The obituary of Mr. Cooke contains an inaccuracy, as to the time of Mr. Hawksworth's decease, that exemplary minister having died long after Mr. Golding's residence at Wem. But that is of no moment compared with the one which I have felt it my duty thus to notice; and which I shall ever regret should, by means of your widely circulated Miscellany, have tended to injure, so extensively, the good name of an eminent servant of God; one, indeed, whom his friend and tutor, Dr. Doddridge, usually called "the unparralleled ;" and who, for his piety and talent, was well styled, when he sometimes preached at Broad Oak, Henry the Third.

I remain, dear Sir,

Yours sincerely,

JOHN BICKERTON WILLIAMS.

The Crescent, Shrewsbury,

Sept. 3, 1838.

N. B. The writer of Mr. Cooke's obituary did, in a late number of the Magazine, in the form of an erratum, correct the mistake animadverted upon by our highly esteemed friend Sir John Bickerton Williams; but as the mistake was calculated to give pain where none was intended, we have thought it right to admit Sir John's valuable communication.

PROVINCIAL.

CONGREGATIONAL SCHOOL, LEWISHAM. The annual examination of the children in this establishment took place on Wednesday, 27th of June last, before the Rev. Drs. Halley and Henderson, of Highbury College. Although the weather proved rather unfavourable, a numerous company of subscribers and friends assembled, and appeared highly gratified. Master Thomas Islip, of Stamford, Lincolnshire, (one of the boys leaving the school,) read an essay which was greatly admired, as affording hope of future attainments; and the pupils (of whom there were forty,) were very suitably addressed, on the distribution of the prizes, by Dr. Halley, and Choo Tih Lang, the Chinese convert, who was present, and appeared greatly interested with the exercises of the day.

The following is the Report of the Examiners

"The undersigned, having conducted the examination of the pupils in the Congregational School, have much pleasure in bearing testimony to the proficiency of the scholars and assiduity of the masters of that institution. The instruction, both literary and religious, has been communicated in such a manner as should secure the confidence of the subscribers in the present arrangements of the school.

After a prolonged and careful inquiry into various de

partments of education, the examiners are enabled to congratulate the friends of the establishment upon the satisfactory and promising position in which it is now placed."

VILLAGE OF BRILL.

The romantic village of Brill, in Buckinghamshire, has lately attracted a measure of public attention, by the discovery of a spa in the immediate neighbourhood, ascer tained to possess important medicinal qualities. So highly are they approved and recommended by the profession, that an elegant pump-room has been erected, and commodious baths fitted up, for the accommodation and benefit of visitors.

The interest thus excited has led to inquiry respecting the nature and extent of the existing means of spiritual instruction. The village and neighbourhood have been visited, by some gentlemen connected with North Buckinghamshire Association of Congregational churches, for the purpose of personal investigation. It was found that in addition to a population of one thousand three hundred persons in Brill, there are six villages, within a very limited circumference, containing more than two thousand inhabitants. Painfully and deeply impressed with the necessity for immediate exertion, they not only resolved, but acted. At the suggestion of the valuable treasurer to the association, measures were taken to secure a plot of freehold ground, most eligibly situated, then on sale: he having liberally declared his intention of paying the purchase money, and assigning it to trustees, as the first step towards the erection of a house for God. This has been done, and on a report to that effect being made to the committee of the before-mentioned association, they voted a grant of twenty pounds towards the object. It is proposed by a committee appointed for the purpose, to commence building a place for Divine worship, forty feet in length, by twenty-four in breadth, the estimated cost of which, together with the usual appendages of conveyance, fencing, &c., will be about 4007. The land will also afford a burialground of some extent. To accomplish this, pecuniary contributions are needed, and it is with a view to obtain these, the foregoing statements are presented to the religious public.

