much enlargement. At present Columbo is indeed a valley of dry bones; but unpromising as appearances now are, it is my prayer, my hope, my expectation, that a church will be formed in it, that will be a nursery for Missionaries, who may go forth and preach Christ crucified, not to Cingalese only, but to Candians also. It is the hope of such things that makes preaching in English a work of tenfold more delight to me than it otherwise possibly could be.

In a subsequent communication he says

My department of the school at present promises little. Mrs. C.'s number is nearly twenty: how long it may continue to be so we know not; for every thing of the kind here is precarious and uncertain.

I am making some proficiency in Cingalese; but, for want of more time, a much slower one than I otherwise might. This is a grief to me. I perceive, however, that what I am doing towards forming a grammar will be of solid advantage to me. At present it retards my progress in reading and speaking, but ultimately it will enable me to proceed with these to much greater advantage than otherwise I could possibly have done. I am also picking up Portuguese very fast, which in Columbo is a medium of communication to more persons than any other language whatever; so that my knowledge of it, I hope, will after a while turn to good account.

(LONDON) MISSIONARY SOCIETY,

In our First Volume, pp. 894, 395, we stated, from the Nineteenth Report of the Society, that Mr. Ehrhardt had been appointed to visit the schools in the district of Matura, Mr. Palm to the care of the Dutch Congregation at Columbo, and Mr. Read to superintend the schools of the Galle District.

From the Twentieth Report we learn that Mr. Palm was endeavouring, when he last wrote, with the members of the Dutch Consistory, to open schools at Columbo, for the poorer classes of children, on the plan of Dr. Bell: he had suffered a sewere trial, by the loss of Mrs. Palm. Mr. Ehrhardt

had exerted himself to rectify the disorders which had crept into the Matura Schools, and took every opportunity of preaching, and of instructing both adults and children in his various journeys. Mr. Read preaches at Amlamgodde, in Dutch or Engfish; and occasionally there, and at other places, in Cingalese, by means of an interpreter. A thousand Common-Prayer Books have been sent at the request of Mr. Twisleton.

Mr. Read's account of the state of religion among the natives, corresponds with that of Mr. Ehrhardt, given, p. 394 of our First Volume; and with that of the Methodist Missionaries just quoted. "On a late occasion," he says, "when multitudes were dying of famine, they could not be dissuaded from worshipping devils to appease their wrath, pre tending that God was too good a Being to inflict punishment for sin. Such are thousands of the Cinga lese Christians, so called!"

W

COLUMBO BIBLE SOCIETY.

The exertions of the different Missionary Institutions, and those of the Bible Societies, will, in Ceylon, as elsewhere, mutually aid one another.

The immediate objects of the Columbo Bible Society, which is patronised by the Governor and all the principal authorities in the Island, were, to ascertain the number of persons in Ceylon professing the Christian Religion, and the languages most familiar to them, in order to form a judgment of the number of Bibles and Testaments in the several languages which will be necessary to supply their wants. It was a further object, to procure a more accurate Version of the Scriptures into Cinga

lese, and a translation of them into the Pali Language.

The First Report states various interesting facts on these subjects.

Versions of the Scriptures,

An attempt was made to correct the old Cingalese Version of the New Testament, in order to have 5000 copies, printed; but it was found very imperfect, and an entirely new translation was determined on. In the mean time, the Calcutta Bible Society have put to press, at Serampore, an edition of 2000 copies of the Old Version for present use. The new translation has been undertaken by W. Tolfrey, Esq. who is well skilled in Cingalese, Pali, and Sanscrit: the Gospels are finished; and the types for printing this New Version, purchased of the Baptist Missionaries at Serampore, are arrived at Columbo.

The Pali is the learned language of Ceylon, and varies but little from the Sanserit. A translation of the Scriptures into this tongue has been begun by Don M. de Thomas Mohaudriam, of the Governor's Gate. Two priests of Buddha have readily afforded their assistance to the translation!

Essays and Dialogues.

The Society intends to circulate familiar Essays and Dialogues illustrative of the Scriptures; the same reasons not existing in Ceylon as in many other places, for the exclusive circulation of the Bible by such institutions. It is observed, that "next to the ferveut zeal and indefatigable labour of the venerable Swartz, the conversion of so many thousands in Tanjore was owing to the circulation of familiar

Dialogues, and short easy Treatises upon the subject of Christianity."

Number of Christians in Ceylon.

It appears, on investigation, that the native Protestants are about 150,000, and the Roman Catholics about 50,000. Of these, the great majority speak Cingalese, and the rest Tamul. This report of numbers falls far short of former representations : nor can it be doubted that multitudes of the inhabitants have of late years relapsed into idolatry. In the time of the Dutch Government, there were between 300 and 400 temples dedicated to Pagan Deities in the year 1807, they amounted to 1200 ! In 1663, the Christians in the district of Jaffna alone, were 65,000: by the last returns it appears that there are not 5,000!

Sermon by the Rev. George Bisset.

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62

This Sermon, from Mark xiii. 10, The Gospel must first be published among all nations, is printed in the Appendix.

Mr. Bisset confirms the representations, which we have before extracted from others, of the deplorable state of the heathen natives.

The chief part of their worship appears to be an ado ration of malevolent spirits, upon the most servile principles of fear. It is not before such altars that a life of integrity, innocence, and truth, or a deep sense of contrition for past offences, can be supposed an acceptable offering. Gifts, offerings, and voluntary privations, may well be considered the most grateful sacrifice to malignant dæmons: and, while the deluded victim of superstition hopes to bribe the forbearance of their vengeance; instead of purifying his morals or correcting his vicious passions, he deadens every feeling of guilt by lulling all apprehension of punishment.

NEW ZEALAND.

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

We have been hitherto prevented, by the press of matter, from giving, as we proposed to do in the Number for December, the recent communications received by the Church Missionary Society from this quarter. Other dispatches have, in the mean time, arrived. We shall proceed to give the substance of them. Our readers will see, with pleasure, that the Society's designs in favour of that interesting Lace of men are rapidly advancing.

10%Voyage of Mr. Kendall to New South Wales.

Mr. Thomas Kendall, who left this country with This family, May 31, 1813, on board the Earl Spencer, to assist in the formation of the Settlement projected by the Society in New Zealand, arrived in safety at Port Jackson on the 10th of October folPowing. The passage was, on the whole, very pleasant. Captain Mitchell treated them with great kindness. Divine Service was performed on Sunday whenever the weather would permit; and Mr. Kendall exerted himself for the benefit of the convicts and their children, with whom he sailed.

On Sunday, Oct. 10th, (he says,) about one o'clock in the afternoon, we came in sight of Sydney; and, at the same moment, the Female Orphans were returning, by two and two, from the House of the Lord. This was to my feelings a most interesting object, after I had been five months absent from a place of Public Worship, and sequestered in a great measure from the world. Blessed be God, He is present every where: yet the sight of a few children, whom I considered my friends, and the expectation of meeting with pious men with whom I could associate in the Colonly, were very consolatory to my mind.