tioned, I did some ceremonies to please my friends. This was about my sixteenth year.

About this time I engaged to serve your missionaries as an interpreter, and therefore accompanied them from Columbo, (my native town,) to Jaffna, where I have ever since served them in that capacity. Since I came to Jaffna, they occasionally talked with me about the state of my soul, but apparently in vain. They put religious books into my hands, and recommended them to my attentive perusal, but I could not be persuaded to read them. About this time, I found my mind gradually believing, or rather forced to believe, the sacred truths which I was the medium of communicating to others. At length my doubts were removed, and my mind was convinced that I was in the road to destruction. But I am surprised to think, that notwithstanding this rational conviction, I delayed repentance, and thought I could repent when I came to die, and that religion, if attended to in my youth, would destroy the hours of my pleasure. I never prayed. I took my meals, laid myself down to sleep, and rose in the morning, without ever thanking the Author of all my mercies. Sabbaths were sometimes spent in reading serious books, but they did not interest me, and I found no enjoyment in the Sabbath. I still showed a decided hatred to religion, and I add with grief, that I yet continued to undervalue the sacred Scriptures. I would read any book but the Bible; and would hear any thing but serious conversation.

Blessed be God, that he did not cut me off when I was walking on the brink of hell. About last December, I was alarmed about my condition, and took myself to prayer; made some resolutions, and compelled myself to keep the Sabbath, as I then thought, and to love the Christian ordinances, such as public and social worship, &c. I often made resolutions, and as often broke them, till at last, finding myself totally incapable of doing any thing to help myself, I saw the need of Christ, and of humbly taking my place at the foot of the cross. Such, dear Sir, had been my feelings, before, as I hope, I found mercy of the Lord.

I now proceed to tell you my present feelings. I sincerely tell you, that I find my heart to be full of evil; or, as the apostle says, "exceeding sinful." I cannot express the painful feelings which I sometimes experience on account of sin. About the latter part of March last, I had a hope that God had mercy on me. I still hope with trembling, that I have passed from death unto life. Sometimes I have peace of mind. I am taken with things above: I mean, that my mind is occupied with things which belong to the kingdom of heaven On some occasions, especially when I draw near to God in prayer, I realize death and the resurrection, and contemplate the glory of God, the love of the Savior, and the happiness of heaven, with great delight. I want to be free from sin. I should feel it my great delight to spend and be spent for God. I often think of the day of judgment. Time is short; eternity is near. The world is no more charming as it once appeared to be. It is full of sin and misery. I pray for and expect the time when the earth shall be filled with the knowledge and glory of God. Jesus is the lovely theme upon which my heart delights to dwell. Into his hand I commit my soul. He is the Rock of my defence. He is my hope, my life, and my all. Him I should praise before the heathen. O, for a heart of gratitude.

I am sincerely sorry that I do not love my dear Redeemer as I ought. But alas! dear Sir, facts compel me to say, that there are seasons when my affec tions wander from God. Then I see that my heart is not wholly sanctified. I think also, that I feel in my heart something of the warfare which the apostle describes in the 7th of Romans. "For what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the lars, that it is good. For the good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do."

I earnestly beseech you to pray for me. Please to pray the Lord, that if he has begun a good work in my heart, he may carry it on to perfection. Pray that I may enjoy more of God, and that I may love my Redeemer better than my soul. Thus far, my dear Sir, I have dwelt on the state of my mind. You will please to excuse me.

I am sincerely happy to relate the pleasing circumstances of two young men belonging to the school at Batticotta, who, I hope, have found Christ dear and precious to their souls. One of them was a professed nominal Christian, the other a strenuous heathen. The former has been serious ever since he came to Batticotta, and the more so of late. A few months ago, he feit that God had had mercy upon him, and changed his heart. His subsequent conduct proves, that he is sincere. He gives, as far as I can see, some evidence of real piety. The other, amidst constant exhortations to repent and receive Christ, had continued to hold his heathen practices till about seven months ago, when he was alarmed about his situation,-began to be in great distress of soul, had deep sorrow for sin, and was frequently sighing, weeping, and praying in secret. Thus he continued a few weeks, when he felt the love of Christ in his heart. But here I must speak with caution. He prays very fervently in secret, and not less so with his companions. But sometime ago he would laugh in his heart at those who pray. I see a change in his general conduct. He is usually alive to the things of religion, and the more so on particular occasions.

