Publications; through the intervention of Incumbents or Curates, (and in most instances of both) as well as other Members of the Laity, being Subscribers to the Parent Society, or to the District, or to both. So amply have the anticipations expressed in the Circular been realized on this head; and so satisfactorily has it been made appear, that wherever the Society's existence and character are properly made known, and its benefits actively diffused, there will ever be found proportionate, if not always adequate compensation through the bounty of the Public, for the encreased demands upon its Funde. Nor have the Subscriptions and Donations to the District Fund been unproductive. It will be seen in the Appendix, that the number of District Subscribers amounts to 23: some of a Guinea, and some of half a Guinea Annually. Yet although the paramount claims of the Parent Society to support, added to a disinclination to urge the claims of this Society too strongly; have hitherto occasioned less activity, in soliciting District Subscriptions; it is nevertheless obvious, that neither the designs of the Local Depository for Books can be adequately sustained, nor the means for assisting Indigent Parishes be supplied; if a certain degree of encouragement be not afforded by District Subscrip. tions and Donations. It is hoped therefore, that the attention of the Members of the Society in general, and of the Clergy in particular, resident within the District; will not be entirely withheld from recommending the District Fund to a certain share of attention and support." P. 3. "On the Subject of Schools instructed, either wholly or in part, by Books from the Society's stores; the Committee are enabled by means of the Parochial returns on this head, to state a considerable portion of the extent of benefit derived from the Society's Publications. It appears from the account in the Appendix, that, independent of such Parishes as have made no return, the number of Children throughout the District taught by the Society's Books is 2913." "The next particular on which the Committee have to report, is the distribution of the Society's publications, that has taken place, since the receipt of the returns in May 1820. From the Parochial Returns on this head, which have been received from the Incumbents, and other officiating Ministers throughout the District, it appears that in the Parishes of Appleby, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Barrow-upon-Soar, Castle Donington, Church Gresley, Cole Orton, Diseworth, Kegworth, Long Whatton, Loughborough, Nailstone, Polesworth, besides Papers on the Sacrament, Confirmation, Public Worship, Observance of the Lord's Day, Sunday Schools, &c. of which no Account is taken; it will appear that the distribution, when compared with the extent of the Deanery, has been for the last three years, (over and above what was done before) very considerable. Lastly, when it is further considered, that the direct aim and tendency, and under Divine Providence, doubtless to a considerable extent, the actual effect of this distribution has been to instil into the minds of those, for whose benefit it has taken place, sound maxims of faith and practice; wholesome instruction on points of Ecclesiastical and Civil Polity; and in particular useful lessons to the Poor, concerning the duties they respectively owe to their God; to their King, and Country; to their Ministers; to their superiors; to themselves; and to each other: it would be questioning the faithfulness of the Divine Councils to doubt; that upon all these great and fundamental points, a most salutary state of mind has been produced, proportionably to the distribution above stated. The Committee therefore feel, that no stronger ground can be presented, both for congratulation respecting the past; and hope of increased and increasing exertion respecting the future; than is here exhibited in the direct tendency, and obvious effect, of this branch of their efforts." "The Committee have now to enter on another branch of its labours, which, though as yet but recently acted upon, promises to hold a very prominent station amongst the works of charity of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; viz. the establishment of Parochial Lending Libraries. A Circular having been received by the Secretary containing certain resolutions and suggestions on this subject from the Parent Society, the same was read to the Quarterly Meeting held in October last and it was resolved that the Resolutions of the Parent Society should be printed and sent to the Parochial Ciergy of the District, together with a short Statement of the advantages peculiar to this mode of distribution, and one or two Local Regulations. This document so framed will be found in the Appendix, as will also a document on the same subject supplied by one of the members of the Committee, which it is thought may be useful and interesting. At and since that time, Parochial Libraries have been established in the Parishes of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Cole Orton, and Polesworth by their respective Incumbents of the size and cost of which an account will be found in the Appendix also. The Committee have reason to believe that as far as this District is concerned, the expectations formed from the establishment of these Libraries, have been more than realized. And from the accounts which have reached them in point of fact, as well as from the obvious benefits peculiarly attached to this mode of circulation; the Committee have no hesitation in coming to the conclusion, that no measure is more effectual for applying the Society's general service to the peculiar exigencies of the present time and state of things, than by a general adoption of Parochial Lending Libraries. The Committee think it proper to add, as