The remainder of this list is reluctantly but unavoidably deferred till July. Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the Baptist Missionary Society will be thankfully received by William Brodie Gurney, Esq., and Samuel Morton Peto, Esq., Treasurers, or the Rev. Joseph Angus, M.A., Secretary, at the Mission House, 33, Moorgate Street, LONDON: in EDINBURGH, by the Rev. Christopher Anderson, the Rev. Jonathan Watson, and John Macandrew, Esq.; in GLASGOW, by Robert Kettle, Esq.; in DUBLIN, by John Parkes, Esq., Richmond Street; in CALCUTTA, by the Rev. James Thomas, Baptist Mission Press; and at NEW YORK, United States, by W. Colgate, Esq. Contributions can also be paid in at the Bank of England to the account of "W. B. Gurney and others.” ANNIVERSARY SERVICES. THE Annual Sermon was preached on the 23rd of April, by the Rev. JOHN ALDIS, who had promptly and kindly consented to supply the place of Mr. Brock, who was prevented by illness from fulfilling his engagement. The preacher founded his discourse on the case of the man who was born blind; and proceeded to show that personal and national calamities were often employed by the Almighty to make his works manifest. Having applied the principles deduced from his subject, the preacher most touchingly and earnestly enforced the claims of the mission on the consciences of his hearers, who appeared deeply interested in this discourse. The thirty-third Annual Meeting was held at Finsbury Chapel, on Tuesday evening, April 27th. The Chair was taken by WM. VICKERS, Esq., of Nottingham. We subjoin a condensed report of the proceedings. calling on the Secretary to read the Report: [an abstract of which was published in the last Chronicle. ] The TREASURER then presented his accounts, from which it appeared, that the total receipts of the Society for the past year amounted to £2,283 11s. 7d.; the expenditure to £3,913 3s. 10d.: leaving a balance against the Society of £1,629 12s. 3d. The Rev-J. ELVEN rose to move:- the success which has attended the labours of the agents of the Baptist Irish Society during the past year; that it regards the steady support which has been awarded it, amidst the numerous and pressing claims which have recently been made on Christian liberality, as indicative of its growing hold on the public mind; and that it would fain hope tho circulation of the Report will have the effect of augmenting the Society's income, and of stimulating to more earnest prayer for the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit on its agents, and on those of all kindred institutions." THE proceedings having been commenced by singing the 72nd Psalm, and prayer having been offered, by Rev. J. PAYNE, of Chesham, The CHAIRMAN rose and said: In compliance with the wishes of the Committee, I appear before you this evening. We cannot mention the name of Ireland without a thrill of sympathy passing through every breast. The unparalleled circumstances in which that unhappy country has been placed, whatever may be the the cause, call for our deepest sympathy. The object for which you are met, does not imme-read with feelings of deep interest, and rejoices in diately contemplate the temporal circumstances of Ireland; but still you cannot overlook those circumstances, and through the influence of your Society a very considerable amount of assistance has been afforded through the means of your agents. It is one of the matters that may call for our loudest gratitude, and we should be exceedingly thankful that we have been able to assist in ameliorating the physical condition of that country. But you have had a much higher and nobler object in view-one which has contemplated the spiritual and moral circumstances of a country which has been sunk and degraded in a manner that you have deeply felt, and I am sure must deplore. It has been said, and very properly said, that through the influence of this and kindred Societies, you have superinduced a desire and thirst for knowledge. The people of Ireland are determined to think for themselves. That is an important point in connexion with Ireland. Leading the people to think for themselves, in the midst of the ignorance and superstition by which they are surrounded, must tend to their moral benefit and spiritual emancipation. I am persuaded that the circumstances to which your attention will be called in connexion with the operations of this Society, will be such as to stimulate your minds to increased efforts on its behalf; and while you cherish a kindred feeling to all similar Associations, you will feel it your duty to come forward with renewed vigour to the aid of this Institution. I shall best consult your feelings on the present occasion, by at once If you will read the Report, pray over it, and embody the spirit of it in all your future references to, and in connexion with, the Baptist Irish Society, I am persuaded it will do more good, under the Divine blessing, than a thousand speeches from the platform. We say, in the resolution, that this