It is added The Archdeacon mentions the progress made in the establishment of Schools, both for European and Native Children, at Bombay and in its vicinity; and he also suggests the expediency of translating into Arabic, Persian, and other Languages of India, some of the Religious Books and Tracts of the Society, and more especially Books for the use of Children in the Native Schools. Some plain and short Treatise on the Evidences of Christianity, he thinks, would be read by some of the more learned Natives, and would excite a spirit of thought and inquiry, which could not fail to be attended with good effects. This suggestion is now under the serious consideration of the Society. His Majesty's Government, on the representation of the Chaplain General, have been pleased to grant to the Society a sum of money annually, toward supplying the Troops in India, and particu larly Soldiers in Hospitals, with Bibles, Prayer-Books, and Religious Tracts. The books furnished for this particular purpose are to be distributed under the superintendence of the Diocesan Committee at Calcutta, and the District Committees at Madras and Bombay. The supplies for the years 1817 and 1818 have already been sent, in equal proportions, to the three Committees. CEYLON DISTRICT COMMITTEE. From the communications of the Secretary, the Rev. George Bissett, the Board give various extracts. On a present of some copies of the Family Bible, Mr. Bissett writes The gift of thirteen Family Bibles to our Native Preachers, with their names inscribed on the covers, will have such an effect on their minds, as it would be difficult fully to appreciate, without some practical knowledge of the Indian Character. It must be satisfactory to any men to find themselves noticed by a venerated Society, in that distant country, EDUCATION The present year is inferior to no former one, in demonstrating the importance of this branch of the Society's objects. The number of Returns, received on this subject, from the Diocesan and from which they have been accustomed to hear that all promotion and power are ultimately derived: but Indians are peculiarly sensible and alive to these imincreased, in proportion to the value pressions; and their gratification will be which they set on such distinctions. Mr. Bissett further remarks— Bibles, with explanatory Notes, are so much in request among the Students in Divinity, that we shall be embarrassed in choosing the four candidates, to whom that number of copies (transmitted gratuitously by the Society for the purpose) shall be given. The very liberal supply of 300 PrayerBooks will have a most beneficial effect, in attaching the Native Christians to our Liturgy, which is already in great demand; whether the whole be given in English, or detached prayers.in Cingalese and English, such as we have already circulated. In reference to the placing of Ceylon under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishop of Calcutta, and the erection of an Archdeaconry, Mr. Bissett states This measure will, I conceive, not only tend to bring the Native Christians into the unity of the Church of England, but also greatly promote the general propagation of Christianity. In conclusion, he says The Society for promoting Christian Knowledge has, in more than one instance, gone beyond their established rules, to oblige us; but I hope they will never find any cause to regret having shewn an extraordinary favour to this Island. A wide door is opened in Ceylon for the introduction of Christianity. If it should be the door through which the King of Glory shall enter, to establish his blessed dominion in the East, the respected Members of the Society will bereafter reflect with joy on their zealous readiness in contributing to further the gracious designs of Providence. AND SCHOOLS. District Committees, amounts to fortysix; and in the Schools to which they relate, 110,283 Children receive the advantage of a religious education. That the number of Returns fall very far short of the number of Diocesan and District Committees, by whose exertions the several Schools throughout the kingdom are wholly or in part supplied with books, is very apparent; and this disproportion cannot but excite in the Board an earnest desire to ascertain the whole amount of the Children, to whom, in this division of its designs, the assis tance of the Society is given. The Board, therefore, trust that the value of the information requested will be duly felt; as the instruction in Christian Knowledge, thus imparted to the ignorant, cannot fail to form a prominent feature, in the claim of the Society to the future encouragement and support of the Benevolent. DISTRIBUTION OF BOOKS, TRACTS, AND PAPERS. From April 16, 1818, to April: 22, 1819, the following Books and Tracts were sold to Members, or circulated gratuitously: 114 32,150 102 53,905 91.589 32 91,621 74,617 972 74.889 1,175,243 Total --- 1,427,808 SUPPLEMENTAL CATALOGUE OF BOOKS. A Sub-Committee was