sustained by the Society by the destruction of the former premises have failed, the cost of the Chapel and dwelling-house, to be erected in their place, must fall upon the Mission Fund. This is now wholly inadequate to this expen diture, which, with all economy, must be considerable; and the Committee earnestly and respectfully solicit from the friends of Missions, and of religious liberty, the aid of their kind subscriptions for this purpose. The enormity of the outrage, the stability and meek behaviour of the Society under persecutions, and the present favourable openings for usefulness in that colony, all afford powerful motives for a special exertion being made in favour of the re-establishment of this Mission, and for providing a place of worship for the congregation who were so wantonly deprived of their former "house of prayer." Subscriptions for this purpose will be received by the General Treasurers; by the Secretaries at the Mission House; and by any of the Treasurers and Secretaries of the Auxiliary and Branch Societies. JAMAICA.-Extract of a Letter from Mr. Duncan, dated Kingston, June 15th, 1826. IN Kingston we have much labour at present, chiefly in the renewing of tickets. I am more than ever convinced of the vast importance of this part of our duty, and feel determined to be firm in the discharge of it. In the course of this visitation I have been pleased with the improvement of many of our Members; for in them we see that our labour is not in vain. But there are others who are a pain and grief to us. This work already takes up between seven and eight weeks of every quarter, and for most of these we are employed about four hours every day, two in the morning, and two in the evening; but as I am resolved to let no individual pass on these occasions without attention, 1 design for the time to come to allow ten weeks per quarter for going over the whole. I am not able as yet to form an idea of our increase for the present quarter; but I do not expect much in this way. Death has of late been making great havoc among us: hardly a day has passed for some time in which we have not had to consign one, two, and sometimes three of our Members to the house appointed for all living. Since the commencement of the year we have lost four useful Leaders by death, some of whom had been Leaders of no ordinary stamp for piety and usefulness. Two, especially, were cut down in the mid-time of their days," who had been for some time pillars in the house of God. But respecting both them and the people who have left us, we have reason to rejoice, for the ge nerality have left a sufficient evidence that they now experience the "bles sedness of the dead who die in the Lord." We are often gladdened with the cheering experience of the sick and dying. I have just now been vi siting an old Leader, (a black man,) in a very painful illness; but I never saw more composure and resignation. On inquiring into the state of his mind, he was just able to say, "I feel happy in having a sense of the presence of Jesus, and all I want is, to feel it more.' Respecting the Circuit, I am happy in being able to say, that whether we have a large increase of numbers or not, I trust we have an increase of piety and order. Our excellent discipline is, I hope, not only faithfully enforced, but with such a strictness as this unwieldy Circuit requires. Our week-night services continue to be delightfully attended; I think a sight of these congregations would convey a seasonable reproof to many of our friends at home. In this city we have but two chapels, and we are forced at present to have them both open for week-night preaching at the same time: the average of the two congregations, taken together, is not less than two thousand and five hundred; and the number of hearers on the Lord's Day is also evidently on the increase.. 1 DEMERARA.—Extract of a Letter from Mr. Edmondson, Jun., dated Mahaica, 1826. August 7th, divine service, viz., Mahaica, Glazer's Last, and Mahaicony. Our chapel in Mahaica is attended by negroes from twenty-four estates, though the principal part of the congregation comes from about fourteen of those within a few miles of the village. Those from the other plantations are often unable to attend in consequence of the distance, or, at least, to reach in time to get into the chapel before every form and aisle is crowded to excess. It is pleasing to see the regularity of those who can attend. They allow no kind of weather to hinder them from coming to the house of prayer. On three Sabbath mornings, since my arrival, it has rained almost in torrents; and on the first of them I feared we should have no congregation at all; but when the time arrived we saw the people coming in groups, through the rain, and our chapel was crowded as at other times. This is always the case, and they generally bring with them a change of linen, which they manage to keep dry, and put on when they reach Mahaica. Applications for baptism are numerous. During the last quarter we received eighty under instruction; and, as they are very ignorant, a capable