quiescence, we know there are those who have been much dissatisfied with some things that transpired, chiefly as it regards the ministry. This, we understand, has gone back many degrees from that evangelical character it was beginning to assume among some of the leading ministers the last few years.

One of the most eminent, and perhaps nearly the longest standing, whose labours in this country and in America have, in days past, been extensive, we are informed, introduces the doctrine of works in a manner so remarkably specious as exceedingly to mar the great fundamental doctrine of justification by faith.

Several subjects, not strictly religious, engaged a large portion of the Meeting's attention. Among these was a discussion, or rather an exchange of sentiments, on the subject of total abstinence, which was very well treated, especially as a means of usefulness to the poorer classes; and with reference to some who, through intemperance and its consequences, have forfeited their membership in the Society, and become outcasts. This subject has evidently made great progress amongst Friends during the past twelve months.

A large meeting, of both sexes, was held one evening, and several hours occupied with listening to the addresses of various Friends, who had taken a part, in their respective districts, on the question of Slavery and the Slave-trade. The treatment of the aborigines of our different colonies, the Indians, &c., was also adverted to.

One Quarterly Meeting-that of Westmoreland, excited particular attention. It appeared, by a somewhat irregular appendage to the answers to the queries, that several persons within one of its Monthly Meetings had been baptised, and that the overseers omitted to bring these cases before the Monthly Meetings; i. e., had not treated them as a grave delinquency. It would appear that they had been privately conversed with; but this by no means came

up to what was considered requisite by many zealous upholders of " our peculiar views." The Meeting was denounced as a weak one, and a committee appointed to visit it; and, while smooth and conciliatory expressions were made use of by some individuals, they were among the advocates for prosecuting to the utmost extent those who had been guilty of going back "to the beggarly elements." The question, however, was not fully and openly met by the Meeting: it is one that the Society, as a body, seems afraid of meddling with. Several individuals, however, spoke their minds, we understand, clearly and decidedly in favour of the observance of the Christian rites; and at last it was declared by the clerk, that the Meeting pronounced no opinion on the subject of disowning persons for being baptised.

Committees, we find, are to be appointed by the Quarterly Meetings, to visit the members individually, in reference to the first and third queries. This is a somewhat novel expedient.

Particulars regarding the tenor of the American and Irish Epistles have not reached us, nor respecting the testimonies of deceased ministers, with the exception of the one regarding James Howarth; which we have heard strongly animadverted upon as objectionable. Among the rest, we hear it is brought forward as an excellency in his character, that he considered it right to abstain from religious conversation. When we couple these things with the statement of Daniel Wheeler, furnished us by a friend, which follows, and the meetings which were held at the close of the Yearly Meeting, at the request of Sarah Grubb, we must confess that the prospect of a reformation in the Society, which some have fondly looked to, is to the last degree improbable. There is no alternative for those who are enlightened, and who take the New Testament for their guide, but boldly to stand forth in defence of the truth of the Gospel.

Statement of Daniel Wheeler, who has recently returned from the South Sea Islands, to the Yearly Meeting.

DANIEL WHEELER gave an account of his religious visit; when he made some observations, to the following purport:

:

He had been wonderfully preserved and led along he had implicitly followed the light. When he left the English shore he felt that he must return again, which he accordingly did. During his long travels he had had the opportunity of satisfying his mind on one point, which, indeed, he had never doubted, that the true light enlightens every man that comes into the world— that the Gospel is preached in every creature under heaven; for, whatsoever may be known of God, is manifest in

man.

It had been told him, before the missionaries visited the islands the people there knew right and wrong, and when they did wrong they were afraid. If the Gospel was hid, he was persuaded it was only hid to them that were lost. He had been so long banished from his native land that he knew but little about the state of Friends; but he felt, on returning, joy and sorrow, hope and fear. But it might be for the strengthening of some in Friends' principles to tell his experience; he was willing, therefore, to expose himself.

It was

now forty-five years since he was first drawn to obey the light; he had found it to be the true light; and, as he had faithfully followed it, he had always been led along safely. It taught all things, and brought all things to remembrance. This was the word that was in the beginning, this was that principle in which Father, Son, and Spirit dwell, and by which alone we can be saved.

knew that killing their children was wrong. Be this as it may, it corresponds with what the apostle, in the Romans, teaches us, "who, knowing the judgment of God, that they who do such things are worthy of death, not only do the same," &c. But how does this prove that the Gospel is preached in them? Is, then, the Gospel the knowledge of right and wrong, and that which makes man afraid when he has done wrong; or is it the glad tidings to men thus condemned, thus conscious of guilt before God, that God hath provided a ransom,-hath accepted an offering for sin, and that, believing in this ransom, he may at once come nigh unto that justly-offended God, and be accepted? This confusion of terms is most mischievous.—Eds.]

BAPTISM.

