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CHRISTIAN HERALD.

VOL. II.]

Saturday, October 19, 1816.

[No. 4.

Extracts from the Report of the 22d General Meeting of the (London) Missionary Society. (Continued from page 23.)

NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES. Mr. Spratt, who has resided some time at Quebec, has lately visited the United States to obtain pecuniary assistance for building a chapel. The Directors have informed him that if he continues at Quebec, as the pastor of the congregation, his support must be derived from them but that they will gladly employ him as their Missionary, if he should be inclined to leave his present situation.

Mr. Cox was about to leave Johnstoun District, when he last wrote, and we are not exactly informed in what part of the country he is now labouring. He has been partly supported by the people, but has been assisted by donations from this Society.

From Mr. Smart, at Elizabeth Town, Upper Canada, we have not lately received any information.

At Trinidad Mr. Adam continues to labour as usual, and not without some good effect but the Directors are sorry to say that this station is too expensive to be continued on the present plan. It has long appeared to them very desirable, not to say necessary, that one of the Directors should, if possible, visit our Missionary stations in the West Indies, as Mr. Campbell, with so much advantage, visited those in Africa, and for a similar purpose. They are of opinion that great improvement might be made by judicious regulations; and that many of the Planters may, by personal application, be induced to engage for the support of pious mechanics as the instructors of their slaves; and that not only the present stations might be rendered less burdensome to the Society, but that new stations might be found which should require little or no pecuniary support from England.

Mr. Wray was lately informed by the poor negroes in Demerary, that they are looking out for a minister in every ship that arrives.

The Directors are concerned to state that greatly as they VOL. II.--No. 4.

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have desired to send a preacher to Le Resouvenir, formerly the promising station of Mr. Wray, they have not yet been able to meet with a person altogether suitable for it, but they are anxious to find such a one. They hoped that some of our brethren in the ministry would have been able to select out of their congregations some pious intelligent diligent men, such as are qualified to be useful in Sunday Schools, or in village preaching, who would gladly devote themselves to the instruction of the poor negroes; a few such persons, may be very usefully employed in the West Indies.

Mr. Wray remains in the neighbouring colony of Berbice; his school is on the increase, and a great number of poor free children, as well as of the slaves, learn to read; many adults also come to read occasionally. Many girls belonging to the Crown estates learn to sew, under the care of Mrs. Wray. About a year ago he baptized eight persons, who have since conducted themselves as becomes Christians; and at Christmas last he baptized eight more; four had belonged to the school, the rest were old people. It was a very solemn season. On the 31st of December he administered the Lord's Supper for the first time in Berbice; eleven negroes communicated. Mr. Wray rejoices to see a church, however small, formed among the negroes in Berbice.

Mr. Davies, at George Town, Demerary, is attended by a great number of negroes, many of whom discover, in the whole of their conduct, the powerful effects of the gospel. It is much to the honour of religion that among the negroes who have been punished for dishonest or refractory behaviour, there has not been an instance of one who attended the chapel. The moral conduct of the people is much improved; Mr. Davies has lately married sixty couples of them, nearly half of whom came from about twenty miles up the river.

Mr. Elliot (formerly at Tobago) is at present at George Town, and preaches in a distant part of it, to many who, it is said, cannot conveniently attend at the chapel.

In addition to the support of those missions which have already been mentioned, and which are under the immediate patronage of this Society, sums have occasionally been voted to other Societies which have the same object in view. During the last year, the Directors have voted to the Church of the United Brethren, at Sarepta, the sum of £300, for the purpose of renewing their mission to the Kalmucks. Two Missionaries have thus been enabled to commence their labours among that people.

They have also granted £100, to the New-York Mission

ary Society, to assist them in sending Missionaries to the Indians on the border of their territories.

They have likewise voted to the new Missionary Institution at Basle, in Switzerland, the sum of L200, to assist and encourage them in its establishment.

(To be continued.)

1040

Copy of a Letter from the Rev. Samuel Newell, a Missionary in India, to Mr. Reuben Smith, of Ballston, dated Bombay, Dec. 8, 1815.

Your kind letter of the 19th of March reached me some time ago, and afforded me much pleasure. I should have answered it immediately, but as brother Hall was writing to Princeton about that time, I thought it might be as well to wait a little, as he probably communicated to your society all the information we had to communicate then. Before you get this you will probably know that I am at Bombay with brother Hall, and that brother Nott is on his way to America. I can now inform you that we are at length permanently established in Bombay by the authority or rather permission of the Court of Directors. This joyful information was communicated to us a few days ago by Sir E. Nepean, the governor of Bombay. We now hope for an addition to our number, especially since brother Nott has left us. There is every reason to hope and expect that two or three more of our brethren would be permitted to settle here and join us in the glorious work of preaching Christ to the Heathen. We need an addition to our

present establishment very much. We have three great objects before us, the ministration of the word of life to a great multitude, of people wholly given to idolatry; the instruction of the rising generation, by the establishment and superintendance of schools and the translation and printing of the scriptures in the Mahratta language. We have made a beginning in these three departments of our work, but we feel that two men are insufficient to prosecute so arduous a task with facility and dispatch. The harvest is great indeed, and the labourers few.

