at St. Andrew's, by Rev. R. P. Buddicomb. Total Collections, 135/. 4s. 8d.

Two Donations to the Institution at Islington, amounting to 121, were presented in the course of this visit to Cheshire and West-Lancashire.

Portsea-June 11: Sermons, by Rev. Joseph Fenn, Missionary from Travancore, morning and evening, at St. John's- June 13: Fourth Ann. Meeting of the Portsmouth, Portsea, and Gosport Association, in the Beneficial Societies' Hall; George Grey, Esq. Chn. Meeting, in the evening, of the Gosport Branch; Capt. Austin, Chn. Collections, 311. 4s. 7d.

Chichester-June 14: Sixth Ann. Meeting of the Chichester and West-Sussex Association; John Marsh, Esq. Chn. In the evening, a Meeting of the Labouring Class. Col. 211. 8s. 3d.

Guildford-June 15: Fifth Ann. Meeting of the Association; John Ivatt Briscoe, Esq. Chn. Col. 361. 2s. 7d. In the evening, a Meeting of the Labouring Class.

Resolution.

―That this Meeting have heard with the highest satisfaction, that THE ONLY TWO CHRISTIAN STATES, who had hither. to refused to abolish the Slave Trade, Portugal and Brazil, have, at length, consented to its abolition; Portugal without any further delay, and Brazil in less than three years from this time: and they desire to express their gratitude to His Majesty's Government, that, through their persevering exertions, A DEFINITE PERIOD has, at length, been assigned to the legal existence, in every part of the Civilized World, of the African SlaveTrade; the greatest scourge which has ever afflicted humanity.

State of the Funds.

The Amount of Subscriptions received during the year was 827. 10s. 6d. ; which, added to the Balance brought from the preceding year, made a total of 9731. 1s. 11d.: the disbursements during the same period amounted to 9621. 5s. 6d., leaving a Balance in the hands of the Treasurer of only 107. 16s. 5d., while the sums owing by the Institution amount to 4301. 3s. 9d.—thus

leaving a deficiency of 4191. 7s. Ad.

The Collection made at the Meeting amounted to 301. 78. Od.

An intelligent man in Scotland has made a projection of the sphere, taking London as the centre of one of the hemispheres; and has proved that this projection takes in more land of the globe, than could be done by any other whatever. Taking London as the centre, we have the whole continent of Africa, the whole of Europe, the whole continent of Asia, and a portion of America, North and South, except two or three districts of Patagonia, of very little consideration: the whole of the habitable world then almost is taken in, London itself considered as the centre of this hemisphere. Look at the other side, and we find a vast expanse of waters; having scarcely any land among them, except New Holland, some of the Indian Islands, Java, and the Moluccas, New Guinea, &c.; and these would scarcely make one-fifth part; and I believe, taken in a proportional aggre

gate of population, not one-twentieth part of those lands of which London is the centre. It appears to me, from looking at this, that God has intended that the Word of His Grace should go from this place to the ends of the earth. In no place under heaven, this day, has He so set a tabernacle for the Sun of Righteousness: and, from this place, He goes forth as a bridegroom from his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race; and his lines have gone forth through all the earth. It must be the design of that Being, whose name is mercy and whose nature is love, to benefit all His human family by the light and blessing of the Gospel. No nation is ultimately excluded from His most merciful regard; and, though a greater portion of His light and power seems to be concentrated in some parts than in others, it is that from them His Word of Life and Light may be diffused all around.

[Rev. Dr. Clarke-at the Wesleyan Ann,

Increasing Influence of Christian Knowledge in Ireland.

What was Ireland, but a barbarous nation, sunk in calamity and ignorance-ignorant of the great things of God, and of the way of Salvation!-a country, the inhabitants of which were every moment hastening to an immortality with which they were altogether, or almost altogether, unacquainted! Under such circumstances, could we expect that it would exhibit any thing more than a field indicating barrenness and sterility? or if any thing green were there, it would be only weeds. That country was divided into a thousand separate denominations previous to the operation of the Bible Society among its inhabitants we had in it every name that could designate disunion or indicate the march of a country to ruin !

And what cure could your Lordship and this country apply,under such circumstances? If you made laws, could we meet them, enter into their spirit, and be influenced by them? When the community felt not the power of God subduing them to the laws of Heaven, could it be supposed that they would willingly submit to the enactments of the laws of the earth? If you made laws to produce union, you would find that we would fight about every one of the laws you sent us: you would find that we would fight about every individual who drew up the Bills that passed into an Act-fight against every decision given by the judge when the laws were sent over-and fight against every witness, and put those witnesses to death, who dared to give evidence on the laws which you sent us.