The Rev. Mr. Meigs holds a meeting with the young men in the school every Saturday evening, when we tell each other our feelings and experience during the week past, and pray for the blessing of God on the ensuing Sabbath. This meeting has been continued now more than a year. It has done, I hope it will do, much good.

I am happy to tell you, that since we, (the abovementioned young men and myself.) felt the great love of Christ in our hearts, we have continued frequently to speak to each other about our religious experience. On the 7th of July last, we began to have a short, but regular, meeting every evening, in which we exhort, warn, and pray for each other. The meeting has generally been attended by five young men and one boy, who are serious. Pray, dear Sir, that God's blessing may attend us; that God's Spirit may be poured out on this -place; and that multitudes may be brought into the kingdom of Christ..

I add something respecting the late Rev. E. Warren Mr. Warren was the first who instructed me at Columbo. He attended me about three months, when he left Columbo for Jaffna. I often conversed with him after he came to Jaffna. He spoke to me considerably during his last sickness, before his voyage to the Cape. He was always kind and faithful to me. I can now remember something of his conversation with me, and some of his advice, warnings, and reproofs, which I hope have been blessed to my soul. His memory is ever sweet to me, and I sometimes have many agreeable associations in my mind, which render my remembrance of him very pleasing. O may my poor soul be prepared to meet him in the blessed realms of bliss, where friends meet to part no

more.

In connexion with what I have said of Mr. Warren, I would mention some pleasing circumstances that have lately taken place at Tillipally. A pious young man, named Nicholas, of whom I think the Rev. Mr. Poor has already, written to you, forms a great addition to the mission, and has, I know from my personal acquaintance with him, an ardent love to immortal souls. He affords great assistance to Mr. Poor, is, and I hope will continue to be, an instrument of much good to the heathen around him.

You will be pleased to hear that I find some serious boys at Tillipally. One in particular, who was named Niles, by the Rev. Mr. Poor, has a very promising appearance. I mean that he is so with regard to religion. He though young, is a subject of very serious impressions. Next to him is a larger boy, named Porter. But since I think you will hear more particularly from Mr. Poor on the subject, I would only make some general remarks on the appearance of things at Tillipally.

As to the boys of the boarding school, they are in a very promising state, both with respect to religion and learning. The school for heathen girls presents very pleasing appearances. This, I believe, is the first school of the kind that ever was in the district; and it will, I hope, be a beginning of much good to these people, both by its own influence, and by its being a good example set before people who have been used to say, that "they have no such customs." I know about four men at Tillipally, who appear to be subjects of serious impressions. A woman, sister to the young man abovementioned, gives some evidence of real piety,

We are placed among a race of benighted heathens, whose gods are the work of men's hands;-who profess to worship devils;-who think that their souls are not superior to the lives of animals;-who do not care for the salvation of their souls; in short, who know little of God or of a future world. Their standard of morals is very low. They have very inadequate ideas of the great evil of sin. Their temples generally abound with indecent pictures. What they call "sacred books," are full of all manner of vice. Their own vicious lives can be surpassed in wickedness only by their fabulous gods and goddesses. They fear death as a temporal evil. They have strong prejudices against the Christian religion.— These miserable heathens, Dear Sir, are dropping into eternity almost every day. Their miseries call aloud for help. I earnestly beseech you, and all those in that blessed country, America, who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, to do your utmost in order to send us faithful laborers to labor among the heathen, and to win souls to Christ.

I request an interest in your prayers. I send much love to you, and to the Church of Christ of which you are the pastor. I should be happy to hear from you, if amidst all your important duties you can find time to write me a short letter for my consolation and encouragement. With Christian affection, I am, Yours, GABRIEL TISSERA.

Rev. and Dear Sir,

MISSIONARY REINFORCEMENTS.

SEVEN young men devoted for life to missionary labors, under the direction of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, are now on their way to their destined stations. Mr. Jacob Hitchcock, from Brimfield, Worcester Co. Mr. Anson Dyer, from Goshen, Hampshire Co. Mr. Zechariah Howes, from Ashfield, Franklin Co. Mr. Joel Wood, from Greenfield, Saratoga Co. N. Y. and Mr. James Orr, from Groton, Tompkins Co. N. Y. arrived by two different routes at Pittsburgh on the Ohio, on the 29th and 30th April; thence to descend the Ohio and the Mississippi:-Messrs. Hitchcock and Orr to the mouth of the Arkansaw, and thence up that river, to join the Rev. Messrs. Finney and Washburn, as assistants at the Arkansaw station;-and Messrs. Wood, Howes, and Dyer, to the mouth of the Yazoo, and thence up that river, to the seat of the Choctaw mission, to act as assistants at one or both of the stations in that nation.

