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month, had not the severe illness of one of them prevented it. Nor is my success in Colombo to be estimated by the number of those who are connected with us as church-members. Yesterday (March 4th,) my congregation in the Fort consisted of about fifty hearers; that in the Pettah of seventy or eighty and there are appearances in both these congregations that are en

my little toils and trials: and if (as no doubt is the case,) the eternal salvation of one soul is of more importance than the temporal deliverace of a kingdom, or a world, from some threatening ruin, the salvation of one soul will not only be an ample recompense for my insignificant labours, but for all that the Society has or ever will expend on this Mission. I will go one step further, and say, that if one sin-couraging. I have reason to hope, ner be not saved through a Divine that were I to die to-day, I should blessing on our exertions; if Heaven meet some from both of them in heaonly shines upon them with its ap- ven, who will have cause to praise for proving smiles; we cannot regret hav- ever, that they have heard the word of ing engaged in them. "It was well life from my lips. When, therefore, that it was in your hearts to build me in looking back on the ten years our a house," will be sufficient to banish Mission has existed in this island, we every emotion of regret from our consider the different particulars I hearts to all eternity. But we have have mentioned, while we must lament not entirely run in vain, laboured in that our success has been so small, so vain, and spent our strength for nought. much less than was anticipated, and so The good that has been done among much less than we hoped and earnestour countrymen in this remote corner ly desired to see, if we consider that of the world, ought not to be forgotten. the salvation of one soul would be a I can number eight of them, exclusive glorious recompense for all the labour of backsliders, who, I trust, have been that has been bestowed on the Misgiven me as seals to my ministry. Of sion, and all the funds that have been, the natives of this island, including expended upon it, to indulge a murthe little church at Hanwell, ten have muring spirit in reflecting on the subput on Christ by baptism, besides theject, would be highly ungrateful. two who have been excluded; and three more would have done it this

(To be continued.)

Contributions received by the Treasurer of the Baptist Missionary Society, from November 20, to December 20, 1822, not including Individual Subscriptions.

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Suffolk, collected on a Journey by Messrs. Pritchard and Smith, viz.

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Keppel-street,

Hertford,

Ditto,
Ditto,

Broughton, Cumberland, by Rev. S. Ruston...

Worsted, Collection, by Rev. R. Clark

Newbury, Collections and Subscriptions, by Mr. Welsh..
Devonshire-square, Auxiliary Society, by Mr. Edward Smith..

South Wales, Baptist Western Association, by Rev. D. Evans 30

2

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15

43

3800

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by Mr. Marshall..
by Mr. Field....

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40

6

1000

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Yorkshire, West Riding Auxiliary Society, by M. Thackeray, Esq.

Balance of Accnt. 2 15 8

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Hebden Bridge.. 3 3 0

21 7 34

Leeds
Spring Head
Wainsgate....

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Stamford Hill, collected by Miss Wilson..

Watford, Rev. John Jones

Stafford, Rev. W. Bosworth, by Chapman Barber, Esq. Donation
Oxfordshire, &c. Auxiliary Society, by Rev. W. Gray:

... Donation 5

5

Bicester

10 6

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Hooknorton

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FOR THE TRANSLATIONS.

........

10

Northern Missionary Society, by Rev. Mr. Mackintosh..................
Cockermouth, collected at the Independent Chapel......
Yorkshire, West Riding Auxiliary Society, by M. Thackeray, Esq.-
Leeds, Subscriptions...

3 3 0

Wine Wall and Wheatley-lane ..... 20 29

1 18 10

23

FOR FEMALE EDUCATION.

Two Friends, by Rev. James Hoby, for a Female School in
Calcutta

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Leeds, Female Branch Society, (in addition to £37. 11s. 4d. previously remitted this Year)...

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The thanks of the Committee are presented to Mrs. Waugh, of Reading, for a parcel of Pamphlets, &c.; and to Mr. Brown of Wigan, for 10 Vols. of Poems, lately published by him.

Erratum. The Editor is sorry to observe that, by an oversight of the trapscriber, the sum of £20, 18s. Od. from the Ipswich (Stoke Green) Auxiliary Society, by Mr. Pollard, has been omitted in the last Report.

J. BARFIELD, Printer, 91, Wardour-Street, Soho.

THE

Baptist Magazine.

FEBRUARY, 1823.

MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOSEPH PHILLIPS,

LATE MISSIONARY TO THE ISLAND OF JAVA.

(Continued from page 5.)

To prepare him for the duties of a Missionary life, the Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society sent him to the Academy at Bristol under the care and direction of the Rev. Dr. Ryland. He arrived there February 17, 1815, and preached the first evening at Cheese-lane, “ a place opened by Mr. Chamberlain, the Missionary, when a student at Bristol."

The first entry in his Diary, when he entered the Academy, shows the devotional state of his mind." How pernicious are the effects of levity! It is a grow ing evil. One repartee in company produces another, and its contaminating effects are often felt through a large circle. It is a kiud of trifling which unhinges the mind, and tends to stifle the desires of the heart towards God. O Lord, keep me near thyself. May I seek happiness alone in thee; and seek my happiness in thee; enjoy much of thy lovingkindness, which is life, and thy presence, which is better than life itself."

During the time he was at Bristol, his application and acquirements obtained the approbation of his tutors, who sent the most respectable testimonials to

VOL. XV.

the Committee, of his talents and literary acquirements.

