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is really sincere in his profession; but on the contrary, the general run of this class of people, seem all for the belly, as if there were nothing beyond this life.

Favorable Indications among the Natives.

In the midst of the superstition and indifference and enmity of the natives, others manifest a disposition which is highly encouraging.

In one of Mr. Bowley's excursions, he says on his arrival at Sydpore

At this place I was recompensed for all the opposition which I had met with heretofore. Hindoos and Mussulmauns kept visiting me till ten o'clock at night, hearing me read the Psalms, the Romans, and the Hindee Tracts.

At first, the head Mussulmaun, with a sneer, said that he wanted the "Tootenameh" (a book of amusement), and not the Gospels. I told him that I had none but the Word of God to distribute. On hearing some portions of it, all present became serious, and earnestly begged for copies. I gave away all my books. Several Hindoos were compelled to go away without any. One of them was so eager for them, that he sent a man with me twenty miles, to procure for him a Tract and a Gospel. This man said, "Sir, the next time that you come this way, I shall not permit you to put up in a sorry inn; but you must come to my house." Oh, how I felt animated at this place! I could with great pleasure retrace my steps, and visit the villages on both sides of the Ganges.

On another occasion he writes

Early this morning I went to the Pilgrims' Resort-saw four devotees-had arguments with their Gooroo, or spiritual guide, who was an intelligent and freespoken man. He would not admit that all mankind are sinners. I drew out a Hindee Catechism; and he and his disciples seated themselves about me. On coming to the declaration, that the whole sinful race of Adam were, for their transgression, cast out of God's presence, the tears dropped very freely from the Gooroo's eyes; and he acknowledged that this actually was the state of all mankind. He promised to come to my house, to hear more of these things.

My pundit has had some conversation with several bramhuns and others, on Hindoo idolatry and the Christian religion; and remarked, that the people begin to open their minds on the folly of image worship. One man told him, that he had been fifteen years making clay images of Siva daily, and worshipped him; but really found no benefit from it, but grew rather worse, as he could not keep his thoughts collected. This he has done, in hopes that the god would appear to him, in a dream, or otherwise.

The native Christians, however, afford Mr. Bowley more pleasure than he derives, as yet, from the state of the heathen.

The very great encouragement (he says) which it pleases God to vouchsafe me, through the full congregations, together with their attentiveness, should not be wholly omitted: and though I cannot but lament the little that is apparently done among others, yet I am constrained to be thankful for what the Lord hath wrought among the native Christians.

Of three native Christian women, who visited him, he writes

One said that she had obtained four months' leave from her husband, at Buxar, to reside at Chunar; but was afraid that she should not get through St. Matthew's Gospel in that time; and had it in contemplation to have her leave extended two months longer. She is now reading the twelfth chapter.

Another said, "Chunar is not at all as it used to be:-formerly, the native, as well as the European Christians, spent their time in dissipation and folly."

The third said that she was formerly a Roman Catholic, and used to attend the Portuguese Church; but that, seeing the native Christians take two directions to Church on a Sunday, she inquired the meaning of it. One, who attends here, told her, "O sister, if you will but attend our Church, you will have your heart laid open to you from the Word of God, and you will understand every thing that is said." This excited a great desire in her to attend; but she found many obstacles from the people of her own profession." Her desires however increasing, she requested one to give her a call at Church-time. She attended; and was soon convinced, that she had, all her life-time, been like a dried stock, to use her own expression, fit only for the fire: but God, in great mercy, was gracious to her, in granting her to hear of his infinite love toward perishing sinners.

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Baptism of a Bramhun and a Moonshee.

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Before this she knew the names of the different Saints, but little or nothing of the sp: dying love of Christ.

After family prayer they left us. These three are shining lights in the midst 1b of their benighted neighbors.

Baptism of a Bramhun and a Moonshee.

Ram Narain, a bramhun, assisted Mr. Bowley in revising the translation of the Gospels into Hindee. New wonders began to unfold themselves to him, every time that he read.

First, the tilock, or bramhunical distinctive mark on his forehead, was obliterated. Then he began to join in the family worship. At length, he went and sat among the Christians at Church, took off his turban, and knelt down with them. In Mr. Bowley's walks about Chunar for conversation with the people, Ram Narain kept close by his side. One asked him whether he believed in the Christian religion. He replied

I do not only believe in it, but have embraced it. I have traversed all Hindoostan; but never heard such wonders, and verily believe Christ to be the only Savior.