appointed, some time since, to select such Books, for a Supplemental Catalogue, as combine amusement with general instruction; in order that these books, though not of a nature to be placed among those which are. distributed on the Society's reduced terms, might nevertheless be furnished to the Members on such terms as the Board might be able to arrange with the Society's Booksellers. The following Books are, in consequence, placed on the Supplemental Catalogue; and will be furnished to the Members at the prime cost to the Society:Abridgment of Bishop Burnett's History of the Reformation, 2 vols. Bp. Tomline's Introduction to the Bible.' Bingley's Elements of Useful Knowledge, EAST-INDIA MISSION. The appointment of the Rev. Laurence Peter Haubroe and the Rev. David Rosen to this Mission, with the Charge delivered to them by Dr. Wordsworth, and their Replies, are recorded at large They have been already reported by us, at pp. 170-176 of the Number for April. They embarked at Bristol, in February last, on board the Bristol, Captain Buckham. The Rev. J. G. P. Sperschneider, whose appointment to the same Mission, and Arcdeacon Pott's Charge to him, were noticed at pp. 374-380 of our last Volume, arrived in safety at Madeira, in his voyage to Madras, on board the Ajax East Indiaman, in the month of August of last year. We extract, at large, the Report of the Board on the State and Prospects of the Mission. The Lord Bishop of Calcutta, in a Letter dated the 6th of April, 1818, adverts to the previously reported death of the Rev. Mr. Pæzold, and mentions that the temporary charge of the Vepery Mission had been consigned to the Rev. Mr. Rottier, who was then at Madras; and be expresses great regret at the death of the Rev. Mr. Pohlè, the Society's venerable Missionary at Trichino poly, who had left a widow and three children. The Bishop, when in that part of India, had seen Mrs. Poblè; aud had reason to think, that, both on her husband's account and her Own, she was deserving of the Society's attention, and a person of ability and Christian zeal, who might still be useful to the Mission. The Rev. Mr. Kolhoff had promised to visit Trichinopoly as often as he could; and doubts could not be entertained of his doing there whatever was practicable. The Bishop mentions, that, very recently before Mr. Pohlè's death, the Lutheran Ordination had been conferred on Three Native Catechists; a step, however, by no meaus superseding the necessity of Missionaries from Europe, the Natives being to be considered as useful instru ments in the hands of such as can direct them, and nothing more. His Lordship, in another Letter, dated the 25th of April, 1818, mentions the great satisfaction which he bad had, in having been informed that Government intended to make an annual allowance to the Society of 457. toward the distribution of Bibles, Common-Prayers, and other Religious Books, in the three Presidencies of India, among the King's Troops; and promises to take care, that, so far as depended upon him, the books should be faithfully disposed of. Another Letter from his Lordship, dated at Calcutta, 7th July, 1818, states that reports respecting the conduct of the Rev. Mr. Holzberg being favourable, he had advanced 1007. on the Society's account for his relief, who was said, however, to be in a bad and dangerous state of health. Adverting to the Madras District Committee of the Society, the Bishop observes, that they deserve the Society's warmest thanks, and particularly for their activity in the concerns of the Vepery Mission; and he, moreover, considers it as a providential circumstance that that Committee existed. Another Letter from the Lord Bishop, dated at Calcutta, 21st August, 1818, reports that he had availed himself of Dec. 1819. the Vote of Credit, granted him by the Society, on an occasion that appears to his Lordship fully to justify an application of the Society's funds. It having long been the opinion of intelligent persons in India, that little progress (comparatively speaking) can be made in the work of conversion, during the preva lence of ignorance and superstition, aud his own observations leading him decidedly to this conclusion, it had been the wish of some Members of the Dio cesan Committee, that they, as well as others, should contribute their endeavours to forward the mental and moral improvement of the Natives, When the minds of the rising generation shall, in any degree, be released from gross and grovelling prejudices, or "become superior to the reception of them, they will be open to the admission of truth, and the blessed influence of the Gospel. The Resolutions passed at this and at a subsequent Meeting, we have already given, See the Number for February, pp. 83, 84, The Report states Although no part of these subscrip tions could be remitted to the Society, the Bishop conceived, that the Society's objects would be thereby advanced. Upon these grounds the Bishop deemed it advisable to put down, in the name of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, the sum of 2000 sicca rupees, which is equal to 2581. 