these distant regions, and were left to go astray like sheep without a shepherd. He laboured also as a Missionary; seeking for and taking advantage of every possible opportunity of making Christ known to the multitudes around him, who were without the light of the Holy Scriptures, and living without God and

without hope in the world. Thanks be to God, for having sent the Message of Mercy by him, and for every blessing with which He was pleased to crown the labours of His servant! of this many instances are to be seen; and, in the Great Day, many more will, no doubt, appear, to the glory of God and of the Lamb.

United Kingdom.

LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

THE following remarks, equally applicable to the Missions and Friends of other Institutions, appear in a late Number of the Society's Official Publication, on the

Importance of Specific Prayer, in succession, for the Society's several Missions.

It has been suggested to us, as highly important and desirable, that, at the Monthly Missionary Prayer-Meetings, held in connexion with the Society, the particular Missions under its patronage should, successively and distinctly, form the special subjects of supplication or thanksgiving, as the case may be, at such Meetings; though not so as to exclude the usual petitions, and devout expressions of grateful acknowledgment, on behalf of the Society's Missions in general, and those of Kindred Institutions.

44

As we cordially concur in this suggestion, we have, in the present Number, brought, and purpose, in succeeding Numbers of the Missionary Chronicle," to bring, under the attention of our Christian Friends some One Mission of the Society, in particular; with a brief statement of the actual circumstances and prospects of such Mission, so far as we may be enabled to ascertain the same from the more recent intelligence received respecting it. But although, in giving from time to time such notices, we purpose to proceed through the whole of the Mission Stations connected with the Society, and afterward to repeat the circuit, it is not intended to do so on the principle of unbroken succession; as it is obvious that peculiar circumstances of affliction or peril, difficulty or retrogression, on the one hand, or remarkable mercies or success, on the other, might render it highly desirable and suitable that the most promi

nent place, in the supplications or thanksgivings of the evening, should be given to some particular Mission or Missions which might not stand next in any fixed order of arrangement or succession.

The precepts of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and the examples of the Apostles and Primitive Christians, in regard to the promised and expected efficacy of believing and united prayer for specific blessings, on special occasions, when the parties are agreed as to the legitimate object, and harmonize in the evangelical spirit of their supplications,

seem to be a sufficient warrant for our submitting the suggestion in question to the attention of our Christian Brethren, and, at the same time, to form a powerful argument in favour of it.

It may, however, be proper to observe, that wherever the assembly is usually so composed, of persons of different communions, as to render it probable that the giving constant prominency to the Missions of one Society in particular might tend, in the smallest degree, to impair the spirit of Christian Union subsisting among them, or diminish the religious harmony of the Services, it would be expedient and desirable that the plan above suggested should not be adopted.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN SCHOOL SOCIETY.

THE Report of a School established at Denham furnishes the following illustration of the

Tendency of British Schools to prevent Pauperism and Crime.

The School at Denham was opened on the 21st of September, 1826; on which day 62 boys were admitted: by the next week the number increased to 82, and subsequently to nearly 100. Of these, five only were able to read the Scriptures: five had been put to writing: three only had made any progress in

:

Arithmetic so many as 31 boys were quite unacquainted with the letters of the Alphabet, and the remainder knew it very imperfectly. But at a recent examination, 51 boys could read the Scriptures; 43 could work with considerable ease the common arithmetical rules; and 68 were able to write on slate and paper. Since the commencement, many boys have finished their education, and have entered into menial situations of various kinds; and, from accounts received, and from our own observation on those settled around us, we are satisfied that our endeavours have not been in vain, and that our School has been of considerable use to the several parishes from whence the children have come. The Boys have generally turned out more industrious and attentive, more civil and obliging in their manners, more easily understand their duty, and are more ready in the execution of it, than those who have not had the advantage of such an education; and who, too often, for want of that elevation of the mind and character which such a School as ours is calculated to give, have neither spirit to excite them to the acquiring, nor frugality to direct them in the economizing, of the means of independence, and have fallen into an inveterate habit of claiming support from the parisha habit not less ruinous to themselves, than to those who are obliged to supply them.

The Master keeps a Sunday School for those Boys whose parents are Members of the Church of England; the consequence of which has been, that a large number of Boys have attended the Sunday School and their Place of Worship, who used to spend the Sabbath Day in roaming about the fields and lanes, committing various depredations on the property of others.

