Atherstone Berkshire Bodmin Bristol From August 21, to September 20, 1827. Bucks, South, (Bledlow 214. 175 12 10 ASSOCIATIONS. Bentinck Chapel Birmingham Present. Total. 3958 6 5 Drayton 4.8.6.) Camberwell, Peckham, Dulwich, and Brixton Chelmsford & West Essex} (Corringham) East Lothian, N.B. Faringdon Glocestershire (Campden 117.) 111 0 Guernsey Hampshire, South, (Romsey} 57 16 6 3.166) Hastings and Oare Helston (Mawgan Branch) 3744 12 5 2:50 1 11 Hereford, County and Town, 16 1 862 19 10 4445 19 1 1109 0 9 6807 10 4 1064 3 10 86 10 9 9146 5895 1 11 425 11 6 621 6 0 13 10 6 40 St. Antholin's, Watling Street, 3 14 6 3024 6 3 Pontefract Poplar Roche, Cornwall 1847 3.8 47 90. 985 1 6 - 104 0 0 31 49 · 81 0 0 31 4 9 270 3 9 Gardiner, R. B. Esq., Coombe Lodge, } York Association:- St. Michael-le- From September 21, to October 20, 1827. ASSOCIATIONS, L. s. d. L. s. d. Birmingham, (Ladies' Asso-75 14 08385 3 7 } 16 10 2 10 O D 1998 25 98 Smith, Mrs., Abington Street, (ann.) *** The Committee of the Church Missionary Society thankfully acknowledge the receipts of sundry Parcels of Fancy Articles (for Sale in India) from the following persons:-"M. N., Shore. ditch"-a Tin Box from Taunton-and Mrs. Billing, Kilburn Priory. P. 16, Col. 1, at Whangarooa, for James Stark, read James Stack-p. 344, col 2, 1, 4, for 31st of March, read 31st of October, that being the day of the death of Mr. Norman's child-p. 448, col. 3, 1. 32, for Children of Servants by Law are absolutely free, read Children of Servants are, by Law, absolutely free. NOVEMBER, 1827. Biography. OBITUARY OF JOHN BUTEES, A NATIVE CHRISTIAN IN INDIA. THE REV. Michael Wilkinson, Church Missionary at Gorruckpore, gives the following account of a Native Christian lately deceased. Some notices of Beteah, where this Convert lived, and which is a few miles from Gorruckpore, will appear in a subsequent part of the present Number. Low as the people of Beteah are sunk in superstition and folly, I still feel a deep interest in them: the first-fruits of my labours in this dark part of the world was from thence. A sensible better sort of man, named John Butees, came to me soon after my arrival here, with his son-in-law. I engaged the young man in my service, and for a time the father continued to stay with him he still, however, considered Beteah as his home, and occasionally visited it. After several months had elapsed in this way, work suited to the old man's years was found; and he too was taken into employ. As he lived in the Parsonage-Compound with other Roman-Catholic Christians, an opportunity was afforded him of attending daily Family Prayer at the Parsonage House. A sedateness was, after some time, observable about the old man: but this was attributed to his years; until a growing seriousness and increased attention, so marked as to evince that his mind was opening to instruction. These circumstances were soon followed by most interesting and sensible inquiries on the grand and leading subjects of Christianity; and a devout and holy demeanour began to shew itself in his daily deportment: he evinced a great love to the Word of God, and frequently would be anxiously asking to have its truths explained. As he thus continued his inquiries after the Way of Salvation, and as that way was made plain before him, he grew in love toward the Lord Jesus Christ; whom he began to regard now for the first time as the only Saviour of the lost, and the sole Mediator between God and Man. Nov. 1827. The little knowledge that he formerly had of Christ, and which had only been communicated through pictures, he saw to be lamentably defective and essentially erroneous. He had been taught to worship God through other means, than the sole appointed Mediator Christ Jesus: he had been told of Apostles, with St. Peter at their head, to whom was committed the keys of the Kingdom, and which the poor man had been given to understand he had taken to heaven's portal with him. Hence he thought much more of Peter without, than of Christ within; nor did the Holy Virgin Mary, whom the Mother of Harlots blasphemously designates the Mother of God, stand a whit less the object of his fear and reverence than the great God himself. Ave Marias were preferred before his Paternosters; and the Alpha and Omega of the Gospel was lost amidst a mass of popish rubbish and worse than Roman Pantheism. When the day-star had risen upon his soul, with what joy, I well remember, he said to me, "Ah! Sir, now I know both Christ and His Apostles; and I love both Him and them-not as once I did: the one I now love as my only Redeemer, and the other as His Ministers to point sinners to His Cross! Peter was saved by Christ, and so I hope shall I be." My heart rejoiced to hear this confession in the midst of others, whose minds appeared still darkened as his once was. I praised God and took courage. It was from this time that his mind began to develope itself in an increasing knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus; and so uniformly correct 3 T was his conduct, that all who had intercourse with him, of whatever class, spoke of him as a real Christian. In this way he continued, growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. After a few months had elapsed, at his own earnest request he was received into communion with the Church of England; and the Sacrament of the body and blood of Jesus was administered to him, with three others, according to its ritual. That he "fed on Jesus by faith with thanksgiving," all who witnessed his devotional feelings could bear testimony. This Servant of Christ, so lately brought out of the darkness of Popish Heathenism, was, soon after this commemoration of the dying love of his Master, called to drink of that new and better wine in the Proceedings and Entelligence. CHRISTIAN-KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY. Issue of Books, Tracts, and Papers; Sold. Grat. Total. Bibles.... 