PRINTED BY J. BARFIELD, WARDOUR-STREET, SOHO; AND SOLD BY B. J. HOLDSWORTH, ST.PAUL'S-CHURCH-YARD. 1821. PREFACE. AT the close of another year, we shall present our Readers with a brief Compendium of some of its leading events. 1. The Bible Society.-The Bibles issued by Foreign Societies aided by the Parent, have risen from 547,320 to 739,045; and the Testaments from 588,200 to 721,376. The Bibles issued by the Society have increased from 1.152,434 to 1.307,044; and the Testaments from 1.704,857 to 1.963,118. The Society has distributed, or assisted to distribute, since its formation, 5.445,583 copies of the Old and New Testaments. Its total expenditure has been £908,248 10s. 6d. 2. The Religious Tract Society.-During the year 4.830,770 Tracts have been issued. s. The London Missionary Society. This year is distinguished by Mr. Campbell's Second Tour in Africa, and Return to England; the erection of an Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca; the Deputation of the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and Mr. George Bennet to the South-sea Islands;* the increasing civilization of those islands through the benign influence of Christianity; the visit of Prince Rataffe of Madagascar to this country; the Ordination of Missionaries to Calcutta ; and the labours of Mr. Swann in Siberia. 4. The northern part of our Island has not been deficient in zeal and activity both at home and abroad. The southern metropolis has been lately favoured with a visit from our beloved and respected Friend and Brother Dr. Wardlaw, whose ministerial labours amongst us, whilst collecting for the Congregational Union, have been highly acceptable. 5 The labours of the different Missionary Societies in the United States have been principally directed to Burmah, the Sandwich Islands, the Seven Apocalyptic churches, and Palestine, and to itinerating in Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, and Missouri. In an early number for the ensuing year we intend to give in our Poetical Department the beautiful Address to these gentlemen by Mr. Montgomery. 6. The United Brethren are continuing their labours in Greenland, Antigua, Africa, and other places. 7. The enlightened Roman Catholic Clergy on the Continent. -Professor Leander Van Ess meets with great opposition, but armed with courage from on high, he continues the conflict. His sphere of operation is of prodigious extent. He has distributed 408,210 copies of the Scriptures among the Catholics, some of them Catholic versions, others Protestant. There are numerous enlightened Catholic Priests in Bohemia, Cologne, Calb, &c. 8. The Jews.-An unusual spirit of inquiry on the subject of religiou prevails amongst the Jews in every quarter of the world. Many on the Continent have been savingly converted to God, and some are now preachers of the faith which once they destroyed. During the past year 3180 copies of the Hebrew New Testament have been circulated amongst them. 2000 copies of the Epistle to the Hebrews have been printed separately. 3780 copies of the German New Testament, in the German Hebrew character, have also been distributed; and the London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews is contemplating an Edition of the Old Testament in the same character. 70,000 Cards, containing parts of the Acts of the Apostles in Hebrew and German, have been circulated. Some thousand copies of the New Testament have been printed in the Judæo-Polish language. 250,000 Tracts for the Jews have been printed in different languages. In Russia, Holland, Germany, Bohemia, and Poland, many Jews are inquiring into the evidences of Christianity, and a general expectation of the manifestation of the Messiah prevails. 9. We congratulate our Readers on the powerful opposition which has been made to the Education Bill proposed by Mr. Brougham, and that that gentleman has relinquished this very odious, illiberal, and unpopular measure. 10. For the labours of the Baptist Missionary, Baptist Irish, Baptist Home Missionary, Home Missionary, Church Missionary, Wesleyan, Continental, London Hibernian, Irish Evangelical, Port of London, British and ForeignSchool, and many other Societies, we must refer to the different numbers of our Magazine. 11. We conclude with returning our sincere thanks, and those of the Widows of our Ministers, to our Readers, for their past favours, and with soliciting their future support. ANOTHER year is about to be to please them: but, O, I have added to those that are past for too much forgotten my best ever; and a new and solemn pe- Friend-the good, the gracious, riod of time will soon dawn on and the blessed God! How many me. And shall I regard the close opportunities have I permitted of the one, and the commence- to pass by unimproved, by which ment of the other, with in- I might have testified my gratidifference? O no. Come, my tude to him for his immeasurable soul, retire into the closet, shut goodness! How questionable, on out the busy scenes of life, and many accounts, has been my love review the way by which Divine to this kindest of Beings! I have Providence has led thee through not, as I ought to have done, the wilderness. And canst thou made it my chief solicitude to do it without penitence? Though please my adorable Benefactor, the year is almost gone, thoughts, to whom I am indebted beyond words, and actions, pass not all measure and bounds; and yet away: they are entered in that he has borne with me and yet awful volume which will be open- I live, and am the hourly object ed amidst assembled worlds. of his unmerited loving kindness. During the past season I have "Sure, were I not most vile and base, thought of my earthly friends, II could not thus my Friend requite; have been grateful to them for And were not he the God of grace, their kindnesses, I have been He'd frown, and spurn me from his sight." conscious that I have loved them, and have been solicitous VOL. XIII. And shall I then review the past without holy and elevated B |