J. West. Sligo, January 18, 1823. the Society about two years ago, and From Mr. William Moore to the Rev. put another in his place, and placed him in the front of the battle; as I knew he would stand fire, and would not run back. He was a papist when he became one of the Society's schoolmasters, but he is no longer under the cruel yoke of Antichrist and Satan. I have been to Dromoland, and encouraged them to go forward." 66 On Lord's day, the 5th of January, I preached at O'Brien's Bridge to two large congregations; and the next evening at Birdhill, in Mr. O.'s parlour, and though there is only one poor Protestant family on Mr. O.'s estate, there were twenty persons to hear. Mr. and Mrs. O. and Mr. F. their agent, are excellent people, and shining lights in a dark and dreadful place. They sent for me to preach for them. On Tuesday arrived in Limerick, and had the meeting for reading the scripture, conversation, singing, and prayer. The next evening preached on board a ship. On Thursday and Friday I intended to have left town, but the weather was so severe, and I felt so full of rheumatism and pain from a cold, which I caught in a wet bed, that I was obliged to stay at home. On Lord's-day morning, the 12th, my mind became very uneasy, and I began to fret, fearing I could not preach that day, as it is impossible to do it in the Court-house, it is so cold and inconvenient. I went to the quay, and got a ship: we hoisted our Bethel Flag:" I thought to have preached in the cabin; but there was such a crowd assembled, that they could not find room. I feared I should suffer from the open air, yet I was determined not to put my light under a bushel, and stood upon the deck, and preached to a multitude who were on the deck and on the quay. I have just gone through the same way this week, as I did the preceding, and preached twice at O'Brien's Bridge last Lord'sday, and at Birdhill in the evening. Last night we had our meeting for reading the scriptures, &c. and tonight, please Providence, I shall preach on board a ship. I have been out nearly all this winter, and for want of a meeting-house, my congregation, which I raised here under the most inauspicious circumstances, have, since the cold weather set in, been obliged to go to other places for accommodation. I am, my dear sir, in the best wishes, ever yours most sincerely and affectionately, WM. THOMAS. REV. SIR, The very night I posted my last Journal, a circumstance occurred which affords cause of thanksgiving, in which we see how often the Lord makes use of the most weak instru ments to accomplish his purposes: this will appear by the following nar rative of a poor simple woman, that never learned a letter, nor understood one word of English, and had undergone sore trials and afflictions. About twelve months ago she gave me a his tory of her life and trials; and in the course of conversation she made some remarks on priestcraft. This gave me an opportunity of reading and explaining the plan of salvation to her, and comparing it with the abomina tions of popery, which I perceived she understood. I also perceived that her memory was strong, as she frequently would recollect past questions, and have the answers repeated. I fre quently met her afterwards, but from our first conversation she did not go to mass. The night first alluded to, when I met her she said, "You have satisfied me on every subject but one, and that subject you have never touched on. Tell me now, is there either good or harm in the ointment at the hour of death?" I said, "If there were neither good nor harm, it would be a thing merely indifferent; but, on the contrary, I will prove to you it is the seal of perdition. This I will prove from the Catechism you have learned in your infancy." This opportunity, as will be seen, occurred providentially: the question and answer in the Catechism are, "What does the sacrament of the ointment do?" " The sacrament is a cooling in our sickness, strengthens us against the temptations of the devil, gives health often to the body, but at all times it promotes the health of the soul, and cleanseth from the remainder of all sins forgotten in confession." This subject came just at the proper time. I had read for her, and often before shewed her, that the blood of Jesus only cleanseth from all sin. She said, that she knew, but in conversation she knew not what to say on the subject, as she was always browbeaten by the enemies of the truth. I then read a few verses in the Revelations, and convinced her that it was the mark of the beast; seeing the name of Jesus, and the merits of Jesus, are never once mentioned during that process; and the poor departing soul departed, solely resting and trusting for salvation in time and eternity to that abominable mark. Every sentence she understood. I mentioned it was a providential meeting; for the next day there was a neighbouring woman at the point of death. She went to visit her, and it being the season of confession with the priest, not one of them could come to her: the dying woman exclaimed, What should she do! that she was lost eternally! Said the visitor, "Have you no hope of salvation besides from the ointment?" "O no," replied the dying woman. "Did you never hear of Jesus?" "Yes," said she. "And cannot you trust the salvation of your soul to the merit of his blood?" "O," said she, "I think I cannot be saved, if I am not anointed!" It would be thought incredible, nor could I myself believe, that the woman could explain the gospel so clearly and plainly, only when relating the whole narrative to me, she said, "Every word you told me I recollected, and I got such strength, and courage, and freedom of speech, that every word came so freely and fluently to my mind, as on no other occasion I ever experienced." I was so surprised, or rather doubtful, whether it was possible; " Mary," said I," tell me what did you say: tell me the whole of it." She began and repeated the whole exhortation, which the most experienced believer could not have exceeded; from first to last there was something truly astonishing in this circumstance; the dying woman paid the greatest attention, and at length the stream of tears flowed, and her first emotions were, lifting up her hands she prayed most fervently for her instructor; most sincerely thanking the Lord that he had spared