person has been appointed to teach and explain to them the smaller Catechism. The members of Society are generally walking circumspectly, and I hope growing in knowledge and grace. At both our places up the coast we are likely to receive an abundant reward for our toil. The congregations are still increasing, and from the surrounding population of both places, and the general desire of the negroes for religious instruction, we have reason to believe they will continue to increase abundantly. At each place several have lately given themselves to the Lord, and many have applied to be baptized, as a preparatory step to being received into Society. It has been intimated to you that two Missionaries might be well and use fully employed on this coast, and I caunot but earnestly wish that a second may soon be sent. No one man can do justice to the congregations and Societies in their present state, during the time allotted for religious instruction, however willing, diligent, and laborious he may be. At present we are obliged to begin service at an earlier hour in the morning than the people from the distant plantations can attend, in consequence of which they are often deprived of the privilege of hearing the Scriptures read and the word preached. For want of time, the Preacher is often obliged to neglect some very important duties, and can only attend to some others partially. But if another Missionary were sent, we should be able to commence the public worship at a convenient hour, and to pay that attention to the various branches of our duty which so imperiously, ou this very promising Station, demand our attention. It would then also be in our power to have divine service at Mahaica every Lord's Day. And as the slaves in this colony are fed by their masters, and have every Sunday at their own disposal, this would prove of infinite advantage to them, and bring them into the practice of regarding the day of the Lord as sacred and holy. Our We are looking out for a letter from the Committee by every packet, containing their final determination respecting Mahaica chapel. Independent of the dangerous state of the present one, it is far too small to accommodate the numbers that attend. Society, when present, fills it, and during preaching, all the forms, aisles, and steps are exceedingly crowded, and hundreds are frequently obliged to stand outside. Besides these I believe many more would attend if they had any chance of being accommodated, but as they are disappointed from time to time, after the long and fa tiguing walks they take, they get discouraged. al DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. ANNIVERSARIES of AUXILIARY AND BRANCH societies. April 14th. Wolsingham Branch: Mr. John Green in the Chair. Preacher, the Rev. James Bromley other Speakers, the Rev. Messrs. Ingham, Thompson, T. Hickson, and Dunn; Messrs. Wilson and White. Collection, £12. 2s, 1d..... June 16th Holt Branch: Lieut. Watling. R. N, in the Chair. Preacher, the Rev. Samuel Hope; other Speakers, the Rev. Messrs. Gilpin, Attersley, (Dissenting Minister,) and Messrs. Saunders, Ballarchy, Cousins, and Wiseman. Collections, £10. 17s. 11d. Oct. 9th Stafford Branch: Thomas Brookes, Esq., in the Chair. Preachers, the Rev. Joshua Marsden and John Watson; other Speakers, the Rev. Messrs. Barker, R. Newton. Whitehead, Chambers, (Independent Minister,) Close, and Rosser, Richard Hughes, Esq., and Messra, Cook, Boulton and Lockley. Collections, £39. Os. 10d. Oct. 9th. Lancaster Branch: Captain Gardner in the Chair. Preacher, the Rev. George Highfield: other Speakers, the Rev. Messrs. R. Wood, Moss, Pattisson, Bell, (Independent Minister,) and Edward Dawson, Esq. Collections, £17. 16s. Oct. 10th Norwich District Auxiliary: Preachers, the Rev. Messrs. Gaulter and Burdsall; other Speakers, the Rey. Messrs. Welborne, Day, Beaumont, (Independent Minister,) Wigg, (Baptist Minister,) Jackson, Towers, and Hope. Collections, £52. Oct. 16th. Portsmouth District Auxiliary: Thomas Marriott, Esq., in the Chair. Preachers, the Rev. Messrs. James, Mason, Anderson, and Toase, other Speakers, the Rev. Messrs, Seckerson, J. Stamp, jun., and White. Oct. 18th. Evesham Branch: the Rev. F. Collier in the Chair. Speakers, the Rev. Messrs. Williams, Close, Davis, Hickling, Crooks; and Mr. Turner. Oct, 18th. Rochdale Branch: the Rev. George Marsden in the Chair. Preachers, the Rev. Messrs. Slater, and M'Owan; other Speakers, the Rev. Messrs. Turton, Garratt, Sumner, Heap, Beech, Harris, Bunting; and Mr. Crompton. Collections, 140. Oct. 18th. Southampton Branch: Thomas Marriott, Esq., in the Chair. Preacher, the Rev. J. S. Stamp, other Speakers, the Rev. Messrs, James, Mason, Seckerson, Toase, White, Kelk, Gick, G. McDonald, and Draper, (Baptist Minister.) Collections, £19. Oct. 23d. Brighton Branch: Thomas Marriott, Esq., in the Chair, Preachers, the Rev. Messrs. Farrar and White; other Speakers, the Rev. Messrs. Edwards, Turnbull, and Goulty, (Independent Ministers,) Geden, Osborne, and T. Walker, Esq. Collections, £38. Oct. 23d. Ipswich Branch: the Rev. J. M. Ray, (Independent Minister,) in the Chair. Preacher, the Rev. W. B. Stephenson; other Speakers, the Rev. Messrs. Newstead, Cox, (Inde pendent Minister,) Dixon, Notcutt, (Independent Minister,) Fordred, Hewlett, (Independent Minister,) J. R. Browne, Meadmore, T. Brown; and Mr. Cutting. Collections, 20. 