Donations will be thankfully received by Rev. D. W. Aston, Buckingham; Rev. T. P. Bull, Newport Pagnell; Rev. W. Gunn, Aylesbury; Mr. James Jones, Marsh Gibbon; G. Osborne, Esq., Newport Pagnell ; Mr. Sutton, Brill; Mr. Joseph Stuchbery, Buckingham; Rev. J. Slye, Potters Pury; and Mr. Richard Walker, jun., Chilton, near Brill.

NEW CHAPEL.

ON Tuesday, July 12, a new and respectable chapel, 42 feet by 62, with school-room adjoining, was opened in Dover, near the Castle. Numerous ministers and friends from Deal, Sandwich, Ramsgate, and Canterbury, attended. The Rev. James Stratten preached in the morning, from John iv. 24; and Dr. Reed in the evening, from Ephes. ii. 7. The devotional services were conducted by the Rev. Messrs. Vincent, James, Toomer, Rook, and Cresswell. The building was constructed by Mr. Little, of America-square, London; and its occupation for the preaching of the glorious Gospel will doubtless prove very beneficial both to the spiritual and temporal interests of this increasing town.

ON MINISTERIAL VISITS TO THE CHURCHES.

MR. EDITOR,-Dr. Redford's plan for "Preaching Tours," published in your number for August, 1837, has been carried into effect in Lancashire.

A gentleman in the neighbourhood of Bolton read the proposed plan, and applied to me to correspond with Dr Redford upon the subject, making at the same time a generous offer, that if his services could be obtained for a fornight, he would pay all expenses, and find a conveyance to conduct him comfortably through his tour. My proposal to my esteemed friend was kindly acceded to, on condition that he should select his own time. He chose the 22nd July to commence his labours. In the interval a few friends met to make arrangements for the journey, by corresponding with the ministers of those congregations to which the Doctor was to preach. He was engaged thrice on Lord's-day, July 22nd, and preached every evening from Monday to Friday, inclusive, in different places. On Saturday he rested. And on Lord's-day, July 29, he delivered two discourses in two separate chapels. The Doctor closed these services on Monday, 30th July, by preaching at a distant village in the evening, making a tour of 112 miles. On Tuesday he met a number of his brethren in the ministry, at the house of the gentleman by whose aid the object of Dr. Redford's mission was carried into effect. These three hours were spent in conversation upon the best methods of usefulness, and in devotional exercises.

Dr. Redford's discourses were distinguished by correct and plain expositions of the holy Scriptures, and with faithful and powerful appeals to the consciences of his hearers. The congregations were all respectable for numbers, and some were large; and the impressions made upon the minds of the people were deep and solemn. I have no doubt but that the Spirit of God

has communicated life and salvation to many souls.

The gentleman already alluded to was so powerfully convinced of the utility of such itinerant exertions, that he has kindly engaged to defray all expenses for a month, if some other efficient minister will undertake a like labour of love.

There are many good men connected with our denomination who have the means of assisting our brethren in the ministry thus to labour for the conversion of sinners to Christ. May they be influenced by the example of Mr. George Barnes !

Believe me, yours truly, Bolton, Aug. 3, 1838. W. JONES.

ASSOCIATION.

THE next half-yearly meeting of the Wilts and East Somerset Associated Ministers and Churches, will be held at the Rev. J. E. Trevor's chapel, Wilton, on Thursday, the 4th of Oct. The Rev. Mr. Harris, of Westbury, morning preacher.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE CONGREGATIONAL

ASSOCIATION.

The Gloucestershire Independent Benevolent Society will meet at Gloucester, on Tuesday, October the 9th. The business of this Society will be transacted in an open committee, at four o'clock, p.m. The Rev. H. J. Roper, of Bristol, will preach in the evening.

The brethren of the association will assemble on Wednesday, October the 10th, at half-past ten o'clock, a. m., to transact the ordinary business, and also to arrange for some important evangelical operations in neglected parts of the county. The Rev. J. H. Cox, of Uley, will preach in the evening, on the immediate object and relative importance of the Atonement in the Christian scheme.

TERMINATION OF THE APPRENTICESHIP

IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES.

