THE

BAPTIST MAGAZINE

FOR

1835.

THE PROFITS ARISING FROM THE SALE OF THIS WORK ARE GIVEN
TO THE WIDOWS OF BAPTIST MINISTERS, AT THE RECOMMENDATION
OF THE CONTRIBUTORS.

VOL. XXVII.
(VOL. X. THIRD SERIES.)

SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE.—Eph. iv. 15.

LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY GEORGE WIGHTMAN,
24, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1835.

LONDON: J. HADDON, PRINTER, CASTLE STREET, FINSBURY.

PREFACE.

Conducted by Divine Providence to the close of another
annual period of their anxious labours, the Editors of the
Baptist Magazine would devoutly embrace the favourable
opportunity thus afforded, for the purpose of brief retrospect,
and the exercise of sincere thankfulness.

During the months of the past year, they have been earnestly
desirous that the pages of each succeeding number of their work
should supply such a portion of religious instruction and denominational
information as, from its design and extent, their most
considerate readers would be led to expect; and, though fully
sensible that they have not attained the standard of their own
wishes, yet they deem it incumbent to acknowledge, that they
have been strengthened in their progress by perceiving that their
efforts have been candidly appreciated, and in many instances
kindly commended.

In prefacing the twenty-seventh volume of this publication,
it is gratifying to be able to announce that, notwithstanding the
frequent introduction of new and attractive periodicals, the Baptist
Magazine continues to obtain an encouraging share of public patronage;
and were it to derive from literary contributions, and an
extended circulation, such support as the denomination to whose
service it is principally devoted might easily afford, the satisfaction
of this announcement would be greatly augmented.

If, in addition to the many excellent communications now received,
others were occasionally forwarded by writers to whom
preparing such an article might prove an agreeable relaxation
from the pursuit of severer studies, both the value of the work,
and the interest of the writer in its prosperity, would be considerably
increased.

Before concluding these remarks, the Editors have much pleasure
in distinctly and gratefully adverting to the assistance with
which they have been favoured in bringing this volume through
the press; in connexion with which the usual exercise of benevolence
to the Widows of many of our departed brethren
has been continued; and to perpetuate, and, if possible, increase
which, the conductors of the Baptist Magazine have been invariably,
and still remain, solicitous.

[Pg 1]

THE

BAPTIST MAGAZINE.

JANUARY, 1835.

MEMOIR OF THE LATE MRS. PEGGY WAUGH.

Recollections of departed excellence
are always pleasant, often
deeply interesting, and sometimes
productive of the happiest effects.
The delight we feel in tracing the
successive stages of that pilgrimage
by which the saints of the
Most High have “passed into the skies,”
is neither a faint nor
fruitless emotion, but a healthful
exercise of the moral sympathies.
It purifies, while it elicits; the affections
of the heart. As we
trace the formation of their character,
we are insensibly forming
our own; and the observation by
which we mark the development
of their Christian virtues, is among
the most efficient means by which
we are provoked to their imitation.

Hence the inspired volume is
not more a book of doctrines
than a record of the piety of ancient
believers. That Holy Spirit,
under whose inspiration it was
written, knew how to touch the
springs of human conduct, and
therefore incites us to the highest
attainments of character by the
influence of example. The names
of the righteous are enrolled in
its imperishable leaves, and their
memory, after the lapse of ages,
is still fragrant as the breath of
the morning.

After the example of the sacred
writers, every age of the church
has preserved memorials of the
wisdom and holiness of its own
times. In some instances a service
has thus been performed of
inestimable value. Patterns of
faith, of patience, of zeal, have
been rescued from oblivion to be
a stimulus to Christians in all
succeeding periods of time. And
in other instances benefits, though
not equally extensive, yet substantial,
have resulted from recording,
in a brief memoir, the
characters and actions of those
who, not called to occupy prominent
stations, have shed a sweet
influence of piety upon the more
retired walks of ordinary life.

The following pages are intended
to preserve some short
account of a Christian lady, who
from youth to old age “walked
in the truth;” and having become
at length alike venerable in years
and in piety, departed this present
life with the glorious hope of a
better.

Mrs. Peggy Waugh was born[Pg 2]
at Wallingford, A. D. 1747. At
an early period of life her mind
was brought under a divine influence;
not, however, by the ordinary
means of grace, nor by any
solemn providence, but in a manner
illustrating the force of scripture,
and the sovereignty of that
gracious Spirit by whom it was
originally inspired, and is still
savingly applied. Being present
at a party where the evening was
spent in festivity and worldly
mirth, she was invited to join in
the dance. This she had often
done, for she was of a lively disposition,
and her parents were gratified
by her mixing in the gaieties
of life; but in the present instance
she felt herself unable to
maintain the hilarity of her spirits.
The cause of her dejection none
imagined, and she was perhaps
ashamed to acknowledge. While
all was merriment around her, she
became suddenly pensive. A
passage of the word of God, pointedly
in contrast with the spirit
of the scene, had come with
irresistible power to her recollection.
It fastened upon her conscience:—it
reached her heart.
The music and dancing lost their
charms; she sat in solitariness,
though surrounded with company;
the world’s fascinations appeared
in a light in which she had never
before seen them, and the salutary
impressions of that evening
remained unerased from her mind
through all her subsequent life.

While she was yet young, her
parents removed to Reading.
Shortly after they had fixed their
residence in that town, she was
taken by a friend to the Baptist
Meeting, where she heard the
Rev. Mr. Davis. She was much
interested in his discourse, and
sought for opportunities to attend
frequently on his ministry. Under
the able instructions of that excellent
man, her religious views
became clearer and more definite,
her principles more firm and decided,
and it was evident that the
spiritual change which had already
commenced in her soul, was
rapidly advancing to its completion.

It was now that her trials began.
The determinate and consistent
form which her renewed character
had assumed, was far from exciting
any complacent feelings in the
minds of her parents; and it became
the more obnoxious to them from
the preference she manifested for
the preaching of Mr. Davis. They
had brought up their family to
the established church, and it distressed
them exceedingly to see
their daughter becoming a dissenter.
But she had counted the
cost, and was prepared to make
any sacrifice, and to endure any
hardship, rather than forego the
privileges she now enjoyed in the
house of God. Hardships she
had indeed to endure: such was
the severity with which she was
treated, that it was no uncommon
thing, when she returned from the
sanctuary, to find her father’s door
locked against her; and often has
she walked in the fields without
food during the intervals of public
worship, rather than incur
the displeasure that awaited her
at home. This was a season
of trial, and she came forth
from it like refined gold. Her
filial attentions were not less respectful
or affectionate than formerly;
on the contrary, she
watched both her temper and her
conduct with more than wonted
carefulness, and endeavoured to
show them that she could bear
with meekness the wrongs she
suffered in so good a cause. Nor
did she wholly withdraw herself
from the established church.
Reading was at that time favoured[Pg 3]
with the ministry of the Rev. Mr.
Talbot, the Hon. and Rev. Mr.
Cadogan, and the Rev. Mr.
Eyre, his curate at St. Giles’s.
The preaching of these faithful
servants of the Lord was distinguished
by its truly evangelical
character, and she found much
benefit in occasionally hearing
them. At their Thursday evening
lecture she was a constant attendant,
both at this period and
after she had joined the Baptist
church. Her new principles had
not contracted, but on the contrary
enlarged, her mind. Her
views with regard to the ordinance
of baptism, and on some other
subjects connected with those
parts of divine truth on which a
difference of sentiment prevails,
were conscientiously embraced;
but they were held in the spirit of
Christian charity. As much as
she could, without a sacrifice of
conscience, she endeavoured to
conciliate the prejudices of her
parents; and at length her efforts
were blessed beyond her most
sanguine hope.

It will a little anticipate the
order of the narrative, but it may
properly be added here, that she
had the satisfaction, at a subsequent
period, to know that her pious
conversation and deportment had,
under God, been the principal
means of producing a saving
change in her father, in her
mother, and in two of her
brothers. Her parents, at an advanced
age, departed in the faith,
leaving no doubt on the minds of
surviving friends that they had
fallen asleep in Jesus.

It was the happiness of Mrs.
Waugh to be united in marriage
with a person of decided piety,
whose sentiments on religious
subjects were similar to her own.
Shortly after their marriage, they
were both baptized, and thus
commenced together that public
and good profession which they
ever afterwards maintained by the
integrity, and adorned with the
graces, of the Christian life. On
the morning of her baptism, a
passage from the prophecies of
Isaiah, evidently suggested by
the difficulties which had environed
her early religious course,
forcibly impressed her mind, and
afforded her much encouragement:
“I will go before thee,
and make the crooked places
straight; I will break in pieces
the gates of brass, and cut in
sunder the bars of iron.” “These
words,” she writes, “came sweetly
to me, and my soul was on the
wing for heaven and heavenly
things.”

The duties of domestic life
began now to demand her attention.
In the relations of a wife,
a mother, and a mistress, the
excellence of those principles on
which her character was formed,
was habitually exemplified. For
her children, she was supremely
anxious to bring them in early
life under the influence of divine
truth, and to lead them into the
love of God. It is in their recollection
still, with what maternal
affection she would take them
into her chamber, and converse
with them on those subjects, and
then present them, in the exercise
of faith and devotion, to the
care of that tender Shepherd who
“gathers the lambs in his arms,
and carries them in his bosom.”
Indeed her deep interest in all
young persons obliged her to press
upon such as came within her
reach a care for their everlasting
happiness; with several, the result
was most satisfactory, and
they retain an affectionate remembrance
of her solicitude on
their behalf. With her servants
also she would seize opportunities[Pg 4]
to speak of the value of their
souls, and the improvement of
their religious advantages; and
sometimes she used to pray in
secret with them. The afflictions
which are inseparable from the
lot of humanity, and those which
parents only know, she endured
with a meek and confiding resignation.
Her cup had its bitter
infusions, and some of her trials
were more than commonly severe;
but under every mysterious and
painful dispensation, she stayed
herself upon her God, and in patience
possessed her soul.

By those who enjoyed her
friendship, her pious conversation
and correspondence were highly
valued. She was no stranger in
the habitation of the widow and
the fatherless, or beside the dying
bed. Her sympathy in such scenes
was a mitigation of sorrow, and
her offices of Christian love endeared
her in the hour of distress.
She gratified the benevolence of
her heart by relieving the distresses
of many; and some of her
poor neighbours were pensioners
on her bounty as long as they
lived. Her attendance on public
ordinances, it need scarcely be
said, was regular and devout;
and by her consistent and blameless
life, combined with her affectionate
and peaceful walk among
her fellow-members, she was a
comfort to her pastor, and an
honour to the church. Thus for
many years she moved in her
orbit, as the celestial luminaries
move in theirs; with a regular,
uniform, and constant progression;
deriving all their radiance
from the sun, and reflecting his
beams without noise or ostentation.

But a severe trial awaited her.
The conjugal relation was at
length broken. By the death of
Mr. Waugh she was deprived of
the staff of her age, and left to
travel alone through the last
stages of her pilgrimage. She
had however the unspeakable
satisfaction of reflecting that he
had walked with her in the ways of
righteousness, and that although
he had outstripped her in the
course, and arrived first at the
sepulchre, she should follow him
into the world of reunion and
eternal love. His decease was also
eminently happy. He was favoured
during his illness with much
spirituality and elevation of mind,
and departed in the “full assurance
of hope.” On being asked
by one of his daughters, whether,
if it were the will of God, he
would like to return again into
the world? “What,” he exclaimed,
“when Christ bids me ‘come
up hither!’” It was the privilege
of his faithful wife (for such she
deemed it) to be with him through
all his illness, and to witness the
final scene. She would not delegate
to other hands the discharge
of any duty which she could perform
herself; but the conflict
being over, she retired from the
chamber of death, and was found
some time after, by her children,
who had missed her, in her closet,
and on her knees. The throne of
grace was her refuge. To that
hiding-place she was accustomed
to flee, in every “cloudy and
dark day;” and sweetly was the
promise fulfilled in her experience,
“Thou wilt keep him in
perfect peace, whose mind is
stayed on thee.” She felt deeply
the stroke which had made her a
widow; but, possessing an uncommon
degree of self-command,
it was a comfort to her children
to observe her great calmness of
spirit, and to hear the expressions
of her confidence in God. Her
natural fortitude was sustained
by divine grace, and her whole[Pg 5]
carriage under this bereavement
afforded an edifying instance of
the manner in which a Christian
both bends before the storm, and
rises above it.

About two years after this
event, she left the neighbourhood
of Reading, to reside in the
family of one of her daughters
at Tottenham. By this circumstance
she was necessarily brought
into new scenes both of domestic
and social life; and they served
still further to elicit the graces of
her matured and now venerable
character. For to the visitors, of
all ranks, she recommended the
religion of the Bible; but with
such propriety, that she never
gave offence; and most tenderly
and intimately did she participate
in the diversified feelings of her
grandchildren, evincing her affection
for them, by her earnest and
ardently expressed longing that
Christ might be formed in their
hearts, the hope of glory. It
was about this time, that the
writer of this brief tribute to her
memory had the happiness to
form her acquaintance; and he
well remembers the impression of
respectful admiration which that
first interview produced on his
mind. She was now “well
stricken in years.” Time had
mellowed the naturally sweet expression
of her countenance,
without much impairing its vivacity.
Her silvery locks shaded a
brow imprinted with the wrinkles
of age, but intelligent and serene.
Her eyes were yet bright, and
glanced upon her friends with
benevolent complacency. Her
form was unbending and about
the middle stature; her manners
dignified, yet free; her conversation
cheerful, affectionate, and
eminently spiritual; her memory
richly replenished with the word
of God, and with hymns, which
she recited with much emphasis
and appropriate application; and
her whole appearance and deportment
that of a venerable Christian lady.

