the country, have met the demands which were made upon them. Last year alone, the excess of expenditure of the Church Missionary Society above the receipts amounted to nearly 10,0001. The Directors think it unnecessary to employ arguments with their Christian Brethren, to enforce the Appeal which they now make, for an increase of funds in behalf of Missions to the Heathen. Scotland has not yet roused herself to this holy warfare: she has not yet put forth her strength: the number of her Missionaries is comparatively small; yet, small as it is, will she neglect to provide for their support? Of this, the Directors entertain no fears. They doubt not, that the Christian Public, in common with themselves, are anxious to witness a vast extension of Missionary Operations by this country; and they are persuaded, that the friends of religion feel much too deeply interested in the cause, to permit the Missions already established to languish for want of support.

Urgent Call for Missionaries. During the past year, the most urgent representations have been made to the Directors, by each of the Missionaries in Jamaica, relative to new and important openings on that island: scarcely, indeed, is a Letter received from them, in which this is not pressed on the attention of the Committee.

After quoting most earnest solicitations for help, from both the West and the East Indies, the Directors remark

Such are the fields which both the East and the West Indies present to Christian Missionaries-fields which ap pear white for the harvest. But, WHERE ARE THE LABOURERS? Openings for trade are eagerly embraced by British Merchants-why are not openings for spreading abroad the savour of the Redeemer's Name embraced, with equal eagerness, by British Christians—and especially by our Ministers, our Preachers, and our Students in Divinity?

In reference to this last class, the Directors request especial attention to the following statement, extracted from a Periodical Work in the United States, relative to the

Missionary Zeal of American Students. We have long been convinced, that the impulse which has been given to benevolent enterprise must be accompanied

with a corresponding increase of holy zeal in Theological Students, or half the good which is anticipated will never be realized. To them it belongs, in a great degree, to execute the designs which the benevolence of Christians has formed, or is forming, for the salvation of mankind. No institutions are more interesting to the friends of religion, in this view, than Theological Seminaries. If the standard of piety is here low, a dark cloud rests on our prospects, however bright and luminous our sky may be in particular spots. If a country is to be defended or conquered, an efficient army is no less necessary, than a vigorous public sentiment, or a wise and patriotic cabinet. Every well-wisher to the Kingdom of Christ will feel new confidence and joy, when he learns that the young and rising Soldiers of the Cross are evidently growing in devotedness to their Master, and preparing for severe labours in His service. The following RESOLUTIONS, unanimously adopted by the Members of the Theological Seminary at Andover, at a late Meeting, are offered as proof of this assertion. They express no more than facts justify us in believing is felt. We add this to similar evidence, which has of late been furnished by the Members of several Theological Seminaries.

That while we hear of the death of many faithful and devoted Missionaries who once were Members of this Seminary, we still see creasing motives to follow after them, to fill no cause of discouragement, but rather intheir places; and, if need be, to fall in the same noble effort of invading the Kingdom of Darkness, and of spreading the triumphs of the Cross.

That we do most conscientiously hold ourselves in readiness to go wherever God in His providence may call us; and that we will carefully endeavour, by much prayer and serious inquiry, to ascertain the path of our duty.

That the Members of this Seminary view with lively emotion the increasing efforts, which are made by the Church to advance the cause of Christ in the world; and that the loud and reiterated calls for Ministers of the Gospel to supply the wants of the destitute at home and abroad, present affecting and powerful claims on the attention of all who are preparing for the Ministry, and urge home the question, "Lord, what wilt Thou with new energy have me to do?"

1

That it is peculiarly incumbent on the Members of this Seminary, at the present time, to sustain and cherish that spirit of Missionary Enterprise which has distinguished the Institution from its foundation; and, for this end, to cultivate an increasing spirit of self-denial, holy zeal, and devotedness to God.

Conclusion of the Report.

It is now upward of thirty years, since a Missionary Spirit was first awakened in this country; and, considering the nature and importance of the work, we might have expected, that, before this time, it would have made far greater progress than it has yet done.

Though the degree in which a Missionary Spirit prevails in a Church and in a Country may not be a perfectly correct standard, by which to measure the state of religion; yet where it does not prevail, now that the duty has been so frequently, so fully, and so powerfully demonstrated, this will probably be found to indicate, in general, a low state of religion. Where religion is flourishing, there a Missionary Spirit finds a congenial soil it readily takes root, and springs up, and bears abundant fruit ; but where religion is not flourishing, the case is quite the reverse. Can Scotland bear to be tried by this standard? Can the Parishes and Congregations of parti cular Ministers? This is a question, which demands the most serious consideration, and may well lead to great searchings of heart.

