much so, that Mr. Thomas, the colleague of my uncle Carey, when he first went to India, put into the public newspaper an advertisement, "Wanted a sincere Christian ;" but now, if he were in India, though perhaps the history of India has reached him in heaven, but if he were there now, he need not advertise for Christians. No, we bless God, they are found here and there, not a few in every rank of society, from the highest down to the lowest rank. These are the effects, benign and gracious, saving and most promising effects, which follow the promulgation of the Gospel there. It was observed by one of the speakers, that some years ago the East India Company was partially inclined to discourage Missionary efforts; but I beg to state, with gratitude to that honourable body, that whatever was the case in past years, it is not so at present; for we meet with great encouragement from the Honourable Company's military and civil servants. In every part of India, Missionaries, coming from what Society they may, are hailed as messengers of mercy and truth. In adverting to the state of education in India, it has been observed, that all the female population of India, from time immemorial, has been held in a state of the greatest depression, and the deepest and most profound ignorance; but that dense, that awful darkness is now giving way: it has been penetrated and pierced by heavenly light, which shall increase in its force till it shall penetrate the centre of heathen society; and here and there not a few are casting off the shackles of idolatry, and smiling at their former ignorance and conceits; and not only encourage their children to receive instruction, but put their hands in their pockets and help our labours. In speaking of the countenance which Missionaries receive in the prosecution of their labours, I may but advert to one instance, which is rather singular. There is a Hindoo gentleman in Calcutta, a Brahmin, and a descendant of some of the noble families who formerly swayed the sceptre, previous to the Mahommedan invasion. He is, it is true, an idolater; but he became so sensible of the value of education, that he has educated his own girls, and taught them to read and write the English language; and as soon as he knew that books were published at the Mission printing-houses, and he saw a fair opportunity to establish, female schools, he devoted his attention to. this object, and at every quarterly examination, from 500 to 700 children as

semble on the premises of this native gentleman himself. The work of female education was, about ten years ago, very discouraging. When the first school was established, we sought far and wide for a person to teach it; and but one native female, after great inquiry, could be found to undertake the education of a few native girls, so great was the dearth of education. But now we have not only native children, but native female teachers, who take them under their care. Within ten miles of Calcutta, there are not less, I suppose, than from thirty to forty native female schools, belonging to the several denominations. There is something infectious, so to speak, in doing good,-in the spirit of religion. Thus it is that we see the blessed work proceed, and spread, and widen, and deepen as it advances, and it adds new life, and strength, and vigour, to those who are promoting its cause. We cannot prescribe its limits: we shall find in a few years that it will have no bounds but those of the habitable world itself. Nothing less will be sufficient to circumscribe the energies of the cross. Whilst we rejoice in schools for the Heathen, as subordinate and collateral labours, yet the preaching of the Cross of Christ is our grand instrument; the making known the message of mercy from heaven to earth, the spreading the savour of the name of Christ in every place. This alone can elevate our hopes, and give the blessed prospect of the emancipation of a world; the Gospel must strike its light into the heart, and bring every thought into subjection. We wish indeed to ameliorate the outward condition of mankind, but we must bring to the consideration, and recommend to the heart of every Heathen, the tidings of salvation, and invite the perishing nations to come and participate those treasures of love and mercy which the God of love exhibits in the life, and death, and resurrection of his Sou. It is matter of peculiar thankfuluess, that Native Missionaries are rising up there,-that he who has tasted of the love of God himself becomes a Missionary to speak of that love to others. At the present moment, not less than from ten to twenty native Preachers, in Bengal, who themselves have tasted that the Lord is gracious, are anxious to spread the savour of his name. These assistants are exceedingly useful, as their acquaintance with the language gives them great facilities of communicating their ideas to their countrymen, while the Missionary who goes with his native bro

ther is able to sustain his mind in circumstances of discouragement. That Gospel which is able in this country to make sinners wise to salvation, is the same in India: nor in India alone, but in Africa, and in every part of the habitable globe, we feel that the religion of Jesus is the religion of man; it meets him in his universal character, and under every variety of condition, in all his expansive wants, and all his prospects for time and eternity; and he sees them all provided for in an economy of mercy revealed by the death and resurrection of our blessed Redeemer. The same blessing attends the promulgation of the Gospel everywhere, and in every place there is the same spirit, and the same principle; the same prayer and the same praises ascend perfumed with the sweet incense of the blessed Redeemer's sacrifice. While, therefore, the fruits of Missionary labours are found to be the same in every clime, what reason have we to persevere in our benign labours, what a motive to gird our loins with truth, and take the helmet of salvation, and clothe ourselves with zeal as a cloak, and go forward with fresh courage to this enterprise! The blessings we have already enjoyed, are but a blessed prelude to future success. All the blessings that have yet attended all Missionary labours, are only testimonies that more ample blessings and more ample rewards will attend those who labour in this work of the Lord."

