66 Her activity and usefulness among the poor, and in the societies connected with this congregation, are well known; so is the sincerity of her friendship. Her qualities as a parent and a wife were of that order as to make her loss incalculable. The last time she was in this place of worship is a month to-day, when the Rev. Mr. Hunt delivered a discourse from this text; a word spoken in due season, how good is it!" Some of his observations appeared to be preparing the church for affliction and trials; and he endeavoured to show, that a word spoken in due season might be the means of their sanctifica tion. The fifth consideration was a word in due season to him who is mourning, under the bereaving stroke of Divine Providence. He said there was something very solemn and affecting in the sight of a coffin that contained a pale, breathless corpse, motionless and speechless; that the young might die before the aged, and how important it was to have their lamps trimmed and their lights burning, and to be ready to meet the Bridegroom whenever the summons came; adding, "Be faithful unto death, and ye shall have a crown of life." His seventh consideration was a word in due season to the dying saint, and the preacher quoted the following passage: "Blessed are the dead, that die in the Lord, from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labours and their works do follow them." His observations, also, of children bereft of their parents, were very remarkable. The deceased heard this discourse with great interest, and spoke of it with decided approbation; but little — ah! little did she think, that within twelve hours a disease would attack her that would prove mortal. Early on the following morning medical advice was called in; but the constant attendance of two physicians, and of her regular medical adviser, was not able to arrest the progress of her disorder, which soon brought on premature labour and a raging fever. In this state she lingered three weeks, and then fell asleep in Jesus, on Sabbath morning, the 9th of October, at ten minutes before eight o'clock. Her disorder produced insensibility, delirium, and insanity; but, through Divine mercy, she had lucid intervals, and then she loved to speak of the preciousness of Christ to her soul; on one occasion she exclaimed, "Other refuge have I none, Much of her time was occupied in repeating hymns from different authors, which seemed to describe her situation; among which were "Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to thy bosom fly," &c. ""Tis a point I long to know, Oft it causes anxious thought," &c. The night before she died, she said to her now bereaved partner, "My dear, what should I do now, what should I do now, without an interest in Christ? Oh, what a mercy I have not it now to seek!" Her speech failed about midnight, and she dozed the remainder of the night. About six o'clock her breathing became more embarrassed and slow, till ten minutes before eight, when she breathed her last without a struggle or a sigh, and her happy spirit winged its flight to eternal happiness; while her bereaved partner, in the act of devotion, was calling upon God to receive her spirit. Thus died Maria Hadlow, a member of this church, in her thirty-third year, leaving her partner and six children to deplore her loss. May they have the benefit of your prayers, and may this awful event be sanctified to this church and congregation, that the death of one may prove the life of many. MRS. BECK. Died, on the 8th instant, Mrs. Ann Beck, aged nearly 77 years, wife of the Rev. Thos. Beck, Deptford. MRS. ADEY. Died, on Lord's-day, Nov. 27, 1831, Mary, the beloved wife of the Rev. J. Adey, of Ramsgate, and only daughter of the late Rev. E. J. Jones, minister of Islington and Silver Street chapels. This amiable and pious female was the subject of most severe afflictions, which she bore with almost unexampled patience. For the last five years of her life she never knew one hour's cessation from pain, and during four of which she had lost the power of walking; with humble, and at seasons distressing views of her personal interest in her Saviour's love; yet was she endeared to the beloved flock of her bereaved partner for her ardent piety and unceasing exertions, even during her severe trials, to promote the prosperity of the cause of Christ. She was interred in the burial-ground of Ebenezer Chapel, Ramsgate, when the venerable Mr. Townsend, the predecessor of her beloved husband, and the Rev. Messrs. T. Kramp, J. M. Kramp, Paul, and Kempster, engaged in the service; and on the following Lord's-day her death was improved to an immense auditory, by the Rev. H. J. Rook, from Psal. cxxxix. 