SINCE our last number appeared, the gratifying intelligence has reached this country that the House of Assembly of Trinidad had determined on putting an end to the apprenticeship system in that island, on the 1st of August, 1838. Thus has the boon of liberty, unqualified liberty, been extended to the whole of the British West Indies. What British Christian is there whose heart has not beat high, whose eye has not sparkled with delight, on hearing this announcement, or on reading this gratifying intelligence? We would go further and ask, What British Christian is there who has not felt his heart enlarged in gratitude, who has not lifted to heaven the voice of praise and thanksgiving on this auspicious occasion? He is utterly unworthy the name of a Briton, not to say of the denomination of a Christian, who has not approached the Divine Majesty with offerings of prayer and praise on account of his negro brethren; who has not, at this interesting period, presented his vows of increased activity in, and more persevering devotedness to, the cause of negro education, the cause of piety and religion in the West Indies.

On those estates, the Marquis of Sligo's and the Messrs. Hankey's, on which proclamation of liberty had been made to the negroes previously to the decision of the Jamaica House of Assembly, the announcement was received with the greatest tranquillity and thankfulness; and we believe the same may be said as to the negroes on all the estates which have subsequently received the heart-cheering intelligence that their liberty, after the 1st of August, had been determined upon by the local legislatures. The only island from which intelligence has been received since the 1st of August, up to the time at which we write, is Grenada. There the day passed off quietly, happily, and most appropriately. It had been kept as a day of thanksgiving; and, says the writer of a letter written after the event, "it was like the Sunday." This is as it should be, and there can be little doubt of the day having passed over tranquilly and joyfully, if not piously, in the other islands. The last West India packet, previously to our writing, brought no mail from Jamaica. Had any thing unfavourable occurred there or in any other island, however, we should certainly have received the intelligence either by ordinary or extraordi

that the blessing of liberty has been appreciated in a decorous and becoming manner? Nothing but the extravagant anticipations of guilt-engendered fear, or the wilful and wicked misrepresentations of self-interest, and sordid covetousness, could for an instant lead to apprehensions on this subject. Nature, reason, experience, and religion, all negative the painful anticipations which have been indulged or affected, and fully justify the expectation of a peaceful and happy celebration of the day. If immediate emancipation in Antigua and Bermuda occasioned no disturbance, surely gradual emancipation in the other islands, which, in preference to immediate enlargement, was SO loudly called for by the slave proprietors, need not occasion gloomy forebodings. And if the delay in conceding this boon, and the reluctance with which it has been granted, neither provoked the negroes to outrage, nor the God of the oppressed and enslaved and cruellytreated sons of Africa, to the execution of his threatened judgments, certainly no apprehensions of a painful nature need be entertained as to the results of this act of tardy justice and humanity. The bestowment of a boon, the restoration of his birthright, the abolition of a long-continued system of oppression and cruelty,-could such an occurrence excite the negro to outrage and violence? Certainly not. Or could the suspension of a course of iniquity and injustice, and inhumanity, the protraction of which had not so excited the indignation of a merciful and long-suffering God, as to bring down his immediate vengeance upon the guilty parties, be likely to occasion the execution of his judgments upon them? We trow not. Our readers therefore, should we be unable to state to them more particularly, before going to press, the happy results of the proclamation of freedom in all the colonies of Britain on the 1st of August, will be fully justified in calculating upon

them.

For the precipitation of the Abolition of the Apprenticeship, we have to thank Providence; and, under Providence, and as the means in his hands, the persevering efforts of patriotic, philanthropic, and Christian minds at home. Unhappily, we have nothing to thank the planters and proprietors of West India estates for, excepting two or three, and, of course, excluding those of Antigua and Bermuda; for they have done it, not from choice, but dire necessity; not generously and benevolently, but as a dernier resort, and as being the least of several inevitable evils. In Jamaica

the proclamation of freedom was held in one hand, while a violent and determined protest against the steps which had rendered it absolutely necessary, was exhibited in the other. Nor have we much to thank the Government for: like the planters and proprietors, they lost sight of that most important party to the contract-the negroes; and though the old system, under a new name, had been continued after the payment of £20,000,000 for its extinction, they preferred adhering to the Apprenticeship to insisting on the performance of the contract by the planters and proprietors, lest they, perchance, should be accused of its infringement.

