from Mr. West, and of making myself | enforced, and, patience exercised, success somewhat master of subjects essentially will be certain, as already proved in innunecessary for me to understand. My dear Sir, there is no time to be lost in Ireland; sinners are perishing by millions for lack of knowledge, and here am I unable to go to the help of one of them. But I must, at least for my own sake, desist. Yours, very affectionately, JOHN FRANKS. P. S. I am sorry to say that my illness has greatly affected my already very defective sight, but I should hope it will improve with an increase of strength. Since writing this, Mr. W. has received a letter from Mr. Davis, dated from Portsea, in which he says, "I hope Mr. Franks is recovered, and will soon take my place on this side of the water. If he has not gone to Clonmel, it might perhaps be as well to avoid that expence now, as I hope to return in a month, and I shall rejoice if he devotes himself successfully to begging in England, which may suit his constitution better than Ireland, and may leave me at home with my family and little stations." Journal of the Rev. John Franks, from Oct. 22 to Nov. 5, dated Dublin, Dec. 20, 1828. To the Secretaries of the Baptist Irish Society. DEAR SIRS, "Mr. M'Carthy having kindly come to meet me, and finding myself better, I left Arbour Hill the 22d of October, and preached at Furbane the same evening, and, by the urgent request of the friends, again the following evening. There is a small place of worship there, and a church of about thirty members, most, if not all of them, the fruits of Mr. M'C.'s labours, who regularly preaches to them once a month, and keeps up a good congregation. This is a very pleasing and encouraging station. "24th. Examined the school at Clonshanny. It being potatoe harvest, many of the oldest scholars were at work in the fields, but the progress of those present was creditable to themselves and to their master. This school is much opposed by the priest, and several of the children, when able to commit the Scriptures to memory, have been taken away. It appears that the grand objection now with many of the priests, is not so much the children learning to read the Scriptures, but their committing them to memory. The standing law of your Society, That the Scriptures shall be read in their schools, and committed to memory by the children who read them,' must be firmly maintained and strictly merable instances. But be that as it may, it is better that a few of the children be taken from the schools, than for all of them to be deprived of the blessings of a scriptural education. "25th. Preached in the schoolroom at Rahue, and next morning in the meeting house; in the evening at Capinrush, and succeeding evening in Mr. M'C.'s house. The congregations at the first and last of these places were small, in the meeting house better than I could have expected, and at C. very good. "28th. Preached at Tullamore, a large and populous town. Mr. M C. preaches here once a fortnight, and is said to have as good or better a congregation than I had, which was the largest (excepting an Independent one at Dublin) I had preached to in this country. "29th. Inspected the 'M'Donall's school' at Tullamore, which since the last quarterly return, bas met with considerable opposition from the priests, but it is still prosperous and well conducted. Preached in the evening at Moate, to a large and respectable congregation. Mr. M'C. made from want of a suitable place for the purseveral attempts to preach in this town, but pose, could not succeed until about five months ago, when he made another trial, J. Barlow, Esq. kindly giving him the use of a convenient and commodious room, and the prospects are highly encouraging. As there were seven or eight members of the other little churches residing here, he has formed them into a church. "30th. Examined the school at this place established in July last. The children generally, for the time, have made surprising improvement, and many of them can read and write well, and correctly repeat large portions of Scripture. About twenty of them, who at the time of their admission into the school did not know a letter, can now read the spelling-book lessons, and some of them the Testament, and have committed several chapters to memory. The master is pious and well qualified for bis employment, active and persevering. This school, though not quite free from opposition, is generally approved and sanctioned by the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood. Preached in the evening at Athlone, to a good congregation. Mr. M'C. has formed a church here. Examined the school the next morning, which in every respect is in a good state. Went to see the school at Glasson, which is so greatly injured by opposition as to render it advisable to discontinue it, and remove the master to another place, where prospects are more promising, and we would hope where the blessings of a scriptural education will be more valued. "Nov. 2. Preached at Barry, and examined the school there on the following day, and preached again in the evening. Mr. M'C. has formed a small church here; the congregation was good, and the state of the school satisfactory, as was also that at Keanagh, to the examination of which I attended with great difficulty, from increased illness on the 4th, and parted with Mr. M'C. for Dublin the 5th, where I was necessitated to seek immediate