Some time before this period
she had become very deaf; but
though she felt it to be a great
trial, it made scarcely any perceptible
abatement of her cheerfulness;
nor did she allow it to
prevent her attendance upon the
house of God. In proportion as
she was shut out from the pleasures
of conversation, she seemed
to find an increasing delight in
secret devotion. “Let us call
those our golden hours,” she says
in a letter to a friend, “that are
spent with God. May we be
found much in that excellent
duty of self-examination.” And
at a subsequent date she writes
in her diary, “My hearing is in
some measure restored; of which
I can give no account from natural
causes or medicinal art. O
Lord, my healer, thou canst do
every thing. O the riches of
immortal grace! If I outlive my
senses, I cannot outlive my
graces. O how beautiful, how
honourable, how durable! I earnestly
plead with God for his
church and ministers, in faith and
hope, for what I am not likely
to live to see. Dear Lord, let me
depart and join the holy society
above. Amen!”

It is often observed, that as
Christians draw near to heaven,
their desire increases to enter
upon its holy joys. They present
a delightful contrast, in this respect,
to those unhappy persons
whose old age is chilled with the
infirmities of decaying nature,
and never warmed into the glow
of celestial aspirations by the
presages of a blessed immortality.
The natural desire of life is felt
by both, and the uneradicated[Pg 6]
remains of our ancient and inveterate
depravity will sometimes,
even in aged Christians, repress
the risings of the soul towards
her native skies. But the prevailing
tendency of the desires
will be upwards. “To live is indeed
Christ; but to die is gain.”
Hence their conversation will
take its complexion and character,
rather from the things which are
eternal, than from the transactions
or interests of this present world.
Such was eminently the case with
the subject of this memoir. She
seemed to live much, in the secret
exercises of her mind, upon the
invisible glories of that region of
blessedness towards which she
was fast approaching. Never
was her countenance lighted up
with a more cheerful beam of
piety, than when, after she had
been occupied awhile in silent
musings, she would break forth in
the joyful exclamation of the
patriarch Job, “I know that my
Redeemer liveth, and that he
shall stand at the latter day upon
the earth: and though, after my
skin, worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God;
whom I shall see for myself, and
my eyes behold, and not another;
though my reins be consumed
within me.” This was indeed a
very favourite passage with her,
and was selected by herself for
her funeral text. But “the word
of Christ dwelt in her richly;”
and it was sometimes equally
astonishing and delightful to hear
with what copiousness, accuracy,
and animated expression, at more
than 80 years of age, she would
pour forth, like a sparkling stream,
a long series of beautiful quotations,
her feelings at the same
time kindling into celestial rapture,
and the whole perhaps
finished with that ecstatic verse of
Dr. Watts.

“Haste, my beloved, fetch my soul
Up to thy bless’d abode;
Fly, for my spirit longs to see
My Saviour and my God.”

She had outlived nearly all her
contemporaries. Most of her
friends had preceded her to their
rest, and sometimes she would
chide herself for still lingering in
her upward flight, among the
chilling clouds of these lower
regions, when she thought her
wings should have borne her more
rapidly onward to join the company
of the blessed. Thus she
expresses herself in one of her memorandums:
“O Lord, when I
look around me, and feel I am
bereaved of human joys, and behold
the ravages which thou hast
made among my dear, beloved
friends and kindred in the flesh,
I am astonished at the strength of
that depravity, which leads me
still to cling to this dying world.
Why, oh, why do I not rest my
weary soul on the unchangeable
realities of heaven? There shall
I meet those very dear ones who
sleep in Jesus. Animating hope!
Oh, then, let me march boldly on,
nor faint in the day of rebuke;
but may I be enabled to yield up
all my earthly comforts when
Jesus calls and demands, that I
may find my all in him.”

It was her privilege often to
climb to the summit of Pisgah;
and when she descended again into
the plain, how delightfully would
she talk, and as in the very
dialect of the country, of that
land of fair and beauteous prospect
which lies beyond the Jordan.
There were seasons when no other
subject seemed welcome to her
thoughts. She would sit at such
times watching the countenances
of her friends, and at a break in
the conversation, which she could
not hear, drop a short sentence
full of the love and joy of heaven.[Pg 7]
She seemed to have an inward and
divine light which shone through
her soul, and made it a region of
pure and celestial thoughts; no
doubts were permitted to disturb
the composure of her mind, no
temptation to trouble and overcast
the serenity of her cloudless
sky. Her days moved on in
tranquil succession, each renewing
and passing forward to the
next, the sunshine of its predecessor.
Only, indeed, as her orb
descended to the horizon, the
light seemed more to concentrate
and to soften; just as the evening
sun gathers back into himself
the radiance with which he
had illuminated the world, and sets
amidst the chastened splendours
of his own accumulated glory.

Her tabernacle, which had been
often shaken, was at length taken
down. No fierce disease was
commissioned to inflict the final
stroke. Till the last week she
was permitted to continue in the
society of her children. Two of
them reside at Camberwell; and
they reflect, with grateful pleasure,
that some of her last days
were spent with them. She left
them on the Monday, after
having passed the whole of the
preceding month in their company.
It was not then apprehended
that her end was so near,
but her conversation was sweetly
tinctured by a vein of ardent and
elevated devotion. Her mind
was eminently spiritual; she
seemed to be living in an element
of prayer and love. It was the
happiness of the writer to spend
a short time with her during the
last week; and in her pocket-book
she has noted the comfort
she derived from the devotional
exercises in which they then engaged.
The Sabbath day was a
season of great delight. She did
not know that on the following
her translation was to take place;
but had she foreseen it, scarcely
could she have passed the day in
communications more fitted to her
near approximation to eternal joy.

The next day she returned to
Tottenham, not so well as she
had been, yet there seemed no
cause for immediate alarm; but
in her last words, as she was taking
leave of her daughters, there was
something almost prophetic of the
event which was soon to take
place. Clasping the hand of one of
them, as she was about to step
into the carriage, she turned to
her, and said, “I shall soon
mount on eagles’ wings; I shall
run and not be weary, I shall
walk and not faint.” On Wednesday,
her indisposition considerably
increased, and her
strength began rapidly to decline.
It soon became impossible to hold
any conversation with her beyond
a few short and detached sentences
at intervals. In reply to
inquiries, she still expressed her
faith in the Lamb of God, and
spoke of his preciousness to her
soul. But the power of articulation
failed, and this circumstance,
joined with her deafness, precluded
the further interchange of
sentiment with the departing
saint. She continued to lodge on
the banks of the Jordan a day or
two longer, till about noon on
Lord’s day, June 30, 1833; when
she passed through the river with
a gentle and quiet motion, and
was lost to the sight of surrounding
attendants, amidst the distant
groves of Eden, on the opposite
shore.

“No pain she suffered, nor expired with noise;
Her soul was whispered out with God’s still voice:
So softly death succeeded life in her,
She did but dream of heaven, and she was there.”
Camberwell. E. Steane

[Pg 8]

SLAVERY IN AMERICA.

A LETTER FROM THE BAPTIST BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS IN AMERICA,
IN ANSWER TO ONE FROM THE BOARD OF BAPTIST MINISTERS IN
AND NEAR LONDON, DATED DECEMBER 31, 1833.

(See our last Number, p. 534.)

Baptist Missionary Rooms,
Boston, Sept. 1, 1834.

Dear Brethren,

Your communication, dated
London, December 31, 1833, was
received some time since, by one
of the officers of the Baptist General
Convention; but as the
Convention, to which it was
chiefly addressed, will not convene
till April, 1835, the communication
was, after some delay,
presented to the Baptist Board of
Foreign Missions, as the executive
organ of the Convention.
The board referred it to a Committee,
and we now communicate
to you a copy of their Report,
and of the Resolutions adopted
by the board.[A] We commend
them to your candour, with a confident
belief that you will do justice
to the views and feelings of[Pg 9]
the board, encompassed as they
are by difficulties which cannot
be fully understood by persons
in other countries.

It may assist you to form a
more correct opinion of the whole
subject, if we allude to a few of
the circumstances which make
slavery, in this country, a matter
of peculiar difficulty, and which,
consequently, require those who
would promote the real welfare
of the coloured race, to act with
great caution.

In the first place, the political
organization of the United States
is widely different from that of
England; and this difference
makes it impossible to adopt here
a course similar to that which the
British Parliament have adopted
in reference to slavery in the
West Indies. This country is
not one State, with an unrestricted
Legislature, but a confederacy of
States, united by a Constitution,
in which certain powers are granted
to the National Government;
and all other powers are reserved
by the States. Among these reserved
powers is the regulation of
slavery. Congress have no power
to interfere with the slaves in the
respective States; and an Act of
Congress to emancipate the slaves
in those States would be as wholly
null and void, as an Act of the
British Parliament for the same
purpose. The Legislatures of the
respective States cannot interfere
with the legislation of each other.
In some of the States, where laws
forbidding emancipation exist, the
minority cannot, if disposed, give
freedom to their slaves. You perceive,
then, that the National
Government, and the people of
the Northern States, have no
power, nor right, to adopt any
direct measures, in reference to
the emancipation of the slaves in
the Southern States. The slave-holders
themselves are the only
men who can act definitively on
this subject; and the only proper
and useful influence which the
friends of emancipation in other
States can use, consists in argument
and entreaty. The existence
of our union, and its manifold
blessings, depends on a faithful
adherence to the principles
and spirit of our constitution, on
this and on all other points.

This view of the case exonerates
the nation, as such, and the
States in which no slaves are
found, from the charge of upholding
slavery. It is due, moreover,
to the republic, to remember, that
slavery was introduced into this
country long before the colonies
became independent States. The
slave trade was encouraged by the
Government of Great Britain, and
slaves were brought into the colonies
against the wishes of the colonists,
and the repeated Acts of some
of the Colonial Legislatures. These
Acts were negatived by the King
of England; and in the Declaration
of Independence, as originally
drawn by Mr. Jefferson, it
was stated, among the grievances
which produced the Revolution,
that the King of England had
steadily resisted the efforts of the
colonists to prevent the introduction
of slaves. Soon after the
Revolution, several of the States
took measures to free themselves
from slavery. In 1787, Congress
adopted an Act, by which it was
provided, that slavery should never
be permitted in any of the States
to be formed in the immense territory
north-west of the Ohio;
in which territory, the great States
of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois,
have since been formed. There
are now thirteen out of the
twenty-four States, in which slavery
may be said to be extinct.
Maryland is taking measures to[Pg 10]
free herself from slavery. Kentucky
and Virginia will, it is believed,
follow the example. We
state these facts to show, that the
republic did not originate slavery
here; and that she has done much
to remove it altogether from her
bosom. She took measures earlier
than any other country for the
suppression of the slave trade,
and she is now zealously labouring
to accomplish the entire extinction
of that abominable traffic.

Since then, from the character
of our political institutions, the
emancipation of the slaves is impossible,
except with the free
consent of the masters; it is
necessary to approach them with
calm and affectionate argument.
They claim to be better acquainted
with the real condition and
the true interests of the negro,
than other persons can be. Multitudes
among them freely acknowledge
and lament the evils
of slavery, and earnestly desire
their removal, in some way consistent
with the welfare of the
slave himself, and with the safety
of the whites. Some persons
among them, it is true, are not
convinced that slavery is wrong
in principle; just as many good
men in England, half a century
since, believed the slave-trade to
be just and right. Such individuals
must be convinced, before
they will act.

In the next place, the number
and character of the slaves form
an appalling difficulty. It is not
believed by many of the sincere
friends of the slaves, that their
immediate emancipation would
be conducive to their own real
welfare, or consistent with the
safety of the whites. To let them
loose, without any provision for
the young, the feeble, and the
aged, would be inhuman cruelty.
Slaves, who have regarded
labour as an irksome task, can
have little idea of liberty, except
as an exemption from toil. To
liberate them, without some arrangement
for their subsistence,
would produce starvation, or impel
them to acts of lawless violence.
Emancipation must, therefore,
as those friends of the slaves
contend, be gradual and prospective.
The British Parliament
have not decreed an immediate
emancipation, in the West Indies;
thus recognizing the principle,
that the slaves must be prepared
for freedom by moral and intellectual
culture. But this preparation
must be commenced and
conducted by the masters; and
they must, of course, become the
willing and zealous friends of
emancipation, before it can be
accomplished.

We have thus shown, that the
slaves in this country cannot be
emancipated, except by the free
consent of the masters; and that
they cannot be prepared for freedom,
without the voluntary and
energetic co-operation of the masters.
For both these reasons, it
is necessary to adopt a kind and
conciliating course of conduct towards
the slave-holders. The British
Parliament might assume a
peremptory tone towards the slave-holders
in the West Indies; because
the power of Parliament is
not restricted like that of the
American Congress; and because
the situation of the slaves in the
West Indies renders the preliminary
preparation less necessary
to the safety of the white population.
In the British West Indies,
the slaves are dispersed among
eighteen or twenty islands, where
the military and naval power of
the mother country might be easily
applied to quell insurrections. In
the United States, there are above[Pg 11]
two millions of slaves, spread over
a part only of the surface of the
Union, with no large military force
to overawe them, and no obstacle
to a rapid combination of insurgents.
We presume, that the
people in England would feel
somewhat differently on the subject
of emancipation, if the slaves
were among themselves, and the
perils of this moral volcano were
constantly impending over their
own heads.

Besides these general considerations,
there is one which affects
the duty of the Baptist General
Convention. There is now a pleasing
degree of union among the
multiplying thousands of Baptists
throughout the land. Brethren,
from all parts of the country,
unite in our General Convention,
and co-operate in sending the
gospel to the heathen. Our southern
brethren are liberal and zealous
in the promotion of every
holy enterprise for the extension
of the gospel. They are, generally,
both minister and people, slave-holders;
not because they all
think slavery right, but because
it was firmly rooted long before
they were born, and because they
believe that slavery cannot be instantly
abolished. We are confident,
that a great portion of our
brethren at the south would rejoice
to see any practicable scheme
devised for relieving the country
from slavery.

We have the best evidence, that
our slave-holding brethren are
Christians, sincere followers of
the Lord Jesus. In every other
part of their conduct, they adorn
the doctrine of God our Saviour.
We cannot, therefore, feel that it
is right to use language or adopt
measures which might tend to
break the ties that unite them to
us in our General Convention,
and in numerous other benevolent
societies; and to array brother
against brother, church against
church, and association against
association, in a contest about
slavery.

