Missionary Herald.

NOTICE.

The Treasurers of Auxiliary Societies, and other friends who may have Monies in hand on account of the Society, are respectfully reminded that the Treasurer's account for the year will close on the 1st of June, which renders it necessary that all payments intended to appear in the Appendix to the next Report, should be made in the course of the present month. It is requested that the respective accounts may be sent properly balanced to the Secretary, No. 6, Fen-court, Fenchurch-street, accompanied by the lists of Subscribers, &c. in alphabetical order. Due attention to this Notice will prevent delay in the closing of the Society's accounts, and consequently facilitate the early publication of the Report.

The Annual Sermons for the Society will be preached, Providence permitting, on Wednesday, June 22, and the Annual Meeting held, as usual, on the following day. Full particulars of the respective Services will appear in our next Number.

BAPTIST MISSION.

Home Proceedings.

GREAT MISSENDEN, BUCKS.

ON Easter Monday, April 4, was held the third Anniversary of the Missionary Association formed in this pleasant village; and the very numerous attendance, far exceeding that of any previous meeting, clearly proved what an interest is taken in the great object of sending the gospel to the heathen by the inhabitants of this rural district. The chair was occupied by James Stephen, Esq. Master in Chancery, who has a residence in the immediate neighbourhood, and who opened the business of the day in a most appropriate address. The report of the Association for the preceding year was read by the Rev. Richard Marks, Vicar of the parish, from which it appeared that nearly Fifty Pounds had been collected since the last meeting, in small weekly sums, exclusively (we believe) by the agency VOL. XVII,

of the Female Committee. Of this sum, an equal division was made, as usual, between the Church and the Baptist Missionary Societies. On behalf of the former of these Institutions, there was present the Rev. Edelman, Secretary of the South Bucks Auxiliary Church Missionary Society, who gratified the meeting with a condensed statement of the operations conducted by our zealous friends in the establishment, and a similar account, in reference to the Baptist Society, was given by the Rev. John Dyer, from London. Several other clergymen and dissenting ministers of various denominations took part in the proceedings of the day; and the whole appeared eminently calculated, not only to serve the Missionary cause abroad, but to promote the feelings of mutual regard and Christian affection at home. Hitherto, we be lieve, this Institution, as to its peculiar feature of combined effort, stands alone; and we are quite aware that serious objections would arise to its general adoption: but we are inclined to think that few could witness this rural festival of thought and feeling without wishing that the laudable example might be followed wherever practicable.

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Foreign Intelligence.

SERAMPORE.

RECENT arrivals from India have brought us a variety of intelligence from this station, and those in immediate connexion with it, a part of which we have the pleasure of presenting to our readers in the present number.

Mr. John Marshman, with his sister and Mr. Albrecht, arrived in safety about the beginning of September. Dr. Carey is said to have been in good health, although somewhat lame from his late accident; Dr. Marshman was recovering from the attack of a fever, which has been almost universal in Calcutta and its neighbourhood, though comparatively few had fallen victims to the disease; the other members of the Mission family were well.

We rejoice to perceive that, while our appeals to the churches at home for suitable candidates to enter the honourable field of missionary toil in the eastern world have produced but little effect, Divine Providence has been raising up those upon the spot who love the souls of the heathen well enough to devote their lives for their benefit. A pleasing instance of this kind has occurred at Calcutta in the person of a Mr. Wm. Kirkpatrick, who has been received as a Missionary by the Committee, at the recommendation of Mr. Yates and our other brethren in that city; and the subjoined letter, from our Serampore friends, conveys a similar application on the behalf of Mr. Williamson, with which the Committee have cheerfully complied.

“Serampore College, Nov. 6, 1824. "Very dear Brethren,

Our highly esteemed Brother Williamson will, by this opportunity, offer himself to you as a Missionary to the heathen in Bengal.

Our long and intimate acquaintance with Brother Williamson enables us to speak decidedly as to his religions character, and literary attainments, and warrants our recommending him as a very proper person to be employed by you in the work upon which his heart is set.

Brother Williamson was brought to a saving knowledge of the truth in this country, and joined the church in the Lal Bazar, Calcutta, about five years ago, since which time his conduct has been highly ornamental to his profession; his gifts are highly respectable, and his love to missionary work has been fully proved by a course of voluntary labours in that department.

He was educated at Edinburgh for the medical profession, and came to this country as the surgeon of a ship. Since he has been in connexion with us he has diligently studied the Bengallee language, and is now so well acquainted with it as to be able to preach with acceptance to the natives, and convey to them that knowledge of divine truth, which, applied by the Holy Spirit, may end in the salvation of many.

Brother Williamson has been employed, for the last two years and upwards, on the establishment of the Serampore College, but having expressed a wish to be employed more directly in the work of preaching the gospel to the heathen, in some part of Bengal, we most cordially recommend him to you, and advise your receiving and employing him for that purpose."