54,713 183 Test. & Psalters 75,190 357 54,896 75,547 Common Prayers 146,356 312 146,668 Other bd. Books 91,577 220 91,797 Grant to King's Coll., Nova Scotia, 500 0 0 .2925 15 10 Total....65,399 9 4 Valedictory Address to the Bishop of Calcutta, with the Bishop's Reply. Previous to the Bishop of Calcutta's departure for India, an AdTracts & Papers.. 924,764 168,080 1,092,844 half of the Society, by the Bishop dress was delivered to him, on be Grand Total...1,461,752 of Gloucester, at a Meeting held on the 13th of June. Of this Address, and the Bishop of Calcutta's Reply, which are printed in the Appendix, we shall extract such passages as throw light on the state and prospects of Christianity in India. After bearing an affectionate testimony to Bishops Middleton and Heber, the Bishop of Gloucester thus speaks of the state of the Church in India and the duty of British Christians with reference to that country The Church of India, though it has received from our own Church its Episcopal and Apostolical Constitution, and is identified with it in Doctrine and Discipline, differs widely from it in outward circumstances: its Clergy are not, like our own, Parochial Ministers, exercising their functions within limits defined with geographical accuracy, and charged with the care of Congregations in a great degree settled and stationary; but are, with the exception of a few Missionaries, Chaplains to Military Stations and Garrisons-associations of men in their very nature shifting and changeable—and other dependencies of the EastIndia Company: and it consists of, comparatively speaking, a few particular Churches, scattered here and there through a vast region, and in the heart of a Heathen Population. It bears, perhaps, some analogy to the Churches planted by the Apostles: for they, too, at the first, were few in number, and were seated in the midst of an unbeliev ing and idolatrous world; yet they spread themselves abroad, amidst difficulties and persecutions, through the power of the Spirit and the native excellence of the doctrines which they taught, till the great image was broken in pieces, and the stone cut without hands became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Is it, then, the will of God that the dispersed Churches of our Communion in your extensive Diocese should become a blessing to a race of idolaters, strangers as yet from the covenants of promise? Is it His purpose to cause you and your fellow-workers to triumph in Christ, and to make manifest the savour of His knowledge by you in every place of that immense territory? Whether the fields in which you are to labour are white already to harvest, or whether the fruit of your toils is to be gathered at a future day and by other husbandmen, is known only to the Lord of the Harvest: but the doctrines which you teach are the doctrines of the Apostles and first Christians: you will follow the example of their faith and piety: you carry with you the same commission, and are Ambassadors of the same Saviour: you have your part and portion in the same Spirit of Promise. The Word of God will assuredly have its course; and the extraordinary chain of events, which has established our power in those remote regions, is, if we mistake not the signs of the times, an indication of His will, that we should make known the Truth to that benighted and superstitious people. If we wait till we have no diffi culties to encounter and no enemies to overcome, when will the Gospel be preached to all nations? When will the kingdoms of the world become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ? On the especial influence which may be expected from the blessing of God on the zealous exertions of the United Church, the Bishop adds The testimony of our much-lamented Bishops, and of those who are best qualified to form a correct opinion in these matters, leads us to believe (and the History of the Church strongly corroborates this belief) that the hopes which can be entertained of a general and permanent conversion of the Natives of our Indian Empire must be connected with the active and persevering agency of a Visible Church, at unity with itself, formed upon the Episcopal and Apostolical Model, and free from the taint or suspicion of superstitious and idolatrous practices. We do not mean to underrate the labours or to depreciate the motives of those pious Members of other Reliin the service of Christ and the propagagious Communities, who are embarked tion of His Gospel; nor do we forget the obligations which we owe to the exemplary conduct and faithful services of the Lutheran Clergy, to whom the charge of our own Missions has been almost exclusively entrusted: but it can scarce be questioned, that men, whose superstition bears one uniform and consistent aspect, who are governed by a well-organized and efficient priesthood, and whose religious ceremonies and edifices are splendid and imposing, will look for something tangible and uniform in the religion which they are invited to embrace a well-compacted Church Government, and