6s. 8d.; and in this judgment of his Lordship, the So. ciety entirely concurred. The Rev. Mr. Kolhoff, in a Letter dated at Trichinopoly, 23d Feb. 1818, informs the Society of the death of his dear and much-lamented brother, the Rev. Mr. Poblè, the Senior Missionary of the Society, which had happened on the 28th of January, 1818. This faithful servant of Christ had been anxious to receive favourable accounts of the Society's efforts towards sending out Missionaries to their assistance. His mind had been deeply afflicted, by the thought of leaving this world, without the comfort of seeing his Mission provided with an able and faithful Labourer, to take care of the same; but, he experienced deliverance from all his sorrows, to receive the fruit of his labours, in promoting the glory of God and the 3Y welfare of his fellow-creatures. Mr, Kolhoff intended, with God's permission, to visit the Trichinopoly Mission, from his own station at Tanjore, every two or three mouths, until the arrival of a new Missionary, for which he expresses bis anxious solicitude. He had placed the Native Congregation and School of that Mission under the care of a Native Priest, and the local Catechists and Schoolmasters; and the temporal concerns of the charitable institutions of the Mission, under the care of the widow of the deceased and much-lamented Missionary; whom he describes to be a valuable, pious, and excellent person, who had been habituated to this service for many years, as assistant to her late husband; and whom be recommends to the kind attentions of the Society, in consideration of Mr. Pohlè's long and faithful services, during a space of forty years. Mr. Kolhoff mentions, that the Lutheran Ordination had been conferred, at Tanjore, on three of their oldest Catechists, Pakiyanaden, Wisuwasanaden, and Nullalambi. The death of the late Wedunazagam and Satianaden had rendered this measure necessary, and he prayed that they might be allowed salaries. The late Satianaden had been zealous in propagating the Gospel of Christ in the Tiunevelly District; and, in his advanced age, he endeavoured, as far as possible, to be useful in the Tan jore Mission. Wisuwasanaden was stationed at Cumbagʊuam; and the other two had been sent to the Christians at Shevagonga, Madura, and Ramanad. Nianaparagasam and Adeykalam had faithfully assisted Mr. Pohlè and himself at Tanjore; and Abraham had been useful, in the discharge of his duty, in the congregations of the Tinnevelly District. Mr. Kolhoff mentions, in the highest terms, the comfort and satisfaction which they had bad, in the kind conduct of the Madras District Committee towards their Mission and he mentions too, the kind ness shewn by the Rev. H. C. Banks, Chaplain of that Station, to the memory of the late, deeply-regretted Mr. Pohlè; and his gratitude for the kind offer of his assistance, for the good of that Mission, when required. On the 8th inst. be had preached a very instructive and most affecting Sermon from Rev. xiv. 13. in consequence of the mournful event. Richard Clarke, Esq. Secretary to the Madras District Committee of the So ciety, in a Letter dated at Madras, 9th of May, 1818, states, that, anxious to lay before the Society their proceedings, relative to the Vepery Mission, that Committee had transmitted a copy of the Report of the Vepery Special Committee, and of the Resolutions of their District Committee, founded on that Report. Difficulties had occurred between the executors of the late Rev. Mr. Pezold and the District Committee, respecting a bill upon the local government for the amount of the Society's remittance, in order to the payment of the salaries of the Missionaries for the year 1817, the bill having been made payable to Mr. Pæzold; but there was reason to trust that these difficulties would soon be removed. Mr. Clarke had also transmitted to the Society certain MSS., containing, at considerable length, a detail of proceedings of the Madras District Committee, and a correspondence between that Committee, and the Society's Missionaries, and the Rev. Mr. Rottler, respecting the Vepery Mission; and containing, likewise, particulars of the property appropriated in India towards the support of the Missions, and of the stores of books and other articles found, after the decease of Mr. Pezold, on the Vepery Mission Premises, and belonging to the Mission. For these particulars, voluminously detailed, and for the pains that had evidently been taken, by the Madras Dis trict Committee, in investigating the affairs of the Vepery Mission, and reporting so instantly upon them, the Society had felt it incumbent upon them to return their best thanks. The Rev. Mr. Rottler being on the spot, and being willing to serve the Vepery Mission, aud capable of officiating both in the Tamulian and Portuguese Congregations, had been engaged by the District Committee in