:

But the degree in which a Missionary Spirit prevails among a people is not only a standard, by which we may mea

sure

whether religion is flourishing among them; wherever it does prevail in a Church or in a Country, it has a powerful influence in promoting the spiritual prosperity of that Church or Country. This is a consideration of great weight; and which has never, perhaps, had that importance attached to it, to which it is entitled. There is a mutual connection-there is a powerful re-action -between the propagation of the Gospel abroad and its success at home. In no instance, perhaps, are the words of the Lord Jesus more strikingly illustrated, It is more blessed to give than to receive. Though there is reason to hope that the Churches of Britain and America have, within the last twenty or thirty years, been instrumental in turning thousands of the Heathen from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; yet many of these Churches have, within the same period, received richer blessing from God, than they have communicated to the Heathen: the showers of mercy, with which they sought to water the wilderness and the solitary place, have returned and refreshed their own inheritance, which had long been weary.

If, therefore, the friends of the Redeemer wish to see religion prosper in their native land-if the Ministers of the Gospel desire to witness the success of their own labours in their Parishes and Congregations― they will bestir themselves more than ever for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen.

Let none plead exemption from this duty. Even the obscurest individual may essentially promote the glorious work.

But it is to the Ministers of Christ that we must chiefly look for influential and energetic exertions in carrying it forward: there is much that they may do, which they have not yet done. Few Ministers have taken that deep and affectionate interest in the Cause of Missions to the Heathen, which the magnitude and importance of the work demand. Few have given them that place, in the course of their ordinary ministrations, to which they are entitled, not only by their own importance, but by the prominence which this subject has in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles. Few have established Missionary Prayer-Meetings in their Congregations; or even given the subject that place in their ordinary prayers to which it has so high a claim. Few, especially, are ready to listen to the cry which has been so frequently and so loudly addressed to them in the name of the Heathen, COME OVER, AND HELP us!" Can these things be denied? And if they cannot, is there not utterly a fault among us? If Isaiah, who, notwithstanding what we call the darkness of the Mosaic Economy, sung in such seraphic strains the progress and the glory of Messiah's Kingdom, were again to return to earth; or if Paul, who flew as on the wings of an angel, to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, were to appear in the midst of us-in what "burning words" would they not reprove our apathy and supineness?

66

Western Africa.

Sierra Leone.

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. REPORT OF THE MISSION FOR 1828. THE details of the several Stations will appear, as usual, in the Survey. In the extracts which we shall now make from the Report of the Missionaries, we shall give a view of

the leading circumstances of the Mission: most of these have been already mentioned or alluded to in our pages, but they will be here stated in continuity and in the words of the Missionaries themselves.

Arrangement of the Labourers.

The Servants of the Church Missionary Society entertained hopes, at the close of last year, of fulfilling, by means of the supply of Labourers then shortly received, somewhat more adequately, than the reduction of their number had for some time allowed them to do, their duties to the people under their spiritual charge.

Arrangements had been made for the residence of a Minister in that part of Freetown where the Society's Chapel is situated; and for the performance, by two of the Missionaries alternately, of Divine Service at St. George's Churchfor the residence of two Clergymen, with the assistance of two Native Teachers, in the River District; one Clergyman, one European Catechist, and one Native Teacher in the Mountain District; and one Clergyman and one European Catechist in the Sea District: one European and one Native Schoolmaster, and two European Schoolmistresses with one Native, were then in charge of the Colonial Schools. Thus the whole body of Labourers engaged in promoting the objects of the Society in this Mission, including the Superintendant of the Christian Institution, stood as follows

Clergymen................... .3 English
3 Lutheran

Catechists & Schoolmrs. 3 European
1 Native

Schoolmistresses.......2 European

1 Native

....

6

4

3

3

Native Teachers Four of the Clergymen and one of the European Catechists were married.

An expectation was confidently entertained, that a Chaplain appointed by His Majesty's Government would speedily arrive, to relieve the Mission from the parochial charge of Freetown.

