Having stated these facts, the committee cannot but indulge the hope that the example of New-York will be followed by every city, town, and villagenot only in our own state, but throughout every part of our rapidly increasing country. Let the friends of civilization, of order, and of religion, look around them; wherever they find human beings, there are to be found objects for such an institution. Neither the sequestered village nor the populous town is exempt from poverty, vice, or irreligion. And surely the moral situation of our youth must be equally an object of anxiety and care to every lover of God and man. In proportion as vice and ignorance prevail, ruin, disorder and misrule distract every state of society. To be vicious is to be unhappy. The effect is to poison domestic enjoyments at their sources, to rend asunder the ties of nature; to sap the foundations of moral obligation; to apply the icy hand to the endearments of friendship; to paralyse the social principle; to harden the heart, and to sear the conscience against every divine admonition; and finally to unfit man for all the duties of this life, and all the happiness of

the next.

In conclusion then, the committee urge it upon every pious and benevolent man-by the love which he bears to his country, and the wishes which he entertains for its prosperity; by the abhorrence which he feels against vice, and the love he has for virtue; by his sincere attachment to that truth revealed to us by a Redeeming Saviour, and his desire to extend its blessings; by those elevating and endearing associations which he cherishes as a Christian, a parent, a magistrate, or a peaceable citizen; by all these and a thousand more considerations they call upon him to come forward in this highly interesting undertaking. Let him look at the reports of his predecessors in this glorious work, and they will read him a lesson, which will animate his soul to the most noble exertions. In those of the London Sunday School Union, in particular, he will see the system in all the beauty of its operation, and in all the maturity of its effect-he will stretch his earnest gaze to that period when the prayer of the Psalmist shall be answered to the comfort of all orders of Society, and the joy of every heart, "Rid and deliver me of strange children, that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth, and our daughters be as corner stones polished after the similitude of a palace."

By order of the Board of Officers and Committee of the New-York Sunday School Union Society.

New-York, July 29, 1816.

ELEAZAR LORD, Secretary.

**Editors of Papers generally, and of Country Papers in particular, who wish well to Sunday Schools, are requested to give the above as many insertions as they conveniently can.

FROM THE PORTLAND GAZETTE.

Study of the Scriptures. It cannot but be pleasing to religious minds to hear that the study of the Holy Scriptures is carefully attended to in the public schools in this town, and that it is promoted by rewards in Bibles from the "Eastern Society." These rewards are presented at the end of every quarter to those whom the master certifies to have paid the greatest attention thereto. Some of the last certificates state that, in the preceding quarter, the verses learnt by the students were in number as follows: viz. by one, 803; by another, 1054; by another, 1639; by another, 1693; by another, 2500; and by one as many as 3060; that many others had done well, and though they had not learnt so many verses, were well entitled to rewards: but on account of the limitation of their number, they, unfortunately, could not obtain them.

VOL. I.]

THE

Saturday, August 10, 1816.

INDIA.

[No, 20,

Extract of a letter from Mr. Fyvie.

REV. AND DEAR SIR.

Bombay, Sept. 12, 1815,

Ir will, we have no doubt, afford the Directors much pleas sure to hear of our safe arrival in this place. By the good hand of God upon us, we cast anchor in Bombay harbour, on the morning of the 9th of August, after a safe and comfortable passage from England of 15 weeks and four days, The Captain acted to us in a manner which reflects credit to himself, and which calls from us the liveliest gratitude to Jehovah, whose wisdom designed our crossing the mighty deep in his vessel. Indeed, his kindness all the way far exceeded our most sanguine expectations. The of ficers and ship's company showed us much attention. On the Sabbath we had public worship on the quarter deck. The service was conducted by reading the Scriptures, singing hymns, extempore prayer, preaching, and hearing the Gos pel. Mrs. Fyvie acted as leader in the singing part of the service. The attention which the sailors showed to the word, and the sorrow they manifested on our leaving the ship, induce us to hope that our labours, during the passage, have not been in vain in the Lord. We distributed among them several Bibles, Testaments, and a variety of other useful books of a small size; viz. Doddridge's Rise and Progress, Baxter's Call, &c, which were read often, and by many, with a considerable degree of attention. May the impres sions made prove lasting!

Our first business after landing was to call on the Governor, who received us in the most friendly manner. We delivered to him the letter the Directors sent by us. He said there was no obstacle in the way of our proceeding to Surat, as soon as a conveyance could be obtained. His Excellency reminded us of the mildness and prudence proper and necessary on the part of Missionaries, which perfectly accorded with our own sentiments, and our instructions from the Di YOL, I.-No, 20, IJ

rectors. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were favoured with a free passage in the Psyche, one of the Company's cruizers bound to Pulo Penang. The Psyche sailed from this port on the 22d of August, and was expected to arrive at Pulo Penang in less than three weeks time.

