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SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL.

THIS valuable Society, originally incorporated by Royal Charter in 1701, and principally confined to our North American colonies, has recently been enabled to extend the sphere of its usefulness to the Cape of Good Hope and the East Indies. The Report lately published states, that eighty-six missionaries are now actually engaged in the service of the Society, and hat a very large body of schoolmasters are partially supported from its funds. The following extract may communicate some idea of the almost total want of religious instruction under which many of our fellow-subjects labour.

"On reaching the river De Verd, about nine miles from the St. Lawrence, he (the Rev. G. Wiggins) found a small settlement of eight or nine families, consisting of disbanded soldiers, who had received from the provisional government grants of the lands they occupied, and had been encouraged to cultivate them by an allowance of provisions to assist them at the commencement of their labours. Upon inquiry, he found, with much concern, that there was only one person among them who could read; this was a female. He immediately went to see her, and was highly pleased to discover in her not only a sound understanding, but apparently a mind piously disposed. She informed him, that she took as much pains as the little time she could afford would allow (for they were extremely poor, and she was obliged to work very hard with her husband on the farm), in educating her children, and instilling into their minds principles of religion. She professed a firm attachment to the Church of England. Her library consisted of a Bible and Prayerbook. As he could not but deplore the wretched state of those families ignorant of religion, and with nothing to distinguish the holy sabbath of the Lord from any other day, he requested this poor woman to assemble as many of her neighbours as would attend at her tent on Sundays, to read to them the Holy Scriptures, and to offer up some of the prayers in the Liturgy. He also gave her a volume of Sermons, and asked her to read one of them at the same time. She seemed much pleased with the proposal, which was most acceptable to many others in the settlement. He conceives that this simple mode of instruction, where no other way could be provided for their spiritual improvement, might, through the blessing of God, be productive of good effect, and the means of leading some of those ignorant beings to the knowledge of divine truth, and that the Father of mercies might, even by the instrumen

tality of this solitary individual, raise up children to himself in the wilderness."

A letter from the Rev. Principal Mill, announcing his arrival at Calcutta, contains the following information:

"The impulse given to the public mind here, with respect to the obligation of improving the state of the native population, is indeed remarkable; and the conviction among the more reflecting and religious part of the European society, seems to be gaining ground, that this improvement must involve in it the introduction of Christianity, and should be conducted according to the sober principles, the apostolical doctrine, and discipline of our church. The great difficulty with which we have to contend, is the prejudice which associates every endcavour of this nature, with hostility to the Establishment; a prejudice, which though contradicted by innumerable testimonies, both in former times and the present, exists in the minds of many very different classes of persons, and is confirmed in them by much that they see and hear around them. The good which the missionaries of the dissenting communions, the Baptists especially, are actually effecting among the heathens, is strongly counterbalanced by the evil of this false opinion, which many of them avowedly, and all indirectly, are the means of propagating with it. Excepting this obstacle, arising naturally out of the original evil of their separation, which threatens more at future times than at the present, the planting of the Church in India, there seems no reason for discouragement. Apprehensions of danger from the native prejudices, are, in the judgment of almost every observer here, without foundation. The experience of the diocesan schools, and others where the children of Pagans are instructed, proves that they will admit any thing, provided their errors be not the direct objects of attack; and that while the indolence and sensuality of their native habits bind them most to their superstitions, the hopes of their children's advancement are sufficient to make them consent to the method, which more effectually than any other, tends to undermine the same superstitions in them. From the very limited experience I have myself acquired in this country, I can speak with confidence to the fact, that the Scriptures, and other Christian books, even in places the most contradictory to the whole system of idolatry, may be read in Heathen schools, where Brahmin pundits are the hearers and teachers, without exelting any alarm or offence whatsoever."

CHURCH OF ENGLAND TRACT SOCIETY.

WE have been favoured, by the kindness of a friend, with a copy of the yet unpublished Eleventh Annual Report of this valuable institution, delivered at their Anniversary Meeting, in Bristol, Jan. 9, 1823, to a very large and respectable assembly; the Right Worshipful James George, Esq. Mayor, in the chair.

The Committee thankfully observe, that this Institution is rising in the scale of usefulness, meets with increased support as its importance becomes more generally felt and acknowledged throughout the kingdom, and is attended with very beneficial results and very encouraging prospects. They particularly rejoice at the elevated station which it now occupies, under the patronage of some who are among the brightest ornaments of the episcopal bench of the United Church of England and Ireland; and more than all, in the smiles of Heaven, which, they trust, they may humbly infer from the concurrent testimony of facts that have occurred in the last and in former years.