We have presented these considerations,
dear brethren, as
among the reasons which compel
us to believe, that it is not the
duty of the Baptist General Convention,
or of the Board of Missions,
to interfere with the subject
of slavery. It ought, indeed, to
be discussed at all proper times,
and in all suitable modes. We
believe, that the progress of public
opinion in reference to slavery, is
very rapid; and we are quite
sure, that it cannot be accelerated
by any interference, which our
southern brethren would regard
as an invasion of their political
rights, or as an impeachment of
their Christian character.

Most earnestly praying that
the Father of Lights will illuminate
our path, and guide us all to
the adoption of such measures as
shall advance His glory, and secure
the temporal and eternal
happiness of all men, we are,
dear brethren, your affectionate
fellow-servants.

Lucius Bolles,
Cor. Sec.

LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENTS CONCERNING THE SABBATH.

To the Editor of the Baptist Magazine.

It is some time since the Christian
public has heard of any
measure intended to be proposed
to the Legislature in reference to[Pg 12]
the violation of the Sabbath, and
it is time, as it appears to me,
that those who have such a measure
at heart should be awake,
and setting about their great work
in earnest. Whether the measure
of which Sir Andrew Agnew gave
notice in the last session, be the
same as his last bill or not, is at
present unknown; but I trust, if
it be not the same, it will be founded
on the same principle, and equally
comprehensive in its provisions.
It is true, that upon this subject,
the opinions, even of good men,
are much divided; and there are
not a few individuals, of undoubted
piety, who think that a legislative
remedy should extend to a part
only of the acknowledged mischiefs
at first; whilst others prefer
making the different provisions
of the whole measure the subject
of several bills, to be simultaneously
brought forward.

The advocates of the former
plan insist, that there is no chance
of carrying the whole measure at
once, while the attempt to do so is
calculated to produce hostility;
improvements in this, as well as
in other matters, requiring to be
gradual:—that the sense of the
majority of the population is
against the measure as a whole,
to which popular sense, deference
must be paid:—and, that Sir Andrew’s
former bills were lost entirely
from their being too sweeping
and comprehensive.

To the first objection, which is
nearly identical with the third,
it may be answered: Supposing it
to be true, that there is no chance
of carrying the whole measure at
once, this is no reason why the
whole should not be proposed at
once. If of the whole measure so
proposed only a part should be
carried, the carrying of that part
would be a subject of thankfulness
and rejoicing, just as much
as if that part only had been proposed.
Those members of the
Legislature who would exhibit
hostility to the bill to the extent
of rejecting it altogether, would
doubtless exhibit hostility to any
portion of its provisions if brought
forward as a distinct bill; because
hostility to the whole of a measure
acknowledged in some part to be
good and necessary, must arise
from an evil principle. There is
much difference between hostility
to the whole of the bill, and opposition
to some, nay, even the majority,
of its provisions. Those
who would be hostile to the
whole of the bill, must necessarily
be so to any detached
part; whereas many might oppose
even the larger part of its provisions,
who would approve the
rest; and it is conceived such
would vote for the bill going into
Committee, where they might distinguish
between the provisions
they approved and those they condemned.
That this would be the
case appears from the experience
of the last session, when members
who were not prepared to support
any clause of the bill, nevertheless
voted for its second reading.
It is true, that many who voted
against it alleged its comprehensiveness
as the ground of their opposition;
but when actually limited
measures were brought forward,
they were either crushed
at once by the very same persons,
or first reduced to nothing—and,
indeed made worse than nothing,
by repealing the provisions of
existing statutes for protection
of the Sabbath, substituting nothing
for them—and then ignominiously
rejected. This answer
may also be given to the
allegation, that Sir Andrew’s bills
were lost from their comprehensiveness.

As to the second allegation,[Pg 13]
that the sense of the majority of
the population is against the measure
brought forward by Sir Andrew’s
Bill as a whole, it may be
replied:

In the first place, that this is
an assertion which is incapable of
proof.

In the second place, it is not
merely a numerical majority of
the whole population of the country
to which the advocates of
the measure ought to defer; but
it is to a majority of that class of
persons who are well informed upon,
and have wisely considered, the
whole subject, in connexion with
all its consequences and results.

In the third place, it is apprehended,
that if the sense of the
majority of such class were taken
upon the several provisions of the
bill, although it may be within
the limits of possibility that the
majority might be against the bill
as a whole, yet there is scarcely a
provision in it which the majority
of such class would be found to
reject; for in point of fact there
is not one single clause in the
bill which has not been the subject
of petitions numerously signed
in its favour.

But even attaching some degree
of weight to the above objections,
which are, I believe, the
whole that have been brought
forward by those whose opinions
are worth regarding, it is to be
considered, whether there may not
be set against these objections
considerations which will operate
so as greatly to turn the scale in
favour of bringing in the whole
measure at once, such as the following:—

1. It recognizes one simple
principle, on which every measure
proposed to Government for
the remedy of existing abuses, in
reference to the observance of the
Lord’s day, must be based; and
therefore, judging from the way
in which the provisions of the
bill have been already met, in and
out of parliament, it is clear, that
if one part only out of the system
of measures were brought forward
at first, the objection would
be, that the propounder of the
measure, to be consistent with
himself, should have extended it
to other matters within its principle,
and directed it against other
evils requiring to be remedied by it.
For instance, were a bill brought
forward to restrain what is usually
called trade in the necessaries of
life, it might be urged that it would
be inconsistent, while that which is
equally a trade, the supplying of
post horses, should be permitted:
just as it has been insisted, in a
determined spirit of hostility to
the bill, that it was unfair to restrain
labour in the field and permit
it in the house; to prohibit
the day-labourer from prosecuting
his calling, and to allow the
domestic servant to pursue hers.
Now an argument, which imputes
inconsistency and unfairness
to the propounder of a prohibitory
measure, is one which
it would be exceedingly difficult,
and perhaps impossible, satisfactorily
to answer.

2. The whole of the grievances,
pertaining to every part of the subject,
were fully entered into, in that
comprehensive inquiry which took
place in the Select Committee of
the House of Commons, previously
to the introduction of Sir
Andrew Agnew’s first bill, which
elicited so much and such important
and valuable information;
and it follows as a consequence,
that every mischief which was
within the scope of the inquiry,
should be within the scope of the
enactment to be grounded upon
the result of such inquiry.

3. It is difficult to guard against[Pg 14]
the inference to be drawn from the
prohibition of one evil, and the
leaving another unprohibited, that
such latter evil is intended to be
tolerated and sanctioned.

4. It is extremely probable, that
if, under existing circumstances,
the advocates of the proposed
measure were to bring forward
one of limited extent, it would be
considered that they had no ulterior
object, and that the limited
measure, if conceded, should be
taken in full of every thing to be
expected from the Legislature.
This would be disingenuous. It
is the most fair and honest
mode of dealing, on the part of
those who are of opinion that the
exigency of the case calls for a
comprehensive measure, to declare
at once what is the utmost
extent of the objects they have
in view, and what is the exact
amount of the measure with which
they would be satisfied; and it
is considered that such a course
is the most likely to attract the
approbation and good opinion of
right-thinking individuals, and,
which is an infinitely higher consideration,
to draw down the blessing of Almighty God.

5. The different provisions of the
measure are so connected, that it
is very difficult to separate them.
For instance, how could the provisions
against trade be separated
from the provisions against travelling,
when travelling necessarily
supposes the exercise of a
species of trade?

6. With respect to the suggestion,
that the whole measure should
be the subject of several and distinct
bills, the simple answer is, that
every such bill must, in passing
through the necessary stages, be
exposed to a distinct ordeal, and
that the difficulty of working the
bill (to use a technical expression)
would be at least multiplied
to the extent of the number of
bills proposed to be substituted
for one simple and comprehensive
enactment.

Theosibes.
London, Dec. 10th, 1834.

LIQUIDATION OF DEBTS ON CHAPELS.

To the Editor of the Baptist Magazine.

Having seen an article some
months since in your Magazine on
the above subject, signed Murus,
and thinking the following plan an
improvement upon Murus’s, I shall
feel much obliged by your giving
it insertion in your valuable and
extensively circulated periodical.
And I hope I shall not be too presuming
in stating that, if it is put
into operation in every county,
in a very few years it will entirely
liquidate all the debts now
existing on chapels, without any
increased exertions on the part of
the friends. The plan, if entered into,
which I humbly trust it will be,
will do away entirely with begging
cases, will not require the minister
to leave his church, will lessen
the calls on his people, will enable
them to raise their ministers’
incomes, and eventually confer
much happiness on the churches,
and relieve them from pressing
difficulties; whereas the systems
now adopted are very inefficient,
and will take three times as long
to get rid of the existing burdens.
I would also suggest, for the prevention
of debts being again accumulated,
that no chapel be allowed to
be erected without advancing half
the money required for building
it, nor be allowed to partake of the
privileges arising from this plan[Pg 15]
until the whole of the present
churches are out of debt. I would
also recommend the churches who
adopt this plan, to give no countenance
to any church begging,
as the same system can be adopted
in every county with certain success.
There is a difficulty in
Murus’s plan in that of increased
exertions, whereas in this, none
are required.

Prop. 1. That all the churches
make an annual collection, which
shall be brought to the Association,
and that the total amount
shall be applied to the liquidation
of the debt on one chapel, as shall
be then and there agreed.

Prop. 2. That the chapel whose
debt is so paid off shall contribute
the interest of its debt every
year, till it amounts to half the
sum paid off, when it shall not be
required to pay its interest money,
for so I will call it.

Prop. 3. That, in addition to
the interest money of the chapel
so paid off, it shall not contribute
less than ten shillings for every
£100. of debt, till the whole of
the debts are paid off the chapels
in the county; by which means
the deficiency of ten shillings in
the pound will be made up without
distressing the churches.

Prop. 4. That any church
whose lot it may fall to, at the
Association, to have its debt paid,
who shall the next year pay the
half of its debt, shall be considered
to have fulfilled its agreement,
and shall be liable only to
its small contribution at the rate
of ten shillings for every £100
debt so redeemed.

Prop. 5. That every church
whose debt shall be paid off, shall
bring forward sufficient and satisfactory
security for the fulfilment
of its contract, which may be done
by four or five persons joining
together for that purpose.

EXPLANATION.

Suppose the debt of a chapel
which is paid off to be £600;
the responsible agents above referred
to shall contribute annually,
till it arrives to £300, half the
debt, when they will have fulfilled
their agreement. But they must,
from the first payment of interest
till all the chapels are out of debt,
contribute ten shillings for every
£100 of debt, which sum, with the
united exertions of the churches,
will liquidate the other ten shillings
in the pound. For instance: Suppose
the churches in one county
to be thirty, an annual contribution
of three pounds from each
will produce £90; this, added to
the interest of the chapel so
cleared, will make £120, to pay
off the debt of another chapel,
which shall also contribute to its
interests, and small annual contribution;
and so on, till all the
churches are out of debt. This
plan is similar to lending money
without interest, as the interest paid
clears the principal, and the principal
they will only have to pay
at ten shillings in the pound,
the small annual contributions
making up the deficiency. A list
of the churches and their debts
should be placed every year in the
Magazines, with an account of the
debts so reduced.

A Baptist.
Nov. 12, 1834.

P.S Since writing the above,
I have seen an article in the Magazine
for this month, which only
confirms my opinion that something
must be done, and that
speedily, to effect this great and
desirable object.

[Pg 16]

REMARKS ON A PAPER, ENTITLED
“ON THE USE AND ABUSE OF THE TERM MORAL.”

To the Editor of the Baptist Magazine.

The paper of W. N. in your
November number, whilst it contains
some very valuable remarks
on the abuse of the term moral,
appears to aim at overthrowing
one particular instance of a very
general abuse, and to strike at
the branch, whilst it leaves the
root to flourish with the same
vigour as before. The expression
“moral approbation and disapprobation”
cannot be deemed an
unnecessary application of the
term moral, because approbation
and disapprobation are frequently
excited in the mind by physical
agents; and although Dr. Wardlaw,
in the passage quoted above by
W. N., refers the approbation and
disapprobation to “moral agents,”
yet the phrase in question precedes
that application, and therefore the
term “moral” renders the sentence
more clear than it would be,
were it needful for the reader to
employ the conclusion of the sentence
to explain the commencement.
The instance quoted from
the Quarterly Review is so gross
an abuse of language, that little
apprehension need be entertained
of its repetition. The passage
stands like the topmast of a ship-wrecked
vessel, to warn others
of the shoal on which she was
stranded. All the other instances
used as illustrations in
W. N.’s paper are examples of
the evil attendant upon a departure
from one principle, viz.:
That a simile should never be explained.
Of course, this principle
presupposes another: That a
simile should never require explanation.
In the two first instances
adduced—“The Lord God is a sun and shield,”
and “Jesus said, I am the door”—the beauty
of the similes would be entirely
destroyed by the use of the adjective
moral, and the only reason
why the fourth instance,
“A moral blight,” is not so glaring an
abuse of language as the two
former is, that the term blight is
so frequently used in a figurative
sense, that, when it is so used, we
are liable to forget that the expression
is figurative. But for
this circumstance, the ridiculous
character of the phrase would be
quite as obvious as the absurdity
of speaking of a moral apple, or
moral plum. Another instance
of the inelegance of explaining a
simile is met with in the prayers
of those who quote from the Liturgy
the passage “We have done
that which we ought not to have
done, and have left undone that
which we ought to have done,
and there is no health in us;”
but distort the original to
“there is no spiritual health in us;” thus
destroying at once the strength
and harmony of one of the finest
specimens of forcible and beautiful
composition which decorates
English literature. In this case
also, as in that of “moral blight,”
health is so often used in a figurative
sense, that we are apt to
forget that the expression is a
simile; or the phrase “spiritual health”
would sound as disagreeably
as the commencement of the
same portion of the Liturgy, were
it altered to “We have erred and
strayed from thy spiritual ways,
like lost spiritual sheep.” All
these inaccuracies in composition
proceed from attempts to explain
similes, an attempt which ought
to be cautiously avoided; because
a simile is an endeavour to explain
or illustrate a subject by[Pg 17]
means of some analogy subsisting
between it and another subject;
and it is evident, that an explanation
or illustration which requires
a further explanation to
make it intelligible, is much better
omitted; and that an explanation
of that which is already clear,
is a glaring instance of tautology,
and, therefore, a gross defect in
style.