His mother falling sick, he instructed her, with great earnestness and attention, in the doctrine of Christ, and became himself the instrument of bringing her to the knowledge of the Savior. She died, about a month afterward, in the full hope of the Gospel; having been admitted, by baptism, into the Christian Church. During his visits, his dying mother earnestly counselled him to separate himself from the Hindoos without delay.

A few days before his mother died, one brought him a "seedha," or day's provision undressed, which he refused, saying that it was wrong to accept it.—"You are not become a Christian yet: besides your employer will not see you, nor hear of it" "Yes," said he, "Jesus Christ, who is omnipresent, will see it."

He confessed to Mr. Bowley, that, for the first month or two after his coming to Chunar, he could not endure the doctrines of the Gospel; till, one day, hearing him speak on the subject of the woman of Canaan, he felt the force of what was said, especially on her being content to be esteemed as a "dog," rather than depart without obtaining her prayer. From this time, he began to consider that we are truly in a wretched condition; and determined to devote himself in the same manner to Christ.

Moonee Ulee, was a moonshee, from Delhi, who came to Mr. Corrie, at Benares, for instruction. He visited Chunar, from Benares; and read the New Testament with Mr. Bowley and Ram Narain.

Mr. Corrie coming over from Benares to Chunar, to baptize Ram Narain and Moonee Ulee, the following impressive scene took place on the 2d of July:

At ten all the native Christians assembled, with a crowd of Hindoos and Mussulmauns; it being understood that two natives were to be baptized. Numbers stood without, for want of room. After the regular service, and an address by me from Isaiah lii, 14, 15, Ram Narain and the moonshee came forward.

The bramhun thus addressed the hearers: "Behold! I declare before all, and let Hindoos and Mussulmauns pay attention to my words, I have been on a pilgrimage to Jugger-nauth, to Dwarka-nauth, to Budee-nauth, and to the different Teruths (or pilgrimages;) but, in all my travels, I found not the true way of salvation, till I came to this place, and heard the Gospel; which, by God's grace, has convinced me that this is the only way to happiness: and I truly believe and declare,before Hindoos and Mussulmauns,that if they do not embrace the Gospel, the wrath of God will abide upon them, and they shall be cast into hell." On saying this, he drew out his bramhunical thread, and broke it asunder before the people, saying, "Behold here the sign of my delusion!" and then delivered it to Mr. Corrie.

After him, Moonee Ulee, the moonshee, thus addressed the people:-"Attend, brethren, and hearken unto me. I was a Mussulmaun; and had spent much of my time in the company of learned men of the same profession. I have studied the meaning of the Koran, and I have paid adoration at the tombs of peers (saints, or spiritual guides.) In those days, whenever I saw a Christian, my spirit was

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stirred up within me to slay him: but, on hearing the Holy Gospels, light has sprung up in my mind, which has increased; and I have been more confirmed in this faith, since I saw the Pentateuch and Psalms. To receive Christian baptism I have come from Delhi. My mind has, moreover, been strengthened and established, by the instructions which I have received from the Rev. Mr. Corrie; and now, before all my brethren present, I embrace this true way of salvation."

After this, Mr. Corrie addressed the people from Matt. xxviii, 19; and then baptized the two cadidates-The bramhun, by the name of Keroul Messeeh, "Only Christ;" and the Mussulmaun, by that of Moonef Messech, "Eminent Christ."

The baptism of these natives, particularly that of the bramhun, was much noticed in Chunar. Mr. Bowley writes

A Mahratta bramhun, on beholding Keroul Messech, knowing that he had be come a Christian, expressed much grief: alledging that he was the very image of the gods; and how could he think of abandoning himself as he had done? He replied, "You may say as you please, yet without Christ there is no salvation."

OBITUARY

OF A NATIVE FEMALE CONVERT AT CHUNAR, WHO DIED JUNE 26, 1818.

In the foregoing article from the Missionary Register for March, mention was made of the Bramhun's Mother. From the same journal of Mr. W. Bowley, the Editors of the Mis sionary Register have extracted the following article, which appears in their number for June.