her to hear of that name by which a sinner could be saved. But what is most remarkable, she declared, that she saw as clearly and plainly the way a sinner could be saved, and added, " Eternally lost should I have been, were it not that the Lord had directed you into this house: and I can now die rejoicing, and not trouble a priest." There was another woman present, that also was convinced, in like manner, and most sincerely prayed, and Mr. Munday, Wardrobe-place 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 5 0 Mr. Olive, Cranbrook, by Rev. Mr. Exall... Eros, Heddenham... Northern District of the Southeast Baptist Association, Brecon, per M. Jones, a Bill, £15 14s. 6d. Half to the Mission, and Half to the Baptist Irish Society 7 17 3 From the Executors of the late A. C. Buckland, Esq. of Frome, the Sum of Seven Pounds Seventeen Shillings and Seven Pence; being One-third Part of his Share of the Profits arising from a Work, entitled "Letters on Early Rising," and directed by his Will to be applied to the Purposes of the "Baptist Irish Society." Missionary Herald. BAPTIST MISSION. Foreign Intelligence. SERAMPORE. to me a matter of great encouragement. They now unite with Europeans, and Europeans with them, in promoting benevolent undertakings, without servility on their parts, or domination on ours. God is doing great things for India, and for all the world. About fifty years ago, one of the Extract of a Letter from Dr. Carey to sovereigns of Europe was employed in Dr. Ryland, duted Serampore, July 4, 1822. THE most perfect harmony subsists, as far as I know, between us and the younger brethren, the Independents and the Episcopalians, and I believe a divine blessing attends all our labours. I expect to receive two persons into the church to-day, and I believe there is scarcely a month in which there are not additions to more than one church. A great number of excellent pamphlets are printed, by one or another, in the Bengalee and some other languages, which contribute not a little to the edification of believers, and to the stirring up of a spirit of inquiry in a people whose most prominent feature is apathy. There has also been a great change in the circumstances of the natives themselves. There are now three newspapers printed in the Bengalee language, and one in Persian. In these many things connected with heathenism, as well as Christianity, are discussed by the natives themselves, and facts brought to light respecting the blackness of idolatry, which might otherwise have been sought for in vain. That spirit of establishing and maintaining schools, especially charity-schools, which now prevails, and is much increasing among the natives, some of the chief men for wealth and respectability among them coming forth, and voluntarily taking an active part in these institutions, is VOL. XV. writing fourteen volumes of lampoons on Christianity; Voltaire, in all his multifarious much-read publications, constantly made Christianity the butt of his ridicule and sarcasm. The Encyclopædists attacked Christianity in a more grave manner. Gibbon and Hume did the same; and a host of novelists, writers for the theatre, and pamphleteers, followed in the rear; if not actually saying, as the Abbe Barruel asserts, "Ecrasez l'Infame," at least acting up to the spirit of what is charged upon them by that writer. Now sovereigns on their thrones declare themselves on the side of religion, and encourage Bible Societies and other Associations to do good; while all ranks, from the noble to the slave, unite to promote the same object. Who that loves God or man can behold the present state of things without thanks to God? CALCUTTA. EXTRACTS from the Journals of the Junior Brethren, at dif férent periods in 1822. February. A young man of good natural abilities and liberal education came forward, saying, he should like to propose to us a few questions, if we would be good enough to answer N he had a paper written on the subject, which he would bring with him another time, and see if we were able to answer all the questions which he had to propose. We told him to do so, and seriously exhorted him to remember that God was a holy Being, and that unless our sins were pardoned through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we must certainly sustain the weight of them in that place of torment which he had prepared for all the workers of iniquity. them. As we had just closed the service, and the people were all standing round, we told him if he had any thing to advance, to say on. He began, as is usual with the natives, by asking a question, which was this: Does not God impel us to sin? We replied in the negative, stating, that whatever God did he would certainly approve, and that it was evident from their own shastras God did not approve of sin, because he had prepared hell as a state of punishment for sinners. Again, it was stated to him, that according to 14. In my way to Doorgapore this their own shastra the instigation and evening, I called at our Bengalee perpetration of crimes were the same, Boys' School at Gowree Ber, and held and with what justice could a judge a long examination of the head class punish a thief after he had instigated in our Bengalee Scripture Catechism. him to steal? and with what propriety Four of the boys repeated almost the could a father blame a son for being whole very correctly, and answered a wicked, after he had been the abettor of variety of questions with great proall the wickedness he had committed? priety. On one of them repeating the and if such conduct would be detested answer "All men are sinners;" I among sinful men, how could it ap- asked him what sins he had committed? ply to a just and holy God? He then He replied, "A few days since, when inquired, Is the mind its own God, I saw a school-fellow steal a pen from and has it the power of determining its another, and when the master, suspectown volitions? We replied, No-that ing it, asked me about it, I told him God moved us to all that was good, (because the boy who had taken it and that he created man at first in was my friend,) that it was his own. righteousness and true holiness, and By my asserting this, the boy to whom that Satan tempted man to sin, and it belonged never got it; and thus I still continues to tempt him. He then broke the commandment, which