A.
November 20th, 1834

THE DEPARTURE OF ANOTHER YEAR.

To the Editor of the Baptist Magazine.

Another year is gone! How
solemn the reflection! How replete
with instruction! Times
and seasons are passing away in
rapid succession; and amid the
cares and avocations of the present,
we seem in a great measure
insensible of our near approach
to an eternal world. But we are
assured that “The day of the Lord
will come.” The purpose for
which the world was created, and
made the theatre of such mysterious
and benevolent transactions,
will be accomplished; the reign
of grace, in the salvation of men,
will terminate; the influences of
the Holy Spirit in their regeneration
will be no longer necessary;
the preaching of the gospel,
as the ordained means of
conversion, shall for ever cease.
Then all mankind, that have
lived from the beginning of the
world, will enter on a state of
endless and unchangeable existence:
some, in the presence of
God, will enjoy the most exquisite
pleasures, and obtain “an eternal weight of glory;”
while others will have their abode among
unbelievers, and “suffer the vengeance of eternal fire.”
“Seeing, then, that all these things shall
be dissolved, what manner of persons
ought we to be in all holy
conversation and godliness!”

Reader! the close of another
year has brought you so much
nearer the end of your probation
on earth. In the space of a few
months how many have perished
under the stroke of death! Young
and old, rich and poor, small and
great, have gone down to the
grave, where “they rest together,
and the servant is free from his
master.” Before the close of 1835,
what multitudes, now in the prime
of life, in the pursuit of pleasure,
in the possession of riches, in the
road to preferment, or having secured
the object of worldly ambition,
will have passed into the unseen
state, and rendered their
account to God. The flight of time
calls upon the careless and undecided
to consider their ways, and
turn unto the Lord.

The Christian, too, should testify
his gratitude to God for his
continued goodness, and “lift up
his head, for his redemption draweth
nigh.” With what seriousness and
devotion should we attend to the
duties of religion, so that “whether
we live, we may live to the
Lord; or whether we die, we may
die to the Lord; that whether we
live, or die, we may be the
Lord’s!” Let not this day come
upon us unawares, and find us in
a state of carnal security; but may
our loins be girded, our lamps
burning, and ourselves like servants
waiting for their Lord’s return,—“looking
for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Saviour,
Jesus Christ.” “Wherefore,
beloved, be diligent that ye
may be found of him in peace,
without spot, and blameless.”

T. P.

[Pg 18]

POETRY.

NEW YEAR’S DAY.

Time, the mundane sphere revolving,
Brings another New Year’s Day;
Orb of light, ’mid lengthened shadows,
Glance one soft and lingering ray,
As we muse on
Days receding fast away.

Pledge of joys that may await us
In our future pilgrimage,
Or of heavenly consolation
That may coming griefs assuage,
To believers
Promised in the sacred page.

Many trials now are ended;
Many painful conflicts o’er;
Chequered scenes withdrawn for ever
That can please nor vex us more;
Memory only
Can the faded past restore.

Many dearest forms are sleeping
In the lone forsaken grave;
How we wept when them consigning
To the hand outstretched to save,
As they struggled
Through death’s dark and gelid wave!

Many days of grace are ended,
How improved has been the past?
Time’s rich grains are softly falling,
Soon may drop for us the last.
Changing seasons
Warn us that we change as fast.

O for happy preparation
For the joys that never fade!
For the everlasting mansion
Death and sin can ne’er invade!
In the likeness
Of our Lord we would be made.

As each new successive period
Hastes that last mysterious one,
Do we shudder, so much dreading
Things invisible, unknown?
Faith reposes
On the Saviour’s cross alone.

Sweet to meet our friends in glory,
Tears for ever wiped away
By the guardian hand that leads us
Up the steep and narrow way,
Time’s short circles
Lost in one eternal day!
Sarissa.

THE SUMMONS.

“And I heard a voice from heaven.”—Rev. xiv. 13.

A voice was heard; a voice was heard;
It sounded from heaven’s high throne;
And the murmuring air breathed along the swift word
Till on earth its dark import was known.
Though it thrill’d not the ears that were list’ning around,
Nor was heard by the spirits bereaved,
It conducted the soul from the region of death,
To receive, through the Saviour, the conqueror’s wreath,
From its sin-woven fetters relieved.

A voice was heard; a voice was heard;
The spirit its summons obeyed;
And to sorrowing Friendship still echoes the word
While she weeps o’er the mouldering dead.
Not a tear can e’er start from those eyelids again;
Not a sigh can e’er heave from that breast:—
But reposing awhile on a pillow of clay,
It will waken renew’d, and then, bounding away,
Will ascend to the realms of the blest.

A voice was heard; a voice was heard;
A whisper,—a whisper from God;
And the soul caught with rapture the welcoming word
As it enter’d its blissful abode.
That voice that awoke from the death-sleep of sin,
And whisper’d, “Thou too art forgiven,”
Stole again on the ear in the accents of love,
Reassur’d of a home with its Father above,
And then wafted the spirit to heaven.
Θωμας

[Pg 19]

REVIEWS.

Russia: or Miscellaneous Observations on
the Past and Present State of that Country
and its Inhabitants. Compiled from
Notes made on the Spot, during Travels at
different times in the Service of the Bible
Society, and a Residence of many Years
in that Country. By Robert Pinkerton,
D.D., Author of “The Present State
of the Greek Church in Russia,” and
Foreign Agent to the British and Foreign
Bible Society.—Seeley and Sons;
Hatchard and Son.

A traveller, like a witness in
court, should be competent and unexceptionable.
Both these qualifications
are indispensable to secure
the confidence of his reader, and
the success of his work.

Dr. Pinkerton has very strong
claims on the attention of the British
public. He resided in Russia
many years. He lived in Moscow
“the greater part of the years 1810
and 1811, and left that city only
forty-eight hours before the French
entered it in 1812.” He is the author
of “The Present State of the Greek
Church in Russia.” His travels in
the service of the British and
Foreign Bible Society have been
extensive at different times. His
being Foreign Agent to that Society,
has given him facilities of intercourse
with the higher as well as the
lower orders of the inhabitants. He
is personally well known to many of
the clergy and of the nobility, and
his intimate acquaintance with the
language has enabled him to converse
with people of all ranks.
The work before us has been compiled
from notes made on the spot.
Of his competency, therefore, no
one can entertain a doubt; and his
high Christian character renders
him an unexceptionable witness.
We anticipate for this volume a
cordial welcome, especially among
the friends of the Bible Society.
The information Dr. P. has given is
clear, copious, and important. We
shall transcribe a few extracts which
cannot fail to gratify our readers.

The territory of this vast empire
has increased within the last 364
years nearly twenty-fold. According
to the last statistical accounts, the
population is upwards of fifty-four
millions, of whom about thirty-six
millions are native Russians, speaking
the same language, and belonging
to the national or oriental church.
The military forces have also increased
nearly ten-fold within the
last hundred years; and at the present
time are estimated at about 900,000.

The spiritual academies and seminaries
contain upwards of 30,000
young men preparing for the sacred
profession. Dr. P. says:—

The Jesuits were finally expelled
from the empire in 1820. At that
time their number amounted to 674.

Drunkenness. On this painful
topic, the author has given most melancholy
information:—

From his calculation, it appears
that there is “the enormous quantity
of eighty-one millions of gallons
of brandy alone drunk every year
by the peasantry of this empire.”
pp. 75-77.

Baptism. Dr. P. says:—

The Duchobortzi sect has excited
great attention:—

It appears, however, that

In a note, Dr. P. tells us he witnessed
the baptism of an adult, in
the case of the Mongolian chief,
Badma, who died in 1822. He
was lying in bed, in a very weak
state. Prince Galitzin was godfather.
Instead of immersion, water
was poured on his head three times.
Immediately after baptism, he received
the other sacrament: bread
and wine, soaked together in a cup,
and given with a spoon. The pious
prince evidently felt much; and
when the dying man partook of the
holy communion, he shed many
tears. He died on the third day after
his baptism.—p. 157.

Proverbs. We can select only a
few for the entertainment and instruction
of the reader.

Russian Bible Society. Dr. P.
speaks in the highest terms of the
Princess Sophia Mestchersky, who
was among the first to encourage him
to attempt, in 1811, the formation of
a Bible Society in Moscow; which
in two years was realized.

Among these are the principal
publications of the London Religious
Tract Society.

A very favourable account of the
religious character of the late emperor
Alexander is given, chiefly from
the communications of the illustrious
princess above mentioned, and
written by her at the time of his
death.

The Russian Bible Society was
founded in St. Petersburg, on the
23rd of January, 1813, and continued
in full activity about twelve years
under the patronage of Alexander.
During the last three years of his
reign, he was powerfully counteracted
by a strong party formed
among the principal nobility and
clergy. There were, too, conspirators
forming diabolical plans against the
peace of the empire, who misrepresented
to the government the character
and labours of the friends of
religion and of Bible Institutions,
to turn away attention from themselves,
and their own wicked revolutionary
designs. But the mind of
Alexander was not changed.

When Nicholas his brother came
to the throne, the plots of the party
above referred to were happily overthrown.
But unhappily Seraphim,
the metropolitan, with several other
prelates, and one or two fanatical
monks, had for some years entertained
unfriendly feelings towards
the Institution. The new emperor’s
Ukaz was published in 1826.

It is gratifying, however, to find
that on the 14th of March, 1831, a
new Bible Society, exclusively for
the Protestants in the Russian empire,
was formed at St. Petersburg,
with the sanction of the present emperor;
and that the president is
Prince Lieven, the minister for public
instruction,

We have been surprised and delighted
to observe Dr. P. speaking
of the present emperor as

Surely, then, we may hope the
national Bible Society will yet be
restored.

The appendix contains seven sermons,
as specimens of the style of
preaching among the Russian clergy;
and the plates, illustrative of the
dress and amusements of the people,
are from a collection of lithographic
costumes which the author
brought with him from Russia.

1. An Examination of the Practice of Infant
Baptism, designed to prove that it is
inconsistent with the Principles of the
New Testament: respectfully proposed for
the consideration of all those who are desirous
of a Scriptural Reformation of the
Church; and who are prepared to follow
Truth wherever it may lead. By a Member
of the Church of England. pp. 123.—Hatchard.

2. A Sermon on the Nature and Subjects of
Christian Baptism. By Adoniram
Judson, D.D., Burmah, p. 84.—Wightman.

Before assent is yielded to the
result of any “examination,” it is
important, besides cautiously considering
the nature and amount of
evidence which has been adduced in
its favour, to reflect on the relative
position which, as it respects the
particular subject of investigation,
the examiner has occupied in pursuing
the object of his inquiry, and
in relation to which he has now
arrived to a conclusion he is anxious—on
account (as he believes)
of its accordance with divine truth—should
influence the conduct of
others. If it be undoubted that his
education, his tastes, his connexions,
and even his prejudices, were
all on the side of that conviction
which he professes to have derived
from patient and persevering research,
it seems not unreasonable to
require a copiousness and strength
of argument, in its support, which,
were all the circumstances affecting
his relation to it decidedly unfavourable,
would, perhaps, scarcely be deemed necessary.

[Pg 22]

When, however, we witness the
comparatively rare occurrence of an
individual, surrounded with almost
every description of temptation to
stifle conviction, and, by his silence
at least, to perpetuate a corruption
in the Christian church, which for
ages has been protected by legislative
authority, popular favour, and
implicit faith, not only nobly triumphing
over every inducement to compromise
the interests of truth by refusing
to surrender himself to its
acknowledged claims, but venturing
forth, and assailing error in its most
splendid fastness, and pursuing it to
its final retreat; and that to, by the
employment of arguments whose
overwhelming force is partly derived
from the peculiar suavity with
which they are urged, we are unable
to resist such an occasion for exclaiming,
“This is the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvellous in our eyes.”

The publications which have occasioned
these reflections, whose titles
are placed at the head of this
article, appear to us to present
more than ordinary claims to public
consideration. The perspicuity of
their style, the force of their arguments,
and especially the thoroughly
Christian temper which pervades
them throughout, cannot fail, if they
be read, to secure commendation,
even where they fail to convince.
We can easily suppose it possible to
find persons who may affect to despise
what is thus, with every circumstance
adapted to excite respect,
urged upon their attention; but
that any well-constituted mind,
whatever be its ultimate conclusion
on the subject, can treat these pamphlets
with indifference, as though
that to which they relate were unimportant,
or that they were defective
in truth and candour, is what we are
extremely unwilling to believe. At
the same time, we most frankly acknowledge
that, owing to certain inconveniences,
and, perhaps, even
consequences, which we conceive
might arise, in some instances at
least, from a thorough and an impartial
investigation of the evidence
adduced by these respective and
respectable writers in support of
their principles, we are not altogether
without apprehension, that by
something approaching to a profound
silence in certain quarters, or it may
be by something even more beneath
the dignity of Christian criticism,
the powerful, though eminently
temperate, appeals of these luminous
pages may obtain a perusal far less
extensive than is consistent either
with the interests of truth, or the
merits of its advocates.

Deprecating such a result of these
distinguished efforts, we enter upon
a more particular notice of the
first of these publications. The author
designates himself “a member
of the Church of England;” and his
design is “to prove that it is inconsistent
with the principles of the
New Testament” to baptize unconscious
infants. The work is divided
into ten sections, prefaced by a most
respectful but spirit-stirring letter
“to the Editor of the Christian Observer.”
From this admirable appeal
we extract as follows:—

He adds:—

Again, in this introductory letter,
we read:—

And yet once more:

There is still another passage in
this sensible and truly Christian
letter, which we must be allowed
to present to our readers.

Whether the able writer to whom
these respectful and impressive appeals
are made, will so far resist
their influence as to make no reply,
and attempt no vindication from the
charge of a destructive error, so distinctly
brought against the church
of which he is a member, remains
to be seen; yet, after reading the
powerful pages to which the preceding
extracts are prefixed, if it be expected
that the Scriptures exclusively
are to be admitted as evidence in repelling
[Pg 24]the accusation, we must confess
ourselves utterly at a loss to
conceive how it is possible that any
satisfactory answer should be given.
But if our author cannot be answered,
let him at least be heard. He says:—

Thus it is that this author remonstrates
with the members of his own
communion. But does he neglect
to extend the application of the argument
to other Pædobaptists? The
reader shall be put in possession of
the means of judging.

