the service of the Church Missionary Society. It is hard to say whether he produced a greater effect by his public addresses from the pulpit, in behalf of India Missions, or by his private communications with the most active and distinguished friends of the cause throughout the country. His statements of facts excited every where the liveliest interest; and, being those of a man who had seen, and heard, and judged for himself, who was experienced in Missionary Labour, who was also eminently capable of appreciating the subject and of shewing how closely it was connected with the duties and professions of the Christian World, his remarks carried with them a weight which no other testimony, however ably delivered, could have possessed. The result has been a great accession of strength to the Church Missionary Body; whose exertions, at a period of unexampled national distress, have been truly surprising. An extract is given from the Sermon, mentioned in the last Report of the Society as preached by Mr. Corrie in Calcutta, in which he made a strong and affecting appeal to his hearers, I was frequently favoured (he said) during my late visit home, to witness the lively interest expressed by persons in all ranks of life, with regard to the state of the Heathen. The bare mention of some of the cruelties and superstitions which we daily witness, drew tears of commiseration. The news of a single soul turned from Heathen Darkness to the Light of the Gospel, drew forth bursts of praise and thanksgiving to the God of all Grace and Mercy. Nor were these empty expressions only; for, the abundant contributions throughout Britain for carrying on the work of Missions prove that multitudes were sincere in these expressions of interest in the cause. In my father's own parish some of the poorest inhabitants are the most constant contributors to the Church Missionary Society; and, when weekly contributions could not be spared, I have known the poor to beg, with tears, that their annual mite might be accepted, as they could not bear the thought of giving up all participation in so blessed a work. Oh when shall we see British Christians in India, thus alive to the spiritual wants of the Heathen, and thus moved by the miseries around them! When shall we begin to appropriate weekly or monthly sums to Missionary Purposes; and retrench superfluous expences, to enrich, with spiritual and eternal riches, the morally poor and blind and naked! The concluding testimony of Mr. Corrie will be heard with pleasure Notwithstanding the acknowledged difficulty of ascertaining the sincerity of Converts, I know several who walk honestly and circumspectly in the truth. They are poor indeed, and of no repute among men; but that will not be urged by Christians as a reason for casting them out, so long as they are willing to work for their bread. Five Natives, at least, who received their knowledge of the truth by means of our Society, have died in the Lord, evincing such proofs of their faith, hope, and love, as leave no doubt of their salvation. Mr. Corrie's appointment to the Chaplaincy at Benares carried him again into the midst of the Heathen. The feelings which were revived in his mind, on this occasion, aggravated as they were by the elevation which his spirit had received in his visit to England, will awaken a lively sympathy in the Members of the Society. He writes to the Secretary, from Benares, under date of March 23, 1818 I already begin to feel the want of some of those animating addresses which I heard often in England, and of which we now and then get a report here; and which, at this distance even, do us good, though divested of the glowing sympathy which so many kindred minds kindle in one another in your Missionary Meetings. Here we have need of a double portion of the grace of the Holy Spirit, with less energy of mind and body to seek it. But our God carries on His own work, and will not suffer us utterly to despair, nor leave us entirely to the tendency of the discouragements around and in us. The scenes around grow HORRIBLY FAMILIAR, or they would move a heart of Adamant. In a neighbouring district, with the Magistrate of which I am well acquainted, I find not less than, on an average, two widows are burnt every month! Six Lepers were buried alive, or drowned by their relatives, during the last year! About one hundred perished by drowning themselves in wells, with a view to be revenged on some one or other who had offended them. The district is not large; and this may be considered as the very lowest estimate of the number of similar occurrences, throughout a similar extent of country, in all India, But, not to speak of these enormities, the present season of the Hooley, or Saturnalia, exhibits the whole Hindoo Population drunk, as it were, with the filthiness and abomination of Idolatry. In all directions are heard the voices of parties, raving as if they would rend their organs of utterance, in songs the most indecent and disgusting.-Their throat is an open sepulchre ! The labourers required in such situations as these are of no ordinary standard. Mr. Corrie's remarks on this point merit deep attention : We cannot but greatly desire more help. Missionaries of our own Church, in particular, might greatly benefit many of their countrymen; while they would receive from them, in return, much assistance in their Missionary Labours. At the same time, let your Missionaries ask themselves, Whether they can really renounce the world, so as to be content in India with the same kind of subsistence as they receive in England. Can they see so much honour in the WORK of the Ministry, as shall compensate for the absence of external show and nominal rank? It becomes each one who comes hither, well to weigh these things, before he leaves his native land. The Committee rejoice to learn that there is a rapid increase in benevolent and Christian Exertions in Calcutta. The European Female Orphan Asylum, the Diocesan Committee of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, the