was best to postpone it till the next Lord's day, which was the 20th, and was a day which should ever be remembered on Cape Messurado. In the morning the Native Sunday School met, and your valuable presents of clothes, * books, &c. were opened and laid before the children, with tears of gratitude to God, and thanks to you. Our teachers and assistants set to, and in a few minutes the face and appearance of our school was changed-having 18 boys neatly dressed, and wearing every appearance of civilized and improved children. When we turned cant sleep by and by my heart grow too big, and heavy-think to-night me die-my heart so bigme fall down this time-now me can pray-me say Lord-havemassoy. Then light come in my heart-make me glad-make me light-make me love the Son of God-make me love every body."|| This is his own relation, without being asked any questions; and I have no time now to give you either the questions or answers. He appeared to be strong in the faith of the Son of God-he received his impressions about three years ago at Sierra Leone; and while there he got the knowledge of his let-out our school and marched them ters. After about three month's through our streets, and returned advantage of schooling, his rela- them to church, it appeared to me tions called him from Sierra Leone as if the restoration and salvation to Grand Cape Mount, where he of this ruined and degraded now lives. He, however, took a- people had commenced. After long with him a spelling-book, and preaching in the morning, I baptihe continued praying and trying to zed the native man John, and after spell-and providentially, one of preaching in the afternoon we had the men belonging to our settle- the honour to break bread, in the ment, was on a trip up there in a house of God, with our newly arboat-the boat got lost, and he rived brethren from America, and himself carried ashore by the our newly baptized brother. I waves, and fell into the hands of need not tell you, for you know it this native man John, who treated was a day of joy and gladness. him with a great deal of hospitali- The church made up a contributy; and all he charged or asked tion, and neatly dressed our heathhim was a Testament, which he en brother John, gave him an exfortunately had, and gave him. tra suit of clothes, gave him 14 It would seem in the course of e- bars,t and he went on his way revents as if he was sent there on joicing. We also gave him three purpose to carry the word of God Bibles and two hymn books. to this man. Since that time, The health of the settlement is which has been about a year ago, as much as common. Improvehe learnt to read the Bible without ments would have been very great, any teacher except the Spirit of provided the inhabitants could have God. He has learnt to read mid-procured nails, lumber, &c. dling correctly-and he has read meeting-house indeed is obliged to and meditated on the different remain entirely still, for the want subjects of religion, until he found of nails, boards, &c. it was his duty to be baptized, when he came down to our place for that purpose, and gave the relation which I have given you above. I must now say, what was I, that I could withstand Godbut I thought, in order for a more publick notice of his baptism, it Very respectfully, yours, Our *A part of the clothes, &c. were sent by Mr. Benjamin Brand, and a number of Presbyterian ladies of Richmond, Va. A bar in the Colony at present, is equal to 75 cents in money. REMARKS Upon the Third Report of the United Domestick Missionary Society" of New York, 1825. The perusal of this Report has man who has the least direction afforded us a high degree of pleas- in Missionary operations. may a "Our system is so simple, so economi ure. The judicious manner in which the Trustees have appropriated the funds of the society de-cal, so efficient, that the least offering to increase our funds is big with the greatdeserves unqualified approbation. est results. Except in peculiar cases, our We have no doubt they will soon Missionaries are supported for one whole see the rich and lasting fruits of year, some upon fifty-dollars, many upon their well directed liberality. We seventy-five dollars, few upon more than one hundred dollars. This is performed have long been convinced that the wandering kind of service in which by leaving to the towns and congregations helped, the selection of their own many missionaries have been em- ministers, and by adding our gift to what ployed was not calculated to do their utmost efforts can effect for his temthe best good. Here and there poral maintenance. Abandoning the system of itineracy, which is comparapious christian be comforted, tively very expensive, and obviously litand a sinner converted by these tle effectual, this society seeks to build occasional labours; but it is not up permanent Churches which the Lord It has been to be expected in the nature of Jesus Christ may inhabit. found to be the result of experiments things that the inhabitants of a made upon a large scale by the Connectown or district can be substan- ticut Missionary Society, and the Board tially benefitted by one or two of Missions of the General Assembly of discourses from the lips of a stran- the Presbyterian Church in the United ger, who has no sooner delivered States, (of both of which institutions, we would speak with due veneration,) that his message than he travels on to to send a minister to itinerate through a some other destitute settlement. destitute region, is like carrying a petty into the parched desert. Hence it happens in sections of stream country where itinerant ministers quenches for a moment the thirst of a few, and like a summer brook, disaphave been occasionally employ-points the hope of the many, who with ed for years, that you may pass eyes anxious as Hagar's, pant after the through one flourishing town after living fountain." another, without seeing one Church or meeting-house as the consequence of their labours. It character, a matter of acquisition. The "Influence is the growth of time; minister who does not take his place among the daily operating causes of imWe would by no means insinu-provement, ought not to hope to be reate that this want of success is at-garded with the affection which converts tributable to the Missionaries; it may more easily be traced to the system under which they have acted. bear to their spiritual parent, and with the honour with which the Church militant and triumphant greet him who builds a resting place for the ark of the Lord.. It is, therefore, with deliberate purpose, and after much