'Smitten friends,

Are angels sent on errands full of love: For us they languish, and for us they die : And shall they languish; shal! they die in vain?'

No! rather let us enquire what message this stroke of God's providence has been commissioned to bear to our own souls. There are two particularly striking features in this lamented instance of mortality: first, it was unexpected, since neither the age, nor the apparent vigour and activity of the individual thus suddenly cut off in the meridian of life, could have warranted any expectation of such an event. Secondly, even the short period of his illness was scarcely permitted to be a season of preparation for eternity; for the above recorded, sweet, and most satisfactory testimonies to his blessed Saviour's presence with him, in his passage through "the dark valley," were just the occasional bright gleams of " the Sun of righteousness," shining into his soul, and dispelling for a moment the gloom of torpor and feverish delirium, which oppressed his body and his spirit, during the greater part of his last days of suffering. As the tree fell," therefore, so

it was "to lie." He was just permitted to receive the intimation, "Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him," and he had just time to reply in spirit," Even so Lord Jesus, come quickly." But summoned thus suddenly out of life, and amidst this heavy pressure of disease on the corporeal and mental powers, had the "oil" of heavenly grace been wanting in the "lamp" of lamp" of faith, there would have been no time, or ability for him to " go to them that sell, and buy for himself." Shall we not do well then to learn from the striking example before us, what madness it is to put off to a dying hour, the all

important work of becoming reconciled to God?

him

The death-bed of our departed friend may teach us a deeply interesting secret. What gave this heroic calmness, and this blessed peace, when death, as it were, started from his ambush, and claimed him as his prey? It was faith;—a firm, practical, realizing faith in the atonement wrought by a crucified Redeemer, which was "the anchor, sure and steadfast," on which his soul reposed; "the rock," on which his hopes of salvation were built; and though "the flood" of death arose, and beat vehemently upon that house, yet it could not shake it, "for it was founded upon a rock."

But it is scarcely a point of inferior moment to observe, that although our lamented friend did not build his hopes of salvation on "any works of righteousness which he had done; yet such works, (which are the inseparable accompaniments of saving faith) were exemplified in his life. Seldom, perhaps never, has there been a stronger testimony borne to the religious and moral character of any individual, than the universal suffrage which has been rendered, since his decease, by persons of all ranks and all classes, who were in any way acquainted with our departed friend, to the piety, the integrity, the purity, the charity, the humility, and the usefulness of his life and character. It was his daily, earnest, diligent endeavour, to "adorn the doctrine of God his Saviour in all things." He sought, by the assistance of the Holy Spirit of God, to make his life a commentary on that beautiful passage of scripture, 2 Peter i. 5-7, from which, only six months previous to his decease, he had preached, and published two very valuable discourses; "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge

temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherlykindness; and to brotherly-kindness charity."

We cannot but feel that the subject of this brief obituary is a public loss to all those in his neighbourhood, who frequently heard from his lips the glad tidings of salvation; to the young gentlemen whom he was bringing up in "the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom;" to his friends, his family, and all who were in any way connected with him. But while we may, and ought to lay it to heart," that " a righteous man" has perished from the earth, still must even those who have cause to mourn this event

"THERE is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." Rom. viii. 1. This is a matter of experience as well as of hope; for though they that are in Christ shall not be condemned, however dispirited and troubled they may be now, yet such as have not the heart's consciousness of being in Christ, are always liable to the voice of the accuser, tormenting and perplexing them.-M. S.

The worst kind of spiritual discomfort, is that depression which 'enchains the faculties without destroying them,' and weakens our sense of God's mercies, while it renders us more sensitive of his displeasure. Such a case is generally bodily and nervous, and perhaps will not be fully remedied, till we put off the corruptible body. But in the mean time, our most appropriate prayer will be this:

Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name; the righteous shall compass me about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me." Psalm cxlii. 7. What offering shall we bring unto God for this mercy? The engagement

contained in these words, "I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart." Psalm cxix. 32. And what is his ground of hope that his petition will be received? David's trust, "the Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. "Psalm cxxxviii. 8. -M. S.

About the beginning of the seventeenth century, Peter Jansen, a Dutch merchant, caused a ship to be built answering in its proportions to those of Noah's ark; the length of it being one hundred and twenty feet, the breadth of it twenty, and the depth of it twelve. At first this was laughed at as fanatical (Jansen being a Memnonite), and while it was building, he and his ship were ridiculed, as Noah and his ark were formerly. But when it was finished, they found that ships of this kind were more commodious in time of peace for commerce, because they held a third more, without requiring any more hands, and were found better runners than any that had been made before.-Parker's Bibliotheca Biblica.

but if they included the sums received for special purposes, such as contributions to the fund for the relief of decayed missionaries, the whole receipts of the year would amount to £49,300: that the Institution at Islington contained at present only thirteen students. The total number of missionaries and catechists sent forth during the year was nine, and the whole number of missionaries and catechists in connexion with the Society was 110.

In the West Africa mission, there were, in a population of 21,000 liberated negroes, 4000 who constantly attended public worship; 3000 children and adults under education, and 624 communicants in connexion with the Society.

In the Mediterranean, particularly in Malta, the agents of the Society had been most actively engaged in the printing of tracts in different languages; of these forty only had been printed in Italian, but there had been 12,368 printed in the Arabic, and 23,393 in the Greek. In Smyrna the work had been prosperous, considering the difficulties which had been raised up by the prevalence of cholera, and of the plague. The two missionaries from Egypt had visited the Society this year. It appeared that the greatest hindrance to the progress of missionary efforts amongst the Mahommedans of that country was the fear of death; for by law, the man who changes his religion is put to death. The labours of the missionaries therefore in that country were chiefly directed to the benighted Christians.

