either in the Christian or the Buddhist Religion, I shall be saved."-That is not the case: if you have a true faith in Christ, you will be saved; but not, if you have faith in Buddhism, How can

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Buddhu save you? What is the way of salvation in Buddhism ?" As there are many ways of salvation in the Christian Religion, so are there in the Buddhist.' That is not true: there is but one way of salvation in the Christian Religion, and none whatever in the Buddhist. But tell me some of the ways in Buddhism, by which you expect to be saved?" If I make great and expensive offerings to Buddhu and his Priests, and do good things, I shall be saved."

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Is that the way of salvation, in the Buddhist Religion ?" He would not make a decided reply." If," said I, “making expensive offerings to Buddhu and his Priests can obtain salvation and the pardon of sins, what must poor men do for salvation, who are not able to make large offerings?" "Men must give according to their abilities; the rich, much; and the poor, little."-"Can you expect salvation for this? If you had incurred the Governor's displeasure, and, for breaking the laws of the Country, were sentenced to suffer punishment, do you think, that by making a wooden ‘image of the Governor, worshipping it, presenting rice, oil, and flowers to it, and feeding and clothing those who took care of it, that you would escape the punishvs that you had broken

ment which to suffer?" He waived the

you

required you question: but I kept him to it; and he said, No, I should not expect that." "My friend," I said, you are a sinher against God, the Creator and Governor of all things you have broken His Laws, and are condemned to suffer in Hell for your sins: do not think that you can obtain salvation by making images, and presenting offerings to them and to the Priests that attend them. If y have e no better way of salvation than this, your soul will be lost." He re plied " It is written in the Books, that, if we make offerings, read the Books (Discourses of Buddhu) and cause them to be written, make bridges and roads, and do the like good things, we shall gain great good to our souls. If you had committed murder, and should read a book which I had written, in which it was declared that persons who had brokon the laws of their country, if they would present offerings to an image re

presenting me, should escape all punishment; would you believe that book? should you expect to escape punishment?" "No," he replied.-"Nor should you believe the things you find in the books of your Priests, without well considering them." He said, he had as much reason to believe what the Priests said, as what the Ministers of Christ said.-" If I owed you a pice (a small coin), and should give you two, one good and one bad, and desired you to choose the good and return the bad to me, would you not examine them both ?" " Yes."

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And, if you were not able to decide yourself which of the two was the good one, would you not inquire of some one who could

tell you ?" "Yes."-" My friend! two Religions are before you-a true and a false Religion. It is your duty to examine them both; and if you find that you are ignorant, as you certainly are, you should pray God to enlighten your understanding, and to lead you into the right way. If two pice, one good and one bad, were put into your hands, if you chose the bad, the loss you would sustain would be very trifling; but if you reject the true, and embrace the false Religion, the loss of your immortal soul will be the consequence."

Mr. Trimnell thus notices the Answer to Objections against the Goodness of God.

Another person made a great many objections against the goodness of God; or rather to our doctrine, that God is good; and asked, "Why did God make men with wicked hearts ?" I shewed him, that that was not the case; that God made man, at the first, perfectly holy, and happy; and that our universal sinfulness was through the first sin of the first man. He asked, "Why did God cause men to be obliged, with trouble, to labour in the fields to get a living ?" I told him, that it was part of the curse denounced against the first man, for his wilful disobedience, that he should eat bread by the sweat of his brow." And why," said he, "has God made some persons poor and afflicted, some blind, some lame, some deaf and dumb 2 Why did He did He not make all men Power alike ? And why, power convert the hearts of god has all men, and to turn all Buddhists to Christianity, why does He not do so?? I told him, that God could do all things; that nothing was impossible with Him; that He could have made all men in the same state and

1Ο

if

circumstances; and that He could, in one day, convert the hearts of all men. But why it had not pleased Him to do so, I could not tell.-I asked him, whether the Governor of this Country did not do many things, the reasons for which he did not make known to his subjects; and whether it was not just and right for him to do so. He said that it was so. I then said, "If it be just and right for the Governor of this Country to do so, how much more so is it for the Infinitely-wise and Almighty Creator and Governor of the world ?" I told him, that the proper

thing for us to inquire after, was, not why God has done this, and why He has not done the other, but, Is there any way by which we, who have sinned against God, can obtain salvation. A person who had broken the laws of the Country, and was condemned to die, would not be inquiring why had the King done this thing and not done another thing; but he would inquire, Can I be saved? Can I obtain the King's pardon ?'-and I again pointed to Him who had suffered and died for sinners; and begged him to pray to God to enlighten his mind.