The prospect of the whole force, thus enumerated, becoming devoted to exertions for the spiritual good of the Native Population, especially in the Villages, was cheering: inasmuch as it gave more promise for the progress, under God's blessing, of the work entrusted to us, than we had enjoyed for a considerable time; though even this force, and if it had remained undiminished, July, 1829.

was not quite adequate to the wants of the field of labour which is before us.

But we had scarcely had time to hold the gratifying prospect before us, when it pleased God to afflict us by various painful dispensations, and to embarrass our arrangements by the reduction of our number. Our brother Heighway

had scarcely reached the post to which he had been appointed, when he was attacked by the country fever, which ended in his blessed change on the 7th of January. There have existed no means, since, of supplying his place; and the Station of York has remained without a resident Religious Teacher. Mrs. Heighway, having expressed her desire to remain devoted to the service of this Mission, was put in charge of the Infant School at Bathurst.

The impaired state of Mrs. Weeks's health had, during a considerable part of the year before, prevented her from taking an active part in the Female School of which she was in charge; and her return to England being strongly urged by her medical advisers, Mr. and Mrs. Weeks embarked in February last for a visit to England, from whence we now look for their return by every arrival.

Mrs. Taylor, in charge of the Female School in Freetown, suffered severely from illness during her residence in that place; whereas a temporary removal to the mountainous parts never failed of contributing much to her restoration. When there remained little hope of her proving an efficient Labourer at Freetown, while the temperature of the mountains, to which she was accustomed from her former stay at Charlotte, seemed to be so congenial to her constitution as to admit of a prospect of her enjoying there sufficient strength for service in the Schools, there was but one course to be pursued; and she was, accordingly, placed at Bathurst as a fellow-worker in conducting the Infant School: and it is highly gratifying to find, that she has, since her removal, enjoyed improved health, and been enabled to render essential services in promoting the good work among the littleones at that Station.

As it was not in the power of the Missionaries to supply the places of Mr. and Mrs. Weeks and Mrs. Taylor, thus removed during the course of the year from their post at the Colonial Schools in Freetown, the necessity arose of re2 R

uniting the two divisions of those Schools which had been formed in the year preceding; leaving Mr. Fox in charge of the Boys' School, and his Wife of that of the Girls.

Mrs. Gerber, who was suffering from an attack of country fever at the beginning of the year but recovered, enjoyed but very little health during the year. After having been much reduced by repeated severe attacks, her body sunk, into the grave, and her spirit took its flight to the heavenly regions, on the 16th of this month, being 19 days after the birth of a female child who survives her departed mother.

Disease has for several months also deprived the Mission of the services of our Native Teacher, William Tamba; who, we are thankful to say, is now sufficiently recovered to allow of his speedily resuming his labours.

Our Native Teacher, John Attarra, was received into connection with the Society in April; and has, since that period, laboured in the Mountain District.

Suspension of the Sea-District Mission.

It is not one of the least trials to which we have been subjected during the year, that our hopes of a Chaplain being sent out by Government to take charge of Freetown have been disappointed. The performance of Divine Service at St. George's, before a Congre. gation small in number and fluctuating, has considerably interfered with similar duties, loudly called for in the Villages by goodly numbers desirous of stated instruction, and both attentive and affectionate. We have, at last, been obliged entirely to withdraw the services of one Clergyman from the Villages, for the purpose of performing the Ministerial Duties connected with St. George's.

The state of the Rev. G. Metzger's health rendering it advisable for him to avail himself of the Society's regulations, by visiting Europe at the approaching expiration of his six years' stay in the Colony, and several Stations calling already for resident Teachers, we looked, as the season of arrivals came near, with anxious expectation for some help from England. To our regret, we are not led to hope for any speedy addition to our body, except by the return of Mr. and Mrs. Weeks, before adverted to. The reduction of one in the number of Clerical Members of the Mission, and the necessity of making more adequate pro

vision for Freetown, have left us no alternative but to concentrate our remaining force within a smaller compass.

The Rev. W. K. Betts having been appointed to take charge of St. George's, Freetown, the services of the Native Teacher, who had till then assisted him in the Sea District, were transferred to the Mountains; and the Stations of York, Kent, and the Bananas are thus left without any provision for religious instruction.

We have also felt that it can answer no end to keep names of places on our list of Stations, where no Church Members reside, and to which we cannot extend our religious services, without injury to Congregations which present stronger calls for them. Grassfield, Allen Town, and Calmont appear, therefore, no longer among the Stations which we occupy; nor do we mention Wilberforce and Sandbeach among them, though they were visited during the greater part of the year.