This Resolution was supported by the Rev. W. B. Fox, late Missionary in Ceylon, who gave a most satisfactory account of the success and progress of the Missions there and in India, with much affecting information of the state of the Heathen.

The Rev. Edward Irving moved the third Resolution, and observed,

"When I came to this Meeting to-day, I came in order to receive the good tidings which it might please the Lord to bring to my ears, and to the ears of all his servants here assembled together, by the mouths of his Missionary and ministering servants, and by others who might be called upon to address this Meeting; but least of all had I any purpose to address you, and least of all am I supposed to be capable of making any demonstration profitable to this cause; but having a commandment, and being pressed of you and those engaged, to make my testimony on behalf of this good work, I felt that, as a servant and Minister of Christ, and one who constantly prays and wishes for the welfare of Zion, I could not remain silent; and

therefore trusting in that help which is always at hand to those who trust in it, and casting myself as I do upon the indulgence of those servants of the Lord, I now endeavour to urge the Resolution put into my hand, which is :'That the peculiar relations in which large portions of the inhabitants of the Pagan world stand to our country, either as its subjects, or claiming from it a debt of Reparation; such as the Negroes in our West India Colonies; the Nations and Tribes of Western and Southern Africa; and the immense population of our Indian Empire; lay the Christian Public of this Country under special obligations to extend to them the means of Instruction by the Ministration of the Gospel and the establishment of its illuminating and hallowing Institutions.'

Now, in the first place, with respect to the duty of the governors of a country in those parts of the world which God hath put under their dominion, I conceive that the doctrine of the Scriptures hath in all ages been the orthodox doctrine of the church, to wit, that Christ Jesus is the Prince of the kings of the earth. It is He that hath purchased the world and those that dwell in it from beneath the curse of God; it is in virtue of his sacrifice that we live upon the earth, and the earth brings forth its fruits to man. When the Lord did require the first fruits to be offered to him, it was in token that the earth was to be redeemed by him; and we now take bread and wine, the productions of the earth, in token that we hold this world and all we have in right of his sacrifice; and the declaration he made to his Apostles after he had risen from the dead was, "All power is given into my hands in heaven and in earth;" and when he appeared to John, in Patmos, the title and style by which he denominated himself was, "I am the faithful and true witness, the Firstbegotten of the dead, the Prince of the kings of the earth." I hold it to be a principle of his government, that magistrates and kings are placed in authority under him, that they may watch over his interests in the world, and propagate his truth, and establish his truth to the ends of the earth; and if I look into the history of the world, and see for what paganism was brought low, and Rome visited with all its desolation, I find that it was for its persecution of the Church. If I look and see why Jerusalem and the Jews were cast out, it was because they would not receive his government, and because of their persecution of himself and his Church; and if I look at the whole history of

the world and of the word of God, I find the principal object for which God's judgments descend upon men, is, their disregard of that which is the foundation of all governments, that kings and magistrates arc invested with power, as his vicegerents, to cause his government and his words to be executed to the utmost of their power. In all parts of the world where Missionary operations are undertaken, you have stimulated, you have taught our rulers, you have taught the state, this great truth, of which formerly they were ignorant. God hath blessed the Missionary and the home labours of his servants, to the melioration of the principles of government and of society, so that we have now religious institutions in India and in the West Indies, set forth by the authority of the state, upon which, I trust, the blessing of the Lord will descend, even as upon those Societies, which first did pioneer the way. I know the blessing of the Lord does rest upon them; and I dare say there are Missionaries in this meeting who can tell of the friendly countenance which has been shown to them by the Church of England in Ceylon and India. With regard to the Negro population in the West Indies, they owe this Society a debt, and every one who wishes for their emancipation doth owe this Society a debt. The Wesleyan Missionary Society hath earned to itself a high degree in the church of Christ, by its labours among the poor Negroes; and to every one that is friendly to their emancipation I would say, Here are the true emancipators; you shall never emancipate a people from thraldom and slavery, but by diffusing amongst them the benign light and charity of the Gospel. Civilization, political laws, and all other things, will go back and return to a condition of slavery, if the preaching of the authority of God, and the benevolent doctrines of Christ Jesus, be not continually spread abroad; and I believe sincerely, that however it is right (and it is most right) for legislators to argue this in their national councils, because it is one in which national character is concerned, yet it is our part, as knowing better the secret springs of human action, and the secret springs of national well-being, to carry with us that which will soften society, bless all its desolations, making the very beasts of the field to be peaceable, aud the wilderness, and the solitary place to rejoice and blossom like the rose. I do indeed wish, and I do indeed entreat, that the religious part of the community, who know, as I do,