1, 2, 3. THOMAS HAYTER, ESQ. We have to record, with sincere regret, the death of the late Thomas Hayter, Esq., who died at his house, on Brixton Rise, on Thursday, Dec. 8th, after a long and severe affliction, under which he evinced the most exemplary patience and submission to the will of God. His hopes were fixed on the Rock of Ages, and for him to die was gain; but his family, the church of Christ at Stockwell, and the church at large, have sustained a heavy loss. We hope to be favoured with a more enlarged account of this valuable man. FOR JANUARY, 1832. LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY. Mission House, Austin Friars, December 26, 1831. THE Directors of the London Missionary Society respectfully, but earnestly, request the attention of its members and supporters to the state of the Society's income, in connexion with its operations and expenditure, as the amount of receipts for the current year, when compared with those of the same period in the past, exhibits a diminution amounting to several thousand pounds. The Directors do not regard this as an indication of declining zeal in the important work in which the Society is engaged, but of diminished ability in many of its friends to exercise their accustomed liberality. And though, on this account, the present aspect of the Society's pecuniary affairs cannot but occasion some painful solicitude, yet the Directors are not dismayed. They have endeavoured to promote, to the utmost of their ability, the great objects of the Society; and, besides the supreme encouragement they derive from the declarations of the word of God, they rely on the assurances so repeatedly given, and so uniformly confirmed, that the means required for communicating the Gospel to the nations, shall be supplied. In discharging the duties of the trust which has been confided to their hands, the Directors have endeavoured to extend and improve the systems of education pursued at several of the stations, and to supply the increased number of agents, which the measure of success attending their exertions in others has required. Operations have been vigorously renewed in one of their most important spheres of labour (the island of Madagascar), under circumstances peculiarly auspicious; assistance has been rendered to a number of missionaries' families who have returned to this country; and fifteen individuals, including children, have been sent out, either to re-occupy their former stations, or strengthen those enfeebled by death, or by the pressure of augmented duties; besides which, equipment and passages have been provided for eight others, who are expected to embark in the course of the ensuing month. These, and other important engagements, have occasioned an expenditure exceeding that which occurred during a corresponding period of the past year. When intelligence of evident indications that the Most High was about to bless, in a more abundant degree, the efforts of the missionaries, has arrived, and when the Directors have received the applications of holy, devoted, and suitable men, to be educated and sent forth, to fill the places of those who had been removed by death, or to occupy important stations of usefulness, they have been constrained to proceed beyond the limits which a regard exclusively to the amount of contributions would perhaps have justified. In this they confidently anticipate the entire approval of the members of the Society in general; for they cannot forget the generous efforts that have been heretofore made, with cheerfulness and promptitude, when required by the exigencies of the Society. The Directors are deeply sensible that the times are not favourable to an increase of contributions; but they are at the same time forced to believe, that there are numbers who have scarcely engaged with earnestness in the work; and many who have not yet put forth all their pecuniary strength. To the deliberate and prayerful attention of these, the diminished state of the Society's resources is especially presented as well as to the officers, collectors, and contributors, connected with the various Auxiliary Societies in town and country. The Directors feel assured that many of the devoted members and friends of the Society need only to be made acquainted with its necessities, in order to ensure a larger measure of support; and, having discharged a duty, which the peculiar circumstances of the Society rendered necessary, they rely, under God, on the zeal and devotedness of their constituents, to prevent the necessity of relinquishing any of the stations already occupied, to enable them to reinforce others in which painful bereavements have occurred, and to maintain, with vigour and efficiency, their operations on the present scale, till all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God. VOL. X. E Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the Funds of this Society will be thankfully received by the Treasurer or Secretaries, at the Mission House, 26, Austin Friars, London; in Edinburgh, by Mr. George Yule; in Glasgow, by Mr. William M'Gavin ; and in Dublin, by Messrs. J. D. La Touche and Co., or at 7, Lower Abbey-street. SOUTH SEAS. TAHITI. In the early part of the present year serious differences arose between the Queen of Tahiti and the