medical assistance, and have had every kind attention paid me by Mr. and Mrs. West. per "You have been informed of the particulars of my illness: I ain thankful to say that the worst is passed, and that my health is improving, though but slowly. The chief thing I have to guard against is giving a check to perspiration, and the damp and foggy season of the year is very unfavourable for me; but the doctor cheers me with the assurance, that when my health is fectly re-established, I shall be all the better for my, illness, which I hope will prove correct, as my wish is to be employed in and for pitiable and unhappy Ireland. anxious to be actively employed, but as I cannot, I endeavour to spend my time in that way which I trust will be of some ultimate service to the Society, or rather to Ireland, whose present and eternal welfare are the objects of their ardent desire. I am "It is a pleasing fact, that most of the masters and mistresses of the schools I have visited are considered decidedly pious, and many of them possess talents, natural and acquired, far superior to their present situations and employments. "I feel it a duty which I owe to the Committee and the brethren, to say of Messrs. Thomas and M'Carthy I believe, that from plain and indisputable evidence, they are two as laborious, and, for their work, efficient men, as the Society could have; and I greatly question, should Providence remove them, whether their equals will be found to supply their places. While I was with them, they often expressed their wish that the whole Committee, or at least a deputation from among their number, would come and examine their labours; and were their wish complied with, I am confident it would be attended with credit to themselves, satisfaction to the Committee and the friends in general, and great benefit to the Society, in obtaining an increase of fands, to perfect a work, so successfully commenced, as not to be stopped without destruction to those who attempt to arrest its progress. 'All that is wanting to make our nation (Ireland) completely brave, prosperous, and glorious, is, that old delusions, idolatry, and superstitious practices, should he laid aside, that there might be no more divisions among the natives; and this mighty and all-desirable change must, under God, be wrought by British Christians. And were they fully acquainted with the real state of Ireland, civil and religious, they assuredly would contribute every mite in their power for evangelizing her; and (all things duly considered) this, next to home, [but is not Ireland home?] should be their first work; and when accomplished, Britain and Ireland together will be able to bless all the dark and cruel parts of the earth with messengers of light and of mercy, and all that is necessary for carrying on the divinely in stituted cause of missions. * Meagher's Popish Mass. Littlewood & Co., Printers, Old Bailey. Subscriptions and Donations in aid of this Society will be thankfully received at the Baptist Missionary House, No. 6, Fen Court, Fenchurch Street, London: or by any of the Ministers and Friends whose names are inserted in the Cover of the Annual Report. BAPTIST MISSION. FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. JAMAICA. For several months past, we have had such an abundance of other articles, many of which, from their nature, appeared to require early insertion, that we have been compelled to omit all reference to the important concerns of our Mission in the West Indies. In the mean while, letters from that quarter have accumulated on our hands, and events of no inconsiderable importance have taken place, of which we shall proceed to give as clear and connected account as our leisure will permit. at that or some other station, where it may appear probable that his exertions will best promote the sacred cause. We cannot forbear adding, that the conduct of Mr. Taylor's former connexions, in reference to this event, has been truly candid and honourable. Since we last published intelligence from this quarter, certain other events have occurred, which have a very important bearing on the cause of missions in Jamaica. In the month of August last, two Wesleyan missionaries, Messrs. Whitehouse and Orton, having applied in vain to the local magistracy for a licence to preach in the parish of St. Ann, proceeded to exercise their ministry without one. For this imaginary offence, they were arrested and thrown into the common gaol at St. Ann's Bay, a prison of the most loathsome and filthy description, in which they were debarred from all intercourse with any but members of their own families, and informed by the gaoler that "they were not to hold prayers." Their brethren at Kingston lost no time, of course, in procuring a writ of Habeas Corpus, in virtue of which, after about ten days' confinement, they were conducted to that city; and their case having been brought under the notice of his Honor the Chief Justice, he, without a moment's hesitation, granted the missionaries a full and unconditional discharge. These proceedings having been subsequently laid before Sir John Keane, the Lieutenant Governor of the island, he immediately dismissed the committing magistrates from their office, and thus deprived them of the power they had so illegally exercised. Since then, we have understood the Attorney General of Jamaica has officially declared, that the Act of Toleration of William and Mary, and