In

In Abyssinia, the missionary of the Society had found such favour with the chief of that part in which he resided, that great hopes were entertained from it of advantage to future missionary labours. general, the aspect of affairs in the Levant was favourable to the progress of the Society. A sentiment of toleration had begun to prevail even in Papal and Turkish countries, and we might hope soon to see the terrors of the triple crown, as well as those of the Mahommedan sword, vanish before the progress of the Word of God. We might hope to see the ancient people of God restored to his favour. These were objects of the Society; they were objects which gave it the

strongest claims to our support, our sympathy, and our prayers.

In Calcutta and North India,. thirty-five natives had gone to communion; of these, thirty-two had been in the open practice of idolatry only a short time before. At Meerut a chapel had been built by a native princess, at an expence of 7000 rupees, which was attended not only by Christians but by Hindoos and Mussulmans. It appeared that a missionary had attended one of the great fairs, where crowds thronged to his tent from morning to night to hear his discourses, and many gladly accepted his tracts.

In Madras and Southern India, the labours of the Society had been attended with great success. At Tinnevelly, great numbers had been converted from idolatry. One large body of Hindoos had, as a proof of their sincere conversion, brought forth from their temple the idol which most of them had worshipped from their infancy, and destroyed it. This was no small test of their conversion. At Bombay, Ceylon, and other parts of India, the Society had made considerable progress in the course of the year. In Australasia, they had been equally successful, and not less so in North America. Speaking of the West India mission, the report noticed the absurdity of ascribing to religious instruction those lamentable events which such instruction was calculated to prevent.

In conclusion, the report noticed the great liberality of the public in the past year, as evinced by the unprecedented increase in their income as compared with former years. That liberality had rescued them from a serious difficulty. Before the committee knew what might be their resources, they were ready to retrench-to cut off part of their expenditure-at the first post which might convey to them the tidings of reduced means: but they went on in confidence, and God had blessed their hopes. There was, in all they saw around them connected with the Society and its operations, proof that God had blessed their labours. It was, indeed, a source of great comfort to all who took an active part in promoting the objects of the society, that they were the instruments of conveying the knowledge

of the truth to thousands whom they had never seen, and that by their means so many were led from a most degrading state of ignorance and vice, to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ.

The Hon. and Rev. BAPTIST NOEL said he was glad to see an improvement was taking place in our missionary statements. They were getting to be plain and simple narrations of facts, as they ought to be. He had long wished to see more of information as to what was done, than of hope and conjecture as to what might be done in such reports. Even if they were unsuccessful in particular places, those who were interested ought to be informed of the fact, as it would teach them what course to pursue. Let the meeting consider what was the present extent of missionary labours, or rather of missionary means, in the whole Christian world. He meant of course the Protestant missions. The entire number of clergymen employed in those labours throughout the world did not exceed 600, and if to these were added 400 laymen they would have an aggregate of 1000-and these were the whole to preach the gospel to the heathen world, comprising six hundred millions of souls. That was, there was one missionary to every 600,000 heathens. What would the meeting think of one clergyman for the entire principality of Wales? or two for the whole metropolis-or four for Scotland-or only twenty for the whole of the Island--for that was about the proportion. What, he would ask, could be expected from the exertions of that number of clergymen spread over so large a sphere of action? Where the means were small, bow was it possible to expect great results? We should rather be thankful that so much was done with such small means at our disposal. Let them suppose the missionary at Benares, where there were 300,000 idolaters. After the missionary had mastered a language so very difficult and so widely different from his own, what was he alone to do in a city crowded with Brahmins, whose belief in their own faith, if it was not one of conviction, was upheld by their interests. If the missionary were to begin by telling any of those men of a Divine Atonement, they would

tell him they had a greater in their own religion ;-if he spake to them of miracles, they would adduce from the fictitious legends of their religion miracles which they would assert went far beyond ours;—if he spake to them of the Divinity of a Saviour, they would at the utmost class him as one of their 300 millions of gods;-if he talked to them of the purity of our faith, he would raise their strongest objections :-for it was the purity of our faith which deterred many from embracing it, and it was the wickedness of their own-giving a scope, as it did, to the gratification of their passions, which wedded them to it. But there was another difficulty which the missionary had to encounter. It was, that even where he might produce conviction on the mind of the Hindoo, the convert was deterred from an open profession of Christianity, as it would take him from his family and his friends, and cast him out on the world. Under such circumstances, the missionary at Benares would despair if he were not upheld by confidence in Him in whose cause he had embarked.

It

was that alone that could sustain him in his task, rather than any appeals from the Society at home, however strong or affectionate. Were they not then too sanguine in their expectations of what could be done by individual exertion. But suppose the climate should war against the missionary, and that after a residence of a few years, when he had remained long enough to have mastered the difficulties of the language, and to have made acquaintance with many of the natives, when in fact he was in a condition to commence his missionary labours, what was to be the result? He was to be replaced by another, who would have to go over the same ground before he could be equally efficient as his predecessor. See what had happened at Benares. Mr. Adlington was there in 1827; he was succeeded in 1828 by Mr. Friend; who in 1829 was followed by another missionary, who was soon removed, and there was no missionary till 1831. Now if Mr. Adlington could have remained for those five years, was it not probable that in that time a little church would have been collected around