RAM NARAIN was himself beginning to discover the truth and importance of the Scriptures, when the illness of his mother awakened in him a deep concern for her salvation. On the 28th of May Mr. Bowley writes

"Ram Narain's mother being very ill, he spoke to her of salvation by faith in the sufferings and death of Christ, as being the only true way to happiness; and said, that she seemed much affected, and lamented that she had not heard of this before she came to her death bed. She believed what he said, but now wished to know if she should be accepted; and desired him to ask me. I told him, e that, though she had heard of the Savior but at the eleventh hour, yet if she was made willing to renounce every other confidence, and simply trust in Christ as the only Savior of sinners, and cried to him earnestly for pardon and the grace of the Holy Spirit, I made no doubt but she would be accepted. He further said, that, while he was conversing with her, other heathen women came troubling her about idolatry; but that she desired them to desist.”

5 His efforts to benefit her were not in vain; while they were doubtless rendered a means of his own increasing convictions. "Ram Narain," Mr. Bowley writes on the 2d of June, "spoke to Mr. Corrie respecting his mother. Having read and spoke to her much of Christ, her whole mind seemed fixed upon Him, and she is continually crying to Him for the salvation of her soul. Several Hindoo women still come to persuade her against this strange way, but she desires them to be gone."

On the following day Mr. Bowley says "By Mr. Corrie's directions, I visited Ram Narain's mother. I asked her what was her hope of salvation. She replied, without hesitation, that it was in Christ alone; and that, ever since she heard of Him as being the Savior of sinners, her mind was fixed upon Him continually."

A few days afterward, the bramhun told Mr. Bowley that his mother was much in tears, under an anxiety for the salvation of her soul. She wished to be admitted into the Christian Church by baptism; and he himself was ready to join her, in receiving that solemn ordinance.

On the 11th of June Mr. Bowley writes-"Ram Narain, apprehending his mother's death near at hand, begged me to admit her into the Christian Church without any further delay. I went over, with a Christian friend, to see her; and found her, apparently, but a few hours for this world. On questioning her whether she thought on Jesus Christ, she replied-Yes! I continually think on.

the Son of God;' and entreated me to bring her away from among her heather neighbors. She said she felt great difficulty in speaking, but did not forget the Savior."

This request was immediately complied with; and she gave the most satisfac tory evidence of the influence of Divine Grace on her mind. Mr. Bowley pre

ceeds

"She was accordingly brought to the evening Hindoostanee worship, by four men, on a bedstead. On questioning her respecting her faith, she replied, with great freedom, 'It is on Jesus Christ alone, ever since I heard of Him fron my son. I formerly was a worshipper of Krishna, and of Ram, and of the Gunga (Ganges,) and of others; but I never attained to my object: and now I believe that Christ alone can save me.'-'Do you wish to be admitted into Christ's Church by baptism, according to his command?' I do.' The women the sang a hymn, and I prayed. She was again asked, in the presence of the native Christians, whether she believed in the Ho'y Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. She answered, 'I do'.—‘Have you no confidence in the gods whom you worshipped all your days?' 'I have none whatever: nevertheless, if the Lord spares me. I intend to wash in the Gunga.'-Do you think there is any virtue in the waters of the Gunga? No, I do not. I only mean to bathe in it, as in any other water.'-'Do you seriously wish to be initiated into the Christian Church? 'I do.'

"Her son spoke to her of being buried after death: she said, 'Ram Narain, you should have told me of this before: nevertheless, I am resigned, if it be the Christian custom.'

"Thus she went on, in the presence of the native Christians, and four or five Hindoos; speaking quite freely, though she was mere skin and bone, and apparently not likely to survive the night. After hearing her answers, and fearing lest death should overtake her before Mr. Corrie came hither again, I deemed it my duty to baptize her, according to his request that I would if I should find it indispensably necessary.

"She was then taken home to a Christian friend's. On requesting some water, the Christian women brought her some. At first, she hesitated to receive it from them; but, on their telling her that there was no distinction among Christians, she took and drank it. She then told her son to remember, when we travelled together, we put up at inns: so this world was an inn, wherein we must not seek for rest; 'therefore,' said she, 'come out from among the Hindoos' and stay not with them any longer.' He, smiling, said-'Look! now she has become my teacher.'

Thus was this bramhunee the first heathen admitted into the Christian Church at this place. May the Lord be her wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; and may He incline the hearts of many to give themselves up unto Him! Amen. Amen."