In presenting to their constituents the Eleventh Report, they recall to mind the wonderful events which have occurred in the course of Divine Providence, during somewhat more than half a century past, and which have conduced to the results which it is their privilege this day to record. The events to which they allude are connected with the subject of general education. Within our memory, the faculty of reading was confined to a comparatively small proportion of the population of the country, and the great majority of our countrymen, not to say our fellowcreatures, throughout the world, were therefore excluded from reading the Holy Scriptures themselves, or such subordinate vehicles of instruction as it is our object to furnish. But by the exertion and example of Mr. Raikes, Sunday schools were instituted; and at length the new plan of education, now so successfully and generally adopted, was discovered and applied, by which thousands and tens of thousands are daily instructed in the art of reading. The plan is widely spreading its influence, and affords a prospect of becoming a blessing to every nation under beaven.

How partial, how diminutive, must have been the benefit arising from the distribution of the Scriptures, of the Common Prayer Book, and of religious tracts, by the several Societies formed for the purpose of making that distribution, had not Divine Providence prepared the way for their exertions, by the provision previously made for the education of the poor? any one contemplate these institutions in their order of existence, their magnitude,

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and extent of influence, without conviction that all had been produced by the influence, and under the superintendence of prescient and beneficent agents?

The Committee then state, that in addition to the support they had previously been honoured with from His Grace the Archbishop of Tuam, the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of the diocese, and the Very Rev. the Dean of Bristol, they have now the pleasure of announcing the accession of two other dignitaries of the church-the Archdeacon of Cleveland and the Archdeacon of Ely: they feel peculiar pleasure in stating, that the resources of the Society have been considerably augmented; but at the same time the demands which have been made upon them, the loss sustained on the sale of tracts at the reduced prices, and the necessity of keeping up an undiminished stock at the Depository, have nearly consumed the whole of the year's income. During the past year, two Branch Associations, the one at Wolverhampton, and the other at Derby, have been formed exactly upon the model of the Rules prescribed by the Society, identifying themselves in one common cause, and throwing the balance of their funds into its treasury. Nor have the beneficial effects of the Society been confined to our own shores. Its silent messengers of peace have been borne across the Atlantic; they have made their way (either by grant or purchase) to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Canada, in British America; and even to the United States, where they are employed in recommending the doctrine and discipline of our church to our Transatlantic fellow Christians, who use our own language. In addition to the Religious Tract Societies at Baltimore and at Boston, which were noticed in former Reports as having reprinted some of the Society's tracts, the Committee have announced the recent formation of another Episcopalian American institution, which seems to regard the Society as a model for its own imitation, and to identify itself with it in the promotion of the same good and great cause. The designation of the Institution to which the Society alludes, is, "the Homily Society of St. Paul's Church, in Philadelphia;" to which the Committee have forwarded three complete sets of the Society's tracts, with the Reports of its ten years' labours, and have pledged themselves cordially to co-operate with their Transatlantic friends, by an interchange of publications, and by endeavouring to promote "the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace," in the fullest sense of the

words.

The total number of tracts published

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"I rejoice to be able to bear testimony to the utility of the publications of the Church of England Tract Society. They are peculiarly calculated for this country, that is, for circulation amongst the poorer members of the Established Church. arguments which they furnish in support of our excellent establishment, enable the poor man to resist successfully the subtle attempts which are continually made by his Popish neighbours to undermine his attachment to the church. They are particularly adapted for circulation in schools. The lives of the martyrs and some of your other tracts, are given as rewards in the school which I myself more immediately superintend; and the children are so anxious to procure them, that every penny which they can obtain is laid out in the purchase of them. They are encouraged to this by the practice which we adopt of having their tracts bound, when they shall be enabled to procure a sufficient number to form a volume."

The Rev. J. T. Twining, Garrison Chaplain at Halifax, Nova Scotia, writes thus:

"My last letter will have informed you of the safe arrival of the large parcel of tracts so generously placed at my disposal by your Society, and also of the grateful manner in which they have been received by the soldiers, and also the people in general. And, blessed be God, there are several instances in which they have been instrumental in leading sinners to the saving knowledge of Him, whom to know is life eternal.

"In particular, more than one poor fellow's pillow has been soothed by them in the hospital under my care; many also, I trust, who had before rested in the external forms of religion, have been, by their means, directed to the Spirit, which breathes through our inimitable Liturgy, and have been made wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

"With earnest prayers that the Giver of every good and perfect gift will shed down the blessed influences of his Holy Spirit to guide your exertions in his cause, and sanctify them to his glory,

"Believe me, Rev. and dear Sir,
"Yours faithfully, &c."

One of the Secretaries of the Gloucester Society states "as a plain matter of fact, that a poor woman, whom neither he nor any of his religious friends could ever prevail upon to clean herself on the Sunday, and attend church, has ever since she first received the tract* (about six months or upwards) regularly and constantly attended the house of God; and that a striking change for the better has been produced in her general habits."