meeting takes a deep interest in the affairs of this Society. I hope it will be a deep, intense, and growing interest; for it concerns the welfare of our fellow men, and the glory of God. In passing an infirmary for the blind, the thought struck me, there are men that take an interest in the physical maladies of their fellow men; and it is benevolent to use any means that may restore the blind to sight, for sight is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is to behold the sun. But we ought to take a deep interest in the preaching of the Gospel among the inhabitants of benighted Ireland; because, they are under the domination of a church, one of whose axioms is said to be, that "ignorance is the mother of devotion," and we want to pour the beams of heavenly truth on believe that it will work out in the highest degree, the glory of God. I am quite sure that he is able to fulfil his own gracious declaration, that "All things shall work together for good to them that love God, and are the called according to his purpose." When I think that some of the emigrants, who have tasted the good word of God, will be led just where the provi dence of God will direct them, I am sure that they will go and sow the seed of the kingdom. When the down of the thistle has been ripe, the breeze has come and carried it here and there; not by chance-for not a sparrow falleth to the ground without the knowledge of our heavenly Father; and so this suffering, now endured by Ireland, will tend to increase the glory of Him who hath loved us, and given himself for us. But the resolution goes on to sug gest the importance of more earnest prayer for the outpouring of the Spirit. That is what we want; if that shall be the result of the meeting, there will be no want of contributions, and there will be the verification of that axiom, that "What begins with prayer, will end with practice." There is nothing that prayers cannot effect, when these prayers are regulated by God's unfailing promises. You have heard that a prince is harder to be won than a great city; you have read of Jacob being afraid to meet his brother. But see what prayer ef fected: the arms of Esau are thrown around Jacob, and they weep and weep together. The Israelites soon met with Amalek, and then what did they do? They poured out their hearts in prayer. In connexion with prayer, God will pour out the richest blessings on his their mind. Whatever other remedies have been proposed for Ireland, there is one, we are persuaded, that will be successful. I know that if you give to Ireland, or to heathen lands, science, you may enlighten them; if you give them arts, you may refine them; give them education, and you may civilize them; but, if you would save the people from the wrath to come, you must say, as did the herald of our Lord," Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world." Shall I say it is a benevolent interest? We have felt that it is. Our hearts rejoiced in connexion with that measure which secured, on the 1st of August, the emancipation of 800,000 of our fellow men in the West Indies; but our hearts will be still more joyous, if we succed in emancipating the people of Ireland from those shackles of ignorance and popery in which they have been held. That will be a glorious day. We ought, in the language and sentiments of this resolution, to cherish a deep and glowing interest in Ireland. It is an angelic interest. They take great delight in the works of creation; when, however, they contemplate the work of redemption, they not only see the power but the exceeding greatness of God. They can discover bright and glorious displays of Divine grace everywhere around them; but the exceeding riches of his grace, the full develop ment of his Divine power and love, are only to be seen in the gospel of his Son. I do not wonder that our Secretary should have said that that we ought to take a lively interest in the welfare of Ireland. It is a God-like interest. It is said, "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that re-church; we are to pray, however, for the Holy penteth;" and I understand that declaration of our blessed Redeemer as assuring us, not only that angelic minds take an interest in it, but that God himself does. When it is announced in Ireland that a soul is converted, a new wave rises in the regions of bliss, and rolls right on to the throne. The Saviour sees of the travail of his soul and is satisfied. The resolution also speaks of success. It is true that we should have been glad to have heard of success on a larger scale; but when we look aright at the subject, and remember that some souls have been savingly converted to God, surely we have great encouragement. Suppose there had been the simple announcement that one soul had been happily converted to God,-if we had felt as we ought to do, there would have been a thrill of joy and gladness running through our hearts, and we should have entered into the meaning of the word "success." But even if there were no