THE attention of the Committee was called, in 1820, to the neglected state of the North-American Indians. The western parts of British America, lying between the high ridge called the Rocky Mountains and the North Pacific Ocean, and extending from about the 42d to the 57th degree of north latitude, and the Country on the eastern side of the same chain, between the Rocky Mountains and Hudson's Bay, unvisited in recent times by the Missionary, presented an ample scope for Christian Exertion.

With such a field before them, the Committee were glad to avail themselves of any favourable opportunity which might occur of makin an attempt towards introducing the light of the Gospel into those extensive regions of moral darkness, which had in past years engaged the attention and drawn forth the labours of an Eliot and a Brainerd. The Rev. John West, an active Member of the Society, while residing in this Country, having, in 1820, on his being appointed Chaplain to the Settlement formed within the territories of the Hudson's-Bay Company, on the Red River, to the south of Lake Winnipeg, offered his services in establishing Schools in the vicinity of the Settlement, the sum of 100l. was placed at his disposal, to enable him to make trial of his proposed plan. In 1822, the Hudson's-Bay Company {RECORD, Dec. 1830.]

having expressed a desire for the establishment of a Mission, and made an offer of co-operation, the Committée concurred in the proposal; and, in the following year, the Rev. D. T. Jones left England for the purpose of carrying the Society's plans into effect; directing his attention, in the first instance, to the Settlers and Halfbreeds, but considering the spiritual welfare of the Native Indians as the ulterior object of his labours. A School-House and Church having been erected, it was soon found that they were inadequate to the accommodation of those who were desirous of instruction: in consequence, a second Church and School were gerected; and Mr. West having retired from the Mission, the Rev. W. Cockran, in 1825, sailed from England to share in Mr. Jones's labours. The progress of the Mission has been encouraging, not only in the attendance on the Schools and at Public Worship, but in the seals which God has given to the Ministry of His Servants among the Settlers and Halfbreeds, and a few of the Indians. The number of Communicants some time ago amounted to 130; of whom 7 or 8 were Indians, to whose consistency the Missionaries bore satisfactory testimony.

From accounts recently received, we lay before our Readers some notices of the Mission at the end of July

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Labourers. The Rev. D. T. Jones, accompanied by Mrs. Jones, returned to his labours last year, and reached the Red-River Settlement Oct. 4th. A House at the Grand Rapids being in a sufficient state of forwardness for the Rev. W. Cockran and Mrs. Cockran, they have removed thither: Mr. Jones continues at his former place of residence. The health of Mr. William Garrioch, whose services in conducting the Schools have been very valuable, having declined, he has been obliged to relinquish his engagement with the Society. The Committee hope to send out a Successor in the ensuing spring.

diences are generally attentive; some giving heed, though others are ready to call out Behold what a weariness is it! Still we have much ground of encouragement; both from the fact of our having already begun to reap, and from the sure word of Jehovah, who has declared that His message to sinners shall not return to Him void.

Of the people under his charge, Mr. Cockran states

Since the middle of June, my Congregation has consisted principally of Women and Children, and Old Men: there are a few Middle-aged Men, not many. This will continue till the middle of August, if not till October.

During the winter, the people were very regular in their attendance on Divine Service, both on Sundays and Tuesdays. Many of my Congregation are seriously disposed, especially those who have been in the habit of attending Divine Service at the Lower Church; but others, who live at the very bottom of the Settlement, who are daily associating with the Indians, live very profane and wicked lives. But, still, there is much

cause for palliating their wickedness. They know not God or His Commandments. How then could they love Him, whom they knew not? How could they obey those precepts of which they were ignorant? Since I came down to the Rapids, those persons have regularly attended Divine Service, both on Sundays and Tuesdays; and most of the Adults, who have been addicted to the worst of crimes, have come to the Sunday School every afternoon, and are now learning to read. The Gospel is now regularly preached among them; they hear the glad tidings of Salvation; and do not shut their eyes against the Truth. I feel thankful for this glimmering of hope, and live in the expectation that the Spirit of God will accompany the Gospel with power to their hearts. Schools.