Object of Mr. Poynder's Motion on the

Pilgrim Tax in India. In reference to Mr. Poynder's Motion in the Court of Proprietors at the East-India House, on the 22d of September, on the subject of the Pilgrim Tax, he has given, in a Letter to the Editor of the Asiatic Journal, the following statement of the object of his Motion :

The Motion only asked the single renunciation, on our parts, of an indefensible source of revenue; and this from

a conviction, founded on the clearest evidence-first, that Christians, who knowingly maintain and abet the worship of Idols, are deeply responsible before God for the abuse of their superior light and privileges-and, secondly, that the Heathen Temples, if left to their own unassisted resources and to the bad management of their priesthood, would gradually sink in the esteem of their deluded votaries, and eventually give way before the influence of that brighter and better system, which is now provided by our National Church.

If the reasoning, more fully detailed in the Speech to which I referred, can be repelled by reasoning, the Country expects and requires that it should be so refuted.... Either the burning of the female sex for the emolument of the Brahmins, and the taxation of Heathens of both sexes for the emolument of the Proprietors of East-India Stock, are matters which can be vindicated before a Christian Nation, or they cannot. If such praetices can be justified upon any principles of true religion or sound logic, let the arguments adduced by me, and the evidence on which those arguments are built, be honestly met and answered. If they cannot, the sooner such evils are abandoned, the more creditable will it be to Christian England, and the more advantageous to her Indian Subjects-the more honourable will it be to the superior light which a Revelation from Heaven has shed upon our land, and the more subversive of that religion of falsehood and impurity, which is from beneath, and which has only HIM for its author, who is designated, in the Scriptures of Truth, as the father of lies, and a murderer from the beginning.

To 83 Children at School or Trades...... Missionaries still engaged in service in Europe.. Sundries...

......

s. d. 700 16 1

92 11 9

907 10 4

1518 4 0 494 14 3 575 13 4

56 19 1 747 7 1 624 8 5

6185 19 6

844 11 3 359 19 9

1289 11 8

200 0 0 605 4 1 Total...£.9485 6 3

To the balance of 1435l. 1s. 5d. remaining in hand on account of the separate "West-India Fund," the sum of 11757. 12s. 8d. was added during the year: the sum of 25891. 18s. 3d. has been expended in the repairs of the Church at St. John's, Antigua; and for the Mission Premises at Irwin Hill and New Car

mel, in Jamaica. The Balance in hand is, therefore, now reduced to 201. 15s. 10d.

In the "West-India-School Fund," the Receipts of the Year were 5661. 178. 2d.; and the Payments 5741. 13s. 5d.; reducing the previous

Balance of 538l. 10s. to 530l. 138. 9d. now in hand.

Summary View of the Missions for 1829.

Our Missionary Work has proceeded with great activity during the year 1829. Nine Brethren and two Sisters have been called to enter upon it: five Brethren and two Sisters have finished their course with joy, of whom the majority were in the prime of life, and afforded the best promise of future usefulness.

South Africa-The fields are indeed white to the harvest. The numerous Hottentot Congregation at Gnadenthal continues to be a light unto all around, by the exemplary walk of the generality of its members. The poor patients in the Leper Hospital still mourn over the loss which they sustained by the sudden removal of Br. P. Leitner to eternal rest. The little Colony, collected together in the Tambookie Country from various Jan. 1831.

Danish West-Indies-In this, our oldest Mission, a revival of spiritual life has been observable during the year; although, among the 10,000 Negroes who make a profession of faith in Christ, there are still too many, of whom it cannot with truth be said, that their conversation is such as becometh His Gospel. The Missionaries stationed in the three islands have been joined by Eight Assistants from Europe and America.

British West-Indies-Our Brethren in Jamaica have prosecuted their labours with diligence and success, among the Adult Negroes and Children connected with the Four Stations; at the same time, that they have gladly availed themselves of every opportunity to instruct the Free Persons of Colour in the neighbourhood of Fairfield and New Carmel. In Antigua and St. Kitt's, many changes have been occasioned by the departure of three experienced Missionaries: as the vacancies could not immediately be sup

plied, the survivors, especially in Antigua,

where the number of souls in connexion with our Church amounts to about 15,000, found some difficulty in providing for the spiritual wants of their numerous Congregations. The progress of the work of the tinued, upon the whole, to be encouraging. Lord in Barbadoes and Tobago has con

Surinam The Negro Congregation at Parimaribo has likewise experienced a progressive increase; and it has afforded our Brethren sincere pleasure to co-operate as far as possible with the Association lately formed for the Furtherance of the Gospel in that Colony.