The review of this Society's transactions for the year 1822, will doubtless afford satisfaction and excite gratitude in the bosoms of every true patriot-of every sound churchman of every sincere Christian. For it will be seen that the humble efforts of this Society are employed for the purpose of enlarging the triumphs of divine truth, that Christian zeal is opening additional and more extensive channels for exertion in different directions; and that the streams which are communicated through those channels are deepening and widening as they flow, fertilizing the land, and making it to abound with those "fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the praise and glory of God. THIS HATH GOD WROUGHT!" "NOT UNTO US, O LORD, NOT UNTO US, BUT UNTO THY NAME GIVE GLORY, FOR THY MERCY AND FOR THY TRUTH'S SAKE.'

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The Committee then advert to the loss sustained by the death of the late Rev. James Olive, who had taken an honourable part in the Society's labours, and close their Report by remarking: "Within the last seven years your Committee has been bereaved of five other valued and efficient clerical members. And now a voice from the lately enclosed tomb of a sixth speaks to them. Time is short-improve the present moment-work while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work.' Let us then attend to this solemn call. Let us, wherever our influence extends, be zealously affected in this good cause. Let us warmly advocate this Institution, not only because its efforts are calculated to reflect honour upon that church in whose name they are made, and to unfold and commend the dignified purity of her forms and discipline; but also and chiefly because it takes a higher and nobler aim-even the deliverance of the immortal soul of man from death and misery, and its elevation to a crown of endless life and glory;—of that soul, to redeem which the heaven of heavens was bowed, and God himself came down to dwell in dust.""

* No. 2. A Clergyman's Address to his Parishioners on Public Worship.

79

HOME.

His Majesty has been lately attacked with gout in the knee, and although recovering, it is not expected that he will be able to open the Session of Parliament in person. The Houses meet on Tuesday next.

The Right Hon. Nicholas Vansıttart retires from the Exchequer, and is to be made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, with a Peerage. He is succeeded by the Right Hon. Frederick Robinson, late President of the Board of Trade, to which office Mr. Huskisson is appointed. Some changes in the minor departments have necessarily followed. It is also reported that Lord Colchester will take Lord Bathurst's post, as Secretary of State for the Colonies.

The quarterly account of the Revenue, made up to the 5th of January, is most encouraging. It appears, that after the remission of between four and five millions of taxes, the total amount collected is scarcely diminished. We trust, and expect, that this proof of the increase of consumption caused by the reduction of imposts, will induce the Administration to proceed further in lightening the public burdens.

We are happy to believe, that it is now tolerably certain, that the Rev. R. Heber accepts the Bishopric of Calcutta. We confidently trust, that this appointment will go far to repair the loss which had been sustained by the cause of Christianity in India, by the removal of the late Bishop.

FOREIGN.

Ir appeared, at the commencement of the last month, that the Royalists in France were divided into two parties, those anxious for, and those opposed to, a war with the Revolutionists of Spain-And it was announced, that the contest between the principal supporters of these different views had been decided by the King of France, in Council, and that the advocates of peace had prevailed. And as a proof of this, it was seen that M. Montmorency, the Minister who had at Verona acceded to the wishes of the three Sovereigns for immediate war, was compelled to resign.

The hopes, however, which were thus raised, have latterly disappeared, warlike preparations of a decided character have lately become notorious; and the general expectation now is, that hostilities will shortly commence.

The Ambassadors of Russia, Prussia, and Austria have demanded passports to leave Spain, and have received them, accompanied with very haughty rejoinders. Spain certainly does not shrink from the contest, however unprepared she may be to meet it.

A decision of some kind may be now immediately expected; and we apprehend, that it will greatly depend upon the declaration of the French Chambers, which met on the 28th of January, but whose feeling cannot be known until some days after.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.
Just published.

The Voice of the Vaudois, or the Maniac of the Vallies; a Poem. 8vo.

The Village Churchyard. By the Author of the "Retrospect." 2 Vols. 18mo. The Triumph of Truth, or Facts displaying the Value and Power of the Word of God. By the Author of "A Word for the Heathen." 18mo.

Brief Memoir of remarkable Children. By a Clergyman of the Church of England. 18mo.

A Mother's Portrait, sketched soon after Death for the Study of her Children, by their surviving Farent. 1 Vol. 12mo. With an elegant Plate.

The Habitations of Cruelty, or a Picture of Heathenism. By the Author of " An Hour in Newgate," &c. &c. 8vo. With a Cut.

In the Press.

The Vanity of Youth; à Sermon, preached in 1818, by the late Rev. Thomas Scott, and taken in Short Hand.

A Catalogue of the Ethiopic Biblical MSS. in the Royal Library of Paris, and in some other Collections, with Remarks and Extracts. To which are added, Specimens of the modern Dialects of Abyssinia. By Thomas Pell Platt, B. A. Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Universal Stenography, or a practical System of Short Hand, upon the general Principles of the late ingenious Mr. Samuel Taylor, with various Improvements from the best modern Writers on this useful Science. By W. Harding.