Change, by the Missionaries, in the School System.

The connection which the Mission has had with the Colonial Government, in being charged with the superinten. dence of the Schools throughout the Colony, renders it necessary to advert to some changes which have taken place during the year.

An earnest wish was entertained and expressed at the close of last year, that a more settled state in the measures of the Colonial Government might speedily terminate the trials and difficulties, which had arisen to the Mission out of the changes made in the system in the year preceding.

At the beginning of the year, the Lieutenant-Governor being then on the Gold Coast, affairs were conducted by the Council under the presidency of one of their number; and that was evidently not the time for us to apply for such definitions and regulations, as should secure to us that authority over Public Education, which the letter and spirit of the Society's arrangements with His Majesty's Government at home had assigned to our body.

The appointment of the head of the Liberated-African Department, Lieutenant-Colonel Denham, to the Government of the Colony, became known in the early part of the year: but this Officer, also, was then absent from the Colony; having proceeded to Fernando Po,

in January. We were thus constrained to wait until Colonel Denham's return in May, before we could take any steps toward the end which we had to attain. Before, however, the written application which it was necessary to address to him, after some verbal communication had taken place, was drawn up, LieutenantGovernor Denham was lying on that sick bed from which he did not rise again.

Lieutenant-Colonel Lumley having assumed the Government, a correspondence was entered into with him, and he issued certain Instructions for the Regu lation of the Schools: which, however, were so far from answering the expectation of our body, that a representation to that Officer of their insufficiency was resolved upon; but did not reach him, as he followed his predecessor into the grave, in less than two months' time after his assumption of the Government.

We had then to communicate on the subject with the Acting Governor, the Honourable S. Smart; but found that he did not consider himself authorised

to depart from the Regulations, as they stood at the time of his assuming the Government.

These communications with three succeeding Governors had consumed no less than three months: and, at the end of that period, the Missionaries had not only failed of attaining the object sought, but were fettered by Regulations which they found injurious to their object.

Various circumstances occurring, which tended to fix in the minds of the Missionaries the conviction that they could not, with any prospect of success, proceed on the system which had been acted on for nearly the last two years, it is added

The Missionaries felt it to be their duty to withdraw from their connection with the Government Schools, and to establish Schools at the expense of the Society, and under its sole authority,

wherever there were the means of efficiently conducting and superintending them. This course was therefore adopted; and there is now one School entirely connected with this Mission at Bathurst, one at Gloucester, and another at Regent; and it is intended to establish Schools in the River District, as soon as some changes of residence, which have become necessary, shall have taken place.

The Committee at home have ap

proved these measures; and Government, on a representation of the case by the Committee, have acquiesced in the change, and have promised every facility to the Society in its plans. The Society's Schools will be open to the Liberated Children to such extent as its means may allow.

Importance of educating the Apprenticed African Children.

There is one class of the population of the Villages to which the Missionaries direct their attention; are desirous, in an especial manner, to so much the more so, as the number composing it must have been greatly increased by the system pursued during the course of the African Children, bound out as apWe advert to the Liberatedprentices. Not only have the LiberatedAfrican Schools been reduced very much by the apprenticing of children, but a

year.

considerable number have been bound out, just as they came from the Slave trial, as to the capability of receiving Ship, without having the benefit of that instruction by a stay of some time in the Schools, which it formed part of Colonel Denham's system to allow them.

We feel great concern as to the probable operation of this course; and we could wish to obtain that access to the minds of the Apprenticed Youth of both sexes, which the letter of the indentures seems to require that we should have. It is among the obligations entered into on taking an apprentice, to teach him, besides "the English Language," the

principles of the Christian Religion :" but by far the greater number of mascompetent to fulfil that duty; nor have ters and mistresses are notoriously inthey, so far as our inquiries go, been at all aware of this obligation, until it was pointed out to them from the indentures. At the same time, we have not hitherto liberty for the apprentices of those permet with any difficulty, in obtaining sons who have been spoken to, to attend such means of instruction as do not interfere with the work for the sake of which the children have been adopted.

State of the Bathurst Infant-School. The Superintendant of this School has furnished a statement of its progress, the chief parts of which are here quoted.

It is matter for unfeigned thanks