We are decidedly of opinion that
whoever may take upon himself to reply
seriously to these statements, will
find the undertaking to be neither
quite easy nor very agreeable. It may
not be improper to state that this is
a new and somewhat enlarged edition
of a work, published several
years ago, by the same author.

Dr. Judson’s sermon, which is
also a reprint, is perspicuous, elaborate,
and irrefragable.

1. The Management of Bees, with a
Description of the Ladies’ Safety Hive:
with Forty Illustrative Engravings. By
Samuel Bagster, Jun., pp. 244. Bagster.

2. Spiritual Honey from Natural Hives;
or Meditations and Observations on the
Natural History and Habits of Bees: first
introduced to public notice in 1657. By
Samuel Purchase, M.A. pp. 176.—Bagster.

The worthy editor of these volumes
has, we think, exercised a
sound discretion in publishing them
separately. To the initiated in
apiarian research, “The Management
of Bees” cannot fail to be
highly interesting. For our own part,
we must confess that, if certain minute
descriptions which may possibly
offend a refined moral sensibility,
could have been omitted, we
should have considered the work
more valuable on that account. Perhaps
our hint may prove available[Pg 26]
for a future edition. With this exception,
we would most cordially
recommend this production to the
perusal of our readers generally;
and to those who are engaged in
the study of that part of natural
history to which it refers, especially.
The engravings are exceedingly
creditable to the talent of the artist.

As to the “Meditations” contained
in the other volume, they are
altogether above our praise. They
are eminently instructive and pious,
admirably calculated to secure the
attention even of the thoughtless,
and to promote, in a very high degree,
the pleasure and the profit of
the considerate. In confirmation,
we present our readers with the
following specimen:

We hope these valuable reflections
will be often reprinted.

Poems on Sacred Subjects. By Maria Grace Saffery.
Hamilton and Co.; Darton and Harvey.

These poems are from the pen of
the widow of the late Rev. John
Saffery, of Salisbury, whose name
is still fragrant there, and in many
other places; whose zealous labours
of love in our Bengal Mission,
and in the propagation of the
gospel in Ireland, will long be remembered.

Rich in Scripture knowledge and
in Christian experience, with a
lively imagination and a great command
of language, the writer has
poured out her melodious strains
from the fulness of her heart.

Most of the subjects are taken
from the Old Testament or the
New, and the versification embraces
a great variety of metres, with the
ease and sweetness almost peculiar
to female writers. The whole book
of Jonah is finely illustrated in a
series of poems which cannot fail to
please.

This little volume is introduced
by a modest preface, and a “Sonnet
inscribed to the memory of the
Rev. J. Saffery,” which is worth
transcribing:—

“Thou hadst a soul for melody to greet,
When thou wert here, among the weary-hearted;
And thoughts of thee are like sweet sounds departed,
That visit time with echoes,—and repeat
Strains that were breath’d beside my pilgrim feet;
As if I heard the voice of my past years,
And thou wert singing in this vale of tears.
But ’tis not in the desert we shall meet—
And who would wish thee where the world is weeping?
Thou hast a blessed minstrelsy on high.
The lyre of praise, o’er which thy song is sweeping,
Hath not a pause like mine—a pause to sigh.
Harps strung for holiest themes to both are given;
But mine is tun’d on earth—and thine, in heaven.”

Many others are exquisitely
sweet. We have been particularly
pleased with one on Jonathan’s
friendship, which concludes thus:—

“O chieftain! in thy life was seen
That friendship in immortal mould,
To which ambition’s hope is mean,
And woman’s kindest thought is cold.

“Gilboa! let thy mountain-heath
Like Jesse’s gentle harp complain;
There Israel’s beauty bow’d in death,
There Jonathan, the friend, was slain!”

The work is very neatly got up,
and we are glad to observe that
the subscribers’ names are numerous,
and highly respectable.

[Pg 27]

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

an appeal to christian ladies, in behalf
of female education in china, india, and the east.

From the last census taken by the
Chinese government in 1813, it appears
that the population of that empire was
then 362,447,183; a population more
than twenty times as great as that of
Greenland, Labrador, the Canadas, the
West Indies, the South Sea Islands, the
Cape, Madagascar, Greece, Egypt, Abyssinia,
and Ceylon,—i.e., more than
twenty times as large as nearly the
whole field of Christian missions, India
and the East being excepted.

In 1821, the missionary, Dr. Milne,
calculated the population of Cochin
China, Corea, Loo-choo, Japan, and
other districts tributary to China, to be
about 60,000,000. If there should be in
those countries, with Burmah and Siam,
only 20,000,000 instead of 60,000,000,
they form an important field of missionary
labour. The British subjects of
continental and ultra-Gangetic India,
are 77,743,178; the population more
or less under British influence in India,
is 33,994,000; making a total under
British influence in India, of 111,736,178.
Of the 362 millions of the Chinese empire,
probably 150 millions are females;
and among the 111 millions of India
there are about 50 millions more; so
that, in these two countries, there are
200 millions of heathen females demanding
our commiseration and Christian care.

The condition of the Chinese women
is thus described by the missionary
Gutzlaff:—“Such a general degradation
in religion makes it almost impossible
that females should have their proper
rank in society. They are the slaves
and concubines of their masters, live
and die in ignorance, and every effort to
raise themselves above the rank assigned
them, is regarded as impious arrogance.
As long as mothers are not the instructors
of their children, and wives are not
the companions of their husbands, the
regeneration of this great empire will
proceed very slowly.” As might be
expected, suicide is a refuge to which
thousands of these ignorant idolaters
fly. “The unnatural crime of infanticide
is so common among them, that it is
perpetrated without any feeling, and
even in a laughing mood. There is also
carried on a regular traffic in females.”

The condition of the Hindoo women
is, if possible, worse. They are treated
as slaves, may not eat with their husbands,
and are expressly permitted by
law to be beaten. Degraded and despised,
they naturally sink towards the
level assigned them by public opinion.
They have no mental employment whatever;
and being very much excluded
by the extreme jealousy of which they
are the objects, from missionary instruction,
it appears that their miserable
condition must be perpetuated, till Hindoo
society undergoes a radical change,
unless they be improved by Christian
schools.

To meet these necessities, a society
has been formed of ladies of various denominations,
united together by Christian
piety, for the wretched female population
whom they wish to elevate and
bless. Some of the objects to which
the Committee will direct their attention,
are the following:

1. To collect and to diffuse information
on the subject.

2. To prepare and send out pious and
intelligent women, as trainers and superintendents
of the native female teachers.

3. To assist those who may be anxious
to form female schools in accordance
with the rules of this society, by grants
of money, books, and superintendence.

What Christian lady, to whom this
appeal may come, will refuse her co-operation
in so good a work! To aid the
beneficent legislation of a paternal government
in the improvement of so large
a population committed to our care;
to rescue the weak from oppression, and
to comfort the miserable in their sorrow;
to give to the infant population of
India, and of China, the blessings of
maternal wisdom and piety; to teach
the men of those nations, that those
who are now their degraded slaves, may
be their companions, counsellors, and
friends; to disgrace, by a knowledge of
the rudiments of European science, those
fabulous and polluted legends of their
sacred books, which are at variance with
geographical and astronomical facts; to
make them acquainted with the Bible,
which now they cannot read; to place
them under the instruction of the missionary,
from whom they are at present
excluded; to bring them to the knowledge
of Christ, and to prove that his
grace can do more in a few years to[Pg 28]
bless them, than centuries of heathenism
could do to degrade them;—these are
the great objects which carried Mrs.
Wilson to the children of Hindostan,
and Miss Wallace to those of China:
but, while “the harvest truly is plenteous,
the labourers are few.” Other women
of equal capacity, and who can
show the same perseverance springing
from compassion and faith, must follow
the good example. And if they offer
themselves to this work of the
Lord, will not the Christian women of
this country, by sending them forth, and
supporting them in their work, show to
the continent and the world, that gratitude
to God and to Christ for the blessings
of providence and grace, can kindle
in their hearts an earnest and self-denying
pity for those who, though they
speak in other tongues, and are separated
from us by half the earth’s circumference,
are yet as capable of joy and
sorrow as ourselves, and are among those
to whom our Redeemer has commanded
that the gospel should be preached?

Wives, who are happy in the affection
and esteem of your husbands; mothers,
who enjoy your children’s reverence and
gratitude; children, who have been
blessed by a mother’s example, and a
mother’s care; sisters, who have found
in brothers your warmest friends; Christian
women, who feel that you can lend
to society its charm, and receive from it
a loyal courtesy in return; protected,
honoured, and loved—impart your blessings
to those who are miserable because
they are without them. If your minds
are intelligent and cultivated—if your
lives are useful and happy—and if you
can look for a blessed immortality beyond
the grave, do not, for the love of
Christ, whose sufferings have been the
source of all your blessings, and of all
your hopes, do not refuse to make Him
known, that the degraded millions of
the East may, like you, be “blessed in
Him,” and, like you, may “call him
blessed.”

Those readers who desire further information
may obtain it from Mr. Suter,
19, Cheapside; by whom contributions
will be thankfully received.

extract from the forty-fifth quarterly
register of the baptist home mission.

The Committee of this Society desire,
humbly and thankfully, to acknowledge
the goodness of God for the many
favourable openings which appear for
the “spread of the gospel at home.”

Whilst they deeply regret that, for
want of means, they cannot employ
more labourers, they gratefully record
some unexpected supplies to their exhausted
funds; they indulge the hope
that many of their fellow Christians will
follow the example of their friend, Mr.
Nice, and others, who have nobly come
to the help of the Lord in time of need.

The following extract from the Report
of the Auxiliary Society for Exeter
and North Devon will, it is hoped, be
acceptable as a specimen of that work
which all true Christians pray may prosper.

“At Torrington, our brother Pulsford
still continues to carry on the work of
the Lord with the true spirit of a laborious
minister of the word, ever zealous
in the work, and watching for the
salvation of souls; and the great Head
of the church has again honoured him
with the reward of his labours. Possessed
with heartfelt love for souls, he
appears to have continually before him,
as his motto, ‘Work while it is day;
for the night cometh in which no man
can work;’ he is instant in season and
out of season. From his letter of the
15th inst., we make the following extract:—‘I
have great pleasure in stating
that the Lord in his great mercy continues
to bless our feeble instrumentality,
thirty-two have been brought to
the knowledge of the truth, and added
to the church by baptism since October
last; and we continue to carry the word
of life into thirteen villages, in many
of which the power and glory of God
are seen and felt. Glory be to his
name. At Langtree, we have long
mourned the lack of room, but I am
happy to state that a chapel which will
contain about 150 is nearly finished. At
Langtree Wick we want to do the same,
and trust that the great Head of the
church will prepare the way for our
doing so before long. At St. Giles, we
have added another room to the one we
occupied; and at Hatherleigh we have
baptized ten, and as many more appear
to be converted to God, and will follow
the Lord in that delightful ordinance
soon. Our new place of worship at
Hatherleigh is covered in, and things
wear a very pleasing aspect. O for
the downpouring of the Holy Spirit,
that the sacred fire may spread from
village to village, and from town to
town, till the whole world shall be full
of the glory of God! Nothing is wanting
to obtain this, but the hearty co-operation
of all our churches in the
great work—the entering into religion
with all the heart, and all the soul, each[Pg 29]
one laying himself or herself out for
God, and the eternal welfare of their
fellow-creatures. We have four Sunday-schools,
in which 280 children are
taught the word and way of God, and we
trust will yield a future harvest to the
church.’”

the bishop of london and the dissenters.

(From the Times.)

A second edition of a “Remonstrance
addressed to the Lord Bishop of London,
on the Sanction given, in his late Charge
to the Clergy of that Diocese, to the
Calumnies against the Dissenters contained
in certain Letters signed L. S. E.,”
has recently appeared, with the respectable
name of Mr. Charles Lushington.
The letters referred to, which are
addressed to a Dissenting minister of
the Congregational denomination, and
written, it appears, by a clergyman of
the church of England, might well be
mistaken for a subtle and refined ruse of
a bitter enemy of that church. At a
moment when the feelings of the Dissenters
are wrought up to intense excitement
by a sense of wrong from grievances
unredressed, an individual of that
class who teach from the pulpit that a
man who lacketh charity lacketh every
thing, has had the daring effrontery to
vomit forth a mass of rancorous scurrility
against the whole Dissenting body, especially
its teachers, applying to them
epithets proscribed in almost every
species of polemical warfare, except
that carried on by Carlile and his party,
detailing disgusting anecdotes thinly
veiled in the decency of a Latin translation,
excluding them from the pale of
Christianity, and proclaiming that
“the curse of God rests heavily upon them!”
It is to be regretted that there are a few
individuals of the letter-writer’s class,
men who have exchanged the sword for
the gown, or who desire to transform the
pen into the sword; but these intolerant
zealots, so long as their acts are
not countenanced by their superiors, do
but little mischief. The letters in question,
however, have been specifically recommended
in a note appended to the late
charge of the Bishop of London, as
“containing a great deal of useful information
and sound reasoning, set forth
with a little too much warmth of invective
against the Dissenters.” Mr.
Lushington, who avows himself a member
of the church of England, has had
the candour and manliness to step forward
and publicly vindicate the Dissenters
from the effects of such a recommendation
of such a work, suggesting,
at the same time, “some political and
Christian considerations, which should
operate to secure for those calumniated
persons a little more conciliatoriness
from their opponents, and a far greater
measure of justice from their judges.”
He shows what the Dissenters have
done, and are doing, to supply the deficiencies
of the established church; he
disproves the accusation that the Dissenters,
as a body, seek to destroy that
church, which would be repugnant
to the system to which they owe their
distinction as a religious body; and he
suggests that, if the religious wants of
the community are to be adequately supplied,
it must be by one of three plans—either
by the establishment and other
sects, as at present; or by the establishment
alone, all other sects being
merged, comprehended, or put down;
or by the episcopal church and other denominations,
without an establishment.
He assumes that the second is impracticable,
inasmuch as the establishment
could not be extended, on the basis of
taxation, so as to meet the wants of the
population, and the sects could not be
merged or put down. The choice is,
therefore, between the first, which renders
the Dissenters necessary as auxiliaries,
and therefore to be conciliated;
and the third, which would reduce the
church of England to the dimensions of
an episcopal, but non-established, church.
Such frenzied partisans as “L. S. E.”
would be more likely to bring about the
third alternative than the second.

extract from a correspondent’s letter,
addressed to the right rev. the
lord bishop of london.