The day after her baptism he adds "One Hindoo observed to-day, that it must have been great grace that has prevailed on the bramhunee to renounce all the gods of her forefathers at such a crisis as this, seeing that she would leave a disgrace on her friends after her death; and that worldly motives could not be the cause of it, seeing that she was not apparently likely to live many hours.

"This morning the Christians who attend upon her were much pleased to find her so fearful of sin: for when food was brought her, she inquired particularly whether it would not be wrong to receive it; but, after a few words of explanation, she submitted and received it."

In this manner light broke in upon her; and she was enabled, on the borders of the grave, to abandon, on the full conviction of her mind, the prejudices and habits of thinking in which she had been all her life nurtured.

On the 18th of June, a week after her baptism, in conversing with her son, she "told him," says Mr. Bowley, "that she had more experience of the world than he had, and that he knew she had been devout according to the Hindoo religion; but acknowledged that she never found peace before, and that the Christian was the only true religion; and advised him to separate himself from the Hindoos as soon as possible, and afterward to write to his father at Benares. She said, that she found herself getting better; and hoped to serve Christ, for some time upon earth, yet."

In this hope, however, she was disappointed: as eight days after this, on the 26th of June, she breathed her last; and passed to her eternal rest in the pres ence of her Savior, without a struggle or a groan.

The necessity of a speedy administration of baptism to this dying convert appears to have prevented Ram Narain from receiving the ordinance, as he had intended, with his mother: but a few days after her death, on the 3d of July, as we have before stated, he received baptism, in company with another native. May the grace of God rest on him, and render him, what his new name reports→→→ dependent on Christ, and devoted to His glory!

TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

THE annual Sermon was preached at St. Bride's Church, Fleet-Street, on Monday evening, the 1st of May, by the Rev. Benjamin Williams Mathias, M. A. from Mal. i, 11.

At twelve o'clock, on Tuesday, May the 2d, the chair was taken at the annual meeting, at Free-Masons' Hall, by the President, Lord Gambier.

In opening the meeting, the noble President adverted, with much Christian feeling to the deplorable condition of the human race, scarcely an eighth part of which had yet received the light of the Gospel. He rejoiced, however, that we live in glorious days: for, within the last ten or fifteen years, greater exertions had been made, by means of Bible and Missionary Institutions, to extend the boundaries of Christ's kingdom, than had perhaps been before made for as many centuries.

A letter was read from the Lord Bishop of Norwich, expressive of cordial attachment to the Society and its object; and excusing his Lordship's absence from public meetings, on account of his increasing years.

The report presented an outline only of the proceedings of the year, the details being unavoidably reserved for the press.

It appeared from this document, that the receipts of the twentieth year had $ exceeded those of the nineteenth by 2,000l., and had amounted to 30,000l. and the expenditure to 31,000. The Bristol Association had contributed 1755l. 78. 4d.; and the Hibernian Auxiliary, 1800. Of this last Institution, the Lord Bishop of Kildare had become a Vice-President, and had declared himself its cordial friend.

From the address of the Bishop of Gloucester, we extract the following passage:

My Lord-In rising to move that the report be received and printed, I cannot but feel that I should much impair the interest which it has excited, by any lengthened observations of my own; conscious as I am, that a very large proportion of the audience around me have hearts accustomed to rejoice at missionary exertions, and which beat high with the hope of rescuing the captives of Satan, and extending the triumphs of their Redeemer. I shall therefore confine myself to one or two observations, which have struck me on hearing the report that has just been read.

During a year of unexampled pressure and distress, and in which also a Society of similar designs and views has collected such noble contributions, our revenue has increased in no inconsiderable degree, and has surpassed that of any former year. Is not here ample cause for placing still more implicit dependence on the same gracious Being who has thus provided for us?-and for exerting ourselves still more earnestly in the glorious cause in which we are engaged?

On hearing the Report, and meditating upon it, my eye has glanced from shore to shore, through India, the islands of the Mediterranean, and from the Western coast of Africa to the West Indies and New Zealand. On the coasts of India we see the temple of Idolatry beginning to totter to its base; and the rising of a College, destined, I have no doubt, to prove a main support of missionary

exertions.

But the eye of the Christian may fix itself, with peculiar pleasure, on the state of the negroes in Sierra Leone. Discouragements and difficulties had attended the Society's exertions, in this first scene of its labors: but now we behold the VOL. XVI.

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