The

THE progress of truth is sometimes very slow; and perhaps never is it more so, than when the points at issue have a religious bearing. Is it not exemplified, in every instance on record, in the progress towards a reformation ? prejudices of education and long-accustomed habit are immediately brought in array against a change, all our prepossessions of mind are adverse; our feelings are roused at the very thought even of calling in question what we have hitherto believed, which our fathers held to be sacred, and which, in our estimation, is venerable through age, and therefore must be true.

Added to all this, powerful as it is, there is, with some, another obstacle to the progress of reformation; and, on a large class of society, is perhaps as operative, or more so, than any other ; we allude to the influential effect of caste. Perhaps a greater impediment to improvement, a greater enemy to inquiry, and to any advancement from an apathetic and dull reception of things as they are as right and true, is not to be found in the composition of the human mind.

We are led to these remarks in reflecting on the present state of the Society of Friends, and more particularly as it relates to the important questions of the Christian rites of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, now brought before it in a manner they never have been since its formation.

The opposition to solid scriptural inquiry by the Society, was, perhaps, never more marked on any subject than on these ; nor ever has it evinced more anxiety to evade the consideration, and to quash and stifle the subject whenever attempted to be introduced. Unable to meet it in fair and open discussion, it has rejected every constitutional mode to bring it forward; putting it down by that most effective and powerful influence, among the Friends, of silent disapproval; thus surrendering the exercise of a sound, discriminating judgment, to a fixed and determined belief that the early Friends were divinely directed in the disuse of "all outward rites ;" and tacitly avowing, that the congregated body from all parts of the nation had not power to entertain the matter.

Although this is the case with regard to the body at large, there are, however, instances to the contrary, where it is cheering to observe the light is breaking in Scripture authority is appealed to; the doctrine and practice of the apostles is looked upon as the true standard, and paramount to the views of any since their day. It is, therefore, matter for Christian joy, to find those who are able to throw aside the veil of prejudice, to open their eyes to the clear commands of the word of God, through his inspired messengers, and in simplicity to obey, without attempting to evade them by a mystical reference to passages of Scripture not bearing on the subject; and under the specious, but, we think, mistaken apprehension of spirituality; and thinking so, and that the observance of these rites in no degree compromises the spiritual nature of the religion of Jesus Christ, every feeling of which, in the

mind of the true believer, they are calculated to enhance, it is that we are the more strenuous in urging their importance on the minds of those for whom we are interested, who are depriving themselves, in our apprehension, of those very means for spiritual help and refreshment that were appointed by Him "who knoweth our frame," "who is touched with a feeling of our infirmities;" and resorting to works of their own-creatures of their own imagination.

It is, therefore, with peculiar pleasure that we perform the duty of recording the baptism of William Dilworth Crewdson, sen., of Kendal, on Saturday, the 2nd of June, by the Rev. Mr. Norton, Baptist minister.

There was something peculiarly affecting and impressive on the occasion. The sight of one venerable in years, and who had long sustained a Christian character, surrounded by his friends, thus surrendering all his preconceived views, and bearing a simple testimony to Jesus, his Lord and Master, in the way he now believed was the one he appointed.

The Rev. Mr. Calderwood, from Kendal, a friend of Mr. Crewdson, and who is on the point of proceeding as a missionary to South Africa, was present, and took an interesting part in the service.

COAST MISSIONARIES, AND INTELLIGENCE FROM KENT.

WE have been favoured by a friend with some account of a visit recently paid by a minister of religion, who, at present, is filling the very important and interesting post of a coast missionary, to Boughton, in Kent, the site of those extraordinary and melancholy events which have recently occurred.

It may not be known, perhaps, to many of our readers, that stations are arranged at certain distances along the sea-coast, at which a considerable body of men are posted, for the purpose of preventing smuggling. These men,

almost constantly on duty, and situated mostly at considerable distances from any place of worship, are, from this circumstance and the nature of their employ, under great disadvantages in a moral and religious point of view.

Some years since, the very destitute condition of these people, in this respect, claimed the notice and sympathy of Mrs. Elizabeth Fry, through whose interest and benevolent exertions each of the stations has been furnished with a small library of books; the beneficial effect of which arrangement, we are informed, is now very apparent. Added to this, the coast missionaries, under the direction of the Sailors' Society, have recently turned their attention towards this class of persons.

With one of these devoted men we have lately had intercourse, whose office it is to visit the different vessels as they arrive, to converse with the sailors, and administer spiritual help, as he finds opportunity; to encourage them, while in port, to attend a place of worship; and to see that the vessels are provided with the Sailors' Society's tracts.

