Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

In reference to this Mission the Committee would remark, that they contemplate the wide sphere of labour to which access is opened through the medium of Malta with feelings of deep and augmenting interest. The political and civil state of these countries draws much of the public attention to this quarter; and the Scriptural hope and expectation of the revival of Truth and Righteousness in these regions awaken increasing exertions among the more enlightened portions of the Christian Church, both in Europe and America. Mr. Jowett's Volumes, and the communications of the American and other Missionaries, will cherish and extend these feelings in the New as well as in the Old World. The thoughtful and serious among Christian Students will begin to associate with their ideas of the Holy Land and its surrounding regions earnest desires of their spiritual restoration. Many will offer themselves for this service; and prayer will abound, until the Spirit be poured out from on high, and the wilderness become again a fruitful field. The regions which witnessed the advent and death of the Saviour of the World, the labours of His Apostles, and the primitive glory of pure and undefiled Christianity, and which received that blood of the Martyrs which is the seed of the Church, are not destined to remain for ever under the relentless intolerance of bigotry and superstition; and there are sufficient indications in the course of events, that the time is drawing near when the old waste places shall be built and the foundations of many generations shall be raised.

CALCUTTA AND NORTH-INDIA MISSION.

The arrival of the Bishop of Calcutta at his Diocese was announced in the Twenty-fourth Report, as well as the appointment of the Rev. Daniel Corrie by his Lordship to the Archdeaconry of Calcutta.

The Episcopal Visitation was held, and his Lordship's first Charge delivered, at the Cathedral, on Ascension Day of last year. The Missionaries in connection with the Society who attended this Visitation were addressed by the Bishop. In allusion to the important object of their labours, his Lordship entered, somewhat at large, into the great question of Hindoo Conversion; and having appealed to the evidence furnished upon this interesting question by the Converts of the Church Missionary Society at Agra, Benares, Meerut, and Chunar, his Lordship referred to the happy results which had arisen from the labours of other Societies embarked in the same great Cause, in the following manner :

Bear witness, those numerous believers of our own immediate neighbourhood, with whom, though we differ on many, and doubtless on very important points, I should hate myself if I could regard them as any other than my Brethren and Fellow-servants in the Lord. Let the populous Christian Districts of Malabar bear witness, where believers are not reckoned by solitary individuals, but by hundreds and by thousands. Bear witness Ceylon, where the Cross has lost its reproach; and the Chiefs of the land are gradually assuming, without scruple, the attire, the language, and the religion of Englishmen. And let him finally bear witness, whom we have now received into the number of the commissioned servants of the Church; and whom we trust, at no distant day, to send forth, in the fulness of Christian Authority, to make known the way of truth to those his countrymen from whose errors he has himself been graciously delivered.

The latter part of these remarks alludes to the Ordination of a Native of India on this interesting occasion.

At the First Anniversary of the Church Missionary Association, held on the 18th of May at Calcutta*, it was reported that the Contributions had amounted to 4449 Rupees. The Venerable the Archdeacon, the President, in opening the proceedings, remarked

The accession of the Bishop of Calcutta to the supporters

An Account of the Anniversary, with various intelligence relative to the Mission, was given at pp. 184-191 of the Missionary Register for April.

1

of the Church Missionary Society had of course rendered him a supporter also of this Association: and he had the pleasure of assuring the Meeting, that the Report about to be offered for their adoption had been, in conformity with their principles as Episcopalians, submitted to his Lordship, who had signified his general approbation of its contents, and even taken the trouble to correct it pretty largely with his own hand, without however altering in any respect the substance of what had been submitted to him.

The proceedings at the formation of the Calcutta Auxiliary Church Missionary Society, of which the Lord Bishop is the President, were given in the Appendix to the last Report. That Society having only entered on the duties and responsibilities of the Corresponding Committee in December 1823, and having determined that their Report should close with the month of April, had in their first Report but to present to the friends of the Society the proceedings of a brief period. The Committee will avail themselves of that Report, and of subsequent communications, in giving a detail of the present state of this Mission.

The Auxiliary Committee at Calcutta propose, in future, to publish and circulate accounts of Missionary Proceedings, every month, instead of every quarter; and from the extensive benefits which have arisen from a wide and frequent circulation of such intelligence at home, there is every reason to anticipate a similar result from the adoption of this measure abroad.