development of actual conversion, we rejoice to know that a great many fields have been sown. In passing over our own fields of late, we have observed that the blade is just forcing its way through the superincumbent clod; and although the ear has not appeared, yet we cannot say that the husbandman has been labouring in vain. I know, that if there is the blade, there will be the ear. I love to think of our dear brethren labouring in Ireland, going up to God on the great harvest day, saying, Here are we, and the children thou hast given us." With regard to the present visitation resting on Ireland, I do Spirit; and let us think of the omnipotency of the Spirit. To say that the Holy Spirit cannot regenerate Ireland, is not only discouraging to the church, but dishonouring to God. You regretted, probably, to hear that the funds for the ordinary operations of the Society were in some degree less than in former years, and it was accounted for; but I hope that will not be an item in any future Report. We want not merely the excitement of a public meeting, but the steady operation of Christian love. There will be a motive that will furnish you at all times with a sufficiently-impelling force for prayer and contribution to this and every other department of the Redeemer's kingdom. The secret of all our success will be to have our hearts influenced by the love of the Saviour. The Rev. T. JAMES, (Secretary of the Irish Evangelical Society,) in seconding the resolu tion, said: Those of you who come up on these anniversary occasions from the country have nothing but enjoyment. You pass from one meeting to another, and experience all the ballowed pleasures which the addresses to which you listen are calculated to excite. Those of us who have, unfortunately I was going to say, to prepare the feast for you, are often so weary and so fatigued, that we are scarcely able when called upon, as I am at this moment, to utter a word that is likely to create interest. But there are two considerations which forbade me to entertain the thought of declining the invi tation to assist at your meeting this evening. The first is, I was anxious to unite in the anniversary of a Society which is sustained by another denomination than my own. I have so much of Christian charity, that I delight to embrace every opportunity that offers to show I am a brother amongst all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. If I feel this with reference to all sincere Christians, I feel it in a very especial manner when I am in the midst of my Baptist brethren. My sainted mother, than whom a holier saint never adorned the church of God, and my excellent father, were both baptists. I cannot forget this fact; and whenever the opportunity offers, I am glad to mingle with those by whom I am at this moment surrounded. The next consideration which prompted me to comply with the invitation of your Secretary was, that it was the Baptist Irish Society. By the providence of God, I have now for some years been connected with Ireland, through the medium of another denomination, and everything Irish, interests me more than I am able to describe. Long before I became officially connected with the Society, in connexion with my own denomination, I could never think or read of Ireland without the deepest interest being awakened in my mind. I read descriptions of her splendid scenery, her beautiful glens, her majestic rivers, with intense emotion; and when I read in the page of my country's history the wrongs that England had inflicted on Ireland-the bad legislation, the abominable laws by which that people have been trodden down to the very dust, I felt ashamed, and longed for the opportunity of doing good to our sister country that had been thus treated. I firmly believe that, if equal laws had been enacted, and Ireland had been treated as a sister should be treated, her population at this moment would have been in a very different position from that in which unhappily they are now found. Ireland was once the island of saints, and possessed a piety which was a pattern and example to the whole of Europe. It was not till our own Henry the 2nd, with the power of his arms, compelled them, and the treachery of the reigning pope seduced them, that they were induced to give it up. Ireland was the last country in Europe that submitted to the popish yoke. She submitted, not till England compelled her to do it. Hence, I feel an interest in Ireland, and, at the present moment, in a very peculiar manner. Look at her, prostrate in the dust. We see her children expiring. And, if this were the fitting opportunity, I could relate facts that would be sufficient to harrow up your feelings, and prompt you to come forward and heal her bleeding wounds. But that which, to my mind, constitutes the darkest feature in this sad calamity is, that the people are passing away by hundreds and thousands into eternity, without a knowledge of that Saviour who alone hath power to forgive sins. If you have manifested your pity