solemnity, at least; and consistency, if not magnificence, in the forms and ceremonies of Public Worship. Little more than twelve years have now elapsed since such a Church was first planted in India; for, before that time, the few Ministers of the Church of England, who exercised their functions in that country, were held together by no common ties, and were subject to no common controul: they were insulated individuals, acting without any necessary concert, and responsible only to the Civil and Local Authorities. It required no ordinary mind to cement into one building these disjointed and independent materials; and to persuade men, who had been accustomed to think and act for themselves, to rally round a commen centre, and to understand the value of ecclesiastical discipline and subordination: such a mind was that of Bishop Middleton - discriminating, judicious, and intrepid; incapable of shrinking from the duties or compromising the dignity of his station: he raised that Church, which you are now destined to govern, on strong and durable foundations. And the mind of Bishop Heber appears to have been admirably fitted to conciliate the regard of all orders of men, and secure their attachment to a Church which owed its existence and stability to the wisdom and vigour of his predecessor. In these Schools, the Scriptures are read as a book of elementary instruction, without opposition from the Natives, or any appearance of dislike. Here, it would seem, a great door, and effectual, is opened to the preaching and reception of the Gospel: for it may reasonably be hoped that many, whose minds have been thus seasoned in early life with the words of truth and soberness, will see, when they grow up to manhood, the folly and wickedness of their popular creed and superstitions-will listen with gladness to those messengers of Christ, who propound to them the truths and In commending to the notice and esteem of the Bishop of Calcutta the Missions so long supported by the Society in the South of India, the Bishop of Gloucester remarks-ply them with the lessons of godliness, This Society has, for a long series of years, fostered and supported the Protestant Missions in Southern India. The history of those Missions, embodied in its Reports, the unaffected narrative which they contain of the extraordinary labours, the zeal, piety, and disinterestedness of the Missionaries, and of the successful propagation of Christianity in that part of the Peninsula, presents an interesting subject of contemplation to a Christian Mind. It intimates to us what might have been effected in that field, had our resources been larger and our Labourers more numerous. It shews us the power of Gospel Principles, in reconciling its Ministers to fatigues, perplexities, and privations; and in subduing the prejudices and winning the affections of the slaves of superstition and idolatry, and bringing them into captivity to the obedience of Christ. These Missions were recommended to the care and attracted the regard of Bishops Middleton and Heber: those eminent Prelates derived lessons of hope and encouragement from the past labours of our Missionaries, and looked upon the scene of their exertions as a strong position of the Champions of the Cross, and ground already gained to the Cause of Christianity. The charge of those Missions has been lately transferred to the kindred Society, whose peculiar province is the PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS. But this Society still loves and cherishes them, interests itself in their welfare, and prays for their success it still gives them such assistance as falls within its own sphere of action; and it now heartily recommends them to your Lordship's notice and esteem. Of the Schools established for Native Children it is said— their childhood-will renounce the errors to which they had been accustomed in and idols of their forefathers, and become sincere and willing converts to our pure and holy religion. Under these convictions of their tendency to advance the good work of conversion, a Separate Fund has been formed for their support: hope, that, under your protection, they and the Society entertains a sanguine may, through God's blessing upon the instruments which He vouchsafes to employ, serve to promote the knowledge of the Gospel and to extend the boundaries of the kingdom of heaven. After strongly commending Bishop's College to the countenance of Bishop James, the Bishop of Gloucester thus closes his Address Though the countries which you have travels have been, if I mistake not, exvisited in the course of your extensive under which Christianity has presented clusively Christian, still the several forms itself to you, and the variety of national characters and habits with which you have been conversant, will afford you considerable facilities in mastering the creed and grappling with the minds of a modes of dealing with their prejudices new race of men, and descrying the best not, however, dwell on this part of your and gaining their confidence. I will private history, nor on your sundry qualifications for the high and holy office remark, that, in your acceptance of this which you have undertaken: but I may important and arduous station, under circumstances peculiarly discouraging, this Society finds the strongest evidence of your disinterested zeal for the glory of God, your unfeigned piety, and your devotion to the cause in which you are embarked - virtues which shone con |