these things more perfectly, would in a greater degree put their trust in those means, over which the Lord hath made them specially the ministers, namely, the Gospel of peace; and whilst the world handles its own question of political expediency, let us join hand and heart to carry the true liberty of Christ both to the masters and the slaves; founding ourselves not on this interest or that interest, but upon the promises of God, and upon that Saviour, who came to bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort all that mourn, and to free the prisoners, and give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. I was going to add, standing here as a Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, my word of encouragement to all the Missionaries; I have my own view with respect to the character of Missionaries, and this a highly exalted one,-I have my idea, that we are gradually advancing into that dignity; and that your endeavours, and the endeavours of other Missionary Societies, to purify themselves from all worldly trust, and put their trust only in God, will raise them into the true apostolic character of Missionaries. They will feel their trust is in God, and in proportion as their trust is reposed in Him, so exactly will be their success. I see the way of the Lord preparing; we have the Scriptures translated into all languages, and now in active circulation among the people, so that when the Lord beginneth to make his demonstration, you have the witness that this demonstration is promised. I have seen Missionaries diverted, as it were, by the strong current of God's Spirit, from that purpose for which they were sent out, and forced to translate the Scriptures, in which they have done a work to make England glad, and to raise the fame of her mechanics and tradesmen high above the fame of the most learned bodies and universities the world hath ever seen; and now I perceive the Lord is forcing the energies of your Missionaries into another channel, the channel of education. You see how the strong current of His providence does, as it were, shut one door, as not being the door that it is proper now to open, but always openeth another door, because he alone is wise, and he alone can turn the rivers and streams of our energies into the chaunel of his own good and wise purposes, whereby he is bringing about the re demption of the world. It is ours to say with the virgin, "Behold thy servant, be it unto me according to thy word;"

behold our energies, behold our means, behold our lives, take them and turn them according to the good will of thy pleasure. I say he hath already done one work in circulating the Scriptures, and he is now doing another work in teaching the people to read those Scriptures, and the perfection of the work is yet to come. Your Missionaries shall find, and we shall find, if we persevere in our labours, that when the land has thus been irrigated, and the seed sown, that the summer of the Lord will come, and the sun of righteousness will arise upon your labours, and the harvest-men will then gather in this plentiful harvest into the garner of the Lord, of which we have been honoured to sow the seed. The Lord's work is everlasting, his dwelling-place eternity, and his name endureth for ever; we pass away as a tale that is told, and the place that knows us now will soon know us no more; but the Church is eternal, being founded on the rock Christ Jesus, who is the Prince of the kings of the earth, the possessor of all power in heaven and on earth; therefore, let us labour to the end, and hand it down to our children to labour more effectually than we have done,-to labour with more simplicity of faith, and more sincerity of devotion, assured that the work of the Lord shall prosper because it is the work of Him who saith, and it is done, who commandeth, and it standeth fast."

This Resolution was seconded by the Rev. Theodore Dury, Rector of Keighley, who observed,

He had felt a great deal of the fear of man in coming forward to speak; but there was a higher fear, and he feared God. He would therefore endeavour to throw his mite into the treasury, because he wished his name to be always associated with the glorious cause of Missious. He remembered Mr. Peel once said, respecting a certain Bill which he had brought into Parliament, that his reward would be to have his name connected with that Bill; and it was to him a great reward to have his name connected with the Missionary cause. He had derived great pleasure from read ing the accounts of the state of the Missions of this Society in different parts. With respect to Ireland, he said, "I consider it one of the most important fields to which your energies are directed. In the south of France, I see the little leaven leavening the whole lump; if I look to Malta, I see great good doing there; from thence I look down the

