STURM, MISSIONARY

ΤΟ HESSE AND THURINGIA, 744.

Thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest. Jer. xlv. 5.

Sturm was of a noble Bavarian family, and early given up by his parents to Boniface to be educated. After having assisted Boniface, during three years, in the office of a preacher, the idea seized him of founding a convent in one of those enormous wildernesses which then covered Germany, and which were only to be reclaimed by the civilizing influence of Christianity. Boniface gave him two travelling companions, and when he had prayed for them, and given them his blessing, he said: Go into the beech forest-GoD can prepare His servants a place in the desert. Two days they journeyed through the wilderness, and on the third day they came to a place, which seemed to them calculated for building. After calling on Christ to give His blessing, that this place might become a dwelling for them, they erected little huts roofed with bark, and abode there for a time.

This site, however, did not meet with the approval of Boniface, as being too much exposed to the ravages of the barbarous Saxons. Sturm, therefore, setting out alone, sought some spot lying deeper in the wood; and there he founded the Abbey of Fulda, in which the most eminent doctors of the German Church were afterwards trained.-(Neander.)

The Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward. Is. lii, 12,

WINNEBALD, M. FROM ENGLAND TO GERMANY, 760. He that watereth shall be watered also himself. Prov. xi. 25.

Besides the dignity and renown which pertain to Missionary work, it brings with it several real advantages of a high order. The first of which is, the especial care of God's providence, which watches over those who labour for the propagation of the faith. Being destitute of human succour, they become the particular objects of Divine protection, in the fulfilment of all the promises of Ps. xci. and other such Scriptures.

A second benefit is, the singular care which God takes of the souls of those who labour for the love of Him, by increasing their graces, and making them superior to the power of temptation.

Further; the very exercise of higher graces in this vocation strengthens holy habits by the frequency of the occasions which present themselves; and thus Missionaries become the highest saints.

A more abundant weight of glory, also, awaits those who devote their whole lives to the pursuit of this heavenly calling for they are on GOD's business, not their own. And the unusual difficulty of it, which is inherent, results hereafter in a richer and sweeter reward. For so is the order of GOD, to join indissolubly together what is most trying and arduous with the sweetest and pleasantest. And He has made the reward more prominent than the labour.-(Thomas a Jesu.)

To him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward. Prov. xi. 18.

ROBERT HUNT, APOSTLE OF VIRGINIA, SAILED, 1606.

A faithful ambassador is health. Prov. xiii. 17.

Robert Hunt seems to have joined the expedition to Virginia with the single purpose of devoting himself to its religious interests; and, having put his hand to the plough, no difficulties or discouragements could tempt him to look back. "Six weekes were wee kept," writes one of his companions, "within sight of England; all which time Mr. Hunt, our Preacher, was so weake and sicke that few expected his recoverie; yet, although hee were but ten or twelve miles from his habitation, and notwithstanding the stormy weather, nor the scandalous imputation of some few little better than atheists suggested against him, all this could neuer force from him so much as a seeming desire to leaue the businesse, but preferred the seruice of GOD, in so good a voyage, before any affection; to contest with his godlesse foes."

His first object was the erection of a church; which was no sooner built, than, together with the town, it was destroyed by an accidental fire. The worthy pastor, however, whose own library had perished in the flames, never lost heart, but at once zealously set about the work of restoration, and ere long had the happiness of seeing the church restored.-(Hawkins' Historical Notices.)

Why should the work cease, whilst I leave it? Neh. vi. 3.

Thou hast put mine

darkness. Ps. lxxxviii. 18.

acquaintance into

Darkling methinks the path of life is grown, And solitude and sorrow close around;

My fellow-travellers one by one are gone,

Their home is reach'd, but mine must still be found.

The sun that set as the last bow'd his head,
To cross the threshold of his resting place,
Has left the world devoid of all that made
Its business, pleasure, happiness, and grace.

But I have still the desert path to trace;
Nor with the day has my day's work an end;

And winds and shadows thro' the cold air chase,

And earth looks dark where walk'd we friend with friend.

And yet thus wilder'd, not without a guide,

I wander on amid the shades of night;

My home-fires gleam, methinks, and round them glide My friends at peace, far off, but still in sight;

For through the closing gloom, mine eyesight goes
Further in heaven than when the day was bright;
And there, as earth still dark and darker grows,
Shines out for every shade a world of light.

V.

The eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. Is. xxix. 18.

ST. THOMAS, Apostle of INDIA AND PARTHIA, MARTYR. -BP. COLERIDGE, FIRST WARDEN OF ST AUGUSTINE'S COLLEGE, DIED, 1849.

Cast thy bread upon the waters. Ecc. xi. 1.

Not only the Medes and Persians, but the warlike Parthians and the rude Bactrians, heard the Gospel from St. Thomas; and so he wandered on, until he came to "India's coral strand "-those shores too distant even to have seen the eagles of Imperial Rome. An early writer tells us, that at first he shrunk from those lands on account of the rudeness of their people, till a vision bade him go on, for it was his Lord's work. And success crowned his efforts. Many hearts bowed before the Cross, and soon there arose "hymns to Christ as GOD,"

"From many an ancient river,

And many a palmy plain."

Thus he planted the faith, leaving the lasting tokens of his labours to preserve entwined through coming ages his Master's Name and his own. And the latter

history of the Church he founded comes to us like a voice from the Apostolic days. For ages they lived on, cut off from the rest of the Christian world, and utterly unknown. At length, in the sixteenth century, the Portuguese visited the coast of Malabar, and found, to their surprise, a Christian nation. Two centuries more passed by without any further tidings of them, and, in 1806, they were again discovered by Dr. Buchanan, in his missionary travels.-(Rev. W. I. Kip.)

For thou shalt find it after many days. Ecc. xi. 1.