My Lord,

In the notes appended to your Lordship’s
Charge, delivered at the last
visitation, reference is made to a work,
entitled, “Letters to a Dissenting Minister,
&c., by L. S. E.” It is most
prudently admitted, that the work contains
“too much sharpness of invective
against the dissenters;” your Lordship
has, however, added, “I recommend the
publication as containing a great deal of
useful information and sound reasoning.”

It was prudent in L. S. E. not to attach
his name to a work that would
give him a notoriety for impudence
and slander which no future penitence
could by any possibility remove. How
far it was wise to sanction with the
authority of your Lordship’s name, the
work of an author who had not the rashness
to reveal his own, remains for the[Pg 30]
effects it will produce upon society to
determine.

L. S. E. has stated in page 360, that
“the late Mr. Abraham Booth,[B] an
eminent dissenting teacher in London,
would never pray for the King (George
the Third) at all.” Allow me, therefore,
to inform your Lordship and the nameless
individual who enjoys your patronage,
that the assertion is entirely false.
During the thirty-seven years in which
he administered the ordinances and truth
of Jesus Christ in Prescot-street, he
not only never refused, but made it his
uniform practice, to pray for “our
rightful Sovereign the King, his Royal
Consort the Queen, and every branch of
the Royal Family;” of this many living
witnesses may be brought, who still
remain the fruits of his exertions. Much
sympathy is due to your Lordship on
account of the present intensity of
professional excitement; but the injunction
laid by inspiration upon a Bishop
must not be forgotten, “Lay hands suddenly
on no man, neither be thou partaker
in other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.”

With sincere respect, I am, my Lord,
your Lordship’s humble servant,
Isaac Booth.
Hackney, Dec. 4, 1834.

duties arising out of the present
aspect of political affairs.

At a Meeting of the “Deputies from
the several Congregations of Protestant
Dissenters of the Three Denominations
in and within twelve miles of London,
appointed to protect their Civil Rights,”
held at the King’s Head Tavern in the
Poultry, on Friday, the 19th day of December,
1834.

Henry Waymouth, Esq., in the Chair.

Resolved,

That this Deputation cordially approves
of the following Resolutions of
the United Committee of Protestant
Dissenters in London, passed on the 18th
ult.; viz.—

“That, while this Committee bows to
the exercise of the Royal Prerogative,
they have learned, with feelings of unfeigned
and profound regret, the sudden
dismissal from His Majesty’s Councils of
his late confidential advisers; entertaining,
as they do, a cordial approbation of
the general measures of their Administration,
and confiding in their principles
as the sincere friends of civil and religious
freedom.

“That, while the Committee cannot but
express their disappointment and sorrow
that the just claims of Protestant Dissenters
have hitherto been postponed,
they are convinced that such delay on the
part of His Majesty’s late Government
arose chiefly from the obstructions to
which they were subject, both from ecclesiastical
and political opponents. The
regret which this Committee feels at the
dismissal of the late Administration is
also greatly aggravated by the assurance
that it has occurred at a moment when its
members were preparing means of redress
for the chief practical grievances
of which Dissenters complain.

“That, in the probable event of a
General Election, this Committee confidently
anticipates, from the Protestant
Dissenters throughout the empire, the
most decided and uncompromising opposition
to that political party who have
avowed themselves the unflinching opponents
of their interests, and whose
speeches and votes on the Bill for the
admission of Dissenters to the Universities,
ought never to be forgotten; and,
in the event of such election, this Committee
relies also on all classes of Dissenters
for the immediate adoption of
measures best calculated to ensure the
return, as Representatives to Parliament,
of men liberal and enlightened in their
views, the tried friends of Religious
Liberty, National Improvement, and
Universal Freedom.

“That this Committee pledges itself
to persevere in seeking the full and immediate
relief of the practical Grievances of
Protestant Dissenters upon the principles
it has repeatedly avowed.”

That this Deputation strongly urges
upon its Constituents the importance of
promptly and vigorously acting upon
the recommendations contained in the
foregoing resolutions as to the choice of
Representatives in the ensuing Parliament.

That the declaration of the line of
policy intended to be pursued by the
Administration of Sir Robert Peel, as
contained in his address to the Electors
of Tamworth, is most unsatisfactory to
Dissenters, and affords no prospect of the
adoption of liberal measures on the part
of the Cabinet of which he is the head.

That this deputation cannot but record
its total want of reliance on the
granting of any effectual relief to Dissenters
by a political party which have ever
been opposed to the affording to that
numerous and important body their just
and equal rights as subjects of the Realm.

That the foregoing Resolutions be inserted
in the “Morning Chronicle,”
“Morning Post,” “Morning Advertiser,”
“Globe,” “Standard,” and “Patriot”
newspapers.

[Pg 31]

resolutions occasioned by the letter
from the american board of foreign
missions[C] to the board of baptist
ministers in and near london.

At a meeting of the Board of Baptist
Ministers, specially convened at Fen
Court, Nov. 25th, 1834, the Rev. F.
A. Cox, LL.D. in the Chair, the
above communication having been read,
the following resolution was adopted:—

Resolved unanimously,

“That we receive with much pleasure
the expressions of esteem and attachment,
and fully participate in the
affectionate sentiments, contained in the
letter of the American Board of Foreign
Missions, dated Boston, Sept. 1, 1834;
and while we deeply regret that, in the
judgment of the said Board, it would
violate the Constitution of the Triennial
Convention to entertain our communication
of the 31st Dec. 1833, we hope
that such of our American brethren as
concur in the opinions of that communication,
will adopt every means consistent
with Christian principles, to diffuse
their sentiments, and thus secure
the immediate and entire extinction of
their slave system.

“That the Secretary be requested to
transmit the above Resolution to the
Vice President of the Baptist Board for
Foreign Missions in the United States.

“It having been reported to the Board,
that our brethren who have been requested
by the Baptist Union to go as a
deputation to our Baptist brethren in
America, having consulted their respective
churches, have acceded to the
wishes of the Union;”

Resolved unanimously,

“That this Board, feeling the importance
of the deputation to America appointed
by the Baptist Union, earnestly
recommends, that the churches in London
and its vicinity collect, in what way
they may severally think proper, towards
the expenses of such an object.”

J. B. Shenston, Secretary.

british voluntary church society.

Resolution passed by the Board of
Baptist Ministers at a meeting specially
convened at Fen Court, Dec. 16, 1834,
the Rev. W. Newman, D.D. in the
Chair.

“That, approving the principles and
objects of the British Voluntary Church
Society, this Board strongly recommends
the churches of our denomination
to promote its operations by every means
in their power; either by obtaining subscriptions,
by lending their places of
worship for the delivering of lectures, or
by any other means which their judgment
may suggest.

“That the Secretary be requested to
transmit the above Resolution to the Secretaries
of the British Voluntary Church
Society, and to send a copy for insertion
in the Baptist Magazine.”

J. B. Shenston, Secretary.

N.B. Persons subscribing not less
than 2s. 6d. per annum, are members of
this Society.—Ed.

unicorn-yard chapel, tooley-street,
southwark, erected, 1720.

From the decayed state of this place
of worship, and for the safety of those
persons who assemble therein, at the
recommendation of several architects, a
new wall has been erected, and the
building generally having undergone a
thorough repair, with 200 additional
sittings, and baptistry, &c. was re-opened
for the worship of God, on
Thursday, November 27, 1834, when
three sermons were preached; that in
the morning by the Rev. Dr. Andrews,
of Walworth, from Heb. ix. 12; that in
the afternoon, by the Rev. Thomas Shirley,
of Seven Oaks; and that in the
evening, by the Rev. J. H. Evans, A.M.,
of John-street chapel, Bedford-row,
when upwards of thirty pounds were
collected.

The church now encouraged by considerable
additions, and the regular attendance
of an increasing congregation,
take this opportunity of gratefully acknowledging
the services of those good
men who helped them in their low
estate, and also to record the loving-kindness
of the Lord who has so graciously
appeared in reviving us under the
ministry of our present pastor, the Rev. D.
Denham (late of Margate), who was publicly
recognized as our pastor, with three
of our brethren as deacons, on Monday,
Dec. 15, 1834. The Rev. G. Comb, of Oxford-st.,
delivered the introductory discourse,
and asked the church and minister
the usual questions. The Rev. M.
Dovey, of Rotherhithe, offered up the
ordination prayer; and the Rev. Thomas
Shirley, of Seven Oaks, gave an affectionate
charge to the pastor from 1 Cor.
iv. 1, 2. The Rev. J. Smith, of Shoreditch,
explained the deacon’s office,
showing the qualification and grace required
to fill it, and then in a most
scriptural manner addressed the church
from Heb. xiii. 22. Messrs. Benson,
Bridgeman, Moial, Boddington, and
Hewlett, engaged in the other parts of
the services.

[Pg 32]

N.B. The expenses of general repairs
and enlargement of the chapel
(which will now seat about 700 persons,
including a number of free sittings) will
rather exceed 400 pounds; and as nearly
half that sum has been realized by the
exertions of a few individuals, we trust
our appeal will not be in vain to those
Christian friends to whom God has
given the means of assisting us, and
whose delight is to promote the cause of
Christ upon earth. Donations, however
small, will be thankfully received if
forwarded to our Treasurer, Mr. Richard
Edwards, 6, Chester-place, Old Kent-road.

NOTICE.

The next Quarterly Meeting of the
London Baptist Association, will be held
at Devonshire-sq. chapel, on Wednesday
evening, January 21, 1835, when a sermon
will be preached by the Rev. J. E. Giles,
on the Duties of Church Members towards
the Unconverted. Service to commence at seven o’clock.

RECENT DEATHS.

rev. dr. carey.

In the Philanthropist the event is thus
noticed: “The Rev. Dr. Carey died at
Serampore, after a protracted illness of
nine months, on Monday morning last, the
9th instant (June) in the 73rd year of
his age.” The same paper contains the
following account, copied from another
paper, [The Sumachar Derpun] published
at Serampore. “We have to
communicate intelligence to-day, which
will be received with general lamentation,
not only throughout India, but
throughout the world. Dr. Carey has
finished his pilgrimage on earth, having
gently expired early last Monday morning,
the 9th of June. For several years
past his health has been very infirm, and
his strength has gradually sunk, until
the weary wheels of nature stood still,
from mere debility, and not from disease.
The peculiarly hot weather and rainy
season of 1833 reduced him to such
extreme weakness, that in September
last he experienced a stroke of apoplexy,
and for some time after his death was
expected daily. It pleased God, however,
to revive him a little. During the
cold season he could again take a morning
and evening ride in his palanquin
carriage, and spend much of the day reclining
in an easy chair with a book in
his hand, or conversing cheerfully with
any friend that called. As, however, the
hot weather advanced, he sunk daily
into still greater debility than before,
and could take no nourishment. He lay
helpless and speechless on his bed until
his skin was worn off his body, and death
was a merciful relief. His dearest friends
could not but rejoice, that his sufferings
were ended, although they mourn his
loss to themselves and to mankind.”

For further particulars of this distinguished
man, we refer our readers to the Missionary Herald.

j. f. beard.

At Scarborough, Yorkshire, November
the 9th, after a short illness, James
Freeman Beard, in the 74th year of his
age. He was formerly, for many years,
the respected pastor of the church of
Christ at Worstead, Norfolk, where his
ardent labours in the surrounding villages
will long be remembered.

DISTRIBUTION OF PROFITS.

The following sums, from the profits of this work, were voted to the
widows whose initials follow, at the meeting of proprietors, on Friday,
the 19th ult.

* * *
The Widows will please to observe they cannot receive twice
in the same year.

[Pg 33]

IRISH CHRONICLE.

JANUARY, 1835.

The Rev. S. Davis, of Clonmel, will come from Ireland this month, for
the purpose of collecting on behalf of the Society in the West of England.
Our friends, that he may visit, especially our ministering brethren, are
respectfully and earnestly requested to encourage his application to the
utmost of their power; as, on the success of such efforts the continued
operations of the Society greatly depends.

In the Rev. Wm. Thomas’s letter will be found a grateful reference to the
Committee of the Tract Society, and to a parcel which he has received from
England, containing many useful articles for the children of the schools.
And the Secretary begs to acknowledge the receipt of a number of
“Magazines for Ireland,” from a female friend at Hammersmith.

Extract of a letter from Rev. S. Davis
to the Secretary.

Clonmel, Nov. 21, 1834.

We are in the Lord’s hands, and he
will finally accomplish the purposes of
his own glory, and I am persuaded we
cannot do better than steadily to pursue
the purpose in which we are engaged,
to make the people acquainted,
as far as it is in our power, with the
Holy Scriptures, which will undermine
the power of Antichrist, and promote
happiness in proportion as they obtain an
access to the heart.

My son, at Ardee, recently assisted in
the public examination of 400 adults in
their knowledge of the Irish Scriptures,
and he has given a very interesting account
of the meeting in the last Quarterly
Papers of the Irish Society. He
was astonished and delighted to think,
as I do also, that the teaching of the
people in the Irish Scriptures, is one of
the most important benefits that can be
conferred upon the country.

Our Society has had the honour to
take the lead in this respect; and, however
we may be looked down upon, and
whatever may become of the institution,
I have no doubt it has been a greater
benefit to the country than words can
express; it is a pity, therefore, that it
should not be in more prosperous circumstances,
and that your hands should
not be held up more by those who have
it in their power to afford us assistance;
but when we have done what we could
do we cannot reproach ourselves, and
we must leave the event with Him who
will appreciate our good intentions, and
forgive all our infirmities.

S. Davis.

Rev. W. Thomas to the Secretary.

Limerick, Nov. 21, 1834.