observation, that this Society has resolved to employ, for the most part, only those ministers who de With these facts before them the "United Domestick Missionary Society" have in our humble opin-sire to settle, who go to their several loion taken the lead in effectual measures for the permanent support of the christian ministry among the thinly scattered inhabitants of our own country. The following statements deserve the serious attention of every cations with the devotion with which their brethren go upon a foreign mission, with the intention of being faithful unto death. Whether the undertaking be to build up a Church in city or village, or new peopling a county, or on the frontier of the howling wilderness, we desire that our missionaries should go, with a mind averse from change-praying that God will enable them to hold fast what they gain, until a little one becomes a thousand, and a weak one a strong nation." Actuated by these views the Trustees of this Society have employed during the past year 123 Missionaries, by which they have aided 130 churches. It is stated in their report that at the expense of about $11,000 the gospel has been preached to eighty thousand persons, and they have reason to believe that more than six hundred souls have been converted. When a man of judgment has been engaged as a Missionary for several years, we think that his views, arising from personal observation and experience, are entitled to much respect.-The following are the sentiments of a minister who has devoted several years in preaching to the destitute in Missouri and Illinois. "I also think there is a radical defect in most of our domestic missionary societies. Every minister is not qualified for a missionary. The idea that men of ordinary talents can do more good in a new country than in an old one, is altogether incorrect. The Holy Spirit was pleased to make use of a Paul as the chief Apostle among the Gentiles. But I refer more particularly to those societies that send out missionaries for only a few months. Ordinarily speaking, the money given to support them is lost. By the time they have entered their field, and have become so acquainted with the habits of the people, that they are qualified for usefulness, their term of service expires. No missionary succeeds them for years, and all good impressions are effaced. Thousands and thousands of dollars have been actually thrown away for want of more systematic efforts. The funds of small societies, I think, might be more usefully employed by becoming auxiliary to a parent institution. The experience of six years has fully convinced me that it does comparatively no good for a missionary to ride through a new country but once." "Every missionary should have a definite field, and should be employed for at least a year, unless he is residing upon missionary ground. And, indeed, much care should be taken to select those men that are willing to enlist for life, if there is a prospect of their being useful. Those that go among the heathen go for life, and it is a wise regulation. Domestick missionaries should have the same spirit and zeal. It is truly a strange anomaly, that missionaries should be willing to die in heathen lands for the cause of Christ, and none willing to die to promote the same glorious cause in their own. Is there no defect here? I have been led to make these remarks, because for six years past not a missionary that has visited these western states could be persuaded to locate himself in this field of usefulness. Several settlements and infant churches used their efforts to retain them, but all was in vain; it was too great a sacrifice to live in a new country, or the support that was offered them was not sufficient. This has disaffected many against eastern missionaries, and been of no small injury to many churches." "Had domestick missions been as popular and as well regulated as foreign missions, some of these young men might have tarried with us. Surely a new impulse must be given to missions, and some new mode of operation adopted, or the western part of our country must be given up to the enemy." If no other happy effects had followed the location of missionaries than what have been witnessed at Lockport, N. Y. the Trustees would be justified in steadily pursuing the same measures. We think the following letter giving an account of a revival of religion in that place, cannot but be interesting to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ. It is dated Lockport, Niagara Co. N. Y. Jan. 31, 1824. "Providence has uniformly smiled on every effort, however feeble, to promote the cause of Christ in this village. The Society is in a flourishing condition, and an unbroken chain of propitious circumstances have conspired to render it so; such as the liberality of the people in supporting the gospel, the number and character of the church collected from so many churches in this country and of Europe, the remarkable coincidence of sentiment, and warmth of brotherly love, the harmony that has without exception existed between different denominations, and above all, the precious revival of religion which we have enjoyed for the last two months, and do still enjoy." "Of this revival you will wish to have some account. About 13 months since (as an earnest of good things to come) there was a manifest reviving of the work of grace in the hearts of God's people, and they seemed for a time to be awaking to a sense of their duty, but again they 1 velapsed, and became, in the course of the summer, more stupid than ever. In the autumn, however, some individuals began, one after another, to be aroused from their criminal lukewarmness, and from the first of November up to the present time, there has been such a movement among them as I never witnessed in any church before. You will not wonder that in a place like this there should be grievous backsliders, nor that a work of God's spirit should cause such to tremble. Not only these, however, but even the most exemplary and consistent professors have been shaken and sifted. Many of them have been thrown into darkness for days, and finally have experienced light and joy which resembled the exercises of a new convert in his earliest love." "If we could say nothing more of this revival than of its effects in the church, and among backsliders that had never before united with us, it has produced such unity and brotherly affection, and such an increase of prayer, and of effort of prayer, and of effort for Zion's prosperity, as would lay us under everlasting obligations to the God of all grace. But this is not all. There is a great excitement among impenitent sinners. We have heard and do still hear persons inquiring what they should do to be saved. We have heard of ten in a week, for the first time, venturing to express a hope that their peace was made with God. And we now hear them pray, and hear them tell to others what God has done for their souls. Blessed are the eyes that see those things which we see." "I have not room to go into particulars, but I would mention that two individuals have publickly renounced infidel principles, which they once embraced; nor must I omit to note that God has put the seal of his approbation on the Sabbath School, in which three teachers and at least twelve scholars are already indulging the hope of pardon.