78. 4d. Oct. 24th. Burton Branch, Burton and Lichfield Circuit: the Rev. H. S. Hopwood in the Chair. Preacher, the Rev. W. Bacon; other Speakers, the Rev. Messrs. Agar, Walsh, Elliott, (Baptist Minister,) Bromilley, (Independent Minister,) Watson, Heys, and Ingham. Collections, £30. Oct. 25th. Lichfield Branch, Burton and Lichfield Circuit: Rev. H. S. Hopwood in the Chair. Preacher, the Rev. A. J. Jewitt. Speakers, the Rev. Messrs. Rosser, Agar, Heys, Ingham, and Thomas Thompson, Esq., of London. Collections, £12. Nov. 7th. Marlborough Branch: the Rev. R. Wheeler in the Chair, Preacher, the Rev. W. M. Harvard; other Speakers, the Rev. Messrs. Squance, Tozer, and Clapp, (Independent Ministers,) Griffith, Tabraham, Radford, Aldom; and Messrs. M'Tier and Edwards. Date unknown. Ilkeston Branch: Thomas Jerram, Esq., in the Chair. Speakers, the Rev. Messrs. Aver, Smith, Trefiry, Shaw, (Independent Minister,) Percel, (Baptist Minister,) Newton, Stephenson; and Messrs. Mullen and Herbert. Collection, £12. CONTRIBUTIONS. The amount of Contributions received by the General Treasurers of the Wesleyan-Methodist Missionary Society, since the 15th of October, is, £3236. 6s. 4d. Among these are the following items: 1. DIED, Nov. 22, 1825, Daniel Box, a Class-Leader in the St. George's Society, London. Before he was converted to God, he was a man of regular habits, and had all the decencies of morality, which gave him, in the opinion of an unsanctified world, a claim to be religious, without justifying faith, or the enjoyment of mental holiness. He was born in the year 1777, at Tavistock, Devon. Providentially called to London, in 1812, he heard the Ministers of that religious community, with which he was connected when he died. He saw, through their teaching, the sinful and depraved nature of his original state, with his own additional guilt, and at the same time God's gracious method of saving sinners L. s. d. 14 5 8 500 through faith in the Redeemer of men. He soon found in those authentic promises of mercy, which he discovered in Revelation, the grace that could save;' and he was comforted with a divine persuasion of his acceptance in the Beloved, and enjoyed both the witness and fruit of the Spirit. When I was stationed in the Deptford Circuit, where I found him, I soon perceived his steady activity, and the real character of his worth, in that cause which he had embraced. He was then appointed to meet a Class, which flourished under his pious and vigilant superintendence. On the reduction of the number of hands in the dock-yard, at Deptford, in consequence of the restoration of peace, he came to London, where Providence opened a way for him both in the church and in the world. In both he prospered. He not only took charge of a Class, but was at the head of our Prayer-Meeting Association; and he also spent much of his time, on the Lord's Day, in attending to the children in the SundaySchool. On his death, this infant charge expressed in strong cries and tears the remembrance of his fatherly attention to their interest. The occurrence which brought him to an immature dissolution, is to me as painful to review as to recite. As he had become a partner in a building concern, his trade being that of a joiner, he was frequently called to work in the shipping on the Thames. On Thursday, Nov. 10th, he was passing to a ship on the river, when one of those large barges which are employed on those waters, through the mismanagement of the commander, ran against the boat in which Mr. Box was going to a ship. In a moment the boatmen on the barge sprung up to assist him; but our suffering friend missed his hold, sunk to the bottom, and on his rising he received a serious injury, and was found clinging to some ropes. He was ten minutes in the water before he was rescued. He was brought home with difficulty; but so cold that every attempt to restore animal heat appeared ineffectual, and on its return, it was followed by a virulent fever. His pains were inexpressible; but hope Hattered his partner and friends with a complete recovery. But his labours were over, his race run, and he had to verify that his faith was certainty, and his Christian expectation not delusion. The night before he died I saw him; in great pain he expressed his confidence in God; and not long after I had left the apartment of this dying believer, his soul was filled with stronger consolations; and at four o'clock on the following morning, this excellent man (who was plain without being rude, in whom were united the principles of stability and zeal, and who feared God above many) surrendered his soul to Him who gave it. On the Lord's Day, Dec. 11th, I endeavoured to improve the afflictive occasion, when his neighbours gave their suffrage, by a crowded attendance, to the character of a man who, without any claim to rank in life, or superiority of earthly attainments, had left behind him an example of seriousness without gloom, and of strong and consistent attachment to the cause of Christ. J, GAULTER. 