for the sufferings of that country by contributing to her necessities, let me charge it upon you for consistency's sake to manifest, at least, an equal liberality for her spiritual necessities. Awful as is the condition to which she is reduced, it is but too accurate a representation of her spiritual necessities; and I ask you, there fore, to exert yourselves for her spiritual welfare as you have already done for her temporal distress. I was surprised and exceedingly grieved when I heard it announced that you are more than £1,600 in debt. This is a very serious consideration, because you cannot go forward with the energy which God, in his providence, seems so loudly to call upon you to display, until you have first discharged your debts. As the Report states, and I can verify it by a reference to the agents connected with the Society I serve, the Romanists are seeking the instruction of your agents in great numbers and with much eagerness. I rejoice that they have not declined such applications. Whilst however, they have ministered the relief which you have enabled them to do, they are willing to impart the instruction they need. It is an encouraging fact, that the hated Saxons are the individuals that have stepped forward to save a multitude from death. This circumstance has prepared multitudes to listen to the instruction of your agents in a measure and to a degree that Ireland has never before witnessed. I believe that if we have had the means of sending forth more Christian readers and missionaries into the heart of the country, and of settling pastors in large and influential cities, the period is approaching when we should find multitudes prepared to cast off the shackles by which they have been enslaved, and to rejoice in the liberty wherewith Christ makes them free. If this be the case, and all agree in the testimony that such it is, then I do feel that this is emphatically the accepted time for Ireland, and it remains for British churches and British Christians to make it the day of Ireland's salvation. Rev. T. BERRY, one of the Society's Agents from Ireland, rose to support the resolution. I am, he said, overwhelmed with gratitude for what you have done for Ireland. Is it any wonder? We were hungry-you have fed us; naked, and you have clothed us; ignorant, and you have enlightened us; without God and without hope in the world, and you have sent us the glorious gospel of the grace of God. Oh, what gratitude do we feel that God has put it into your hearts to have such pity for Ireland. Ireland once was conquered by this country, and Popery was forced upon our sons and daughters by the government of this land. Now, you are engaged in a warfare, not to cover the green fields with blood, and to spread carnage and destruction in the land, but you are engaged in a glorious and noble work, to rescue us from the thraldom of popery, and to introduce us again to the glorious liberty of the children of God. It was supposed, that when emancipation was granted, it would remove all the evils of Ireland; but it has failed. The soul must be emancipated from the shackles of sin and Satan before Irishmen can feel their true position, or Ireland can be made happy. We have not gone forth abusing the people of Rome, calling them hard names, but we have simply gone forth with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, calling upon men to repent and believe the gospel; to turn from all unrighteousness and sin, and to put all their trust in the finished work of the Redeemer. We have not been labouring without success. The Word we have preached has not returned unto us void; many have been converted to God; many converts bave gone to heaven; many have been added to the churches; and many are inquiring their way to Zion. We believe that the calamity that has befallen the land will be overruled for good, and that gracious results will proceed from it. Perhaps it is better, being an Irishman, and coming from scenes of destitution, that I should refer to some of those things of which I have been an eye-witness. I will not, however, harrow up your feelings by referring in detail to these scenes of woe. It is sufficient to tell you that all you read of Ireland's misery in the public press of the day, falls short of describing the actual misery that exists, and the real state of the millions of that at present unhappy land. The village in which I live contains a population of 4,000. In our work house there are 700 inmates, 253 of whom are ill with fever. Our chief doctor and matron are deceased; the poor-law guardians and clerk of the union were compelled to abandon the establishment and hold their meetings in private houses. The soup shops, which did so much good at the commencement of the famine, have produced dysentery, and fully two-thirds of the population of our district are supposed to be affected by that weakening disease. It must, however, afford you great pleasure to know that the rice which was sent by this Society and by English Christians