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should I be able to increase the means of my subsistence, I shall not fail immediately to lessen the expense which I occasion to the Society.From the establishment of a school I can expect nothing. I made a trial with a Cingalese school, but was obliged to give it up. Were I master of the English language, I might perhaps better succeed: or had I a printing-press, and some intelligent people to work it, I might gain something and do much good, as religious books, even those want ed for the public worship, are extremely scarce.

"In the same letter, the Directors greatly urge my acquiring a perfect knowledge of the Cingalese language. I am exercising myself in this difficult language, and should have made it my principal study, had not the governor given me the charge of this dreadfully-neglected congregation, to the care of which my attention is now chiefly directed. You can form no adequate idea of the deplorable state of the Christians in this island. Most of them live worse than the Heathen, who still have some reverence for their idols, and conscientiously offer them their sacrifices; but most of the Christians seem to have cast off all regard for the true and living God, despise his word, and profane his sabbaths. Did I not feel myself in duty bound to obey the warrant of the governor, I should at once leave the Christians and turn to the Heathen. But the Christians stand as much, (if not more,) in need of instruction as the Heathen; for they must first become genuine Christians, in order to prove burning and shining lights among the Heathen. But now our holy refigion is rendered contemptible and odious, by their profaneness and

vices.

"I do keep a diary, but to send it quarterly I cannot promise, for want of opportunity, as no vessels land here, but most at Columbo, and a few in Galle-but I will lose no proper opportunity. My heart's desire is, to report to you much that is good. May the Lord have mercy upon me, and help me! My wife frequently converses both with Dutch and Cingalese females about God, and the Christian religion.

"On Sunday, December 18, I administered, for the first time, the Lord's supper. Thanks and adoration be to him for this invaluable privilege! But out of forty-five members, of which the congregation consists, only three men and three women partook of the holy ordinance the rest stay away under various pretences. May God, in infinite mercy, condescend to open their eyes, that they may see their sin and danger, and flee from the wrath to come. I solemnly call upon all that love our Lord Jesus, to remember myself, my poor flock, and the multitudes of Heathen in Ceylon, in their prayers and supplications."

What I

He thus concludes." Thus far the Lord has helped me. have been able to do in the course of this year is little indeed; yet I will not cast away my confidence, but cheerfully hope that God will mercifully regard my cry, and make me an useful instrument for the promotion of his glory, and the salvation of souls. I do once more solicit an interest in your prayers."

Extracts from the Appendix of the Eleventh Report of the Religious Tract Society, 1810.

Dear Sir,

P. May 2, 1810.

I AM happy to acquaint you, for the information of the Religious Tract Society, that their Pamphlets have been essentially beneficial in Cornwall. In this town our friends have long since established a kind of Auxiliary Society, to purchase and promote the gratuitous distribu tion of Tracts in our neighbourhood. Several thousands have been circulated in this way from Saltash to the Land's-End; and great benefit, we have reason to believe, has been derived from them. I have frequently, when preaching out of doors to large congregations, given away a number of Tracts, to conciliate the minds of rugged fishermen, or profane minters; and I have seldom seen this method fail of obtaining an attentive hearing. In some instances I have been ridiculed and abused by desperate men, at the mere offer of a Tract. In such cases I have persevered from one to another, until at length some one has accepted it, and the rest have immediately flocked round me with such eagerness for them, that my stock has been insufficient to supply them.

A respectable merchant of this neighbourhood had, about eighteen years since, been a professor of religion; but a tour through France, Holland, and Italy, about that period, plunged him into the most dreadful sins, and sent him back to England devoted to the principles of Voltaire, and anxious for the spread of infidelity. During the last seventeen years, his sins and his sentiments have so dreadfully prevailed, as to writhe his soul with uncommon anguish, and make him wish himself any thing else but a man, dying and accountable. Happiness has been far from him; and, notwithstanding his bitter invectives against religion, his eager attention to infidel books, his blasphemous and vehement controversies, and the intoxicating pleasures into which he sunk, his retirements were a hell upon earth-gloomy beyond description in secret. Suicide has often presented its allurements to him; and, but for Almighty grace, must have prevailed. But what hath God wrought!" About six months since, a Cartel, with sick prisoners from Bristol, bound to Morlaix, put into St. Michael Mount, by stress of weather. Business brought Mr. acquainted with the Captain. The vessel sailed the first opportunity; but, after beating about some time, she was obliged to come into Penzance. I went on board, and distributed about 200 of your Tracts among the prisoners. A few days afterwards, Mr. came with his little boy to the vessel. While he was conversing with the Captain in the cabin, his boy was playing round the table; and the Captain, to please him, gave him one of the Tracts I had distributed on board. The child took it home. The fol. lowing Sabbath morning, the father sat in his parlour, gloomy, wretched, and miserable. He never attended any place of worship. The children had been playing with the Tract brought from the Cartel : they had retired :-the Tract lay on the table. Distracted with horrid thoughts, he snatched it up, to drive them away. It was the "Life of Colonel Gardiner." At first, he read with indifference. His curiosity was soon excited. His attention was fixed as he proceeded, and at length his whole soul was engaged in the narration of the Colonel's abandoned life before conversion. It suited his case-it spoke his

feelings. Absorbed in attention, and trembling with agitation, he came to the Colonel's conversion. He could read no more-his heart was full. Bursting with similar impressions, he stole up stairs-locked his door and for the first time, for eighteen years, he fell on his knees and prayed for mercy!!! Constrained to attend Divine Service that evening, the Lord deepened the work, and has since enabled him to live to his glory, and become as active for the interest of Jesus as he once was in the service of hell. I have another case to notice equally gratifying, but must leave it for another occasion.