School-Book Society, the Hindoo College, the Auxiliary Bible Society, with others, are all in active operation and are well supported. The Governor General, in his College Speech, recommends the communication of knowledge to the Natives of India: the Bishop enforces the same duty from the pulpit and now scarcely an opponent dares shew his head. Surely this hath God wrought! In reference to this subject Mr. Corrie writes You will rejoice to hear of the increasing exertions in this country, all tending to bring on the universal flow into the Kingdom of Christ. There is a marvellous change of opinion on these subjects among us; and for all these operations, the Native Mind also is prepared, and we cannot meet the calls for instruction which the people are uttering around us, The Committee will now proceed to the MADRAS AND SOUTH INDIA MISSION. The Society will have been prepared by the First Report of the Madras Corresponding Committee, received subsequently to the last Anniversary, but printed with the Report, to expect many and important communications from that Mission. This has, in fact, been the case to such an extent, that the Committee will find it difficult to bring even the substance of these communications within a short compass. It were much, indeed to be wished, that the Annual Reports of both the Calcutta and Madras Committees might arrive in this country in sufficient time to be incorporated into the Reports of your Committee; as it is manifest that the friends on the spot who have the actual direction of the Society's affairs, are better able, from a thorough knowledge of the bearing of local circumstances, to furnish a well-digested view of the proceedings, than can be compiled at home from the various communications received in the course of the year. Your Committee deem this subject of such importance, that it is intended to request the Committees at Calcutta and Madras to close their respective years at Michaelmas, in order that the Reports of cach year may reach this country in due time to be presented to the Annual Meetings in the Reports of the Committee.* * Since the delivery of the Report, the Second Annual Report of the Madras Corresponding Committee has been received. It so fully answers the expectation above expressed, that the Committee think it expedient to substitute it in the place of the statements presented by them to the Annual Meeting; retaining such parts of their own Report as are not superseded by that of the Corresponding Committee. Second Annual Report of the Madras Corresponding Committee of the Church Missionary Society; being for the year 1818. THE Madras Corresponding Committee of the Church Missionary Society, have the satisfaction to cominence the Second Annual Report, by announcing the addition of three new Missionaries to the Establishments, under their superintendence, in the Peninsula of India. In the course of the last summer, the Rev. Messrs. Feun, Baker, and Bäcomplishment of the great object of the Society, when they made their last Report. The Rev. Mr. Dawson has been compelled, by severe ill health, to quit his appointed field at Cochin; where the renbruck arrived from England; Messrs. Fenn and Baker being Clergymen of the Church of England in full orders, and Mr. Bärenbruck of the Lutheran Church. The arrival, however, of these Gentlemen has not constituted, as the Committee would have wished to state, a clear accession of so much strength, to the means at their disposal, for the acpromise of a future harvest had already The fatal Epidemic, which, like a pestilence, had ravaged the North of India, found its way to Madras, begun to cheer his opening labours, and access had been gained to an extensive range of interesting and important communications with the Jews. He sailed for England early in the last year. The Rev. Deocar Schmid, whose services were originally assigned to the Society's Committee in Calcutta, but who remained at Madras, with his own consent and the approval of the Rev. Mr. Corrie, has since, at the particular request of that Committee, proceeded to Bengal. And, lastly, the Committee have acceded to the request of the Rev. Mr. Kolhoff, sanctioned by the Lord Bishop of Calcutta, for the temporary assistance of the Rev. Mr. Baker at Tanjore; and have thus transferred his services, for the present, to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, by a particular arrangement with the Madras District Committee, subject to the determination of the respective Societies in England. Notwithstanding, therefore, toe arrival of three New Missionaries, no numerical increase of strength has occurred to any of the Society's Missions in the Peninsula. Indeed the place of Mr. Dawson at Cochin, has not been supplied as the Rev. Mr. Fenn, although stationed in Travancore, resides at Cotym; and has, as yet, no immediate connexion with the Jews; and the Missions, both in Travancore and at Madras, have lost, in the Missionaries : NUMBER OF SCHOOLS. who have quitted them, the benefit of some experience of the character and manners of the Natives, and,' in one case, considerable acquaintance with their language, for which new Missionaries, with all their zeal and ability, cannot for some tine supply a substitute. Thus, in respect of external means, these Missions must be considered, for a time, as rather less efficient than they were at the date of the last Report. The Missionaries at the several stations are now as follows: Of the Schools, at the present time subsisting under the Madras Mission, the following Statement exhibits the total Number of Children admitted into each since its foundation :Number of Scholars admitted since the foundation. Average Monthly attendance throughout the Year. Besides seventy-four in the Schools discontinued. N.B. This column shows less than the actual number of Children admitted; School Registers not having been regularly kept in all the Schools, on account of a prejudice of the Natives against them. |