North America-Our Indian Congregations in Upper Canada and Georgia have had to struggle with many difficulties; and have experienced various trials of faith and patience, which we trust, however, have not been without wholescme consequences.

Labrador-During the past year, the proposal to establish a Fourth Missionary Station on the coast has been a subject of serious consideration, and some steps have been taken toward the attainment of this desirable object. Our Three Esquimaux Congregations have, meanwhile, continued undisturbed from

H

without, and, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, have been multiplied. Br. Jensen Mueller has retired, after a faithful service of 35 years in this Mission; and has been succeeded, in his office of Superintendant, by Br. John Lundberg.

Greenland-The accounts which we have received from our Four Congregations supply abundant evidence, that, notwithstanding the privation of external spiritual privileges, under which many of the believing Greenlanders labour during their residence at the out-places, the grace of Christ our Saviour has been richly enjoyed by both old and young.

In conclusion, we beseech you, dear Brethren and Sisters, to unite with us in fervent prayer to the Lord our Saviour, that he would also, in future years, vouchsafe to grant us open doors for the preaching of His Gospel-to animate the Members of our Church, both in the Old and New World, with the genuine spirit of Confessors-to protect his Messengers on their travels by land and sea-to accompany the Word of their Testimony concerning His atonement with demonstration of the Spirit and with powerto preserve our Congregations, gathered from among the Heathen, from the craft and assaults of Satan, and to keep them as the apple of His eye. Yea, help us to implore Him to hasten the glorious period, when the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord-when all the Heathen shall praise Him, and all the Gentiles shall rejoice in His salvation.

Mediterranean.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

THE Rev. Dr. Korck, of Syra, has communicated to the Society, under date of the 7th of October, the following

Remarkable Circumstances relative to the Reception of the Scriptures among the

Greeks of Candia.

I have lately received, from Milopotamus in Candia, a very interesting application for School-materials, respecting which I shall speak on another occasion: I touch upon it here only so far as it relates to the Bible Carse.

While Turks from Kreta (Candia) came to me for Bibles, and accepted them with the greatest reverence, the Greeks of that island were very much opposed to their reception. George Me

lidonis (the brother of the virtuous and heroic Antonius Melidonis, who fell by the treacherous hands of his own Countrymen see Jautgas's "Histoire de la Révolution de la Gréce"), after being expelled from his native isle, and deprived of his possessions, notwithstanding his distinguished services, lived here in Syra for about a year, and visited me almost daily. The misfortunes of his family had exasperated his feelings to a high degree against the authors of them; but I found his sincere soul open to every good impression, and that he was zealous to communicate to his fellow-men what he had found to be of benefit to his own soul. The sickness of another brother, who had only two motherless children left, the remains of a large family, caused him finally to return to Candia, though he knew his life would be endangered, that he might take care of the orphans, and, if possible, save his brother, who is a Physician. At his request, I gave him a few copies of the Scriptures, that he might try to sell some, or give them away; but the opposition of the people was so strong, that they refused not only to receive the books-saying they were Turkish, English or Lutheran; but the Council even sent six men to kill the person who had the charge of the distribution, and who tried every effort to persuade his unhappy Countrymen to accept the Word of God and to seek the salvation of their souls. About five months ago, six armed men came to the house of George Melidonis, and ordered him immediately before the Council, with a quantity of medicines for some wounded persons. He told them that he had none; and, being sick in bed, he excused himself from accompanying them: but these six men seized him, dragged him out of the house, and, after beating him violently with sticks-for having, as they said, distributed Turkish, English, and Lutheran Books, the poor sufferer became insensible, and, in that state, was precipitated from a height of twelve feet. Seeing him still alive, one of the wretches drew his knife in order to dispatch him; but a crowd being now assembled, in consequence of the cries of some women who witnessed the transaction, they rescued poor Melidonis, carried him into a house, and laid him, in a most deplorable. condition, on a bed; where he remained for three months, till he recovered.

During this time a great change took place. The Council sent for specimens