hereditary chiefs of the island, which threatened the most calamitous results; the parties had taken arms, and an open rupture was daily apprehended. At this critical juncture, Captain Sandiland, of his H. M. ship, Comet, who had been dispatched from New South Wales to remove the inhabitants of Pitcairn's Island to Tahiti, arrived, and promptly used his endeavours, by means of the missionaries, to effect a reconciliation, which being subsequently accomplished, he was made acquainted with the same. In reply he addressed to the missionaries the following letter, equally honourable to his integrity and good feeling, and affording the most satisfactory reputation of the unfounded and injurious reports that have been circulated against the missionaries. H. M. Sloop, Comet, Papeete Bay, April 4th, 1821. GENTLEMEN, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your esteemed letter, of the 2nd instant. I very sincerely congratulate you upon the amicable arrangements which have been so openly declared between Queen Pomare and the chiefs of this island; and that thereby the evils and horrors of a civil war have been prevented. Gentlemen, I return you my most cordial expression of thanks for the promptitude with which you were pleased to make known my sentiments, to the queen and her chiefs, upon the existing differences, in which I had the happiness to concur with you all; and if they were received with respect, I must sincerely ascribe it much more to the intelligence and ability displayed by you at so momentous and interesting a time, than to any intrinsic merit that my proposals possessed; and it is a circumstance affording me the highest satisfaction, to observe the great estimation you are all held in by the queen and her chiefs, which could not have been obtained but by a faithful discharge of your duties, as ministers of Christ and teachers of our holy religion; and it will be peculiarly gratifying to me to make known these circumstances most fully to those authorities whom it is my duty to inform of this transaction. Gentlemen, I am joined by my officers and Captain Walpole, of H. M. 39th regiment, in offering to you every expression of our respect and esteem. ALEXANDER A. SANDILAND, Captain. ULTRA GANGES. MALACCA. Extracts of a Letter from Rev. Samuel Kidd, dated Singapore, 7th March, 1831; addressed to the Secretaries. DEAR SIRS, You will perceive by the date of this letter that I am at present at Singapore. I came hither a short time ago for the purpose of reestablishing my health by temporary relaxation from duty. Although fully occupied with the ordinary labours of the station at Malacca (being there alone), suffering too from anxiety of mind respecting my beloved family, and for five months having to perform the additional duties of chaplain to the settlement, which included an English service once on the Sabbath, I yet enjoyed uninterrupted health and strength, till the commencement of the present year, when I experienced a rather severe fit of epilepsy. This took place the latter end of January I sent immediately for the doctor, who bled me very copiously, and administered several strong doses of calomel. By these means, under the blessing of God, I recovered from the attack in about ten days; and the present being the usual season of recess, both in the schools and at the college, I embraced the opportunity of visiting Singapore, with a view to recruit my spirits and invigorate my health. Both these objects having been obtained through the aid of my kind friend, Mr. Burn, under whose hospitable roof I am sojourning, I am now about to return to Malacca. My recent attack of illness, admonishes me to be extremely cautious of exposure to the sun, because I have reason to believe it was brought on by a little imprudence in this respect. Baptism and Death of a Malay. Mr. Hughes, as he has already informed you, arrived at Malacca towards the latter end of November, in good health, and is now prosecuting his Malayan studies. I am happy to find that the Malayan mission is about to be revived under favourable circumstances. In the beginning of last year I baptized a poor Malay, who had been a slave. He was defective in knowledge, but apparently sincere. He professed a conviction of his own sinfulness, his He had entire dependance on the merits of Christ for salvation, and an earnest desire to be admitted into the visible church of Christ by baptism. His bodily frame being very weak (for he was then exceedingly ill), I could not enjoy so frequent opportunities of conversing with him as I wished. After conveying what instruction I could, under the peculiar circumstances of his case, I thought it right to baptize him, and administered the ordinance to him on the 14th of March. No opportunity offered for ascertaining the sincerity of his profession by the consistency of his conduct, for he died a short time subsequently, and I interred him in the Protestant burial-ground. But though the satisfaction which is reasonably