, and commenced Missionary efforts at two places-one at Karáchí, near the mouth of that great river; the other at Peshawur, a city lying between the Indus and the entrance into the Khyber Pass, through which the road lies to Cabul. Peshawur once belonged to the Affghan princes, and was taken from them by the Sikhs, on whose subjugation it fell into the hands of the English.

The division of Peshawur, with the adjacent districts, Hazarah and Kohat, contains, besides the city itself, 1891 villages, and a population of 847,695. The population of the city of Peshawur, where our Missionaries are stationed, amounts to 46,000, less by 9. It is situated in a plain, some 35 miles in diameter; and, except for a small space on the east, is surrounded by mountains, which enclose it in a horse-shoe form. Many streams run through the plain, and water the numerous gardens. The houses are built of brick, generally unburnt, in wooden frames. They are commonly three stories high, and the lower story is generally occupied by shops, which exhibit for sale dried fruits, nuts, bread, meat, boots, shoes, saddlery, bales of cloth, hardware, ready-made clothes, &c., the handsomest shops being the fruiterers', where apples, melons, plums, and sometimes oranges, are mixed in piles with Indian fruits. There are also cook-shops, where every thing is served in earthen dishes, painted and glazed, so as to look like china. In the streets are people crying greens, curds, &c. There are also men carrying on their backs leather bags full of water, who proclaim their calling by beating on a brazen cup, and for a trifling piece of money give a draught of water. The crowd in the streets is a mixed one indeed. Peshawur people in white turbans and large white or dark-blue frocks, or else in sheep-skin cloaks; Persians and Affghans in brown woollen tunics or flowing mantles, and caps of black sheep-skin or coloured silk; mountaineers, with straw sandals and wild dress; Hindús, &c.

1857.]

SELIM AGA, THE TURKISH CONVERT.

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The frontier position of the town, the extreme point of our Indian empire towards the north-west, and abutting on those great Mahommedan countries of Asia of which we have already spoken, render it, as a Missionary station, of great importance. Our Missionaries are brought into communication with men of various nations, some of whom may carry back to their distant homes the seeds of Christian truth and life.

Our Missionary operations are carried on by bazaar preaching, and our school. Our engraving, copied from a photograph, represents the school premises. They were a ruined building, and were granted by the authorities for Missionary purposes. Zeal and skill changed them into what our readers see. The pupils are often not children, but men, and of different nations also-some Persians, others Affghans, who come with a desire to learn English, and to whom our Missionaries have the opportunity of communicating the knowledge which maketh "wise unto salvation."

SELIM AGA, THE TURKISH CONVERT.

IN the pages of the interesting periodical, "The Book and its Missions," there is introduced an account of the above convert, which we will endeavour to abbreviate, so that it may find a place in our "Gleaner."

Selim Aga is a native of Saloniki, the modern name for the ancient Thessalonica, the second European city in which Paul preached the gospel, where he met with so much of bitter opposition from the Jews, but where he was the instrument of raising up a Christian Church, so faithful and devoted as to be an example to others. It is singular, that, of the modern Saloniki, one-half the population are of the Hebrew race.

Selim Aga, a Turk, and a Mahommedan in religion, carried on a prosperous trade at this his native place.

Some years ago he had a singular dream, in which he saw Mohammed himself, in the character of high-priest at a mosque, but the prophet took not the slightest notice of Selim. He mentioned this dream to a friend of his, a rigid Mussulman, and was told that he would become one day a Christian.

The impression of this dream remained as he imagined there was no hope for him from the prophet, he resolved to inquire what other religions might do for him. He obtained a copy of the Psalms, and afterwards of other books of Scripture; and, becoming convinced of the truths they contained, he ceased to go to mosque, to say Mohammedan prayers, or to keep the Ramazan. His habits and principles underwent a thorough change.

He longed from the first to profess his faith publicly, and to be baptized; but the consideration for his wife and for his children, of the ages of seventeen, fourteen, twelve, and one, who would have been torn from him, made him delay for awhile his profession, till he could wind up his affairs and leave Saloniki. Before this took place, his wife, sister, and

* Nov. 1856, p. 260.

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