and

Mediterranean. In Palestine, I observe, you are purposing the establishing of a Mission; and I would say to you, carry this resolution into effect. From thence I would pass to the West Indies, and as I draw near the Islands I fancy I hear a funeral dirge of Christian slaves following to the grave the bodies of their shepherds, lately by a most mysterious providence taken from them. But they mourn with meekness; they do not cut themselves like followers of Baal; they do not commit those excesses which they would have done formerly; in the midst of tears they feel resignation; and they are confidently looking to you to send out fresh shepherds in the place of those who have gone to glory. And will you suffer them to be as sheep scattered on the mountains without a shepherd? You will not. I have the honour to come from a county which has been noticed with something like applause, Yorkshire; and I will tell the Meeting, that if you are determined to go on in this cause, the friends of Christ there, are as much interested in this cause as you can be may I not, when I go back to that part of the country, in company with some of my friends, say, that the people in London are determined still to support the same blessed cause by their liberality and by their prayers? I will not detain the Meeting longer than by just stating, that I knew a Clergyman who got presented to a living in the country, and went down to take possession of it. He thought himself very well instructed, and was trusting entirely in his own righteousness and strength when he began to perform his duties. At his church he found a very trifling congregation; the people in general were looking about and observing each other's dress; but some he saw amongst them who were devout and serious in their attendance; and when he administered the Sacrament, he found that these few were almost the only persons who attended. He inquired about those people, and found they were Methodists, and this Clergyman began to conceive favourably of them. He visited them, and mixed with them, and from them he derived important instruction. God was pleased to take away his proud heart and to give him a humble heart. God the Holy Spirit taught him that he was a sinner, and that there was forgiveness for every sinner through Jesus Christ; and God's Spirit not only taught him that there was forgiveness, but he gave him forgiveness; and that Clergyman stands on this platform to-day, not to return

thanks to the Methodist body, but to return thanks to God; and he calls on you all to witness his gratitude for the blessing he has received from God and from your Society as agents. The publication of these blessed truths, which I have found so salutary to myself, must have my advocacy and prayers, in all those parts of the earth to which the attention of this Society is directed.

[Being disappointed by the Reporter, in obtaining, in time for publication, the remainder of the interesting addresses delivered on this occasion, we can only copy the Resolutions.]

The third Resolution, before given, was supported by the Rev. Theophilus Lessey, from Halifax.

Resolution 4th.-" That the very respectful and cordial Thanks of the Society are particularly due to Thomas Fowell Buxton, Esq., M.P., for the able and liberal manner in which, unsolicited by the Committee, from his own sense of Justice and respect to Religious Liberty, he brought the recent outrages upon the Society's Mission in the Island of Barbadues, under the notice of Parliament during its last Session; the result of which was an unanimous address of the House of Commons to his Majesty, expressive of its indignation at the transactions in Barbadoes, and of its readiness to concur in every measure which his Majesty may deem necessary for securing ample protection and religious toleration to all his Majesty's Subjects in that part of his Majesty's Dominions."

Moved by the Rev. Joseph Entwisle, President of the Conference, seconded by Lancelot Haslope, Esq., and supported by the Rev. R. Watson.

Resolution 5th.-" That the Thanks of the Society are especially due to Joseph Butterworth, Esq., M.P., and the Rev. Joseph Taylor, the General Treasurers, for their valuable services, which they are requested to continue; and that the Thanks of the Meeting be given to the General Committee for their attention to the affairs of the Society during the past year, and to the Rev. George Morley, the Rev. Richard Watson, and the Rev. John Mason, the General Secretaries, for their faithful discharge of the duties of their office."

Moved by the Rev. Robert Newton, of Manchester, and seconded by the Rev. Dr. Townley, of Bradford, in Yorkshire.

Resolution 6th.-" That the Thanks of this Meeting be given to the Auriliary and Branch Societies, both at home and abroad, to the Ladies' Associations, and to the different Juvenile Societies, with their Committees, Treasurers, Secretaries, and Collectors, for their liberal and successful exertions in aid of the Funds of the Society; and to those Ministers who have so zealously afforded to the Society, during the past year, the aid of their valuable labours."

Moved by the Rev. W. White, from New-Zealand, and seconded by the Rev. W. Naylor, of Macclesfield.

Resolution 7th.-" That the Thanks of this Meeting be given to Joseph Butterworth, Esq., M.P., for his attention to the business of the day, and for his unremitting exertions in promoting the objects of the Society."

Moved by the Rev. Henry Moore, and seconded by William Turner, Esq., of Derby.

dated Salem, Albany, Jan. 30, 1826. "putting to silence the ignorance of foolish men." Our Missionary meeting was crowded, and great interest was excited in behalf of the perishing Heathen. Several facts were stated by Brother W. Shaw, which had come under his observation, relative to the effects of the Gospel upon the Caffres, which two years ago, even by the most sanguine, could scarcely have been anticipated for it is well known, that they have not only been troublesome neighbours, but dangerous enemies ; and many of the colonists seem now to be convinced, that the introduction of the Gospel among the Caffres will be the most efficient way of securing the peace and tranquillity of the frontier.