required of candidates for baptism was not afforded in this case, there were certain indications of disposition, and a peculiarity about his circumstances, which made him an object of the best hopes, as well as of great interest, to me. considerable instruction from my late friend, Mr. Collie, together with his other domestics; and I remember Mr. Collie informed me, that when he first conversed with him, he appeared to have no idea of a future state, or even that he had a soul, but supposed, as he himself expressed the sentiment, that when he died he should fade away like a leaf, and be no more. His mind was evidently of the feeblest class, and must, therefore, have been considerably excited by the truths of the gospel, to have exhibited such a decided change of thought and feeling as was manifest at the time he voluntarily solicited baptism. But adult heathen, even with the best opportunities of acquiring knowledge, and seconded by a disposition to improve them, must still be regarded as babes in learning, and the Christian missionary has frequent occasion to apply to himself the admonition of the Saviour-Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones. Conversation on Christianity with a Chinese. In my own department (the Chinese) my duties have been carried on much as usual. A short time ago I had an interesting conversation with the principal Chinaman at Malacca. He and two or three friends were celebrating the birth-day of an ancient Chinese worthy in the temple, where I accidentally met them. It being the Sabbath-day, I commenced the conversation by explaining the nature and obligations of this ancient and sacred institution. I then proceeded to show the design of the Saviour's coming into the world; and that since it was to save all nations, it was, therefore, both the interest and the duty of every man, whether Englishman or Chinaman, to receive the truths, and obey the precepts, of the gospel. To this my opponent objected, saying that each nation embraced the tenets of its own peculiar teacher that Jesus was a Sage whom the western nations properly followed, and that the Chinese were equally justified in the preference which they gave to the doctrines of Confucius-that all my system was to be found in the "Kong Kam," an outline of Chinese history, which he supposed I had not read. To this I replied, that there had been many great men in the west quite equal to Confucius, but that none of them were regarded as a SAVIOUR; that the object of Confucius, according to his own acknowledgment, was merely to give instruction in matters relating to this present life; but that Jesus Christ came, not only to teach men the proper duties of morality, in which he excelled all other teachers, but also to inculcate lessons of piety, and to inform men respecting a future state; that his doctrines pre-supposed all men to be in a guilty sinful state, and exposed to everlasting misery after death; that He himself came to make atonement for their sins, and save them from eternal death: He was, therefore, not only a teacher of good doctrines, but a deliverer from sin and misery: He was, moreover, the Son of God, and possessed the Divine as Iwell as the human nature, and, in these respects, infinitely surpassed all human instructors. This led me to explain the nature of the atonement, and other doctrines connected with it, such as the pardon of sin, regeneration, and sanctification. And this is my usual practice in all my religious intercourse with the heathen; I endeavour to give them a connected view of the doctrines of the gospel, and then appeal to their own consciousness of sin, and the consequent necessity of some atonement-points which they will sometimes concede; I then urge that if they deem themselves impure and imperfect, what must they be in the sight of God, who is omniscient and perfectly holy; for if our own heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. On the Doctrine of the Atonement. The sect of Fuh, to which the Chinese of Malacca chiefly belong, maintain that sin may be expiated by reciting a number of pages of some sacred classic. But their notions of the real evil of sin are so loose and vague, as almost to nullify the necessity of an atonement. I endeavoured, in the present instance, to explain the substitution and sacrifice of Christ for sinners, by supposing a case in which a slave had offended his master, and was doomed to suffer the punishment of death, but that his master's son, by his own voluntary act, interposed his life to save the offender, and that the father was pleased to accept the voluntary death of the son as an adequate satisfaction for the offence of the slave. I asked my auditor what term he would employ to convey such an idea; he instantly replied, "Siik." This is the word which is generally made use of by the Chinese, both in writing and speaking, to denote the Atonement. But as they cannot be supposed to understand the evangelical meaning of this and other religious terms, I