Of these, Mr. Jones reports

been no changes whatever since last

In regard to the Schools, there have

There are Three Sunday Schools, atyear, the numbers continuing the same. tended by an average of 150 or 160 Children of all descriptions-Natives, Half-Castes, and Europeans. During the past winter, there were Three DaySchools, on a small scale, in operation, besides the Society's School under Mr. Garrioch. We do not find that value placed upon Education, by either the Children or their Parents, which it deserves. It ought to be mentioned, also, that the scattered state of the inhabitants, the poverty of some, together with the excessive rigour of winter, present very serious obstacles to the efficiency of any system of Education which may be proposed.

Indian Boys.

Two Indian Boys, Spogan and Pilley, whom Governor Simpson brought about four years ago from the Columbia River, on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, and placed under the care of the Missionaries, left the Red River last year, on a visit to their Parents. Mr. Cockran, after noticing their return to the Station, adds

They have brought with them five other Boys, one of whom is Brother to Spogan: the other four are the Sons of four different Chieftains, the Heads of four large Tribes of Indians dwelling on the other side of the Rocky Mountains.

Mr. Cockran thus notices, in July, the temporal circumstances of those who are the subjects of his charge:

The people of this lower part of the Settlement are exceedingly poor; and meet with a great many temporal discouragements, arising from the nature of the soil and climate, and their inexperience in providing for future contingencies. They scarcely ever succeed in raising as much grain as will serve their families throughout the year. Few are so rich as to possess a plough and yoke of oxen; therefore all that they can plant and sow in the spring is to be done with the hoe. And besides, this neighbourhood is a thicket of stunted oaks, thorns, hazels, and willows; and, though these are small in stature, their roots have taken an extensive hold of the earth, so that a man cannot dig up many of them in a day; and particularly if he has to attend his nets for the subsistence of himself and family; which is frequently the case in seed-time, the long winter haying exhausted their little store. And after he has cleared the ground, and sown the seed and hoed it in, it is often destroyed by some fortuitous event. The banks of the river are invariably higher than the ground that lies behind; this prevents water from running into the river; consequently, when a heavy thunder-storm falls, it stands on the ground till it is absorbed or has evaporated: and when these showers are frequent, the ground becomes fully saturated, and the whole stands on the surface till the heat has dispersed it in vapours. If the

seed has been newly cast into the ground when this happens, it soon rots, and there our hopes end: if it has germinated, and come above the ground, it is scorched, and becomes very sickly; and a great deal of it dies, on account of the warm watery vapours with which it is surrounded. This spring, the whole of the people in my neighbourhood have suffered severely from the heavy rains which fell in May. In the beginning of the month, the rain came down in such abundance, that the whole surface of the plains was a sheet of water: this obstructed every kind of agriculture for upwards of ten days. As soon cultivation, the people commenced sowas the land was sufficiently dry to bear ing: the seed-time lasted for twenty days. After we had sown the wheat, and planted the potatoes, the rain fell in such profusion, that the ground was perfectly deluged: this continued till it destroyed a large portion of the wheat, and most of the potatoes. This is a general calamity in this neighbourhood; but ten miles further up it has been partially felt. Since the 15th June we have had only one slight shower. The ground is now parched with the long continuation of dry weather; and all the wheat and barley in my neighbourhood is withering, though scarcely in the ear. At present, there is very little probability of a sufficiency of grain to serve the wants of the inhabitants of this part of the Settlement; and, being all poor, they are not able to purchase from those that are more affluent.

Intended Erection of a New Church.

Though we are poor, I am happy to inform you that our poverty does not discourage us from entering into plans for building another Church. We have already got wood rafted down the river, sufficient to build the frame of a house 50 feet long, 22 feet broad, and 11 feet high. We shall not be able to finish it this year; for if the substance of my whole Congregation was added together,' it would scarcely defray the expense to labour and materials. But we intend, first, to collect as many stones as will lay the foundation; and there is one mason among us, who promises to assist us in laying it; the rest of us can do any thing that is requisite to be done and if God give us health, we intend to work at it till it is finished. Some will go to the pines, and saw boards; others, who have got an axe, a saw, plane, and chisel, will come and assist in putting up the frame; others, who have a spade and hoe, will dig mud; and those who

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