Bible History, including the March of Israel from Egypt to the Borders of the promised Land. Revised and enlarged by Mrs. Sherwood.

Sincerity, a Tale. By the Author of "Rachael, a Tale," &c. 1 Vol. 12mo. With an elegant Engraving.

Sacred Fugitives, in Prose and Verse. By E. Dermer. 1 Vol. 18mo.

WE shall be happy to hear farther from Investigator.

Received and under consideration, J. B. C.-J. P. L.-M. X.-Rusticus-EleanorΠροπέτεια—J. W. M. -C. D. and Rev. Peter Roe, will be inserted.

The Second Part of the Memoir of Luther has just come to hand.

A note is left for S. S. D. as requested.

We were required, last month, to disavow, on the part of a respectable dissenting minister, any connexion with the publication calling itself the Congregational Magazine. And now we observe, in a long and dismal article in the last number of that work, that it is most anxious to disavow, on its part, all participation in the politics of Mr. Hall. While, to complete the climax, Mr. Hall himself disavows all participation of feeling with his admirer, the Black Dwarf. Thus "in the lowest deep a lower deep, still threatens to devour us."

We are much obliged to a Constant Reader for the information he has forwarded concerning the projector, manager, &c. of the Porteusian Bible Society: at the same time it is not our intention to resume the subject.

We return most cordial acknowledgments to a Member of the Society of Friends for his kind communications. We had marked an extract from the last Yearly Epistle, and another from the Address on the Slave Trade, for insertion; but have been compelied to postpone them through a press of matter. We are well aware that the highly respectable Society of Friends must dissent from us on the subject of war. We fully, however, agree with them, that war is a tremendous evil; that it is accompanied with horrors and miseries which no tongue can describe, and that the Christian must do every thing in his power to avert it. But we do not think that a Christian governor would be justified in seeing his subjects plundered, ravished, sold for slaves, or assassinated, without drawing a sword in their defence; such defence, it is obvious, may terminate in war; and, therefore, we cannot concede that all war is unlawful: - yet we frankly acknowledge, that very few wars either in ancient or modern times, and very few indeed of those in which this country has been engaged, have been either just or necessary. We have seen and read most of the publications of the Peace Society. We are also acquainted with the views of the Friends on missionary subjects; with the inquiries of Mr. Singleton, the exertions of Mrs. Kilham, and the zealous and distinguished services of the Friends in general in the cause of the Bible, the abolition of the slave-trade, the melioration of prisons, &c.; and their zeal has provoked very many. Nor had we lost sight of any of these valuable services when we said, that so long as the Society of Friends neglect to form missionary institutions, they are not doing all in their power to terminate those evils against which they so decidedly protest'-they cannot certainly join other denominations in paying salaries to missionaries; and if the term missionaries were restricted to ministers, they could not perhaps employ any; but they clearly can form establishments for the instruction and the civilization of Indians or Africans, or other heathen; and we rejoice to see that they are at length about to make the attempt, and most earnestly pray that Almighty God may pour out his Holy Spirit upon them, and abundantly own and bless their work of faith and labour of love.

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Philomeles, after noticing the hindrance to a minister's usefulness from the anxiety which must often arise in his mind when contemplating a numerous family wholly unprovided for, suggests, that a clergyman's fund should be formed by curates, or the incumbents of small livings, subscribing 57. per annum during their lives; and upon the death of each subscriber, his widow to be entitled to 80%. per annum for life, or so long as she continues a widow; each child under twelve years, 207. per annum; and above that age, 251. per annum. When the child is seventeen the annuity to cease.-We cannot but deeply regret the very narrow and distressed circumstances of many valuable and useful ministers, but we entertain strong doubts whether the plan here suggested will materially contribute to their relief. The great difficulty of the poorer clergy is to obtain present support: they are usually compelled to leave the provision for their families in His hands who feedeth the young ravens that call upon him. We conceive also that the premium of 57. per annum would be found very inadequate to supply an annuity of 80%. to the widow, and 20%. or 25%. to each of the surviving children. This, however, is a mere matter of calculation, which may soon be determined by any person conversant with the principles of life insurance; but whatever plans may be adopted, so long as professing Christians are content to enjoy the labours of a faithful minister, without ever considering how he is supported, or making any efforts for his relief,-cases of the most distressing nature will arise; and the charge of improvidence so often made against de-. parted ministers, is a cruel mockery when advanced against those whose utmost exertions have been scarcely adequate to a bare and scanty subsistence. Such has been, such is the case, with respect to many most valuable men. No persons have stronger claims to compassion and relief-and those claims are so much the stronger in proportion to the patient submission with which they endure their great and many privations.

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