The Duty of combining Economy with Zeal in efforts to support the Society, is thus forcibly stated, in the Report of one of the County Associations :Your Committee beg leave to request of those connected with their Association who have a copy of the Report, that they will make a point of lending it readily; that the operations of the Society may be known more widely, yet at no greater expense. For, of all the facts connected with it, this is among the plainest, that, in order to support the present labours of our Missionaries, the demands upon our funds are so large, that no more must be spent in telling the news of them, than is absolutely necessary to keep alive men's interest and attention. When, for instance, we know, that although at the time when the last Report was published the gross income of the Society was 35,000l. yet out of that sum Nine Missions were to be supported, including 43 Stations and 226 Schools connected with them, it will easily be seen, that Economy is quite as necessary as Zeal; and Economy, we all know, to be effectual, must prevail through all the branches and members of the Society. Indeed, besides these calls upon its revenue, there are others just now almost equally pressing; particularly the completion and maintenance of an Establishment lately commenced at Islington for the education of Missionaries on a well-ordered system, under the very eye of the leading Officers of the Society. It is true a Separate Subscription has been opened in aid of this project, and considerable sums have been collected for it; yet the Committee have been obliged to advance money toward it, which they could ill spare from their current expenses. These things are stated, to shew both that the Society's money is spending well; and also, in order to answer the double object, of impressing upon its members individually how important it is to labour by every honourable means to enlarge its income, and by every judicious means to lessen its expenditure. Of the beneficial influence of exertions made, even by a few individuals, in a right spirit, on behalf of the Society, the same Committee thus speak : You will be pleased to remark, that considerable sums have been received, this year, from several places now named on our list for the first time; and that, in other instances, the contributions are very greatly increased. And your Committee think themselves bound to state, that the praise of this is due to a few individuals, whose good opinion of our Society has led them to put forth very uncommon energy in its behalf. It is not easy to over-rate the services of persons like these. It is no small matter, that, in their own immediate neighbourhood, they make some liberal, who else had continued mere niggards; and induce others to bestow a part at least of their superfluities to good purpose, when otherwise all would have gone to waste: but what is of far greater moment, in endeavouring to excite an anxiety for the instruction and salvation of the Heathen, they take a delicate yet striking method to suggest to those among whom they dwell, the greatness of their own Christian Privileges, which hitherto perhaps may have been but slightly regarded; and, while they overtly urge men to make these more common, they tacitly lead them, it is to be hoped, to take a more particular and impressive view of them for themselves. And, beside the good effects which such active people work in their own sphere, they help to bring pointedly before our view some wholesome truths; acknowledged indeed when we think, but much forgotten when we ought to act: they tell us, by example, that men must be at much pains if they would earn much pleasure-that the moral world, however bad it may be, is bad more from the want of cultivation and the neglect of better-minded men, than from any hard necessity in the nature of the case-and that very plain people, by straight-forward and continued exertions, may always, under God's blessing, bring about, in a religious sense, a plentiful harvest. While your Committee think it right to mention these exertions, out of gratitude, and by way of encouragement and example to themselves and others, it is scarcely necessary to remind you, for of your own accord you will perceive, that they are recommending the earnestness of men who feel that they are doing the work of God, not the solicitude of those whose chief hope is in the money which they can collect; and that what they are praising is a steady, regular, and soberminded activity in the way of duty, and not an officious and offensive importunity out of it. For, above all things, they beg you to remember, and they wish to remember themselves, that, as we look mainly for success by securing to ourselves the favour and grace of God, so we shall be more sure of these according as our conduct is more entirely agreeable to His will, and more exactly and strictly Christian in all its parts. It is their wish, therefore, and their prayer, that all the efforts of this Society and of every member of it may be distinguished-not by any disproportionate zeal put forth at the expense of delicacy or charity, but by a determined energy to do good, without even the appearance of any thing that is ungentle, assuming, or obtrusive. The Committee will close their Report by adopt ing the elevated sentiments of another County Association : Your Committee would humbly suggest to their friends, and desire to take the caution to themselves, that they see more and more the necessity of anxious and persevering prayer, for the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit's blessing, on all the Proceedings, and Friends, and Missionaries of the Society-of more diligent and self-denying labours in their several stations, for the promotion of this Blessed Cause-and, at the same time, of a more free and liberal contribution of their carnal things. Your Committee conceive, that the view which is set before us, when we contemplate the proceedings of the Church Missionary Society or its kindred Institutions, is the most delightful that can be presented to the mind, in the gloominess of this lower world; and to be engaged in the humblest capacity in the busy movements of this glorious scene, is not only a duty, but one of the dearest privileges to which human nature can be called. Your Committee earnestly implore for themselves and all the Members of their Society, that they may feel an abundant increase of the preciousness and the power of their Saviour's love-that they may be of one heart and one soul in all their proceedings-and be led to seek, more anxiously and zealously, the salvation of their perishing fellow-sinners in all parts of the world. APPENDIX I. (See Page 37.) INSTRUCTIONS OF THE COMMITTEE TO THE REV. JOHN RABAN AND OTHERS, PROCEEDING AS MISSIONARIES AND TEACHERS TO SIERRA LEONE, WITH