The Rev. J. Hughes.

1 remain, your's, respectfully

May 22, 1810.

THE multiplicity of business at the meeting of the Tract Society prevented me from communicating a circumstance relative to the success of our Tracts, which, as it has afforded me much pleasure, will, I doubt not, be gratifying to every one who loves to hear of the success of Truth in whatever way it is effected; for this reason I take the li berty of communicating it to you.

A person, now one of our congregation, dates his first serious impressions from reading a Tract put into his hands by a shopkeeper in Lon don-He is a man upwards of fifty years of age, who has lived till within the last two years, in the total neglect of every thing sacred, and in the constant practice of very gross sins. He was a hard-drinker; a most profane swearer and, in other respects, ranked among the very worst in our depraved town..

On going into the shop of the person abovementioned, he reproved him for the sin of drunkenness; (being then intoxicated:) he denied it; some conversation ensued, which was followed by presenting him with a Tract, which he afterwards read with attention. It made no small impression upon his mind; so that though he continued for a time afterwards in the practice of sin, he was restless and very uneasy.

He shortly after came under the preached word, and the sight of him astonished many who knew him, for he was a monster in human shape. God was pleased to send the word to his heart; he heard with deep sorrow for sin, and from the consequences which followed, we have good reason to hope his repentance was unto life.

He from that time became a regular hearer of the Truth; and has now, for nearly two years, eagerly sought every mean of instruction: and by attending public preaching, prayer meetings, &c. has grown in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

He is become a truly sober man; he has long forsaken his old com panions in sin," who gaze, and admire, and hate the change." His hallowed lips are employed in the delightful work of prayer and praise. He is indeed " a wonder to many" we are constrained often to say, "What has God wrought!" To say all in few words, he was like the ancient Corinthians, and he is now what many of them were, through the Divine mercy and grace, "washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." On the first Lord's Day in the next month it is intended that he shall be received into fel lowship with us, and sit down at the Table of the Lord,

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A view of the Constitution of the Church of Scotland, abridged from the second part of Dr. Hill's Theological Institutes.

THE government of the Church of Scotland, as

established by law, is Presbyterian. Her ministers, among whom there exists a perfect parity, are asso ciated with ruling elders in the exercise of spiritual authority. To give a satisfactory view of her constitution, we will state, 1. the manner in which she admits ministers into her connexion. 2. The judi catories to whom she has committed all authority. 3. The distribution of power among these judicatories. 4. The objects of the judicial power of the Church.

1. To the manner in which ministers are admitted into the Church of Scotland, belong the following particulars:

First. The trial of the qualifications of the candidates for admission. By standing laws, the previous education of these candidates-the amount of the testimonials they must bring from the professors under whose inspection their education was conductedthe nature of the exercises they must perform for the satisfaction of those by whom they are tried, and all the other pre-requisites in order to their obtaining a VOL. IV. No. IV.

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license to preach the Gospel, are distinctly prescribed. When a student has gone through a full course of philosophy, in some University, and has, after finishing that course, continued to prosecute the study of divinity for the time prescribed, he may be proposed to a Presbytery, in order to be taken upon trials. But the Church, with a becoming jealousy of her most sacred right, does not permit Presbyteries to take any student upon trials, without the consent of a superior court, known in Scotland by the name of the Synod; by which means, if a report unfavourable to the character of the candidate has arisen in any of the Presbyteries of which the Synod is composed, his trials cannot proceed, till the matter is inquired into. If Presbyteries are guilty of oppression in trying those whom the Synod allows them to take upon trials, redress may be obtained by an appeal to their ecclesiastical superiors. But, as there is more reason to apprehend that Presbyteries will discover too much facility in the trial of young men, than too much severity, they are wisely invested with powers ample, and, in some respects, discretionary, lest the apprehension of being wantonly brought into embarrassment and trouble for acting according to their conscience, might prove an additional temptation to remissness in the discharge of an important duty.

As the Church of Scotland does not sustain a li'cense, granted by the dissenting classes in England, or by any community of Christians in foreign countries, all those whom she considers as licentiates, are persons of whose character, literature, and abilities, some Presbytery has had the fullest opportunity of judging, and who, at the time of their being licensed, testified their attachment to the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of this Church, by subscribing the subjoined formula: viz.

"I do hereby declare, that I do sincerely own and "believe the whole doctrine contained in the Confes

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