Under such circumstances, what could you do? If you were to apply force, let me ask, Must Ireland always be an encampment of coldiers, and for ever stand surrounded with gibbets and bristled with bayonets, holding up to the world that Ireland's wrongs have not been met with a corresponding remedy? Force may be applied where there is no moral influence; but we can have no reason to believe that there can be any permanent, any radical change, under these circumstances.

The Bible Society entered upon its labours of love and kindness: it did not come with an Act of Parliament, saying, "The Bible MUST be received:" it did not come with the bayonet, saying it would charge into the bosom of the man who would not receive it : but it came with the Bible; and, in the midst of its darkness, it pointed to this moral sun, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world! The people in every part of the country stood up to receive the Scriptures: they assembled their priests, and got a qualified permission to read them-which was retracted when the effect was produced; but, still, there has been a gradual movement of the people's minds: and, there, we have a storm without danger or discord- can fight without anger-marshal a dispute where the Word of God itself is the umpire of the contest-and retreat from the arena of the contest with good-will; and a greater number of copies of the Scriptures get into circulation after such contest.

I speak not, at present, of the number of individuals who have left the Church to which they were attached, and joined the Protestant Church; as I consider this a matter of no moment, when compared with the HIDDEN UNDER-CURRENT which has caused it for there is a spirit of inquiry at work in the Irish Population, which will produce effects of much greater consequence than any that are now seen. The spirit of inquiry has been excited, which will prove a lasting benefit to that country. And while I speak thus of the advantages which Ireland has received, I refer them to this Institution. Let me urge the importance of a united, a firm, a cordial advance to the great object of your original determination; and you shall find that Ireland will spring from her degradation, and assume a place among the Nations, worthy of the character that has been assigned to her, of a generous people.

[Rev. John Barnett, at the Bible Soc. Ann. Many schemes have sprung up for the moral improvement of my countrymen, which were ludicrous and chimerical: among them was that for teaching them Hebrew, because of its alleged affinity to the Irish Language, in the hope of ultimately diffusing the Word of God among them; but Education is in progress; and this Society is also doing a good work, the fruits of which will soon be felt in the Sister Kingdom. My countrymen are naturally generous and benevolent; and not prone to violence, unless when provoked by injury or excited by party policy. Still their misery and superstition are great; and among them are to be found men, who will congregate before their chapels, and kiss the cross, the symbol of truth and peace-not to worship their Redeemer, but to bind themselves in a horrid and deadly confederacy to slaughter and burn their fellow-creatures.

Some have traced this criminal propensity to oppression; but that will not sufficiently account for it: for England has had to defend her civil and religious liberty with her blood, but at the moment of her greatest excitement has never perpetrated such crimes: the Scottish Covenanter, with the Bible in one hand and the other flashing the claymore in the light of Heaven, was never excited to such deeds of barbarity. Had not the Irishman the same heart as the Scotchman and Englishman? Why was he degraded worse than either, in his moments of excitement? It was because he had not hitherto tasted of the Word of God. But Bible Societies are now in full operation; and, with the School and Tract Societies, will enlighten and irradiate the gloom which overhangs my country.

I am not here to traduce my countrymen. I know excellent men of the Roman-Catholic Religion who co-operate in every good work; and in one district under my own charge, where there are 7000 inhabitants, more than 1000 children attend a Sunday School, and nothing can exceed their order and decorum.

Discussions and Tracts have now gone forth in Ireland, and the people cannot be restrained from following the path of religious knowledge: any mandate, even from the

Pope, to prevent them, would fall like a spent thunder-bolt upon the ground, innoxious and unavailing.

In my School, there are two-thirds Roman Catholics; in the Sunday School, threefourths: and they readily imbibed from me scriptural knowledge-Why? because I have never provoked their prejudices, by dipping my hands in the muddy stream of Irish Politics; and the people look upon me as a really sincere friend.