The Rev. Alfred Wright, lately returned from the south, took his leave of the Corresponding Secretary at Salem, 10th May, to proceed on horseback, circuitously, for purposes of agency, through New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, to Elliot, or the new station on the Tombigby, as an associate with the Rev. Mr. Kingsbury in the Choctaw mission.

On the 6th of April, Mr. James Garrett sailed from Boston for Pondicherry, on the Coromandel coast, to join the American missionaries in Ceylon. He is to superintend the printing business, having served a regular apprenticeship to that art, and been approved for his piety, industry, ability, and discretion. From Pondicherry it is only two days sail to the district of Jaffna, where the missionaries reside.

The following letter from the Rev. Joshua Dean to the Corresponding Secretary will speak for itself.

REV. AND DEAR SIR,

Groton, Tompkins Co. N. F. April 19, 1820.

WE have just been called to witness a very interesting scene. Brother Orr has left us. Yesterday morning he bid us a long farewell; and, in company with Mr. Wood and his wife, he started for the Arkansaw, to spend his days as a missionary among the natives of the wilderness. Four or five days past have been such as were never witnessed by this people before. I could not have anticipated an event, that would have produced such a deep and general excitement of feeling. The scene indeed in itself was not so grand and imposing, nor associated with so many affecting considerations, as those, which you have had opportunity

to witness in your town and vicinity, where numbers have embarked on the mighty ocean to carry the glad tidings of the Gospel to nations living in the remote corners of the earth-in Asia, and the Islands of the East; but I trust it was marked with no less ardor of feeling, nor less sincere aspirations to heaven. To us who have never been permitted to witness scenes of this kind,-to us, remote from cities and the ocean,-and living in the new and retired part of the Country, what passed among us was accompanied with circumstances of peculiar interest, and gave an impulse to our feelings, which I hope will long continue.

Mr. Orr as he saw no chance to get away this spring, had concluded, according to the provision in your letter, to get ready by fall. Viewing the matter in this light, he thought it best to procure a school for the summer. Accordingly he took a journey for this purpose into Pennsylvania; but not succeeding, he returned on Wednesday last. The following was observed by us as a day of fasting and prayer, and in time of forenoon service Mr. Wood and his wife, accompanied with her father, the Rev. Mr. Williams of Greenfield, Saratoga Co. arrived. On coming out of meeting they expressed the sore disappointment they had felt in hearing that Mr. Orr was from home; but their feelings were soon changed in finding him on the spot, and in having him introduced to them. In a few minutes he was presented with your second letter, informing him of the alteration in your arrangements, and that Mr. Wood was to call and take him on. By this unexpected course of things Mr. Orr was taken by surprise. He, however, at once concluded to go, and to get in readiness with the least possible delay, and yesterday was fixed on as the day for their departure.

At the close of the afternoon service, the congregation was informed of the arrival and presence of our missionary friends, and that brother Orr was soon to join them, for the purpose of spending his days in missionary labors among the natives of the wilderness. God had, by exciting the church to more than usual engagedness in religion, and by granting some drops of his mercy on the congregation, prepared the people to receive this intelligence with no ordinary interest. It touched their hearts. Their feelings became at once deeply enlisted in the cause. The bare statement of the subject was sufficient to make them yield to the claims of the poor heathen. They agreed on the spot to convey, at their own expense, the missionaries and their baggage to the head waters of the Allegany river, where they would take boats for Pittsburgh. It was announced that a collection would be taken up the next Sabbath, and the people were requested to make out a box of clothing for the use of the Indian school. From the scarcity of money, many seemed to say, silver and gold have I none, but of such as I have I will give.

What gave additional interest to the day, was the commencement of a liberal subscription to the constitution of a Charitable Society, then submitted by a committee on a plan somewhat new. It comprised a Field, Flock, Female, Laborers or Mechanics, and a Boys' department. Subscribers to the first gave such amount of grain, or the use of such a piece of ground, as they might name;-to the second, sheep or the keeping of sheep; to the third, yarn, spinning, weaving, &c. &c.-to the fourth, the annual avails of such a number of days' work as they might name to the fifth, the product, in whole or in part, of such a piece of land as the parents of the boys might allow;-the whole to be disposed of by a com mittee, and applied to Domestic and Foreign Missions, &c.