a considerable number of the succeeding statutes of the same character, having been Our friends are aware, that although the number of our missionaries in Jamaica has been progressively increasing, to an extent fully, if not more than equal to the ability of the Society to support them, the demand for more labourers has been unceasing and urgent. We have the pleasure to state, that an acceptable addition has lately been made to their number, in the person of Mr. H. C. Taylor, formerly a member of the late Rev. E. J. Jones's congregation, Silverstreet, but who was sent out to the island some years since, under the sanction of a kindred Institution, and has been usefully employed as a catechist on some estates in the interior. Without any communication with an individual on the subject, Mr. Taylor had been led, by an examination of the New Testament, to embrace the distinguish ing tenet of our denomination, and was, in consequence, baptized by Mr. Phillipo, at Spanish Town, in the month of July last. He subsequently expressed to the Committee his wish to be employed as a missionary in connexion with our Society, and as the testimonies borne to the character, qualifi- We say imaginary, because we apprecations, and usefulness of Mr. Taylor, both hend there is no law whatever to authoriza at home and abroad, were highly satisfac-the practice of requiring these local licences, tory, the Committee have acceded to his which all missionaries have been in the habit request. He is engaged for the present at of procuring, and for each of which the Old Harbour, and will be permanently fixed sum of 51. 6s. 8d. is paid. H recognized by the Colonial Legislature, do in fact coustitute the law of the island. Should this statement of the opinion of that learned gentleman be accurate, it will probably go far to prevent the recurrence of similar acts of violence and oppression, as unbecoming the character of Britons, as they are opposed to every benevolent and religious feeling. This statement we have abridged from the accounts published by our Wesleyan brethren in the " Missionary Notices" for December and January last. Our readers will be thankful to perceive in it an additional proof, that whenever the spirit of ignorant and misjudging opposition, which unhappily actuates a portion, and a portion only, of our colonial fellow subjects, displays itself in a form of which the Government can take cognizance, the appropriate remedy is applied without delay. We are certainly not ignorant of various other methods of pitiful hostility, which the opponents of "sectarian" missions in Jamaica have stooped to employ, but we dismiss them without more precise animadversion or exposure, in the charitable hope that a regard to their own characters, if not motives of a higher order still, may at length prevail on the persons to whom we allude, to "refrain from these men, and let them alone." But we must proceed to the detail of transactions more immediately connected with the progress of our own operations. of God when sinners repent, and sincerely turn from the error of their ways. Those who were present on that occasion, felt the account to be a developement of that agency which had wrought effectually on them also in former days, "teaching them to deny ungodliness and fleshly lusts," and fashioning them, in some humble degree, unto the likeness of Jesus Christ. Several of them stated that the Scriptures had given them those views of the divine character, which bad convinced them of sin, and attracted them to the Saviour, as the only source of immortal life and permanent peace. Seven of the number belong to one family, in three successive generations-grandmother, daughters, and their children. They live together in one house, praising God, and encouraging each other.' We stated, in the Herald for September last, that it was Mr. Tinson's intention to visit North America, partly with a view to recruit his health, and partly in the hope of procuring some aid towards the heavy expences incurred by the late enlargement and repairs of his chapel. We have had no direct communication from Mr. T. since be left Jamaica, but learn from a correspondent in Nova Scotia, that he has been kindly received in that, and the adjoining province of New Brunswick. He is expected to revisit England before he returns to re occupy his station at Kingstou. Mr. Knibb has forwarded a detailed account of the proceedings at laying the foundation of the Female School, which, for the sake of that numerous portion of our readers who are deeply interested in exertions on behalf of the young, we shall subjoin. It is as follows: "On Wednesday evening, the 30th of July, the foundation stone of a schoolroom for girls was laid by the children in the school, in the presence of a numerous congregation, who had assembled to witness the interesting ceremony. At Kingston, Mr. Coultart had the pleasure of laying the foundation of the new Girls' School, on Wednesday, July 30. This building, it is computed, will cost about 11501. currency. It is now nearly completed, and a suitable person to undertake the office of instructing the pupils on the Lancasterian system is earnestly desired the more so, as there is too much reason to fear that the renewed and severe "Early in the afternoon the children asiliness of Mrs. Coultart will render it neces- sembled at my house, to the number of 294, sary for her and Mr. C. finally to return