[Rev. Mr. Brown-at the Rel. Tract Soc. Ann. While I contemplate the high station which England now occupies, I hope I shall recollect, that it was neither her commercial enterprise, her military prowess, the wisdom of her senators, nor the unparalleled constitution under which she is governed, to which these high attainments can be ascribed. No! Let that good and all-seeing Providence be praised, who has watched over her destinies, and reared the fabric of her renown. Ireland has been long politically united to her: let England cement a nobler and closer bond of union-an union of Religion. Much is now doing to accelerate that desired amalgamation; and I will fearlessly assert, in spite of the sneers of the sceptic or the scoffs of the mere politician of the day, however high their station or office, that I firmly believe that the Reformation, now in progress, will terminate in such a religious union; and I heartily join in the sentiment-Woe to the man, who would stop the flood of light now pouring in upon that once-unhappy country! Nay, further, I am convinced that this is the only means of bringing about the true emancipation of that country, which political measures and civil enactments attempt in vain. On this solid basis alone can the peace and prosperity of Ireland be durably constructed-on the one rock of our common salvation.

[Earl of Winchelsea-at the Hibern. Soc. Ann. No political ingenuity or might can arrest the progress of the Reformation in Ireland. The hand that shall presume to stretch itself forth against this altar, shall be withered in the daring effort. Though I was convinced before I went to Ireland, by what Lord Farnham had said, that much was done; yet, when I went thither, I found that not the half -no, not the hundredth part had been told.

No spirit of bitterness is mixed up with their controversies: it is a spirit of pity, of tenderness, of friendship. Yes, My Lord, our work is a work of love, and it must be carried on in a spirit of prayer.

I was surprised to find that the Commissioners of Education urged as an objection against this Society, that some of its schools were found in obscure places and miserable hovels. True, My Lord, they had not beautiful books, elegant desks, accurately-ruled slates, nor all the paraphernalia of some establishments, where all the movements are conducted with military precision, but where, while the mouth can utter the sounds of instruction, the heart is as cold and lifeless as the stone but the great moral and religious change now manifest in Ireland, the mighty stream of Christianity now gladdening the arid wastes of that green island, is collected

from the tributary streams originating in these sequestered fountains, and flows from the living spring of Bible Instruction in the hovel of the Irish Peasant. Who would believe that there are 14,000 gratuitous SundaySchool Teachers in Ireland? These are the instruments which tell upon the vice and superstition of the country; and, if we be charged with enthusiasm, I retort the accusation on those who expect the moralization and civilization of Ireland, and neglect the only means of its accomplishment-the Religious Education of the Poor. Look to facts! Twenty years of Bible Instruction have effected what centuries of legislation and the eloquence of senates have failed to accomplish.

[Rev. J. W. Cunningham-at Hibern. Soc. Ann. I cordially concur in what a reverend friend has said of the amount of actual conversion. We do not hear or read in print one thousandth part of the real good done. Our hope is in that silent, steady under-current of public opinion, which no earthly power can stay or divert. Well I know that this will be scorned by the sarcastic infidel; and it gladdened my heart to listen to the manly and Christian avowal of my Noble Friend (Lord Winchelsea) on that subject. Yet I must add, that my soul grieves that a cause so holy, and on which the finger of God is so manifest, should meet such a cold and heartless reception from those who nominally call themselves friends of Protestantism. I well know our enemies are numerous and strong; but greater is He that is for us, than they who are against us.

[Earl of Roden-at the Hibern. Soc, Ann, State of Missions in West Africa. It is seven years since I had first the pleasure of entering this Hall, on the occasion of a former Anniversary: what I then heard tended very much to fix my determination of becoming a Missionary; and, I trust, materially to raise and to form my conceptions of what a Missionary ought to be. I was subsequently permitted to attend on another occasion, when I had the happiness of being associated with several friends, who, like myself, were about to leave their country to proclaim the Gospel to the Heathen. Having now returned to my native land for the benefit of my health, and being allowed to meet you here, solemn but pleasing ideas occur to my mind, while I recollect that several with whom I was then associated are no longer on this scene of labour: they are gone to their rest! But it is of the mercy of God that others are raised up to engage in the same work; and I trust that I am now permitted to see several, who, ere long, shall join the ranks of the Saviour, to carry the battle against Sin, Satan, and the World into the very camp of the enemy. It is generally known, that our efforts in Sierra Leone have been particularly, though not exclusively, directed to the instruction and improvement of the Liberated Africans. Our congregations, during the past year, in the different villages connected with the Society, have amounted, on the average, to 3000 persons on Sundays, and about half as many on the Week-Days. I have myself often mi

nistered to congregations of Liberated Africans: my eye has glanced over the congregation, and only here and there a white face has appeared. The attention and seriousness manifested by all were truly gratifying. I heard many of them join in the forms of our excellent Liturgy, and sing the praises of God; and I saw many attend to the Word of Life with an anxiety which proved that they were desirous of profiting by what they heard. I have conversed with them; and, however incapable they were of expressing themselves clearly in a foreign language, yet I have found they have understood something of what they heard, and have felt its power.

