302 BAPTIST MISSION. A List of Petitions presented to both Houses of Parliament, from the Friends MISSIONARY MEETING IN LONDON. THE Meeting at the Jews Chapel on Wednesday the 23rd instant was very numerous. Mr. Hall delivered an excellent and appropriate sermon from Haggai i. 2. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Mr. Sutcliff preached in the evening an energetic and judicious discourse from Gal. iv. 4. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, The devotional parts of the services were conducted by Mr. Saunders, of Frome, Mr. Pilkington, Vol. V. of Raleigh, Mr. Thomas Thomas, and Dr. Simpson of London. The hymns were given out by Dr. Rippon, Messrs. Shenstone, Ivimey, Upton, Torlin, and Waters. The Collections amounted to nearly £350. The friends of the Mission on this occasion dined together at the London Tavern. This Meeting wasrendered additionally interesting by a Report which was read after dinner, detailing the measures which had been taken by the Supporters and Friends of the Baptist Mission," relative to the application to Parliament to procure the protection of the law for Missionaries in India, and 2 T permission to send out others to join them in the Company's Ships. Much anxiety had been expressed by the friends of Missions respect ing the decision of the House of Commons on Tuesday Evening, on the 13th Resolution, introduced by Lord Castlereagh. The Report announced that it had been carried that morning, at 3 o'clock, by a Majority of 89 against 36. The triumph of christianity over infidelity, on this occasion, furnishes another motive to fervent gratitude and unlimited confidence in that God who has alway's dwelt in the " Bush burning with fire," and preserved it from being consumed. The conduct of His Majesty's Government has fully justified the confidence which had been reposed in them by those in London who have conducted the business of the Petitions; and the zealous cforts of those honourable Members of the House of Commons who so ably-advocated the character of our Mis sionaries against the attacks of a Forbes a Montgomery-a Moore, and others, who endeavoured to sully their reputation; demand the fervent affection of all who long for the conversion of the millions of Idolaters in British India. The following is the Resolution adopted by the house of Commons XII. That is the duty of this country to promote the interests and happiness of the native inhabitants of the British dominions in India, and that such measures ought to be adopted, as may tend to the introduction among them of useful knowHedge, and of religious and moral improvement. That, in furtherance of the above objects, sufficient facilities shall be afforded, by law, to persons desirous of going to and remaining in India for the purpose of accomplishing those benevolent designs. •Provided always, That the adthority of the local Governments.respecting the intercourse of Europeans with the interior of the country, be preserved, and that the prmciples of the British Government, on which the natives of India have hitherto relied for the free exercise of their religion, be inviolably maintained,” We understand that the defeated Champions of Hindooism and infidelity intend to try their strength once more while the bill is passing through, the House. Let all the friends of Christianity be found at their post also, and cry mightily to God that he will send forth his light aud his truth," and "let those that love him be as the Sup when he goeth forth in his strength." Thursday night the fore-mentioned Resolution passed the House of Lords without opposition. We subjoin a brief Abstract of the Report read by Mr. Fuller, the Secretary, after the sermous at the Jews Chapel-comprising the Progress of the Mission from January to November, 1812. 1. At Calcutta and Serampore. Here things were very encouraging at the close of the year 1811. Lord has been pleased," say they, The to appear in a more effectual manner thau in any formerycar: 59 have been added to us at this station.” Kreeshnoo, Sebuk-ram, Thompson, and Debrun, were constantly preaching the Gospel to above 1000 of Various Nations. The Benevolent Institution, a charity school, on the Lancasterian plan for the poor children of nominal christians, chiefly among the Portuguese chatholics, was in a very prosperous state, mor than 300 children attended, and a place had been erected to contain people, "Which of them they thought evil or unjust?" They, answered, “None, all are good." Qur brethren then insisted that the tree must be good from whence these branches came, and proceeded to shew how every man by nature was averse to these just and good commands, and, of course, to the God who gave them; which state of mind must be a state of wickedness and of great danger. They farther showed how Jesus Christ came into the world to deliver men both from the guilt and the dominion of sin, and that their erraud into this country was wholly to bring a message of love, to make known these glad tidings, and communicate to them a share of the blessings which they themselves enjoyed. The people were very attentive. On the 11th of March, Mr. Jona than Carey, with Deep-chund and Vykoonta, went to a Hindoo festival at Chagda, where the river Hoogly is about three quarters of a mile wide. The immense crowds upon the shore seemed like a forest of heads." Many had come above ten days jour ney, and the river was covered with men, women, and children, nearly to the middle of the current, all intent on their idolatrous ceremonies. About seven in the morning, Deep-chund begun to speak to the people, declaring the inefficacy of what they were doing to remove their sins, and pointing them to the Lamb that was slain. The people listened with great attention, and eagerly received a number of Scripture Tracts which were distributed, and even followed the missionaries to their boat, some up to the neck in water, and others swam to the boat, to obtain the tracts, with which they swam again to shore, They thus continued to discourse