an encouragement to Parochial Collections for this particular purpose; that whilst the member ordering a Parochial Library is obviously liable to the additional charge of binding, the usual demand of the one third due to the Parent Society from all Parochial Collections remitted in the solitary instance of collections being applied to the purchase of Parochial Lending Libraries. is "At the same meeting at which the Resolutions were brought forward respecting Parochial Lending Libraries, a series of Resolutions were also submitted to and adopted by the Committee; whereby the District Committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge within the Deanery of Ackely was further opened to the designs of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. As these measures, together with the Subscriptions arising from them, form a distinct branch of the Committee's proceedings, they will be found in a brief statement affixed to the end of this Report. "The Committee have now only in conclusion to state, in connection with their own immediate proceedings and interests; that during the past year a measure has been instituted, and further it is hoped, very successfully matured, for holding a County Anniversary during the ensuing Summer in the Town of Leicester for the Societies for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The aim of this Anniversary will be to diffuse the advantages of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge both in the County Town, and through the Districts of the County at large; and likewise to produce an increased degree of union and co-operation between the Members of either or both of these important Institutions throughout the County. The measure thus considered and matured has subsequently received the countenance and sanction of His Grace the Lord Lieutenant, and the High Sheriff, both of whom, there is reason to hope, will give to the proposed Meeting the sanction of their personal presence." Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. "THE Committee of Members of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge within the Deanery of Ackley and its Neighbourhood; having opened their Quarterly and other Meetings to the designs of the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, have particular satisfaction in observing, that since October last, after Meetings held at Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Loughborough for this special purpose, 32 Associated Members have been added to the Parent Society from this District: the Society having of late years admitted Subscribers of a Guinea Annually, over and above the List of the Members of their Incorporated Body, whose Annual Subscription is Two Guineas. Whilst the Committee have great pleasure in stating to the Public this source of increase to the Society's funds, whereby they doubt not its means of carrying forward its pious and charitable designs will be materially ang mented; they at the same time indulge an earnest and well grounded hope, that the new claims on public bounty supplied by a consideration of the moral and religious state of India, will alone supply a sufficient stimulus to the charity of every Christian Patriot in Great Britain. "The Committee therefore beg leave to close the present statement with respectfully submitting to every Member of the Church of England resident within this District, and capable of affording aid (whether much or little) to designs no less important than extensive; that whilst the Missionary cause is daily obtaining and exciting increased and awakened attention; they may find in the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts designs scarcely to be answered by the most enlarged and united alms of our whole Church and Nation: and that by throwing their charitable efforts into this particular direction, they become instruments of diffusing to the distant nations the pure and primitive usages of Church Government and Church Discipline; at the same time that they send along with them, and under their particular influence, the cheering and healing light of genuine, vital and practical Christianity. FRAS. MEREWETHER, Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. THE Annual Report of this Society is now printed, and we extract some of the principal passages. An account of Dr. Stewart's Missionary Tour has already appeared in our Journal. His entire narrative is inserted in the Report, and will be found very interesting. The plan of admitting subscribing and associated members, has met with great encouragement. Nearly six hundred names were enrolled at the commencement of the present year, and the new Committees which continue to be formed in all parts of the country, authorise us to hope that we shall soon have to report a large addition to this list. The whole number of persons employed by the Society as Missionaries, Catechists, and Schoolmasters, is 146, of whom eighty are in holy orders. Nova Scotia. "The health of the Bishop of Nova REMEMBRANCER, No. 33. Scotia still continues so impaired, that he has been compelled to relinquish, however reluctantly, the prospect of an early return to his diocese. The operations of the Society, have, however, been materially assisted by his councils whenever the nature of his complaints would allow him to attend their meetings. During his absence the affairs of the Diocese have been conducted in the most exemplary manner by the Ecclesiastical Commissary, the Rev. Dr. Inglis, under whose care and superintendance the progress of religion and religious education has been uniformly proportionate to the increasing prosperity of the Province. "Dr. Inglis reports, that his interesting and important charge still affords him its accustomed comfort; the kind attentions of his flock are unabated, and he is on terms of