often inquire of them, after having explained the sentiment, how they would express it; by this means my knowledge of their language, and their acquaintance with my doctrine, are mutually improved. It was gratifying to me to perceive that he comprehended the import of the term, and was at least acquainted with the only adequate illustration of it. Female Schools at Malacca-Distribution of the Scriptures, &c. The female schools at Malacca were going on well when I last saw them. The Malay school numbered about forty girls; the Chinese about twenty, and the Kling eighteen. Miss Wallace superintends them very diligently, and they do her great credit. During Mr. Tomlin's sojourn at Malacca he distributed many tracts and portions of Scripture among the Chinese, the Malays, and the Klings, in their respective languages. There has lately been a great demand for Malay Scriptures, which continued till the time of my departure from Malacca. The Chinese and Malays, and the Klings who read Tamil, came in great numbers almost daily. Several copies of the Arabic Testament were also distributed, together with the Malayan Scriptures, amongst persons going to Palembang, Sourabaya, and other places in Java and Sumatra. Encouraging State of the Mission. Upon a review of the mission during the past year, it is with considerable pleasure I feel enabled to state that it has assumed a more decidedly favourable aspect than heretofore. Knowledge is evidently on the increase; more just views of divine truth are entertained; suspicion and distrust are giving place to confidence, and the former death-like stillness, in regard to spiritual things, is now, in some degree, superseded by a spirit of inquiry and fixed attention, so much so that my mind is often refreshed rather than otherwise, by my visits to the people. (Signed) SAMUEL KIDD. EAST INDIES. CALCUTTA. Extracts of a Letter from Rev. George Gogerly, dated Calcutta, April 23, 1831, addressed to the Secretaries. Further Particulars respecting the Death of Rev. John Adam. REV. AND DEAR SIRS, It is with feelings of unfeigned sorrow that I fulfil the painful duty, assigned me by the brethren, of informing you that death has again entered our circle, and removed from us one of the brightest ornaments of the Calcutta Mission. Our dearly beloved brother Adam is no more! On Wednesday, the 13th instant, he attended the anniversary meeting of the Bengal Auxiliary Missionary Society, in Union chapel, and took a part in the services of the evening. At that time he complained of being rather unwell; but not considering the symptoms to be such as to warrant any relaxation in his duties, the next day he went to Gungree (the station to which he had just been appointed) with an intention of remaining there that night; but finding himself rather worse in the afternoon, he returned to Kidderpore and called in medical aid. Dr. Twining, on his arrival, declared his case to be one of severe bilious fever, and immediately took from him about forty-eight ounces of blood. The day folle wing, the fever continuing to rage, leeches were applied to his temples and his side, his head was shaved, and various other remedies applied, which seemed for a time to check the progress of the disease; but it shortly after assumed a more decided aspect-delirium ensued, and continued with him till Thursday morning, the 21st instant, when he fell asleep in Jesus. The body, at the request of the doctor, and with the consent of the brethren, was opened, and the liver, which at the commencement of the attack was very much enlarged, had resumed its proper size; but on inspecting the brain several small bladders were found, which the two medical gentlemen present declared to have been the cause of his death, and they imagined the injury which the brain had sustained was occasioned by exposure to the sun. Mr. Adam was one of the most devoted missionaries that ever laboured in Bengal. His views of the ministerial office were enlarged and correct. Having devoted himself to the service of God among the heathen, he considered every moment sacred to the great and important work in which he was hence he so combined his active engaged; labours with his private studies that, whether at home or abroad, his mind was always fully bent on either acquiring or communicating knowledge. Difficulties which had appalled many seemed to fly before him, and with a steady pace he perseveringly pursued those plans which he had proposed for the promotion of God's glory in the world. As a pri vate Christian he constantly adorned the doctrine of Jesus Christ; his religion was of no ordinary kind-it entered into all the circumstances of his life, and affected every action which he performed. His knowledge of biblical criticism was so extensive (considering his age) that it was always profitable to be in his company; and had his life been spared there is no doubt he would have turned that knowledge to good account in undertaking fresh translations of the word of |