On the day that we landed, many thousands of Hindoos were assembled at a certain place to worship the snake. For this religious service they assign the following reasons: 1st. Because a snake is the bed on which their favourite god Vishnu reposes on the sea of milk: 2dly, Because they suppose that a snake sustains the earth, by putting his head under it: 3dly, and principally, Because Krishnu, one of their ten incarnations of Vishnu, in one of his adventures, fell into the mouth of a snake, and was in danger of being devoured. This threw his mother into the greatest distress; and having interceded for the life of her son, she vowed to the snake, that if he would spare him, every body should worship the snake one day in the year. About a fortnight ago, more than fifty thousand Hindoos were assembled by the sea-side, to present offerings to the vast ocean. If this ceremony were neglected, the natives would not consider it safe to sail on the Malabar coast. We have visited several of the Heathen temples since our arrival: they are in general very mean and dirtyare full of idols, many of which have a shocking appearance. Alas! what ignorance of the true God! Who does not feel bowels of compassion for such idolaters? Who would not rejoice to lay down even his life, if he might be the means of bringing a few, nay one of them, out of such amazing darkness into the light of the glorious Gospel!

Our letters of introduction have procured us many friends in this place. From them we have endeavoured to gain as much information as possible respecting Surat. But it is astonishing how little is known about it even in Bombay. The result of our inquiry is, that Surat is an immensely populous place; but no one can tell us the number of its inhabitants. The wall of the city is said to be ten miles round. Formerly it was one of the most healthy places in India; but two years ago there was a grievous famine, (occasioned by the want of rain,) throughout the Guzeratt country, and since that time Surat has been rather unhealthy; but the effects of the famine are nearly gone, and it is expected Surat will again resume its former salubrity. The languages spoken, are the Hindostanee and Guzerattee; the former by the Mahometans, and the latter by the Hindoos. As the Hindostanee is spoken by all the people in business on this coast, it would be

greatly to the advantage of Missionaries coming hither, to pay a little attention to the rudiments of this language in England. We are happy to inform the Directors, that Abdallah, our teacher at Stepney, was perfectly correct in his instruc tions; and we shall find great benefits from the little time we spent in attending to this language while in London,

FROM THE RELIGIOUS REMEMBRANCER.

THE WESLEYAN MISSION.

Extract of a Letter from Mr. Clough, one of the Missiona ries, in the Island of Ceylon, to his Brother.

Columbo, June 20, 1815.

WHEN I look round upon the poor perishing Heathen of this country, I am sometimes in the greatest distress of mind. I am persuaded that the idolatrous inhabitants of this island, only want zealous Missionaries to go among them, and preach the great truths of the Gospel. But what can five Missiona ries do in a place as large nearly as England, and the people as ignorant (almost) of Christianity as stocks and stones? It grieves me to think that I cannot preach a thousand sermons instead of one, and sometimes when I am returning home in the evening, after having preached three or four times, and have seen the effects produced, I sit down and weep, because I cannot bear to preach more. How pleasing it is to see the poor wretched people of this island, begin to discover their gods which they have been worshipping, are no gods, and to hear them crying out on every hand, "Come and show us the right way." "Let us hear more of the things you tell us." O my brother, if my bones were brass, and my flesh iron, I would not cease to teach and preach both day and night!

I think I mentioned in my last the probability of my leav ing Point-de-Galle very soon; accordingly when Mr. and Mrs. Harvard came from Bombay, where we left them on account of Mrs. Harvard's approaching confinement, he was requested by government to fix his residence at Columbo, and I was requested by my Missionary brethren to join him there. Columbo is the capital of this island. The Governor has his residence here, and all the principal gentlemen of the settlement also. And I should suppose that in the Fort, and what is called the Pettah, i. e. houses in the outside of the Fort, there are five or six times as many inhabitants as in Bradford, but they are composed of almost every nation of men under the heavens! The English gentlemen principally reside in the Fort, or else two or three miles in the country. But we

took up our residence in the centre of the Pettah, as we thought it most consistent with our Missionary views. And I am happy to say, that God has so wonderfully opened our way, and given us favour in the estimation of the people, that we have every possible kindness shown us by persons of all nations and ranks, from his Excellency the Governor, down to the naked Cingalese! these are mercies that call loudly for gratitude to the Giver of every good gift. And, O my brother, I hope you will give, nay, I entreat you, to assist us in giving God the praise. You will no doubt be surprised, when you hear that we are going to build a neat Methodist chapel, the first that ever was built in India. It will cost, according to the present calculation, about 7000 rix dollars; we have already begged 6000 towards it! and believe we shall clear the whole of the expense. It will be built upon the plan of the New Chapel at Liverpool. It will be 20 yards long, 14 broad, and we suppose there will be sittings for about 6 or 700 people; we are building also a dwelling house close to it. We shall also have a printing-office, and a large school-house, in which we intend to teach school.

If an angel from heaven had appeared to me on the voyage, and said we should have had the openings that now present themselves in so short a time, I could hardly have credited him. Surely we may say, what hath God wrought! The Pay-master General of the forces in this island, a gentleman of great rank, has given us a large room in his apartments to preach in, until our new chapel be built, and it is well attended. I have got about 20 fine boys, and taught them to sing, and the manner in which they sing has surprised almost every one. They are going next Monday to sing before his Excellency the Governor, and Lady Brownrigg, and the civil and military gentlemen in the settlement; at which time, the Hon. and Rev. T. J. Twisleton will deliver an occasional sermon. I am sorry I must omit a thousand things which I should like to mention. We have the most pleasing prospects in the country for about 15 miles round Columbo. All we want is more of the Life of God in our souls, and plenty of Holy sealous Missionaries.

141

Extract of a Letter from Mr. George Erskine, to the Missionary Committee; dated Galle, Island of Ceylon, East Indies, August 1, 1815.

HERE, as at all the other stations, we have abundance of work, having more than 40 children under our care learning the