My dear Sir,

You will have the kindness to excuse
the brevity of these few lines, as I have
only this moment arrived after a journey
of preaching and inspecting some of the
schools, and it is necessary that the
readers’ journals should go off by
this day’s mail, which will proceed immediately.
I have, I trust, some interesting
things to communicate, which,
please providence, I shall shortly do;
and also, offer my grateful thanks to the
Committee of the Tract Society, for a
precious parcel of tracts, forwarded with
a kind letter from their worthy Secretary;
and also my very grateful acknowledgments
to an excellent lady, for a
very acceptable parcel for the female
children in the schools; this good lady
says, they are “from one who wishes well
to the cause of instructing the rising
generation.” The thimbles, bodkins,
thread-cases, needle-books, work-bags,
scissors, and five shillings, inclosed
in the “old purse,” shall be judiciously
distributed: the five shillings
we will apply to clothing some naked
creatures. May the Lord of glory clothe
the dear lady’s soul with the beautiful
and glorious, the spotless and eternal,
robes of the Redeemer’s righteousness,
which will never wax old!

With the kindest wishes for you, my
dear Sir, and all the dear friends of the
Society, ever most affectionately yours,

Wm. Thomas.

Rev. J. Bates to the Secretary.

Sligo, Nov. 31, 1834.

Dear Sir,

Through mercy I am spared to give
you an outline of my imperfect labours
during the month that is now past, and
gone into eternity. When I think of the
rapid flight of time, and view the condition
of my fellow-sinners around me
with regard to their religious circumstances
and eternal prospects, I feel
that my situation is such as should lead
me to Jesus, to seek more of his mind
and more of his spirit, that “whatever
my hand findeth to do, I may do it with
my might.”

[Pg 34]

Since my last letter, I have visited
several villages in the country where I
never went before. Castledargin, Corringuncor,
Drimnagooli, and Ballindrist.
There are a few brethren in the neighbourhood
of Corringuncor, and they feel
rejoiced when any one pays them a
visit. The congregation at that place
was large and very encouraging. Mr.
Berry is going on a missionary tour
amongst them this next week. May the
Lord bless his own word to their everlasting
welfare, and his own glory!

Ballindrist is an interesting little
station, and, by the blessing of God, I
trust good will result from the proclamation
of his word; but at Drimnagooli,
there exists the greatest spirit of
inquiry. I have only been in that
neighbourhood three times, and I am
happy to say that, each time, the congregation
increased. They are continually
saying, “Visit us as often as you
can.” The clergyman in that neighbourhood
has preached against baptism;
but I have lately observed, where there
is the most opposition, there is the
greatest spirit of inquiry, and the
largest congregations.

Since I have been in this superstitious
island (and surely this is the place
“where Satan’s seat is”), I have sometimes
thought of what my affectionate
pastor told me when he was living, just
before I left England. Calling me by
my name, he said, “Whatever others
do, let it be your determination to
preach Jesus; wherever you take your
stand, there let the cross be erected.
Dagon fell when the ark of God was set
up in his presence; they set him up the
second time, but behold, Dagon was
fallen upon his face to the ground and
broken to pieces; so if you set up
Christ, with a single eye to his glory,
Antichrist must fall; ‘my word shall
not return unto me void.’”

During the next month, if all is well,
as I shall have a long journey inspecting
the schools, I hope to have many
opportunities of proclaiming the gospel
to those that are now sitting in darkness.
I pray that the Lord may command
a blessing, even life for evermore.

J. Bates.

To Mr. Thomas.

Ballycar, Nov. 13, 1834.

October 29. Being asked by a Roman
Catholic why I would not pray to the
Saints, and implore their intercession;
I replied, Because I have no
authority in Scripture for it. But on
the contrary, St. Paul says, “There is
one God, and one mediator between
God and men, the Man Christ Jesus;”
and the Saviour himself says, in John
xiv. 6, “I am the way, the truth, and
the life; no man cometh unto the Father
but by me;” and he also says, “Whatsoever
ye shall ask the Father in my
name, I will do it.” Now since all we
ask the Father, in the name of the Son,
is granted unto us, why should we
address ourselves to other mediators?
We also read in 1 John ii. 1: “If any
man sin, we have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

Nov. 2. In Quin, entering into a conversation
with two persons, on the necessity
of reading the Scriptures, one of
them replied, that their clergy would not
permit them to read them. I asked
him, which should he obey, his priest or
God? He replied, God. “Therefore you
should read, and not only read but
search, the Scriptures; for Christ himself
says, ‘Search the Scriptures;’ and
again he says, ‘Blessed are they that
hear the word of God, and keep it:’ and
the apostle Paul strongly commends the
people of Berea for reading the Scriptures;
he expressly says in Acts xvii.
11: ‘These were more noble than those
in Thessalonica, in that they received the
word with all readiness of mind, and
searched the Scriptures daily, whether
these things were so.’ Now if these
people doubted the words of that
eminent apostle, how much more should
we search the Scriptures in the present
day, and see if the doctrine taught us
be consistent with the Scriptures or not!”
After reading different passages of
Scripture, and reasoning for some time
on this subject with these people, they
replied that it appeared consistent with
truth, that men should read the Scriptures.

Nov. 7. Entering into conversation
with one person, on the immediate state
of happiness of those who die in the
Lord; he replied, that no person can
enter heaven, without being purged from
their sins in purgatory. I asked him,
Did he not think that the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ was sufficient to cleanse
him? He replied, He was confident it
was, but we must also suffer for some time
in this place. I read to him different passages
of Scripture, to prove to him that
the blood of the Lord Jesus cleanseth
us from all sin, such as Isaiah i. 18,
1 John i. 7, Prov. vii. 13, 14, 15, Heb.
i. 3, &c.. After reading this passage, the
man took the book out of my hand, to
see if the words were expressly the
same as I read them; after seeing they
were, from his conversation after, he[Pg 35]
seemed very much to doubt this doctrine.
I read at intervals to the Major’s workmen,
himself being in a delicate state of
health, which renders him at different
times unable to do it. He had been very
ill this day or two past, but is now
getting better. Sir, I remain yours,

Samuel Cross.

To Rev. J. Bates.

Temple House, Nov. 14, 1834.

Rev. Sir.—I feel happy to state to
you that since my last I have been permitted
to read the word of life for vast
numbers of Roman Catholics and others
who were ignorant of those precious
truths which are revealed in it; and
indeed many of them have heard the
word with remarkable attention, and
seemed to receive instruction.

Oct. 20. In the house of widow
Sweeny, where there were assembled
about fifty Roman Catholics, the man of
the house having got a sudden death;
whilst I sat amongst them one of them
said, “Let us pray for the soul of the
departed.” Then they all took off their
hats and prayed; this they did every half
hour, and in the interval talked of consecrated
ground, &c., and of the benefits
of being interred in consecrated ground.
I was indeed much grieved on seeing
and hearing such ignorance and superstition;
and, addressing myself to one
of the most respectable and well informed
among them, I asked, “What reason
have we to believe that either consecrated
burial-ground or prayers for the
dead, or any other office, can help the
state of the departed soul?” Two of them
answered and spoke alternately. One
said that no devil or evil spirit could
come near consecrated ground; the other
told me that they believed in the doctrine
of purgatory, and that the prayers
of the faithful are necessary for the
relief of the souls in purgatory. I told
them that it is written in the word of
God, that “blessed are the dead which
die in the Lord,” for they rest from their
labours; that those who believe in Jesus
Christ, “his blood cleanseth them from
all sin,” and that consequently they
need no other purgatory. I referred to
the words of the Saviour in the 3rd of
John, “He that believeth on the Son
bath everlasting life, but he that believeth
not the Son shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
One of the men above mentioned said,
that he read in the Scriptures that we are
purged by fire. I showed, from 1 Peter
iv., the fiery trial spoken of means
persecutions and sufferings for Christ’s
sake to be endured in this life. I also
showed, from Acts viii. that on the death
of Stephen there was not a word about
consecrated burial-ground or prayer for
the dead. All this time the people heard
with most eager attention. I showed
them from many parts of Scripture that
Jesus is an all-sufficient Saviour, and that
all who believe in him are justified from
all things, &c.

On the 26th, went to the house of J.
Foley, where many were assembled
visiting a sick person. While they talked
of the uncertainty of life, and the necessity
of being prepared for eternity, I
endeavoured to show the need we have
of a Saviour, and the blessings of being
interested in him. I proposed to read for
the sick person, and was permitted; I
read very many of the most suitable
parts of Scripture, showing that the
Saviour is a sure foundation to build our
hopes on for salvation, and that there is
no other. The people present were
nearly all Roman Catholics; and seeing
them so attentive, I continued nearly an
hour reading. The sick person seemed
to receive comfort from the Word, and
the people of the family were extremely
thankful. On the following Sabbath I
again visited the same house. They
told me they were rejoiced to see me
enter their door. I read Acts iii. 4,
showing that Peter, to whom they are
in the habit of praying, directed the
people to the Saviour, telling them that
there is not salvation in any other, and
that there is no other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved.

Robert Beaty.

To Rev. J. Allen.

Ardnaree, Nov. 11, 1834.

Rev. Sir,

I am happy to inform you that many
instances present themselves in this
part of the country, of persons forsaking
their former wicked course of living,
and giving themselves to the study of
the Scriptures, and that through the
instrumentality of the Baptist Institution;
persons who, if left to themselves,
in all probability, would have lived and
died ignorant of a saving knowledge of
Christ Jesus.

On the 23rd, ult., I went to the
neighbourhood of Castlebar, among our
schools. In that part I read and talked
to many of the inhabitants regarding
the “one thing needful;” left the persons
with whom I thus read and conversed,
religious tracts as usual. M.
MʻKelvey, with whom I had several[Pg 36]
conversations regarding the ordinance
of baptism, intends to offer himself as a
candidate to the Ballina Baptist church
soon.

We have great cause for thankfulness
that the Lord is pleased to grant us so
many favourable opportunities of reading
and explaining his holy word to
our countrymen and fellow-sinners, being
aware that if they knew the truth
the truth would make them free.

In the neighbourhood of Foxford, I
have strove to be useful, particularly in
Shrakum, had a seasonable opportunity
of reading applicable portions of the
Scriptures in the hearing of many persons,
young and old, who answered
their various questions respecting religion;
we also joined in prayer. The
people then present seemed to be satisfied
with my answers to the questions
which they asked on several occasions.

There are three new places in which
I frequently read the Scriptures in this
neighbourhood, namely, Rakep, Caltrough,
and Bunzee; in all those places
I read portions both of the English and
Irish Testament, diligently endeavouring
to draw the serious attention of my
various hearers, as usual, to the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus.

There is a man of the name O’Donell
in Hill-street, Ballina, to whom I have
given a Testament some time ago; he
comes to your preaching, and does not
care for either priest or pope, for so
doing. On the 7th instant, went among
our schools in the Tyrarough district;
remained in Easkey two days; met and
had conversation with many of our
Christian friends there. May they daily
receive all needful grace and strength
out of the fulness that is in Christ
Jesus!

There is a man and his wife that
lately came to live in this town; she is
a nominal protestant, but he is a papist,
they frequently come to my house for
the purpose of getting religious instruction.
They were with me on Saturday
last, at which time I read several applicable
portions of the Scriptures to them,
and also answered their questions respecting
religion, from the criterion of
truth. They both can read. I have given
them several useful tracts, and a book
entitled, “The Errors of Popery.” I
intend to visit them often, and they
promised to attend your preaching. I
hope these visits to my home, with the
blessing of God, will be the means of
directing them to the Saviour, who
alone is able and willing to save to the
uttermost all that put their trust in him.

Roger Mullarky.

CONTRIBUTIONS.

Received by the Treasurer:—

Mr. Baker’s Legacy, per J. Ivimey, Esq. 100 0 0

A Friend at C., by Mr. Goddard 10 0 0

Collection at the Rev. E. Steane’s, Camberwell,
per W. B. Gurney, Esq. 27 10 0

Collected in Surry, Essex, and Suffolk,
by the Rev. John Franks 132 15 5

A small New Year’s Gift, intended as
a thank-offering to the Lord, to promote
the furtherance of his gospel, from S.
Webb, Langley £1 0 0

Omitted last month:—A Friend 1 0 0

Erratum:—In the List of Contributions last month
for “Dover,” read Down.

Subscriptions received by S. Marshall, Esq., 181, High Holborn;
Mr. P. Millard, Bishopsgate Street; Messrs. Burls, 56, Lothbury;
Rev. G. Pritchard, 4, York Place, Pentonville, gratuitous Secretary;
by Messrs. Ladbrokes and Co., Bankers, Bank Buildings;
by Mr. H. D. Dickie, 13, Bank Street, and Rev. Mr. Innes, Frederick Street,
Edinburgh; and P. Brown, Esq., Cardigan.

LONDON: J. HADDON, PRINTER, CASTLE-STREET, FINSBURY.

[Pg 37]

MISSIONARY HERALD,

containing intelligence at large of the

of the

BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

Subscriptions and Donations in aid of this Society will be thankfully
received at the Baptist Mission House, No. 6, Fen Court, Fenchurch
Street, London: or by any of the Ministers and Friends whose
names are inserted in the Cover of the Annual Report.

Death of Dr. Carey.

Since the publication of the
last number, the Secretary has
received a communication from
Mr. Jonathan Carey, announcing
the fact of his venerable father’s
decease, in the following terms:—

Calcutta, June 14th, 1834.

The following has appeared in
several of the public papers as a
transcript of the Doctor’s will.
Although no copy of this document
has reached us direct from
India, yet, as it carries internal
evidence of its authenticity, and
has been very widely circulated
already, we do not hesitate to insert
it in our pages. Our readers will
especially mark, in the direction
given as to his epitaph, that deep
humility which was so prominent
a feature in the character of this
great and good man.

(Signed) William Carey.
(Signed) W. H. Jones, S. MʻIntosh.

The following minute, in reference
to this removal of Dr. Carey,
has been entered on the records
of the Baptist Missionary Society.