says, asked some questions, which led us to 'Thou shalt not bear false witness give him an account of the fall of Sa- against thy neighbour."" I was detan, and the subsequent fall of Adam, lighted with the ingenuousness of the with which he appeared to be quite boy, and at the close of the examinasatisfied. Still, however, he asked tion, turning round to a number of again-Does not God pervade every strangers who had come to witness it, thing, and do we not live and move in I appealed to them, whether the relihim; and must he not on this account gious instruction afforded the children be the first Mover of all we do? was not a great blessing, as it thus replied, that it was true that God was softened the heart, and led the person in every place, but that he was present who received it, to acknowledge and as a witness, and not as an instigator repent of his sin? They all expressed of the wicked conduct of men. We themselves highly pleased, and protold him, that he himself might be pre-mised they would endeavour to get sent in a certain place, and see some persons well and others ill employed; he might simply notice and rebuke the latter, and proceed to encourage the former; and that thus God was present in all places, beholding all that was doing; frequently rebuking the wicked, and convincing them that they were doing wrong, and affording encouragement and support to those who were seeking his favour, and striving to please him; so that his ubiquity, instead of encouraging, ought rather to deter us from all sin. We As night now drew on, the young man retired, seeming rather nonplussed than convinced, and adding, that more scholars to attend. The following Extracts from rival native newspapers in Calcufta, on the subject of " Concremation," or the burning of widows, will shew that the minds of intelligent men in Bengal begin to revolt at this detestable practice. From the Sungbad Cowmuddy of March 18, 1822. It is well known that the custom of the Hindoo widows burning themselves with their deceased husbands, has been carried to excess; for they not only burn those in the prime of life, but also those that are pregnant at the time; all this is strictly forbidden in their own shaster. And it is also reported that the widows are made to eat something which intoxicates them, and are thus burnt against their inclinations. O what a horrible practice! such treatment is contrary to all the shasters, to religion and mercy; since their own shasters expressly declare, that those widows who are pregnant, or have not attained the age of maturity, should not burn themselves on the funeral piles of their deceased husbands." In another Bengallee newspaper, named Summachar Chundrika, is the following account. "Concremation. A bramhun of Aunerpoor, aged about fifty-five, being very sick, was carried to the Ganges at Augorepara. His wife and two sons accompanied him thither; and on Thursday, the 7th of March, the night of the full moon, he died. The next morning his faithful wife burnt herself on the ghaut at Serampore, on the funeral pile of her husband, without the least sign of pain, or symptom of reluctance, to the utter astonishment and discomfiture of her enemies." "So much has been written in the Sungbad Cowmuddy of the 5th of March, Number 14, about the violence and injustice exercised in Concremation, that it is beyond probability; for if a man through malice, strength, or artifice, were to kill a person even secretly amidst a thick forest, it could not remain undiscovered; since, besides the EYE that is ever observing every thing which passes in this world, there are magistrates appointed to preserve order and peace in this country. And the magistrates never allow a woman to burn herself with her husband, before they have given the subject a serious and cool consideration, and found the woman to be devoid of all the passions, and to have a constant faith in her husband. The Editor of the Sungbad Cowmuddy, merely to expose himself, has thus written in his paper, that those widows who are pregnant at the time, or have not arrived at years of maturity, are made to eat something which inebriates them, and then thrown upon the burning piles of their husbands.' It is a proverb among the vulgar, that a guardian is always disagreeable to a lewd woman, moonlight to a thief, Ghrytu (clarified butter) to a drunkard, and a chaste woman to one of the con"Having read in the Sungbad Cow- trary character. One cannot injure muddy, some improbable assertions another with impunity.-A woman advanced as to Concremation, before I burns herself publicly before all her pass my judgment upon them, and relations and friends.-I would thereprint it in the Chundrika, I beg leave fore advise the Editor, rather than ridito ask the Editor of that paper the two cule those who conduct themselves following questions, and if they be consistently with religious principles, satisfactorily answered, I doubt not to mention the names and residence of but his proposed reformation may take the persons who brought him such inplace. How did he come by his in- telligence, that we may obtain inforformation, that widows who are preg-mation from them respecting such murnant at the time, or have not attained the age of maturity, are made to eat something which intoxicates them, and then burnt on the funeral piles of their deceased husbands ?' Was this the result of the liveliness of his own imagination, or has he printed that story in his Cowmuddy, tending to revile the manners and customs of his own country, merely to please some foreigners, whose manners and customs are quite different from ours?"" "To the Editor of the Summachar Chundrika. Sir-I write to you, with the consent of many well-bred, virtuous, and rich inhabitants of Calcutta, on the following subject, the insertion of which in your paper will greatly oblige me. derers, and then endeavour to make them feel the justice of the government; otherwise he must be held as an infidel, or one deprived of the use of his reason. "March 10, 1822." "BIPRUDDOS.” The following remarks, by Mr. Pearce, on the state of native society in Calcutta, deserve attention. Though it is well known that within the last twenty years idolatrous festivals have been celebrated by more families, and at more expense than formerly, it is a fact that within the last |