With respect to Persia, concerning which you make some inquiries, the King of course is a Mahometan, but he seems to be very tolerant to Christians. I have written home a great deal concerning Western Asia, and you may probably see my communications on that subject before this reaches you, this must be my apology for not enlarging on that point here. You will perceive by the multitude of business we have on our hands, that we have not much leisure for writing. We shall endeavour however in our hasty way, to answer all the letters we receive from our friends. Believe me, dear sir, I was truly gratified with your letter, and I beg you will do me the favour to write again by the first convenient opportunity. Yours very affectionately, S. NEWELL.

Semi-annual Report of the Managers of the Female Charity School Society of Somerville, in the county of Somerset, state of New-Jersey, organized 25th March, 1816. THE Managers of the Female Society of Somerville and its vicinity, for the instruction of the poor and people of colour, take the opportunity of the first semiannual meeting of the Society, to present a statement of their past proceedings, and of their prospects for the future: And this they would do, with sentiments of gratitude to the great Disposer of all events for a kind Providence that hath attended them, with a sense of dependence on his continued aid, to be of any future service.

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Shortly after the meeting of the Society in March last, the Board of Managers met, and were organized, agreeably to the Constitution of the Society, and immediately proceeded to collect a Sabbath School for people of colour :---About fifty males and forty females, of all ages, were collected in different apartments in the Academy, and formed into classes. Teachers were appointed for each class, and a superintendent for each school. The males have been committed to the care and attention of the tlemen in the neighbourhood, whose benevolence prompted them to volunteer their services. The female department has been attended by one of the Managers as superintendent, and the young ladies, members of the Society, as teachers. The time of instruction has been, from nine o'clock on Sabbath morning until the ringing of the bell, when the schools have been adjourned to the church; and the scholars directed to return from the place of worship to their homes. In the afternoon, some who were most solicitous to learn have been collected in different school-rooms, and their instruction prosecuted. The plan pursued has been, to devote a part of the time to religious instruction; hearing them repeat their catechism, hymns and scripture lessons committed through the week; and the remainder in teaching them to read. In both these branches of study, the proficiency they have generally made has exceeded expectation. About twenty have been taught to read, and a great part of them have learned the catechism and portions of scripture, comprising all the great fundamental truths which relate to their salvation. The Managers have uniformly endeavoured to impress them with a sense of the meaning and importance of these truths and how far the Lord has been pleased to smile upon their humble. endeavours, or what will be the ultimate fruit of their labours, is yet to be seen. The Managers cannot but indulge the most sanguine hopes, that the exertions of the Society for teaching to read the scriptures, and for conveying religious knowledge to many who have been living in sinful ignorance concerning the one thing needful, will be attended with the Divine blessing, and become the means of improving their moral habits, and leading at least some of them rightly to es

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timate the worth of their souls, and to seek the spiritual blessings of the Gospel.

The Managers are led to hope they have some pledge of such fruits to their labours, from the general attention, decorum of conduct, and desire to learn, which the blacks have evinced; and from the diminution of that opposition to the collection of the blacks on Sabbath morning, which some of the holders of slaves at first manifested. This last particular has sometimes given the Managers some alarm; but they think the opposition is subsiding, and cannot but persuade themselves that it will wholly cease, as the importance of religious knowledge comes to be better considered, and the benefit to the servants themselves becomes more manifest. The Managers close this part of their report with expressing their warmest gratitude to those young ladies and gentlemen who have volunteered their services as teachers; and they sincerely hope they will not be weary in well-doing, but persevere in their benevolent exertions, and finally realize the promise, that "He that watereth others, his own soul also shall be watered."

The Managers have the most encouraging report to make with respect to the school for the instruction of poor children. From the last spring they have taken under their charge fifteen children, of parents unable to bear the expense of schooling. Each child has been provided with necessary articles of clothing, so as to make a decent appearance at church, and will receive a suit of clothes for the winter.

Their improvement has exceeded the most sanguine expectations. From the alphabet, they have been taught to read in four months; have committed to memory Brown's catechism, and a great num ber of hymns; and by their progress in learning and improvement in their habits and conduct, they do great credit to Mrs. Jennings, their teacher, whose attention and assiduity merit the applauses of the society. The Managers cannot refrain from expressing the strongest hopes, that these children will be rescued from the dangers incident to a state of ignorance, and become useful members of society; but they feel the necessity of the Divine blessing to follow their exertions and prayers; and then commend to the goodness of God these little objects of their care, beseeching him to quicken and cultivate the seed which has been sown in their tender minds, that it may bring much fruit to his glory and their good, for time and eternity.

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The Managers desire to feel grateful to HIM who "holdeth both the hearts and the hands of the children of men," that they have not experienced any want of funds to defray the expenses of the institution.

By the Treasurer's account, it appears that the disbursements for the School since April last, including the salary of the Tutoress, amount to 58 dlls. 23 cts; and cash received for entrance-money of members and donations, amounts to 177 dlls. 30 cts; leaving a balance in the hands of the Treasurer of 119 dlls. 7 cts.

SARAH VREDENBURGH, Directress.

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