A STRIKING AND BEAUTIFUL TESTIMONY.
At the close of a meeting at Mudnapilly, in India, a well-educated Brahmin rose, and, to the astonishment of the missionary and all who were present, delivered the following very striking and beautiful testimony to the beneficent and self-denying character of the missionary’s labors:— “Behold the mango-tree on yonder road-side. Its fruit is approaching to ripeness. Bears it that fruit for itself, or for its own profit? From the moment the first ripe fruit turn their yellow sides toward the morning sun until the last mango is pelted off, it is assailed with showers of sticks and stones from boys and men, and every passer-by, until it stands bereft of leaves, with branches knocked off, and bleeding from many a broken twig. And piles of stones underneath, and clubs and sticks lodged in its boughs, are the only trophies of its joyous crop of fruit. Is it discouraged? Does it cease to bear fruit? Does it say, If I am barren, no one will pelt me, and I shall live in peace? Not at all. The next season the budding leaves, the beauteous flowers, the tender fruit, again appear. Again is it pelted and broken and wounded, but it goes on bearing, and children’s children pelt the branches and enjoy its fruit.” “That is a type of the missionary.”—Sel.