The Committee will be gratified and thankful, if the publication of this letter should prove the means of inducing any. pious youth, suitably qualified by the Great Head of the church, to follow the example of Mr. Williamson, and consecrate himself willingly to the Lord. How earnestly help is desired by the Missionaries on the spot, may be gathered from the following brief appeal from Mr. Yates, in a letter to Dr. Ryland, lately received.

"Mr. Pearce and I have just returned from a journey into the Jessore district, where we found the natives very attentive to the news of salvation. It is enough to break one's heart to see the field of labour that lies open in this coun try, and that invites cultivation, and yet no one to enter into it. The old Missionaries going off one or two in a year, and only one fresh one in seven years to supply their place. I do hope the Society will see it their duty to send out more Missionaries."

Death of a Native Christian.

Ir is with unfeigned grief we record the death of our beloved young friend Komul, the senior Christian student in the College. He was a youth of superior abilities, of exemplary diligence in his studies, and, what was of infinitely greater importance, of fervent piety. We be lieve there was no individual in our church, who secured to himself more ge neral and warm attachment. Long labouring under bodily affliction, he seen. ed ever to have in view his departure to another world. By the blessing of God, it made him heavenly-minded, not mo. rose or melancholy. He died almost

painful sufferings of our Lord Jesus, she said, with tears, I have hitherto wor, shipped the Ganges and all the Hindoo gods, but to no purpose, none of the gods suffered for my sins like Jesus Christ, and Him only shall I worship.' This poor woman composed in rhymes, Christ suffered for sinners,' which she would sing with tears. A short time since, she fell sick with a fever, and the following Sabbath, as she was not able to attend, she begged her daughter to go and hear the word of Jesus, to which she made some objections. The mother told her, O do not neglect to go and hear the words of Jesus, for he is the only Saviour of the world!' and two days after she breathed her last. The daughter contiBues to attend."

POOREE.

Suttee. We earnestly recommend the following tale of horrors (say our Serampore friends) to the admirers of Hindooism, and more earnestly still, to the friends of humanity. Will nothing rouse them to feeling in this cause? Are we waiting till the cry of the blood of these infatuated women reach to heaven, and judgment be required?

"Another of those horrid examples of self--murder called Suttees, took place here on the second instant; and, as I was present, I will send you some account of it. The infatuated woman whose death I witnesed was the widow of a brahmun who had died the same morning. Their residence was about four coss from this place, and they probably came hither to attend the Ruth Jattra. The man's age seems to have been about forty, and the woman's thirty, or thirty-five. The brahmun is said to have a father still living, aged about eighty, and the people intimated that he was too infirm to be present. I was likewise told that the deceased had three brothers, two of them younger than himself, and one older; who were all expected to be there. I was further informed that the man had left two children, a son fifteen or sixteen, and a daughter eighteen years old; the daughter, I understood, was not expected to appear; but the son would come to give his father and mother fire.' The deceased was a man of little or no property, not more than a hundred rupees; but he provided for these horrid rites, by paying a sufficient sum to one of his friends, before he died. The place where this murder was committed is called Swurgo-dwaro, the gate of heaven; and when I reached it, I found the coolies employed in digging the hole.

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"It is well known, that, on these oc casions, the bodies are frequently burnt on a pile; but sometimes the fire is kindled in a hole dug for the purpose, and I think this is generally the case in this neighbourhood. This hole or pit was circular, about six feet deep: its diameter at bottom perhaps a little less than its depth, and top twice as much. Soon after my arrival, about twelve coolies came, each of them bringing a load of wood on his or her head, for several of them were women, and they came twice. I charged all the labourers with being accessary to the crime about to be com mitted, and the general reply was, in substance, that they worked for money, and did this work as they did other work, because they were paid for it. Carelessness or levity characterized all the Hindoos on or near the spot. Ten or twelve were playing at some game but a little way off, and one nearer the pit proceeded to break some of the wood into small splinters, in order to facilitate the kindling of the fire, with as much apparent indifference, as if he had been about to boil his own rice. When he thought he had broken enough, he proceeded to light a small fire near the pit; but he took care, previously, to light his own cheroot, and he was at once employed in smoking it and kindling the fire. This being done, a small fire was kept up for the purpose, as 1 supposed, of being ready to kindle the larger one.

"The pit being finished, a quantity of water was mixed with cow dung, and sprinkled on the margin, and about onethird of the way down, in sufficient quantity to turn the sand its own colour; two ropes were also well wetted with the same mixture, the use of which will appear hereafter. On inquiring the use of two bamboos which lay near, I was told that they were to stir the fire, and turn about the bodies. The bits of wood prepared for the occasion, were between twelve and eighteen inches long, and, I suppose, on an average, five or six in circumference: a quantity of them were now thrown into the pit, and a man at the bottom proceeded to set them up on their ends, two or three thick round the sides. Upon these he placed a second tier, and on the second a third; he now covered the bottom, perhaps five or six inches thick, so that the pit was two-thirds lined with wood; but, as may be readily supposed, the upper tiers were thinner than the bottom one. Soon after all was finished, the dead man was brought on a rough bier, which might have been constructed by one man, in less than a quarter of an hour. The sides were two bamboos, sufficiently thick for the purpose, and across