friendship with all his parishioners. The Church is well filled, and it is a subject of serious regret, that there is no room for many families, who are continually applying for seats. The organ at St. Paul's has been thoroughly repaired, at a very considerable expence, and he trusts that it is their endeavour to make every outward performance instrumental, with the blessing of God, to their advancement in faith and holiness. "The National School has sustained a of its scholars, in consequence of the revery considerable diminution in the number moval of all the Roman Catholic Children to a Madras School under their own management, the Master of which received instruction from Mr. West; it is also threatened with many other adverse circumstances. The removal of the Countess of Dalhousie is an irreparable loss; her Ladyship's patronage and continued personal attention have been invaluable. Mrs. Allen has been obliged to give notice of her resignation, on account of ill health and the limited amount of the salary; considerable difficulty has arisen in the appointment of a successor, which has at last been decided in favour of Miss Barret, who has qualified herself for that purpose. Mr. West has also given notice of his chiefly on account of the injury his health intention to quit at the end of the year, has sustained from confinement; the loss of this valuable servant is duly appreciated by the Society, and the testimonials which the Trustees of the National School at Halifax have transmitted, of the zeal and duties of his laborious office, evince the abilities with which he discharged the sense which was entertained of his meritorious conduct in that Country; had the Establishment sustained this loss under other circumstances, and at an earlier period, 4 D it would have been in a great measure irreparable, but the encouragement which the system has met with throughout the North American Colonies, and the progress it has made in some of the most distant Settlements of those Provinces, encourage the belief that it will soon be so firmly rooted in the habits of the people, that it will become the universal mode of instruction. It is no longer considered as peculiar to the Established Church, or even to the Protestant cause, but its merits have become so generally admitted, that they have overcome the prejudices of a Religion, which have hitherto been considered as insuperable. Under this view of the case, the circumstance which has operated as a deduction from the numbers educated at the Parent School in Halifax, may be considered more as a subject of congratulation than of regret, as the example which has been exhibited of a Roman Catholic School, conducted upon the National System, may so far favour the progress of education among that class of our fellow subjects, that many of the errors which still cloud the understanding on religious subjects, may banish under its powerful influence. "Though the numbers have been dimi nished at both Schools by this measure, they still continue very respectably and universally useful; they furnish specimens of reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, and geography, that would be creditable to any Schools, and the knowledge of the Catechism and its Scriptural proofs, which many of the poorer children exhibit, is above all praise." P. 40. "The spiritual wants of the new Settlements at Dalhousie and Sherbrooke have been provided for, as far as their present circumstances will admit or require, by the occasional visits of the Missionaries at Annapolis, Aylesford, and Chester, to whom adequate allowances have been made for these extra services, and means of educa⚫ tion have been supplied by the appointment of two Schoolmasters. During the last year the Rev. William Gray and the Rev. Gilbert Wiggins, two of the Society's Scholars at Windsor, Nova Scotia, were admitted to Deacon's Orders; the former, the son of the Missionary to the Germans at Halifax, was ordained by the Lord Bishop of London, and is now residing in England until he is of proper age to be admitted to Priest's Orders; the latter gentleman was ordained by the Bishop of Quebec, and is now officiating at Rawdon, vacated by the removal of Mr. Twining to Liverpool; in the spring Mr. Wiggins will take charge of the Mission of Westfield and Greenwich, New Brunswick, to which he has lately been appointed; both these gentlemen have passed very creditable examinations, and are likely to prove important acquisitions to the list of Missionaries. "The measure adopted in the year 1819, of appointing Visiting Missionaries for such places as were not yet prepared for the reception of a resident Minister, and carried into effect last year by the appointment of the Hon. and Rev. Dr. Stewart and the Rev. J. Burnyeat, in the respective Dioceses of Quebec and Nova Scotia, to fill those stations, has been productive of all the beneficial consequences which were expected by those whose local and circumstantial knowledge pointed out to them the expediency of the measure. "The Reports of these valuable Missionaries, which are subjoined to the present Abstract, will amply justify the wisdom of the proceeding, and prove the lamentable want of all religious instruction, which is observable throughout the wide districts traversed by these gentlemen. While, however, the entire absence of all spiritual information which pervades so large a part of His Majesty's Colonies, cannot be contemplated without emotions of the deepest sorrow, it affords some consolation to the heart which takes an interest in the eternal welfare of its brethren, to mark the anxious desire for religious knowledge which prevails through the most distant Settlements; and the cordial welcome with which the Messenger of the Gospel was every where received. At the same time it must be a peculiar