The number of our scholars, in the last year, was about 1900; the greater part of whom were children liberated from slave vessels. Of their behaviour, I am justified in saying, that, on the whole, I consider it equally good with children of the lower class in this country. Respecting their progress, it cannot be expected to be rapid, when it is considered that all that is imparted to most of them is by the medium of a foreign language and that those who were born in the Colony can have scarcely any assistance from their parents, they themselves being almost equally strangers to English.

We have a few Native Teachers and several Native Assistants employed in the Schools, and we find them very valuable helpers indeed in fact, such is the effect of the climate on European constitutions, that the Mission could not be carried on without them: and I entreat the prayers of Christians that more of these Labourers may be raised up; for we Europeans are a very small band indeed, and there are but few who come forward to join us, being in some measure deterred by fear of the climate and in some measure by other considerations. Of our Native Teachers and Assistants, several give us very great pleasure; and we ardently hope that it may please God to raise up many more, both children and adults, who shall take a part in assisting to convey to their own countrymen the glad tidings of Salvation.

With respect to our Communicants, we have, including Free Town, four hundred and thirty. A greater number occasionally attend; but I speak now of the average attendance. I will not conceal the fact, that some few have fallen into sin, and we have been under the painful necessity of excluding them though these things are very wounding to our feelings, yet I think it right to mention them, in order to excite some in this assembly, and I hope many, to pray for the conversion of the people of Sierra Leone. The Christians there are surrounded by great dangers and temptations, and must associate with many of their countrymen who are yet in Heathenism: they are but few in number to support one another, and they have but a small share of that knowledge of Truth and Duty, which Christians in this country may be expected to have. I would, therefore, commend them to the frequent remembrance of those who pray for the prosperity of Zion. I have had much pleasure in baptizing the

children of the Liberated Africans: the attention which the parents have shewn on these occasions has been very gratifying; and I have reason to believe that they have been desirous to bring them up in the fear and knowledge of God. I have had especial pleasure, also, in baptizing some of maturer years, after much previous examination as to the state of their minds: I have admitted them, afterwards, to the Holy Communion ; and more than one of these are now employed in teaching others. On more than one occasion I have administered that solemn ordinance to assemblies of Liberated Africans; and when I consider these, as I trust that we may, as proofs of the Saviour's grace and an earnest of that period when Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto God, I cannot but look back to these scenes with feelings which I should in vain attempt to describe, but in which I trust holy hope and humble gratitude have some part.

There are, however, many difficulties connected with this Mission: but, though I have seen some things painful to a Christian, and though the hope of immediate success may not be very great, yet I am not disheartened with respect to its final issue. That issue is, indeed, certain, because it rests not on the efforts of men, but on the promise of the Eternal God, whose word shall never pass away. I have myself suffered, in some degree, from the effects of the climate, yet I trust that I have not altogether laboured in vain and I am not dismayed; but it is my hope that it may please God so far to restore my health that I inay shortly return to that scene of labour: and there are few things which would give me more pleasure, if I am not indulging a presumptuous hope, than to find that the feeble words which I this day speak may encourage some one who has been hesitating about entering into the work of the Lord, whether in this particular Mission or any other connected with the Society; for I amn bound to say, that, amidst the many painful infirmities on which I am constrained to look back, I cannot but acknowledge that the Lord my Master has never forsaken me: His strength has been sufficient for me; and, having thus obtained help of God, I continue until this day.

[Rev. John Raban-at the Church Mission. Ann. Reflections on the State of Missions in

West Africa.

We see a steady progress made in the different Stations of the Society; and if in one of them the work appears to have, in some degree, lingered or retrograded, let us reflect that it is no fault of the Society, and still less of the Labourers employed there; and that though the West-Africa Mission has been less successful than in former times, yet we have been checked by difficulties which human foresight could not perceive and human force could not restrain. We have suffered, in the loss of many of our most efficient and valuable Missionaries; and this may demonstrate to us the extreme importance of Native Labourers, without whose aid it will be impossible for the Labourers and the funds of