From the standing Regulations of the Auxiliary Committee it will be seen how fully the Society's Missionaries at Calcutta will in future enjoy the patronage and superintendance of the Bishop.

The first of these Regulations requires

That all the Episcopal Missionaries of the Society at this Presidency, who have not obtained the Bishop's licence, be directed to apply to him for the same; and that every Missionary of the Society, episcopally ordained, be directed, on his arrival from England, to present himself to the Bishop of the Diocese for his licence.

By this desirable and important arrangement, the

Society's Labourers, who are Episcopally ordained, will bear a relation to their Diocesan in India, simílar to that existing between the Parochial Clergy and their respective Diocesans at home. The Committee entertain a grateful and confident assurance, that in the distinguished individual who presides over the Church Establishment in the East, their Missionaries will find a Friend and a Father, who will animate them by his example, guide them by his counsels, and support them by his prayers.

The following sentiments are expressed in the Report of the Auxiliary Society on this subject:

The Committee cannot refrain from congratulating their friends on the accession to their numbers of the Right Reverend the Bishop of Calcutta. Conformed as their proceedings had always been to the usage of the ancient Societies in the Established Church, they could not but desire the official countenance of their Bishop. They have now that privilege, which, from the personal attention paid by his Lordship to the interests of the Society, not only promises to add greater efficiency in the Committee's operations, but also afford an additional security to the Members of the Establishment, that their measures will be pursued in strict conformity with the principles which the Church Missionary Society has always maintained.

CALCUTTA AND ITS VICINITY.

The Auxiliary Committee, under the head of MISSIONARIES AND STUDENTS, state

The Committee have to report the transfer of Mr. Dunsmure to the Society for Propagating the Gospel. In 1821 the Corresponding Committee reported, that a Youth, 17 years of age, the son of an Officer, had, with his father's consent, devoted himself to be a Missionary; and was then pursuing his studies under Mr. Perowne. Mr. Dunsmure continued to pursue his studies with much diligence and success, till the early part of 1823; when he was received as an Assistant in the English School of the Burdwan Mission, a situation which he filled with great advantage to the Pupils, and much to the satisfaction of Mr. Perowne and your Committee. He, however, was desirous of pursuing his studies further, with a view to eventual efficiency in the work to which he had devoted himself; and, with the cordial approbation of the Principal of Bishop's College, has been admitted, by the Right Reverend the Visitor, a Student on that foundation.

The Committee are happy to be able to report also the admission of a very promising Youth to Bishop's College, as a Student on the part of the Church Missionary Society. He has had all the previous advantages, as to education, which Calcutta affords; and, at his owN URGENT DESIRE, his friends have given their full consent to the arrangement above stated.

In reference to some of the Labourers mentioned in the last Report, it was ultimately determined that Mr.T.W.Smyth should accompany the Rev. Michael Wilkinson and Mrs. Wilkinson to Goruckpore. Mrs. Jetter, late Miss Cortis, was for some time actively employed in sharing Mrs. Wilson's labours; but latterly the health both of herself and Mr. Jetter was so much impaired as to require change of air: Mr. Jetter, during the months of May and June, was disabled by serious indisposition; and his return home being deemed indispensable, he embarked with Mrs. Jetter, in August, on board the Princess Charlotte, bound to Liverpool; but the vessel having sprung a leak, was compelled to put back, after beating about in the Bay of Bengal for a period of six weeks they embarked again in November, and arrived in this country on the 25th of April.

On the 4th of August the Rev. J.T. Reichardt was married to Miss Price. Mrs. Reichardt has become the Assistant of Mrs. Wilson in the place of Mrs. Jetter; and has undertaken the charge of ten of the Female Schools. A pulmonary complaint, which, for a considerable time, had prevented Mr. Brown from pursuing his usual occupation at the Printing Office, has at length terminated his labours: he died on the 20th of August. The Mission has sustained a great loss by the removal of this valuable individual. Mr. Wilson, in a Letter announcing his decease, speaks very highly of his piety and services, and of his devotedness to the Missionary Work.

The other Labourers at this Station were in the enjoyment of good health; particularly Mrs. Wilson, who appears to be blessed with a constitution and habit of mind peculiarly adapted to her laborious and important avocations.

The Society's Missionaries at Calcutta are dili

« AnteriorContinuar »