satisfaction to the Members of the Society to feel that they and their predecessors have been, during a long course of years, the instru ments, in the hands of Providence, of conveying to their fellow subjects those divine truths which they acknowledge to be the source of all future hope-and the absence of which is lamented by the desolate exile as the bitterest misfortune of his lot. It is difficult to describe the feelings of joy and gratitude with which some of the elder people listened to those prayers, and joined in that form of worship to which they had been accustomed in their early days, before they left their native land to seek a relief from the evils of poverty," P. 44. New Brunswick. "The Rev. James Milne, Missionary at Fredericton, reports, that under the influence of the Governor, two Schools have been opened upon the National System, one for Boys, containing 52; the other for Girls, containing 25. Through the blessing of God, his health, notwithstanding the severity of the seasons, has continued so uniformly good, that he has invariably attended to the duties of his office. The books which were sent him, both for his own use and for general distribution, will prove highly acceptable. On the return of autumn, the town is generally visited with an epidemic disorder, which, in many instances, proves fatal. Last autumn it was peculiarly destructive, whence the number of Burials has increased beyond the usual proportion. "The Rev. Robert Willis, Missionary at St. John's, reports, that the Congregation, though at present numerous and highly respectable, is still increasing, and the Church, notwithstanding every alteration and addition that the vestry can make in the interior, does not afford sufficient accommodation. The appointment of the Rev. Abraham Wood will prove of essential service; this gentleman resides at Charlton, and performs Divine Service there every Sunday, the congregation coming principally from the parish of Lancaster, which surrounds Charlton. In the evening he assists at St. John's, where the duty is very laborious, and occasionally in the neighbouring parishes. A new and more commodious Chapel is building at Charlton, at the general expence of the parish, upon a site granted by the mayor and Corporation to the Rector and Churchwardens of St. John's. "Great exertions are making for the most extensive introduction of the National System of education throughout the Province. The central School at St. John's has been finished, the expence has been principally defrayed by private subscription, aided by a grant from the Legislature; 200 Boys are in daily attendance; a room is also building for a female School, and will be finished in a short time, and it is probable, that in the course of the autumn, 200 Girls also will be in daily attendance. Several Schools on the same system have made most favourable reports of their progress, and a growing attachment to the Church and its establishment is visible throughout the Province. A Royal Charter has lately been granted to the Society, which has given new energy to its friends, and placed it upon a foundation which promises to be as permanent as the present happy establishments of the Colony. "Mr. Wood, the assistant Missionary, reports, that a visible improvement has taken place in the morals and habits of the people, since the offices of religion have been regularly administered to them, The surrounding parishes avail themselves of the opportunity of attending Divine Service, which the Chapel at Carleton offers, and he occasionally visits them, He had lately returned from Westfield, when he preached twice to a devout and attentive congregation. The Church, situated by the side of a river, has lately been finished by the pious exertions of Mr. Nais, who, in the absence of a Clergyman, collects the Congregation regularly every Sunday, and reads the Church Prayers and a Sermon. "The Rev. Richard Clarke, the venerable Missionary of St. Stephen's, repeats his ardent wishes to witness, before his death, the arrival of an Assistant, without whom it will be impossible to pay that attention to the distant parts of the Mission, which they require. Fanatical teachers of every description, open enemies to Church and State, have availed themselves of his age and infirmities, to inculcate the most unwarrantable doctrines, and among others, the most awful and frightful view of the Holy Communion. Though in his eighty-third year, he is able, through the blessing of God, to attend to the duties of the Church. "The Society have frequently expressed their readiness to furnish Mr. Clarke with an Assistant, whenever a fit person might present himself, provided the parishioners would contribute to his support." P. 52. "The Rev. Jerome Alley, Missionary at St. Andrew's, has the satisfaction to report, that all divisions in the parish are terminated, the people have become uniformly well-disposed to the Church. The Congregation is numerous, consisting of all the leading Members of the Society, and the greatest part of the population. Divine Service has been performed in the evening as well as the morning, a duty which the advanced age of his predecessor rendered impracticable. In the outskirts of the Mission, the progress of religion has not been so satisfactory, as the distance from St. Andrew's prevents that regular performance of duty which he would readily undertake, did it not necessarily entail a neglect of the Congregation in the town where the population is principally collected. They are engaged in estab lishing a National School, open to all denominations of persons, a measure which has been recommended by the parent Institution at St. John's. "It was found impossible to raise sufficient funds to build a new parsonagehouse. The old building has been put into thorough repair, and rendered very |