Emancipation in our own colonies must lead, ere long, to a general abolition of slavery in both worlds. But it must also lead to the adoption of more extensive means for the promotion of a higher emancipation-an emancipation moral and spiritual. This is only an act of justice, simple justice due to the negroes from this Christian land to the slave proprietors.

We owe it now to the negroes, not only to watch over their liberties with an observant and jealous eye, and with the arm of potent benevolence stretched forth to save them from future oppression and misery, insidiously or openly attempted; but also to make them some suitable and adequate returns for the wrongs done to them, and the injuries inflicted upon them, by promoting amongst them the work of education and the cause of true religion. We owe it to the negroes, whom we have injured, to promote their intellectual, moral, and spiritual advancement. We owe it to the Supreme Being, whom we have offended by our injustice, inhumanity, and oppression, to promote his glory amongst our fellow-creatures whom we have wronged. Freedom, which has long suffered a partial eclipse in the British West Indies, but which has now burst forth in all its splendour, must not be suffered to remain alone there-it cannot remain alone there; it must be accompanied by other luminaries. Education must diffuse its light all around, and religion must cheer, and enliven, and animate, and bless the scene with its expansive, and genial, and prolific beams. The darkness of slavery was accompanied by intellectual, moral, and spiritual darkness. The former brought with it the latter, and the latter was made to justify the former; and they who pleaded, and successfully pleaded, the existence of the latter, not only in extenuation, but in justification of the former, thus possessed a most powerful motive to the discouragement and neglect of every means of instruction. Slavery, itself a work of darkness, was unfavourable and inimical to the light of truth and holiness, and its

friends and dependents hated that light, because their deeds were evil. The fear of having their deeds reproved by it was a motive for its exclusion. Now, however, freedom has opened the way for the advancement of education and Christianity. A fine field of usefulness, which is very partially occupied, has been set before us. Slavery, which obstructed our approach, has been removed out of the way, and we are bound, now that we are thus conducted and introduced by liberty, to go in and possess it without further hesitation or delay. The work of philanthropy, the work of Christian benevolence, and, we may add, the work of justice, has only commenced. They who have just been delivered from bondage to men, are still in bondage to sin and Satan. Civil emancipation should be regarded by every true Christian only as a means to an end-the moral and spiritual emancipation of those who enjoy it. The selfishness and misanthropy of man have been overcome, but Satan still triumphs. We must go on to victory; not losing the advantages already obtained, but making them subservient to the attainment of greater good-the spiritual enlargement and eternal salvation of the negro race. Civil emancipation should be the precursor of that which is moral. There is no doubt that the negroes themselves will be found ready to co-operate in this work.

"One of the most important things now remaining to be done,' says the Colonial Freeman, a paper established, in conjunction with the West Indian, for the purpose of promoting the full and legitimate enjoyment of liberty, and the general education and religious instruction of the negroes in Jamaica,-" One of the most important things now remaining to be done, and to which we hope the House of Assembly will immediately turn its attention, is the formation of schools throughout the island for the instruction of the negro children, and those of the newly liberated adults who have a desire to learn to read and write. Many, we are convinced, would most gladly give a portion of their time when it becomes entirely their own, for the purpose of learning to do that which would end to raise them in the scale of society, and increase their advantages and future hopes." We have also been assured by a gentleman, whose personal opportunities of observing and judging, and whose intelligence and benevolent dispositions qualify him to deliver an opinion, that now that the negroes receive wages, they will possess and cheerfully and readily employ the means of contributing to the support of the teachers of their choice, who minister to them in things spiritual and divine. A

sense of justice, the principle of Christian benevolence, and a hallowed zeal for the glory of God, should stimulate us to new and enlarged exertions for the spiritual advantage of the British West Indies. We have now no apology for inactivity; but, on the contrary, every motive to enterprise and persevering effort. The negroes have powerful claims upon us, and they are fit objects of benevolence, and Christian charity and zeal. That the poor have the Gospel preached to them is characteristic of Christianity. To them the Gospel is most accessible, and they have, in their temporal circumstances, the most powerful inducements to its reception, the fewest temptations to its abandonment.