that service; and, on such recommegdation, had been appointed one of the Society's Missionaries, provided the appointment should be deemed fitting, by the Lord Bishop of Calcutta. The Society, taking into consideration what had been reported, by the Lord Bishop of Calcutta, and by the Rev. Mr. Kolhoff, respecting Mrs. Poblè, the widow of the late much-esteemed aud pious Missionary, and her fitness to superintend the economical concerns of the Trichinopoly Mission, especially till one of the recently-appointed Missionaries should be competent to undertake the care of that Mission, had directed fifty pounds to be sent out for her service in that department, and in token of the Society's respect entertained for her late worthy husband. In consequence of the representations made by the Lord Bishop of Calcutta, and from other quarters, that the salaries hitherto allowed by the Society, to their Missionaries in India, are insufficient; the Society determined to advance these salaries to each of them, from 1007. to 1507. per annum. These advanced salaries have accordingly beeu sent out to thein, for the year ending at Christmas 1819. The Rev. the Danish Missionaries, in a Letter dated at Tranquebar, the 18th of October, 1818, express great satisfaction at the arrival of the customary stores sent out by the Society, and despatched from Madras to Tranquebar, by the kind Secretary to the Madras District Committee; for which they subjoin their expressions of gratitude. They advert, in their Letter, to the very seasonable aids furnished to their Mission, by his Lordship the Bishop of Calcutta, in the years 1816, 1817, and 1818, amounting in the whole to 808 Star Pagodas; and, they observe, that, under God, this was the only cause by which the Mission was saved from ruin." In the month of March, 1818, they had, however, the comfort of receiving 1800. for which amount they had previously drawn on their Royal Mission College. This had enabled them to discharge the debt of 5000 Porlonova Pagodas; from which heavy burthen they praised God for having mercifully relieved them. They had also received a very encouraging Letter from their Mission College, in January, 1818. wherein they had been assured of assistance, with a promise that their bills drawn on the College should be paid; but the Mission Fund having severely suffered by the late war, all possible economy was recommended. His Danish Majesty, however, had taken upon himself to support the Mission." The allowance from Government being diminished, they were obliged to adhere to their former reductions. Being therefore unable to provide for the Eleven Catechists, who had the charge of 1300 Christians, in the Tanjore Country, belonging to their Mission, they had entreated the Rev. Mr. Kolhoff to receive them as an addition to the Tanjore Mission, under the authority of the Honou rable Society; requesting him, at the same time, to recommend these Congregations to the Society, in order to their obtaining a monthly pension of 101. for their preservation. When this was made kuown to his Highness, the generous Rajab of Tanjore, he allowed, in December, 1816, for this purpose, 20 Star Pagodas per month: which be had continued to grant. They expected, however, that the allowance would soon cease; and then they would be at a loss what to do, if his Lordship the Bishop of Calcutta should not be pleased to receive the said Congregations on their request, in behalf of the Society. No material alteration had taken place in their Congregations at Tranquebar. There had been, in the course of the preceding year, 89 children christened, 21 adults received from Popery, 881 communicants, 29 marriages, and 97 funerals. On account of circumstances before mentioned, 55 Children only were in the Portuguese, and 48 in the Tamul Schools. Mr. Cämmerer had visited the Country Congregations in the room of a Country Priest, whom they had lost by: death. Mr. Kolhoff had requested him to hasten to Trichinopoly, on account of, the Rev. Mr. Poblè's dangerous illness; but, alas! on his arrival there, he found that this true and worthy Servant of Jesus Christ, their dear and ever to he lamented Brother, was already in the grave. Mr. Cämmerer remained there ten days, to assist Mr. Kolhoff in several arrangements that were necessary for the welfare of the Mission; particulars of which had been reported by the Madras District Committee, as well as other matters. In case the good Prelate at Calcutta deem it proper and expedient, that a transfer of the distant Congregations in the Tanjore Country, from the Trauquebar Mission, to the Society's Mission at Tanjore, he made, the Society are disposed to concur in the measure, and to accede to the suggested allowance for that purpose. By the assistance of the Rev. Mr. Rottler, who had been long settled in India, and the Rev. Messrs. Sperschneider, Haubroe, and Rosen, there is reason to trust, that, under the Divine Blessing, the several Missionary. Stations con |