to most of the girls dressed in white, and this country, and leave to the care of others holding a small bunch of flowers in their the large church and various important in-hands. After singing a hymn, they prostitutions which, for twelve years, he has been actively engaged in superintending. Under date of Sept. 1. Mr. Coultart mentions, in the following terms, a recent addition to the number of the church under his care: "Last ordinance sabbath we baptized, in the chapel, after the usual morning service, twenty persons, being part of fifty received as candidates for that ordinance. Several of them were persons of superior intelligence, and the account they gave of themselves, as renewed characters, produced a degree of that joy which is in the presence ceeded two and two to the schoolroom, preceded by two of the female general monitors, one carrying a view of the intended building, and the other several medals, with a representation on one side of our late venerable sovereign presenting a child with a bible, and surrounded with the inscription, It is my wish that every poor child should be taught to read the bible,' and on the other a bible, surrounded with Universal Education: From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures.' "On arriving at the school, the medals were given by Mr. and Mrs. Coultart to those scholars who had distinguished themselves by their attention to their duties, and their general good behaviour. The children were then taken to the place intended for the new building, where a platform had been erected for their reception. The service then commenced, by the children singing the following hymn : Guide of our youth! to thee we cry, Ten thousand snares beset our way, O smile on those whose liberal care Through life may we perform thy will, "Mr. Coultart then engaged in prayer, and in a most impressive and earnest manner commended the Institution to the care of God. He then gave out the following hymn, which the children sung : O deign to hear, Eternal Lord, Thy tender mercy we implore, On all the care that's given Bless those who lend their friendly aid, Adorn'd with grace and truth. "I then gave the assembly a short account of the origin, plan, and extent of the British system of education; after which the stone was lowered to its place, and laid by the general monitor of order, assisted by his sister, the general monitor of reading, when he ascended the platform, and spoke as follows: Thus is laid the first stone of a schoolroom, for the instruction of girls in the principles of religion, on the liberal plan invented by Mr. Lancaster in the year 1798, which received the unqualified approbation and liberal support of bis late venerable Majesty, George the Third, who, when the system was exhibited to him by Mr. Lancaster, uttered the sentiment so worthy of a king of the most enlightened nation upon earth, "It is my wish that every poor child in my dominions may be taught to read the Bible," and which enjoys the patronage of his present Majesty, George the Fourth, whom may God long preserve a blessing to the people he governs.' "The children then sung the national anthem, God save the King,' in which the assembly joined with much apparent pleasure, and afterwards returned to the schoolroom, and partook of a feast of cake and wine provided by the kindness of friends, which concluded one of the most ' delightful meetings that it has been my bappy lot to witness in Jamaica." We are concerned to add, that the last accounts received from Mr. Knibb give an unfavourable account of the state of his bealth, and indeed that of nearly all our brethren on the island. His letter was dated' from Montego Bay, Nov. 17. In it he writes thus: "The place from whence this is dated may perhaps surprize you. Since I last addressed you, it has pleased my heavenly Father to visit me with affliction, from which I am now, through mercy, slowly recovering. By the advice of my medical attendant, I was removed to this place, and have met with a very kind reception from Mr. and Mrs. Burchell, at whose house I' at present reside. Previons to my late attack, I had suffered under an intermittent fever for more than two months, which did not, however, keep me from my school, and other engagements. Should it please the Divine Being again to restore me to health, my fervent prayer is; that he would enable me to employ it more fally in his service; if not, I hope to be able to say. Thy will be done!' During the time I have been on this island, I have enjoyed a greater portion of health than most of my missionary brethren, but my late sickness (which the doctor says is an affection of the liver) has laid me low. I fear that I shall never be able again to undertake the duties of the school. I should therefore think it advisable for you to send out some one for that important and interesting station. I have conferred with many of my missionary brethren, and their opinion is, that it is my duty to resign, and to request that you would appoint me to some other station. I believe the Committee are aware that I have hitherto attended to the duties of a missionary as well as superintended the school. This I would most cheerfully have continued to do, would my health and strength have allowed me. I am perfectly willing to remain either in Kingston, or to go to any station which the Committee or my missionary brethren may think most conducive to the welfare of the |