Since the above was written we have re

ceived copies of the Jamaica papers referred to, and they bring intelligence fully justifying our anticipations. The 31st of July was closed, and the dawn of the 1st of August welcomed by the voice of thanksgiving and praise, in all parts of the island. The whole of the latter day was devoted to religious worship; all the places of worship being opened for divine service, and crowded with attendants. The following day was devoted to processions, public rejoicings, and the evening to fireworks, illuminations, &c.

"The day was observed," says the Colonial Freeman, "with reverence and sanctity, and solemn silence prevailed throughout the town of Kingston. With joyous and thankful hearts the people manifested their gratitude to Almighty God." Some fears were excited by the conduct of the proslavery party; but they proved to be utterly unsupported.

INDIA.

DREADFUL FAMINE IN INDIA, AND PROPOSED SUBSCRIPTION.

To the Editor of the Evangelical Magazine.

SIR,-The prevalence of an awful famine in the western Provinces of British India appears not to be sufficiently known and felt in the United Kingdom. The following extracts of Indian intelligence will show the nature and extent of this dreadful scourge, the benevolent efforts of the Government and the public in Calcutta, and the propriety of the whole empire sympathising with this visitation of Providence.

"The famine which now desolates the western Provinces has at length attracted notice in the metropolis of British India, and a vigorous effort is now made for the relief of the starving population. A meeting was held at the Town-hall in March, and a committee was appointed to raise and distribute funds to purchase food for the

aged and infirm; the infant and the female; for all, indeed, who have not strength to labour. At this meeting, Mr. Mangles detailed the exertions which had already been made by Government, to relieve this extraordinary pressure. In the first instance, revenue to the amount of 60 lakhs of rupees (£600,000) had been relinquish ed.-Secondly, orders had been issued to the public officers to grant support, through the medium of public employment, to the able-bodied. This relief was at first limited in its extent, but, as the season advanced, and the horrors of famine became more ap parent, the permission to employ the poor was enlarged to an unlimited extent. Thirdly, the most energetic measures have been taken to strengthen the police establishments, and in preventing those depredations upon the granaries, so natural to a starving popula tion, but which only served, by enhancing the price of food, to augment the general calamity. These measures have served, in some measure, to mitigate the severity of this awful visitation; but still they leave an ample field for the operation of private charity. The scenes which are described as now too common in the western Provinces, are calculated to open the coldest bosom to the call of benevolence. The heaven above is as brass, and the earth be neath as iron. The staff of life, by the mysterious dispensation of Providence, has been for a time taken away. The villages, exhausted of their supplies of food, are deserted by their starving population, who eagerly crowd into the towns, in the hope of obtaining the means of prolonging existence; and, in hundreds of instances, perish before they can reach the means of relief. The principal cities present the most gloomy spectacles, in the emaciated forms of the dead and dying. This is, of all others, an occasion which calls for the prompt and energetic exertions of those whom God has blessed with plenty. A ru pee, observes a correspondent at Agra, will keep one human being alive for a month." -East Indian Magazine, June. p. 587.

The Bengal Hurkaru, published in Cal. cutta, under date April 1, 1838, states"The most horrible accounts of the progress of the famine in the western provinces have been received. It is said that the inhabitants of Agra are denying themselves their usual evening ride, because of the intolerable effluvia arising from the dead bodies surrounding the station. A nullah or rivulet near Cawnpore is said to be actually choked with the corpses of the multitude starved to death: this, if no exaggera. tion, is a fearful picture, appealing more strongly than words can do, to the active benevolence of all who are beyond the immediate reach of the scourge."