MR. RABAN'S REPLY, AND AS ADDRESS BY THE REV. THOMAS WEBSTER: DELIVERED Oct. 4, 1824. Instructions of the Committee. DEARLY BELOVED IN THE LORD Ir is with mingled feelings, that the Committee again send forth so many Labourers to the most tried, and yet most successful scene of their exertions. When they review the course in which it has pleased God to lead them in the West-Africa Mission, they see abundant occasion both for humiliation and for thanksgiving. The loss of many valuable Labourers has been a just cause of humiliation before God, yet not of despondency or despair; for there have been many and satisfactory testimonies, that they have neither laboured in vain, nor regretted any of the sacrifices, not even that of life itself, to which they have been called. You are about to enter into their toil and conflict, and, as the Committee trust, with the same spirit which animated those who have preceded you. Never were the labours of the faithful servants of Christ more urgently required in Africa, than they are at this time. One of the survivors thus pleads for assistance: The people are like sheep without a Shepherd; crying out, as the Man of Macedonia did, Come over, and help us! Oh that they may not call in vain! We are, indeed, brought very low. Where is the zeal of Englishmen ? Where are those who love the Saviour? Are they all like Jonah? Will no man say, Here am I! Lord, send me? What is our life but a vapour, which appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away? How, then, can that short space be better employed, than in pointing Sinners to that Lamb of God, in whom whosoever believeth shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Your arrival will shew that the anxiety of the Society to benefit Africa, notwithstanding the severe losses which have been sustained, continues unabated; and will encourage your Brethren, who are now bearing the burden and heat of the day: nor will it fail to be a most seasonable relief for the present wants of the Colony; which have been greatly enlarged by the increase of Liberated Africans and the consequent multiplication of Parishes, while sickness and death bave reduced the number of Labourers. It is the wish and the intention of the Committee, to provide an Ordained Missionary for every Parish in the Colony, as soon as they shall be able; and they are taking steps, in the arrangements making for the Society's Seminary, to accomplish this desirable object. An arrangement has been made with His Majesty's Government, for providing more completely for the Religious Instruction of the Colony and for the Education of the Young. The Committee have made proposals, with this view, at a probable additional cost to the Society of several thousand pounds per annum. these proposals, His Majesty's Government has acceded; and a copy of the arrangement will be put into your hands, for the future direction of the Society's measures in the CoColony. To The Committee have expressed to Government their hope and expectation, of being ultimately able to bring forward Native Africans, to take an efficient share in the religious instruction of their countrymen; and, in due time, to take charge, under the respective Clergymen of the Country Parishes, of the education and civil superintendence of their towns, so that, by degrees, Natives may occupy the place of Europeans. To this object, therefore, you and your Brethren will especially direct your at. tention. The Committee have no expectation, under the circumstances of the case, that this design can, to any extent, be speedily accomplished: but the Mission has already afforded sufficient evidence, that Natives may now become very useful Assistants; and has herein laid good ground to hope, that, in due time, that will take place on these shores, which has uniformly occurred in the History of Christianity that the Gospel, first planted by the instrumentality of Foreigners, has been perpetuated by that of Natives: and there is no reason to doubt, but that the country which, on its Northern Shores, adorned the Church by a Cyprian and an Augustine, will, on its Western, supply its own competent Teachers, when the Natives shall have been emancipated from those chains, by which men calling themselves Christians have fettered their intellect, and shall have enjoyed the advantages of Christian Instruction. The immediate object, indeed, is the instruction of the Liberated Africans of the Colony, for their own personal benefit; that they may both become good members of the community in which they live, and may be prepared for that state of everlasting glory to which they are called by the Gospel. This object, hitherto imperfectly provided for, on account of the sickness and death of the Labourers sent to the Colony, has, in part from the same cause, so entirely engaged of late years the care of the Society, that but little progress has been made in the attempts begun at an earlier period of the Mission, to fix the Languages of the bordering tribes of Natives, and prepare Elementary Books for their use. As, however, the Mission shall increase in strength, these two objects must be conjointly pursued. Providing, in the first instance, for the adequate religious and general instruction of the Native Colonists, the Society's Missionaries will then take the most effectual measures, as a part of their regular duty, for availing themselves of the aid of the Natives to ascertain and fix the various languages and dialects, and to prepare suitable books therein. In the instruction of the Liberated Africans, the most speedy and effectual attainment by them of the English Language must be ever kept in view. This has hitherto been greatly hindered, by the inadequate supply and unavoidable changes of Teachers, and by the constant accession of new comers. Nor has it been practicable to attain, perhaps, the most easy means of conveying to Scholars, so circumstanced, the knowledge of a strange language. To this object, some of the Society's Labourers should especially devote their attention. In reference to the preparation of future Native Teachers, for the benefit of the surrounding and interior tribes, some steps may be taken at the first season of leisure that can be employed for this purpose. The number of different languages and dialects spoken by. the Liberated Africans should be exactly ascertained, from the most intelligent of the Natives belonging to the respective countries; and, from them, should be collected all the information which they are capable of affording, relative to these tongues. A regular plan should be formed, and steadily acted on, for enlarging this information, as new op. portunities may occur: and means should be taken, that the most promising of these Natives should not only retain, but grammatically learn, their own tongues, with a view to |