A meeting was held last Monday, when Mr. Orr took his farewell of the church. After a discourse and prayers, in which he and those going out with him, were commended to the care of the great Head of the Church, he read the 20th chapter of the Acts, and then addressed his brethren, the singers, and the conAll were affected. Tears gregation in a most solemn and impressive manner. streamed from every eye. A more solemn and affecting time was never witnessed here. It was a trial to him to part with his dear Christian friends, with whom He he had taken sweet counsel, had walked to the house of God in company. stated, that he was about to leave them probably never to see them again; but he felt that he was called by the providence of God; and it was by divine strength that he hoped to be carried through. It was also trying to his Christian brethren to have him leave them. He was loved by them all; and never was he so endeared to them as on that occasion, and never before were they so fully im

pressed with his worth. But they rejoiced, that he was thus willing to give up all for Christ, and that he felt so devoted to the best of causes. They viewed it as a favor, that God had prepared and disposed one of their number to engage in so noble and so self-denying an employment.

On his concluding this address, he took by the hand, his companions in missionary labors, and entreated them to receive him as a brother-one that was willing to go with them to the ends of the earth. His remarks, as well as those of Mr. Wood, in reply, were appropriate and affecting, and both bespoke the ardor of their attachment to each other and their union of feeling and purpose in regard to the work before them.-After a very solemn address from Mr. Wood, and another from Mr. Williams, Mr. Orr received from each member of the church the parting hand, as a token of sincerest attachment to him, and as a pledge of the continuance of their prayers in his behalf,

The whole proceedings took a deep hold of the feelings of the people; and made them feel more sensibly the obligations they were under to do something for the salvation of those, who were perishing for lack of vision. The time was short, but they exerted themselves to do something for the mission. The females were busy in making clothes for Indian children, and in getting Mr. Orr in readiness. More than $30 in money were collected-$100, in cloth, articles of clothing, and bedding for the mission, which, together with presents to the missionaries and the expense of conveying them to the Allegany river, amounted to not less than $200. More could have been collected had time allowed. All were ready to do something; and even children were anxious to part with their garments to send to the Indian children in the mission school.

Yesterday morning Mr. Orr took his leave of his aged parents. He was their youngest child. Their hearts were bound up in him. After singing and prayer he addressed his parents, sisters, and other relatives and the people who were assembled. It was a melting scene. His advice was deserving to be held in lasting remembrance, and was delivered with a feeling, which the occasion was fitted to inspire. Many will be eager to preserve his parting words and to profit by them. To the aged parents the act of parting with their son was trying, but they would not keep him back. It was to them a comforting thought, that he was willing to give up all for Christ;-and they felt it to be an honor, that God had called their dear son to engage in missionary labors among the heathen.

What has passed before our eyes will long be remembered with delight. I trust its salutary effects will long be felt among us. I am not without the belief, that it will strengthen and extend the missionary spirit in the place,-that we shall now view with deeper interest the movements that are made for the salvation of a world;-that we shall pray with greater importunity for the furtherance of the Gospel, and for the blessing of heaven on those, who have gone forth as the heralds of the cross,—and that we shall be more ready to lend our aid to promote the objects of the Board. Nor am I without hope, that it will be the means of deepening that seriousness, and that attention to religion, which have for a season prevailed. The hearts of many were refreshed by the presence of our missionary friends from Greenfield, and we view it a favor that they were sent this way. Mr. Williams tarried till the missionaries departed. His kind labors among my people will not be forgotten. It was Mr. Orr's request, that I should write and inform you that he had started. His whole time was taken up in making preparation, and he left without finding any time to write.

I remain affectionately yours, &c. J. DEAN.

Rev. S. Worcester, Cor. Secretary, &c.

P. S. Mr. Orr received your 3d letter on Monday. The time was so short that we had no time to have collections in neighboring towns. The people in Homer collected in clothing about $30 in one forenoon. The missionaries stayed last night in Genoa, where $12 were collected in the evening. I gave them a paper stating the wants of the Board, accompanied with a request to the friends of missionaries in places where they might stop, to lend assistance. $4 89, of what was collected here was from our Female Charitable Society.