2. Died, at Kirkoswald, in the Penrith Circuit, November 23d, Margaret Watson, aged twenty-four years. She was the eldest daughter of William Gib son, of Newbiggin, in the parish of Croglin, in the eastern extremity of Cumberland. She was of a reserved disposition, and manifested a reverence for sacred things from her childhood. Her leisure hours, particularly on the Sabbath, were generally spent in reading. The few books to which she had access were principally religious; and as her native parish has the advantage of the gratuitous distribution of a small number of Bibles annually, she was early put in possession of the sacred volume. Thus, without those oppor tuuities which some are favoured with, she acquired a considerable share of religious knowledge, and was preserved from many of those vices which are too common among persons of her station in life. In the autumn of 1819, some of the Local Preachers of the Brough and Penrith Circuit made arrangements for preaching in the village where she lived, once a fortnight, on the Sabbath evenings; and the only Methodist then in the village opened his cottage for divine worship. From that period she became a constant hearer; and her seriousness under the word, with her general deportment, soon evidenced that she profited by what she heard. In the beginning of April, 1821, she was providentially led to attend a Love-feast at Penrith, and in the month of June following she was admitted into the Methodist Society. Some of her friends thought that by this step she had degraded herself; others considered her seriousness as the effect of constitutional melancholy, and apprehended no beneficial consequences from such a proceeding. Her parents made no decided opposition, and the sayings or surmisings of others had little effect upon her mind. However, she had difficulties of another nature to encoun ter. There were no religious persons near her, with whom she could freely associate. Her health was delicate, and she had to travel a considerable distance over very unfavourable roads before she could enjoy the ordinances peculiar to the people among whom she had determined to live and die. But she had counted the cost; her mind was fixed; and while her conduct evidenced her sincerity and decision, it affords an important lesson to many who are placed in more favourable circums stances. The views she had formed of the importance of religion, and the es perience she had of its excellence, led knowing that He was too wise to err, and too good to act unkindly, she could, without anxiety, leave all in his hands, and was fully prepared to give up all that was dear to her in the present world. Though she was exercised in the commencement of her affliction with strong temptation, by divine grace she was more than conqueror. Death had lost his sting, aud that fear which hath torment had long been a stranger to her breast. Some of her last words, while she retained her recollection, were, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name." Though her days were few, and her advantages of no extraordinary nature; yet, through the influence of religion, she was raised to the enjoy ment of that peace which nothing else can give, and rendered a blessing to all who had the happiness of being connected with her. Her removal from the present world, though a momentary loss, which must be felt by her friends, and particularly by the writer of this account, is her certain and eternal gain. JOSEPH WATSON. her ardently to desire the salvation of 3. Died, November 24th, at Witchampton, in the Poole Circuit, Mr. John Brewer, aged eighty years. Of the early part of his life little is known. From some particulars which he named in conversation a few weeks before his death, it appears that, upwards of fifty years ago, he heard that a Methodist Minister was coming to preach in the neighbourhood; which at that time was a novel thing in this part of the country. At the time appointed, he, with many others, attended; and, as was usual in those days, the Preacher met with considerable interruption. The same Preacher he heard a few times after this; and it seems probable that serious impressions were then made upon his mind; for he, and some other persons of the same village, began regularly to attend the Baptist Meeting at Wimborne, a distance of five miles; there being then no regular preaching by the Methodists in their neighbourhood. His companions soon grew weary, and deserted him; but he continued his attendance for several years, till one Sabbath-day, when the Minister, having baptized some individuals, spoke of those who differed from him on the subject of baptism, in a manner which to our friend appeared neither consistent with truth nor charity. From that time he withdrew from the Baptist Chapel, and began to seek instruction from those whose sentiments were more 3 P |