has been the means of saving several lives. This is not simply my own experience, but it has been confirmed by the doctors of the town and neighbourhood. I am addressing some of those who have contributed to send the relief; and it must afford you happiness to know that you have been the means of alleviating human wretchedness and misery. A kind friend sent me a barrel of beef to distribute among the poor. One poor man, not a stranger to me, but whose wants I did not know so much as those of others around me, implored me so much, that at last I gave him a bit of the beef. I met him a few days afterwards, and he then said, "That beef has been the means of saving five lives. Myself and children had tasted no food for three days, nor had we the means to procure any for two days afterwards." I made inquiries into the case, and I found that the man was actually stating the truth. That friend was the means, in the hand of God, of saving the life of this man and his family. At the time the Indian corn was sent to us, the mills were so occupied, that I could not get it ground for several days, and at last the miller sat up all night to do it. It turned out that the next day there was no meal in the town but that belonging to the Baptist Irish Society. That was all upon which the people had to subsist from the Saturday till the Monday. Great was my pleasure in sustaining a number of individuals during that period. Blessed be God, the time has come when Ireland rightly appreciates union with you. The voice that raised the prejudice of millions would fail to do so now. No agitator will be able to disturb them again. The Celt is united to the Saxon in bonds that can never be broken. If the gospel be preached and the Scriptures be sent forth, the doors of Ireland's heart is open to receive them. Your readers and missionaries will be admitted into every town and village throughout the length and breadth of the land. I assure you that every individual to whom I have spoken about the Gospel of Jesus was ready and disposed to hear the glad tidings of salvation. The rough, untutored, and uncivilized man, that before would turn away, and would not listen to the voice of mercy, is now humbly brought down, as it were, into the dust and ashes, and, with the deepest attention, will listen to the missionary preaching the Gospel of the grace of God. Now is the time to send the gospel to Ireland; and, if you do, God Almighty will bless you. This famine, dire, and calamitous, and awful as it is, will end in the promotion of God's glory. There will be a rich harvest of souls, and you will be able to say, "See what hath God wrought." The resolution was then put and carried. move "That this meeting desires to record its deep sympathy with the Irish people in their present unparalleled sufferings, and would gratefully acknowledge the spontaneous efforts of the British public to alleviate them; that it regards with peculiar satisfaction the absence of sectarian restriction in the distribution of relief; and that, while recording its approval of the management of the large fund placed pray, that God in his mercy may overrule this visita at the disposal of the Committee, would earnestly tion for good, in removing the causes of Ireland's social degradation, and in preparing the way for the overthrow of those systems of ecclesiastical tyranny which have so long afflicted that land." The management of the funds placed in the hands of the Committee of this Society has excited the approbation of the public press; but in connexion with the Relief Fund, there is one remark that should be made, namely, that all such circumstances are apt to engender evilevil of a serious nature. We must not forget, while we are helping the distress of Ireland, there are rights which Ireland has that no charity can obliterate. She has claims in relation to her social condition which no benevolence can set aside; and while we are happy to relieve temporary distress, it behoves us not to forget that we are bound to assist in procuring for her all the civil and social advantages we possess, and to give her the religious privileges we enjoy. I am afraid, that because we think we are helping to alleviate the distress that exists, we are doing all that we are required to do. In the present emergency we are helping only a difficulty that is temporary, and the true claims of Ireland have as great a demand on us as they formerly possessed. Though the poor have felt the distress, yet it is wider than the aspect that simply touches the poor. It touches all classes. The landlords feel the pinching emergency; the traders and small farmers feel it as intensely in some respects as do the poor. The landlords are men, in their present circumstances, deserving our pity. With entailed and mortgaged estates, with lands let on long leases, there has arisen the cry, that they should be chargeable with the sustenance of the poor, when they are not virtually the possessors of the land. The farmers have been crying out, |