and distribute tracts, sometimes on the water, and sometimes on shore, the whole day. Sometimes the shout of Hurri bol was raised by opponents; once a lewd brahmun insult ed them, but he was upbraided by another, and the people exulted in A sort of huzza; tantamount to seeing him put to shame, and drove him away. ་་ On the Missionaries' return they witnessed a most gratifying spec. tacle. A number of people sitting under a tree, close to an old temple of Sheva, in ruins, and in the midst of them a brahmur, who had obtain ed a scripture tract, explaining its contents to the attentive crowd! “I could not help stopping," says Mr. J. Carey,“ to contemplate this sceue. One of these " images of the divinity" (as the brahmuns are called) with a poita hung round his neck, just come up from the river, from whose lips nothing had ever proceeded but the praises of the gods, at the very deor of the temple too, within whose walls he perhaps had been accustomed to pay his idolatrous adorations, and from which very likely he had all his life received his maintenanec-this man became an unwitting teacher of the gospel. This sight was so new and so cheering, it compensated all our trouble." On their arrival at Serampore, they found the Printing Office had been consumed by fire The particulars of which, and the prompt and liberal contributions for its restoration, we have before detailed. At a church-meeting a week or two after the fire, four new deacons were chosen, and Mr. Thompson and Mr. Leonard called to the ministry. The latter, with his wife and mother, and two others, were formed into a church to be planted in the city of Patna, 500 miles up the country. Between 20 and 30 Seapoys sta tioned near Serampore came to the Mission House for Hindee Testaments. They are said to be encouraged to read them by their officer, and to take pleasure in it; but the missionaries have no access to them. It appears that large bodies of Hindoos have left the ancient forms of idolatry, and formed different sects under some one leader, of their own choice, called their gorgo. Some Great is Diana of the Ephesians. of these goreos have 100,000 disciples. They oppose the brahmans, incline to a hospitable mixture of casts, and open a wide door for the entrance of the gospel-for having rejected the authority of the brah mans, the people push their enquiries farther, and will often acknowledge that they "never found the true goroo till they heard of Christ." Some of the Goroos themelves have of late acknowledged Christianity to be the only true way. One of them, who is considered as the head goroo, on whom Kreeshnoo, waited at Ugra-deep, on his visit to that place, received him very kindly, declaring that he wished to see him and to hear of the faith of Christ. The cast," added he, "is not of God; I will therefore follow the Lord with you; for with you are all easts, Englishmen, Musulmans, and Hindoos." "At night," says Krishnoo, “about 30 of his disciples of of various casts, ate together, and the goroo commanded me to sit among them and to partake of the repast: I did so, and we praised God while partaking of this love feast. After he had eaten, the head goroo forbad an inferior goroo, though a brahman, to invest his son with the poita, and one of his disciples to give her sons in marriage to idolaters. To many present he said, "We will no longer preserve the distinctions of cast, but seek to possess the true religion, in which there is no cast; come let us walk in the true way,let us delay no longer." On the 10th of August the brethren Johns and Lawson, with their families, and Miss Chaffin, arrived at Calcutta in good health. At this station there had been baptized at various times, since January, 19 persons, including 8 soldiers, who were awakened chiefly by the preaching of native brethren, and 6 Portuguese, who owe their conversion to Sebuk-ram. Translations. The casting of types was resumed in a fortnight after the fire, and in November the New Testament was printing in Hindee, Sikh, and Tamul; the Pentateuch in Hindee, Mahratta, and Bengalee; and the Historical Books in Orissa and Sungskrit. The first Sheet of 4 John in Chinese was also in the press. The missionaries had receiv ed £2000 from the British ́and Foreign Bible Society, out of the £3000 voted for the years 1811-1813. The conclusion of the Report, which relates to the Out-stations, as also the proceedings of several Meetings of the General Union, we must defer till our next; in which also we hope to find room for some remarkable instances of conversion, detailed by Mr. Fuller in his report. BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN Extract of a Letter from the Rev. West, Dublin, to Mr. Ivimey, London. J. Dublin, 39, Usher's Quay, May 22, 1813. "We have a Baptist Missionary Society in Dublin. I baptized three young preachers the 20th Instant, and on the 30th, two of them will be ordained in Swift's Alley, as Missionaries for Ireland. The exertious which have been made in this country have been blessed to the conversion of about 70 souls in nine months, some of them Catholics. There are but five Baptist churches in Ire land now, situate at Waterford, Cork, Clogh-jorden, West-mead, and Dublin, and most of them in a low state. I should feel myself much obliged if you would send every month, the Baptist and Evangelical Magazines, and the Periodical Accounts of the Baptist Mission when printed. I will send you an Account of our Mission for the Baptist Magazine. If you send them, do it as early as you can, for we shall be glad to read any extracts at our monthly prayer meetings. I think here is a fine field for missionaries in Ireland. We have three more young men willing to go, and wholly to devote themselves to the work of the Lord; but two of them are in the army, and must be bought off before they can go. We shall have a collection at the ordination at our place for the support of Missions in Ireland. I have applied to the Baptists for help, which I hope will succeed. Yours affectionately, JOHN WEST. |