“The Secretary having reported
that intelligence had arrived of
the death of Dr. Carey, at Serampore,
on Monday, the 9th of June last, it was

“Resolved,

It is expected that Mr. Eustace
Carey will compile, from the materials
in possession of the Missionary
Committee, and from the
correspondence maintained by
the Doctor with his relations in
this country during the whole
course of his residence in India,
a Memoir of his venerable relative.

BURMAH.

By a letter from Mr. Judson
to Dr. Bolles, dated Maulmein,
December 31st, 1833, we learn
that a Christian church has been
formed at Ava; the capital of the
empire, where two converts, one
the wife of Kv Hʻlay, an old
Rangoon disciple, and the other
a respectable inhabitant of the
city, were baptized in the preceding
month.

This prosperous Mission now
comprises five churches, at Maulmein,
Tavoy, Mergui, Rangoon,
and Ava; and the whole number
who have received baptism at
these several stations, is five
hundred and ninety-seven.

A month afterwards, Mr. Judson
was favoured to complete his
translation of the whole Scriptures
into the Burman language.
Our readers will sympathize with
the feelings which dictated the
following entry made on this occasion
in the journal of this devoted
Missionary. We are happy
to add that, although Mr. Judson
has felt it his duty to construct his
version on the principle adopted by
our Calcutta brethren, this circumstance
will not impede its
circulation, the American Bible
Society having rendered prompt
and liberal assistance towards the
printing.

SOUTH AFRICA.

The following account of the
second Annual Meeting of the
Auxiliary Baptist Missionary Society,
conducted by the Rev. W.
Davies and his friends at Graham’s
Town, is extracted from
the local Newspaper, of the 28th
of August last:

We may add, as one symptom
of the temporal prosperity thus
adverted to, of this rising colony,
that a great demand exists for
industrious mechanics, especially
of those classes employed in
building. Pious individuals, especially,
we are assured, would be
welcomed in the district, and labour,
adequately recompensed, immediately provided for them.

JAMAICA.

We had fully expected, by this
time, to hear of the arrival of our
friend Mr. Knibb, at Falmouth; but
the mail, which has been due several
days, is yet detained. We must
therefore give a general summary of
the recent intelligence from our various
stations, and hope that, before
this Herald leaves the press, we may
be able to add a postscript, announcing
intelligence which many, we know,
are anxious to hear.

From Kingston, under the date of
September 22nd, Mr. Tinson writes:
“Our congregation in town is better by
far than it has been, though not overflowing;
for being composed chiefly of
domestics and mechanics who reside
in town, it is of course less affected
by country people than some others.
I spent yesterday at Yallahs, received
five candidates, on examination,
for baptism, preached in the
morning, and administered the Lord’s
supper to about a hundred members
in the afternoon. The congregation
was such as to make the heat almost
insupportable. There were nearly as
many outside the house as within, and
many more would come, but they
cannot hear without exposure to the
sun all the time. This however will,
I hope, be remedied in a few months,
as we have now commenced the
chapel, and paid the builder £100
towards it. I am begging from our
people in Hanover-street, and the
city generally; but they plead poverty,
and I know many of them are poor indeed.”

Mr. Gardner thankfully acknowledges
that he has been repaid for all
his exertions in visiting Port Royal,
by the success with which it has
pleased God to crown his labours
there. “Last Sabbath week,” says
he, on the 23rd of September, “at daybreak,
at that place, I baptized fifteen
in the sea, on a profession of their
faith in Christ, and repentance towards
God. Many hundreds were present,
who collected soon after four in the
morning. After the administration of
that ordinance we repaired to the
chapel, which was well attended, and
had a regular service. Then I left for
Kingston, as there was no brother
unemployed that could assist me. Last
Lord’s day I visited those friends
again, and administered the ordinance
of the Lord’s Supper, when those
who had been baptized were received
into the church. It was an unusually
solemn and gratifying season; many
were greatly affected, and wept nearly
all the time. This was to us a time of
refreshing from the presence of the
Lord. May he often grant us such
seasons!”

Mr. Phillippo is busily engaged in
building the new school-rooms at
Spanish Town, towards which he obtained
some pecuniary aid while in
this country. “There are to be two
schools; one for boys, the other for
girls. They are to hold three hundred
scholars. The situation is on a
range with our premises, and is in
every respect eligible; between the
rooms there is to be a Committee-room,
[Pg 41]so that the building will present
a front of seventy-two feet in
length. Several gentlemen in the town
and neighbourhood have declared
themselves friendly towards the object,
and have promised to assist in
its support. As an instance, His
Honour the Custos, Member of Assembly
and Island Secretary, and
Price Watkis, Esq., the uncompromising
advocate of negro emancipation
in our Colonial Parliament, are to lay
the foundation-stones on Thursday
next. The Custos has moreover sent
fourteen young women to the school to
be educated as schoolmistresses, and
to be completely under the charge of
the resident schoolmistress, his intention
being to employ them in the different
estates for which he is attorney.
This example I have reason to hope
will be extensively followed.

“We have still between three and four
hundred children in attendance at our
Sabbath-school, and the library I
brought out with me is in extensive
circulation. Every thing in connexion
with our work appears prospering
to an unexampled degree. God
is indeed doing great things for us,
whereof we are glad. What a change
has been effected, also, on the moral
aspect of society! Sunday markets
abolished, and all the etceteras of evil
that followed in their train!”

Top Hill, near the junction of the
two parishes of St. Ann’s and St.
Thomas-in-the-Vale, has been the
scene of one of those cruel outrages
on the helpless and unoffending,
which have too often stained the page
of Colonial history. We give the
account in the words of our Missionary
brother, Mr. Clarke.

We mentioned, in our last number,
that Mr. Coultart had encountered
much annoyance in the neighbouring
parish of St. Ann’s, the birth-place of[Pg 42]
the Colonial Church Union, and disgracefully
conspicuous for the blind
and furious determination shown by
several of its leading men, to prevent
the spread of religious instruction
among the negroes. Humanly speaking,
nothing but the wise, humane,
and dignified conduct of the Custos,
the Hon. S. M. Barrett, saved this
parish from the horrors of martial
law. He applied to Mr. Coultart,
requesting him to use all his influence
with the negroes to quell the spirit of
insubordination which had begun to
show itself among them; and in addition
to this, met them in person at
Ocho Rios, gave them an excellent
and animated address, explaining to
them the nature of the new law, and
expostulating with them, in the warmest
and kindest manner. All present
were much pleased with his kindness,
and promised to do all they could to
allay the existing evil.

Mrs. Coultart, in a subsequent letter,
adverting to the same subject,
remarks, “The poor things were puzzled.
They were told they were free
on the first of August, had a general
holiday, and rejoiced at the event; and
then they were called to work again
as before. ‘Free, no free at all; work
like before-time.’ Many said, they
would not work without a proper
understanding, or some pay. I was
present when a poor woman in the
Methodist Society made a speech to
the following effect: ‘From the creation
down to now we work, work,
work. Now, Lord Mulgrave and the
King give we free, we take free, we
happy; then master come, tell we
work like before-time. No, me say,
better take shot at one than make we
fool so.’ The minister’s wife talked
to her, and explained that this work
for six years was to help pay the
owner what the King could not afford
to do, of the money that purchased
her; and she seemed quite content,
and said she would go to her work.
If it were possible to speak to each
thus, in the tone of a friend, they
would believe; but their confidence
in their owners is shaken—and who
can wonder?”

Adverting to the necessity of additional
aid to give instruction to the
negroes and their children, Mrs. C.
remarks to her female correspondent,
“I wish you could just come some
Saturday evening before the preaching
Sabbath at this bay, and see the numbers
who come to our house, two
miles farther, after having walked
twenty and twenty-five miles already,
just to read their letters, or to hear a
few verses out of the Bible, or Watts’s
First Catechism, or something that
will shed a ray of light over their benighted
minds. I have about thirty-five
little ragged black children who meet
me in the place hired for worship on
the bay at four o’clock every evening.
These I try to teach for two hours,
and the only member of the church
who can read sometimes meets me to
assist. We are going soon, I believe,
to remove from this house; it is considered
unhealthy, there being marshes
near, and then I shall be too far off
to attend to the children daily. On the
sabbath, only every third, is too unfrequent
for progress to be made. Could
I see the means of support, I would,
without loss of time, place a person
at the bay to teach regularly, and then
I trust some good would be done.
The eagerness manifested for First
Spelling Books with large alphabets
is amusing and pleasing. I have purchased
all I could get in Kingston,
and sold them again at the same price,
which is three times as dear as if I
had them from England. Mr. C. has
written to several English friends, to
beg them to send us some, either to
give away or sell. I hope they will,
without loss of time, for it is distressing
to be obliged to refuse such earnest
requests. ‘Me want to learn, me
good massa, that me may read out of
the Bible for meself.’ This is just
what we want for them, that they may
not be led astray by every designing
person, who may set himself up to
instruct them.”

At Port Maria Mr. Baylis had the
pleasure of receiving fifty-nine persons
by baptism on the 20th of July
last. He labours with great diligence,
and is cheered, at each of his stations,
by proofs of a divine blessing resting
on his exertions.

Mr. Whitehorne reports, from Mount
Charles, that the same increase of
congregation, and earnest desire to
learn to read, exists in the several
places where he maintains public
worship, as at other stations; while[Pg 43]
from Montego Bay, and Falmouth,
our brethren Abbott, Dexter, and
Dendy, renew their earnest solicitations
for further aid. We rejoice to
learn that Mr. Burchell arrived in
safety at Kingston from New York,
on the 27th of October; and we trust
not only to be permitted to make the
same announcement, in a few days,
respecting Mr. Knibb, but to witness
further accession, shortly, to the number
of faithful and devoted labourers
in this interesting portion of the missionary
field.

Mr. Harjette and his family
have embarked for Calcutta in the
David Clarke, Capt. Rayne, and
sailed from Portsmouth.

A letter has been received from
Mr. George Pearce, dated at sea,
Sept. 6th, in N. lat. 4°, W. long.
23°. Mr. and Mrs. P. were quite
well, and had received much kind
attention from the Captain and
their fellow-passengers.

LIST OF FOREIGN LETTERS LATELY RECEIVED.

[Pg 44]

Contributions received on account of the Baptist Missionary Society,
from Nov. 20, to Dec. 20, 1834, not including individual subscriptions.

Naunton, by Rev. J. Acock 10 3 4

Newbury, Collections and Subscriptions,
by Rev. T. Welsh 42 2 9

Norwich and Norfolk Auxiliary,
by Mr. J. Culley, Treasurer 96 3 6

South Devon Auxiliary, on account,
by Mr. Nicholson 45 0 0

Lincolnshire and Suffolk,
by Rev. Eustace Carey:—
Louth, Rev. Mr. Cameron’s 12 5 0
Horncastle 1 13 6
Eye 7 16 1
Bury 11 8 2
Diss 6 9 0
Stowmarket 11 12 1
Ipswich 73 1 0
—————— 124 4 10

Chelsea, Collections and Sunday School,
by Mr. Skerritt 13 1 0

Sutton on Trent, by Mr. Mozley 7 2 6

Newark, by Mr. Lomax 5 4 0

Broseley, Auxiliary Society,
by Mr. Weare, Jun. 24 0 0

Huntingdonshire, Society in aid of Missions,
on account, by Mr. Paul 50 0 0

Derbyshire, by Rev. W. Hawkins:—
Derby 38 9 3
Burton on Trent 13 1 11
Loscoe 1 8 0
—————— 52 19 2

Reading, Negro’s Friend Society,
by Mrs. Letchworth, (For Spanish Town) 5 0 0

Northamptonshire, Independent Association,
by Rev. Mr. Robertson:—
Kettering, Rev. T. Toller 2 0 0
Harborough, Rev. W. Wild 5 0 0
—————— 7 0 0

Downton, Collection, &c.
by Rev. John Clare 12 2 6

Haddenham (Cambridgeshire),
by Mr. Rose 13 7 0

Bath, Collected by Miss Oliver 0 6 6

LEGACY.

Mr. William Baker, late of George Street, Hampstead Road,
(Executors, Messrs. Henry Welton and Joseph Ivimey) 200 0 0

The following Contributions have been received, on account of the
Jamaica Chapels and School Rooms, since the List was printed off.

Sidney Gurney, Esq. 2 2 0
Banff, Mrs. Nichols and Friends 1 0 0

Members of the Society of Friends.

William Allen (S) 3 0 0
John Sanderson 3 0 0
John Kitching 2 2 0
James Foster 2 2 0
Cornelius Hanbury 2 2 0
Thomas Norton 1 0 0
Jacob Hagen, Jun. 1 0 0
Margaret Wilson. 1 0 0

Scarborough, (additional):—
Collection, Aug. 1 4 10 0
Surplus of Tea Party 6 1 9
Christopher Hill, Esq. 5 0 0
W. D. Thornton, Esq. 1 0 0
W. Dyson, Esq. 1 0 0
Friend 1 0 0
W. Smith, Esq. 0 10 0
Mrs. Fox 0 10 0

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

The thanks of the Committee are returned to the Rev. John Cox, of
Woolwich, for a parcel of books and tracts for Jamaica; and also to
Mrs. Letchworth, and the Committee of the Reading Ladies’ Negroes’ Friend
Society, for a box containing books and other useful articles for Jamaica.

Our valuable Correspondent at Newbury is informed, that the friend about
whom he inquires had made previous arrangements for his journey westward,
which prevented his complying with the request sent him from N.

In the List of Contributions for rebuilding the Jamaica Chapels, there
occurs a line, under the head of “Prescot-street, Rev. Charles Stovel,”

Friends 10 2 6

For which, read,
Cards, by Miss Amelia Bradshaw:—
T. Teape, Esq. 1 1 0
W. Cooke, Esq. 1 0 0
A. Jackson, Esq. 1 0 0
Small sums 2 6 6
—————— 5 7 6
By Miss Martha Bradshaw 4 15 0

Under the head of “Lyme, Dorset,” there should have been entered, a
donation of Five Pounds, from James Edwards, Esq.;—and at “Caine, Wilts,”
the account should stand thus:—

Collection, by Rev. W. Lush 2 7 0
Mr. W. Gundry, for Schools 1 0 0
J. F. Gundry, Do 1 0 0
—————— 4 7 0

J. HADDON, PRINTER, CASTLE STREET, FINSBURY.