-Weekly meetings for prayer and conference are held by the brethren of the church in four school districts from two to five miles round us, and these have already been crowned with a blessing in extending the good work of grace. We cherish a confident expectation that this work of the Spirit of God will spread into the little churches about us, and that this wilderness will soon bud and blossom as the rose. effected by the pecuniary aid of which you are the almoners. The debt of gratitude due from this people, to the Society, will not soon be cancelled." any In closing our remarks, we would express a hope that the subject of assigning to Missionaries more limited fields of action will occupy the most serious attention of those to whom is committed the management of our Missionary Societies. We know it is next to impossible for Board of Trustees to satisfy all who may request their aid. But the difficulty which this consideration may occasion, will, in a great degree, vanish when they remember that they are not appointed to office to meet the wishes of every one, but faithfully and sacredly to appropriate to the best of their judgment the monies which have been intrusted to them for the support of the gospel among the destitute. Let no man shrink from the responsibility of performing his duty, whatever may be the result to himself. Should this course be undeviatingly pursued, we believe that in a few years would be difficult for a person to pass through new villages and towns which are constantly rising up, without being able to point at some neat places of worship, and saying, these edifices owe their existence, and these churches their prosperity to the timely and liberal aid of Societies which are established for the support of Domestick Missions. LITERARY NOTICES. it Lincoln & Edmands' Pronouncing Bible. We have lately examined with You have probably received our tribpeculiar pleasure a new and steute of thanksgiving,' ($20) and I mention this, in connection with the forego-reotyped edition of the Bible from ing, as we cherish the hope that soon we the press of Lincoln & Edmands. shall be able to refund all the money As a specimen of typography it paid by your Board, which will show not only that we have not forgotten our ben- may be ranked with the neatest efactors, but also how much good may be works of its kind, and is, in every respect creditable to American art. || duity and accurateness, been done But its special excellence consists in this, that it renders the Bible a standard of pronunciation. Where it is probable any mistake could occur, both the proper and common names are accented, the power of the vowel sounds marked, and the proper names are, to prevent the possibility of error, divided into syllables. Besides this, where an unusual word occurs, its sound is expressed at the foot of the page. And while all this is done with the most commendable minuteness, the page is not in the least disfigured, but is, on the contrary, remarkably beautiful. The usefulness of such a work must appear to every one. No book is so much read as the Holy Scriptures, and none in ordinary circulation contains so great a number of proper names. Hence to read it acceptably, either in the family or the pulpit, the assistance of an arrangement of this sort is particularly needed. When audiences are at all critical, we have frequently known a minister of respectable attainments establish a character for decided ignorance by two or three gross errors in pronunciation. By the use of such an edition as this, this evil at least would be prevented. But it is not ministers alone to whom this work may be of decided advantage. To pronounce one's own language barbarously is always considered a manifest proof either that our early education has been neglected, or that we have not been accustomed to associate with well informed men. Either of those stigmas we all desire to avoid, but we are not all willing to search out from Walker's Dictionary every word concerning whose pronunciation we stand in doubt. To all such persons, and we know not but we should rank ourselves among their number, it may be consoling to reflect that this work has, with great assi already for them by Mr. Alger, the editor of the Pronouncing Bible. The Scriptures contain probably all the words employed in ordinary conversation, and being familiar with these, we may be assured that our pronunciation will never be grossly incorrect. As a family Bible it seems to us peculiarly calculated for usefulness. If read with any attention it will of course form the ears of the whole family circle to correct orthoepy. To foreigners its value must be almost inestimable. We sincerely hope that both the editor and the publishers may meet with that encouragement which the utility of their work so manifestly deserves. Fuller's Works. Our readers will be gratified to learn through the medium of our pages that the last seven volumes of the works of Rev. Andrew Fuller have lately issued from the press of S. Converse, N. Haven. The whole edition is uniform with the first volume printed some time since, by Anderson & Meehan, Philadelphia. To remark upon the excellence of the works of Fuller would be superfluous. Most of them have, in separate volumes, gone through several editions, and have had a marked and most benign effect on the theology of the age. They abound with sound doctrinal truths, plain pungent, and irresistible practical exhortation; and what is of special consequence, are in a peculiar manner applicable to the errors and failings of the present time. For the benefit of those of our readers who have not had an opportunity of seeing the whole works of Mr. Fuller, or of knowing the variety of subjects to which they are devoted, we will barely mention the contents of the present edition. |