His public designation to the work of a Missionary took place at Eagle-street Meeting, July 30, 1816. On this service he remarks: "May the ministry which has been committed to me by faithful men never be lightly esteemed by me. May the desires which I then uttered in the presence of God, angels, and christians, be fully accomplished. May the love which I then professed towards the Redeemer, and towards the souls of men, be never suffered to diminish; but as I approach towards that day in which I must resign my trust, may my selfdenial, my zeal, my humility, my faith, and every christian grace, increase. O Spirit Divine, let thy sacred influence never be withdrawn from me; let me ever remember my entire dependence upon thee. Let me not grieve thee by any inconsistency in my conduct; but be so strengthened and supported, that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus and his faithful servants, to testify the gospel of the blessed God. What was there in me, O thou gracious

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Spirit, that thou shouldst condescend to employ me in thy service? May the whole course of my conduct be such as thou shalt approve. May I never for get my obligations to thee, or to the church of God. May souls be increasingly precious in my sight; and if it be for thy glory, grant a measure of success to thy unworthy servant, that it may be evident thy hand is with him to do him good. Let him not rest satisfied with the professions of attachments to thee, which have this night been made, but let his life prove one continued comment on those parts of thy word in which the duties of thy faithful servants are pourtrayed. And Oh, may he, in the several important stations he now sustains, be all that a man who fears God ought to be. He feels his weakness; he is almost overwhelmed when he reflects upon the awful responsibility which is attached to his public character; but let the communication of thy favour be granted, and he shall be enabled to save both himself and those who may hear him."

August 10, accompanied by his wife, he joined the ship Jane in the River, bound for Batavia. Speaking of this event, he says: "I will not attempt to describe the feelings of my mind on taking my last look at the friends who had accompanied us to the ship. I rejoiced that my dear wife was so wonderfully supported. Prayer that had been offered for us both without ceasing was heard, and surely we received answers of peace. A composure of mind exceeding any thing I could have anticipated was granted to both; the Lord be praised!"

While on his voyage, he completed his twenty-third year.

One extract from his Diary will prove that his character as a christian was improving, and the state of his mind suited for the work which he was sent to perform in the Island of Java,-"to turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God."

Nov. 20.-"O for more humility of heart! How inconsistent does my conduct appear with my acknowledgments in prayer. Lord, subdue the rebel self! I find that I am apt to lose sight of the end which I ought to have in view in my literary acquirements;-doing all to the glory of God. This is a lesson which I have yet to learn. I would pray that every thought, desire, and pursuit, may be in unison with the word of God; for it is only when I desire to promote his glory by every acquisition, that I can expect his blessing."

During the first part of his time in Java, he enjoyed good health, and his exertions were great and various;* but while communicating evangelical truth to that idolatrous land, and preparing to give the scriptures to the Javanese, highly esteemed by the most respectable of the Europeans resident there, as appears from many letters which were sent him by them, and by various acts of kindness and respect, his work was suddenly arrested by that wasting disease which seized him, and rendered him incapable of proceeding in the labours which had engaged all his energies, and engrossed all his affections.

The first news of this afflictive circumstance was communicated

See Baptist Magazine, 1818, pp. 118, 433, and 473.

to the Committee by letters brought home by himself. Upon which the following resolution was passed, highly creditable to the character of our departed brother.

nient warm lodgings, while many, as ill as myself, are exposed to the coldness and inclemency of the season, without proper food or medicines, and without the kindness-the pain-dispelling kindExtracts from the Minutes of Added to all my temporal merness of a sympathizing friend. the Baptist Mission. Oct. 1819." A letter was read from Mr. Joseph Phillips, dated on board the Broxbourne bury, off Portland, October 3, 1819, announcing his return from Java in a debilitated state of health.

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Resolved. That the Secretaries be directed to express the sympathy of the Committee with Mr. Phillips under his affliction, and to inform him, that from the reasons stated in his own letter, and that from Mr. Robinson, by which it was accompanied, they are satisfied of the propriety of the step which he has taken, and earnestly hope that it may be followed by such a blessing, as that he may be restored to a capacity for resuming his labours." Every kind attention was shown him by the Committee. He was encouraged to reside for a time in Bath, and from thence he removed to Reading. Some few letters written during this period of affliction, prove that "the gospel bore his spirits up" in prospect of death and eternity, While he was at the former place, he began to fear that his affliction would end in death. In his former letters, however, to his relations, he had concealed his apprehensions. On Christmas-eve, 1819, he wrote thus to his father:"I feel sensible that much, very much, mercy has been mingled with all I have had to taste in the cup of affliction. The Society has been very kind to me, and I am comfortably placed in conve

cies is that great mercy, the mercy of knowing the hand that afflicts me. Ah! my dear father, I cannot be too thankful for this privilege. I might have been seized with sickness, and at the same time ignorant of God, and a stranger to the blessings of the gospel. But now owing, I trust, to his free unmerited grace, I can say the Lord is righteous in his dealings with me: it is in mercy that he chastiseth me. I can rely on his promise of supporting grace; and if my disease should terminate in death, I hope, through the salvation of Jesus, and the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit, I shall be saved. When I reflect on my life past, I am always overcome with the knowledge I have of the many sins I have committed. I feel abashed at my negligence in duties, at my impure motives in actions good in themselves, and at the general want of a devout frame of mind; and I feel a solemn awe upon my spirits at the prospect of meeting my Maker. I

cannot derive any pleasure from reflecting upon my good deeds, because none will bear the scrutiny of my own conscience; how much less will they bear the scrutiny of the ETERNAL! The only relief I can gain is, to think of the work of my Redeemer, and how thankful ought I to be that the relief I gain here is effectual relief! Yes, father, it is the atonement made by Christ's offering up himself on the behalf of the human race, that furnishes

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