The account we are furnished with relates, that, in the prosecution of one of his recent coasting tours, this individual was, most unexpectedly to himself, and, as he considers, quite providentially, led to visit Boughton. It appears that he had been distributing tracts to the frequenters of fairs, usually held at Whitsuntide on many parts of the Kentish coast, and otherwise laboriously engaged among them during the week; when he took boat, intending for the isle of Sheppy; but, after an ineffectual attempt to reach Sheerness at the time fixed, he was put ashore about four miles from Feversham, to which place he immediately proceeded. On his arrival there he was met by a friend from London, deputed to visit Boughton, who immediately welcomed him as one providentially sent to accompany him there; but from which undertaking this person was afterwards dissuaded, being advised by his friends

not to venture.

Our missionary, however, was not to be turned aside by the apprehensions and fears of others; but, desiring to sympathise with the afflicted, and to visit the dying, he resolved, in dependence on that unseen hand which he believed had guided him there, to proceed alone.

On nearing the place, instead of a mounted patrol and soldiery, he met many fellow-travellers, whose minds were deeply impressed with a sense of the recent awful event, and anxious for religious converse. On arriving at the village, he went to the inns where the wounded lay. After visiting the sickroom, and succeeding in fixing the attention of the poor creatures for some time, he was informed that the churchyard at Herne Hill was frequented by many by whom a word of counsel might be well received. He proceeded thither, and to an interesting group, which surrounded the graves of Sir William Courtenay, and of five others of the rioters, he delivered an address; and believing they could never find a more suitable place or hour for prayer, he says, they all united devoutly in earnest supplication.

He was afterwards solicited by them to return to Boughton again, and address the people, to which he consented, and, at seven o'clock, he found a good number collected, to whom he spoke for about an hour. All were deeply interested-many in tears; and it was thought that, under the peculiar circumstances, it was likely to do great good.

The Red Lion Inn (from whence the dead bodies of Lieut. Bennett and Sir William Courtenay, and six others, had recently been removed) was about two miles distant; and though it was getting dark, as his engagements would allow him only that night to visit its distressed inmates, he proceeded at once. On inquiring for a bed, the landlord told him, that, unless he had the courage to sleep in the very room where the dead had lain, he could not be accommodated. He replied, that

he had no fear, if the landlord would consent to have a religious service, and have all his household present. This was gladly consented to.

On taking his seat, the landlady, our missionary says, fixed her eyes so intently upon him as to make him feel uncomfortable at the moment, when, with a hasty utterance, she said,

"Sir, are you the father of a shipwrecked sailor ?"

“I am,” he immediately replied; and, calling her husband, she said,— "This is the gentleman we have both so longed to see."

The man was astonished, and exclaimed, "What a wonderful event is this!" He shed many tears; and the conversation which ensued after this singular meeting, in which he spoke of the benefit he had received, under Providence, from his ministry at Dover, appears to have both interested and cheered our missionary's heart. He had no idea they had ever met before. The religious service being concluded, he retired, but not to obtain much rest. As might be supposed, even to a courageous mind, and sustained by the power of religion, the circumstances, altogether, were sufficient to appal, and to keep the imagination far too active to allow of bodily or mental repose.

About five o'clock, as he was rising, the landlord came to inquire for him, fearing he must have had a sleepless night. He told him that he had certainly some fears, and plenty of time for meditation on the numerous and uncommon events connected with that room and the adjoining wood; but that one subject more particularly impressed his mind, and if that could be accomplished, it would be a delightful monument of his visit to Boughton; which was, that a school or chapel should be built on his premises, for the ignorant who surround the Red Lion. "He listened to me," our missionary adds, "approved, and promised to concur in the suggestion."

On account of the great ignorance

which, we are informed, prevails there, the baneful effects of which have been so terribly exemplified, we sincerely hope that a school may soon be established, and more efficient means be adopted for affording Christian instruction to the surrounding neighbourhood.

CANADA.

Extracts from a letter from a Missionary in Upper Canada, dated Melbourne, 5th February, 1838.

(Concluded from page 192.)

ACCORDING to your request, I will give you the history of myself in a few words.

"In the first place, I have to say that I am one of the Abernaquis tribe of Indians, of St. Francis, born in the year 1799, and was brought up to know nothing but what may be learned in the wilderness, while engaged in hunting; for my parents were constantly in the forest with their children, because they habituated themselves to get their living no other way than by hunting.

I

I followed this kind of way till my mind was changed by the appearance of some young men of the tribe, who had had education in the States. then, at the age of twenty-two, left St. Francis for Dartmouth, in the State of New Hampshire, and there I was received into the Moors' Indian Charityschool. After I had studied one year and a half, having learned to read, to spell, to write, some arithmetic, some geography, and some grammar, I returned home, without being better in religion, for I remained in the Roman Catholic darkness. I went on, and followed my former business of hunting for three years.

"In 1826 I returned to Dartmouth, to resume my studies; and while there God Almighty was pleased to change my wicked heart, and made me love his Son Jesus Christ.

"Having learned sufficient to become a teacher, I returned home with credentials in 1829. I immediately applied;