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372 Address of the United Foreign Missionary Society.

cannot recall the years that are past; but if the love or fear of God be in our hearts, we must strain every nerve to redeem the time that is lost. It is calculated that twenty thousand, of those who have come to years of discretion, die daily from the pagan and Mahometan world, besides the vast numbers which go from popish countries, and other benighted regions nominally Christian. It is not for us to limit the operations of the divine Spirit, and pronounce that none are saved without the Gospel; but from the concurrent voice of Revelation and modern travellers, we are compelled to believe that the mass of the heathen live and die grossly wicked. Such a current constantly discharging itself into the burning lake, and one half of Christendom asleep! O that our heads were waters, and our eyes a fountain of tears! In the name of God, dear brethren, awake. By the blood and tears of Calvary, by the sorrows of a soul that has no God, we beseech you, brethren, awake.

We entreat you also by the value of your own spiritual interest and that of your children. Of all the means of exalting and ennobling the human character, these benevolent exertions for the salvation of others are among the most effectual. Why should these three denominations, raised to heaven in other respects, lose so inestimable a means of advancing the holiness and happiness of themselves and their posterity?

Our long slumber over this infinite concern has too much resembled the sleep of death. Is it not high time for us all to awake together? Without this we must still resign the mass of the heathen to everlasting despair. What will avail the tears and struggles of a few? There is need of a general and simultaneous motion through all our churches. Has not that hour come? Will you not all rise up to the work as one man? Will you not without delay cast in your prayers, your counsels, and your contributions? Will not the societies formed among you to support foreign missions, become auxiliary to this? Will not your associations for the education of pagan children, remember the children on their own continent and cast in their offerings here? Will not new institutions, expressly in aid of this, be raised up in every town and village within our bounds? Shall not every individual who has a soul to save and an account to render, feel that he has a part to act in this great concern? Will not our mothers and sisters come forward to a work so suited to their tenderness and benevolence, and so fitted to spread a new loveliness around the female character? Will not the generous emulations of the young be awakened? Shall not our dear children learn in this school the noblest of all lessons,―to relieve the miserable and please their Saviour,-and acquire the richest legacy that we can leave them, the habit of doing good? Shall not our whole population thus combine in one great and continued effort to give the Gospel to a perishing world? By order of the Board,

STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER, Pres't. PHILIP MILLEDOLER, Cor. Sec'y.

New-York, August 6, 1817.

9th Reformed Dutch Church.-Delaware Bib. Soc. 373.

REVIVAL AT AUBURN, (N. Y.),

Extract of a letter to the Editor of the Christian Herald, dated Hartwick, 18th August, 1817.

MY DEAR SIR,

Since my return from New-York I have been at Auburn, and found the astonishing work of revival progressing in a manner that clearly indicated the superintendence of the Divine hand, and the irresistible power and efficacy of the convincing Spirit of God.

The learned, as well as the unlearned infidel, is made to tremble, and acknowledge himself a lost and ruined creature! On the first Sabbath in this present month, 140 were received into communion with the church in that village; and it was believed that one hundred more at least had hope in God through Christ Jesus.

There is an unusual tenderness and concern resting on the minds of the people in this place, and the region of country about us. Instances of hopeful conversions occur almost daily, within the circle of my acquaintance in this part of the county; and many of them strikingly evince the sovereignty of Divine grace. The enlightened heaven-daring sinner! the votaries of amusement and carnality! and many an aged father and mother are found in tears and filled with grief, that they have so long rejected the Saviour, and wasted so much of their precious time in folly and sin. Christians begin to be roused from their slumbers, and become sensible of their barrenness-as if they had just discovered that the Christian's life must be a life of activity and usefulness in the cause of his Master; not satisfied with asking once a year, or when visited with affliction, but with every breath, "Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?" Is not this cause of rejoicing?

With much esteem, I am, Sir, yours truly,

A NEW CHURCH.

L. B.

On Tuesday August 19, at 10 A. M., was laid by Col. Henry Rutgers, in Market-street, at the intersection of Market and Henry-street, a Corner-Stone of the Ninth Reformed Dutch Church in this city.-An appropriate address and prayer were made on the occasion by the Rev. Dr. Milledøler.

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By the following extract of a letter to a gentleman in this town, we have received the first information of a Bible Society established at Delaware, Ohio.-May its members be inspired with zeal, and their labours crowned with success.

"SIR-To aid and assist in promoting the glorious object of the Ohio Bible Society, the dissemination of the holy Scriptures, the citizens of the town of Delaware and its vicinity, agreeably to public notice, assembled at the court-house, for the purpose of organizing a Bible Society auxiliary to the Ohio Bible Society; and elected Moses Byxbe as president; Rev. Jacob Drake, vicepresident; Leonard H. Cowle, secretary; and William Sweetser treasurer, for the ensuing year.. [Chil. Recorder.

374

Contributions to the American Bible Society.

The treasurer of the American Bible Society has acknowledged the receipt of the following contributions in August, viz:

One hundred and fifty dollars from the trustees of the Independent Presbyterian Church of Savannah, Georgia, to constitute their Pastor, the Rev. Dr. Henry Hollock, a Director for life;-Contributions of thirty dollars each to constitute the following clergymen members for life, namely, Rev. Samuel Colbourn, Rev. Holland Weeks, and Rev. Daniel Thomas, by the Abington Female Benevolent Society, (Mass.); Rev. Petrus Stuyvesant Ten Broeck, by a lady; Rev. Cornelius C. Vermeul, by a number of females of the Reformed Dutch Church of Harlem; Rev. Dr. Aaron Woolworth, by the ladies of Bridgehampton, Suffolk county, (N. Y.); Rev. John Johnston, by the ladies of the village of Newburgh, Orange county, (N. Y.); Rev. John G. Bergen, by the Female Cent Society of North Hanover, Morris Co. (N. J.); Rev. Andrew N. Kettle, minister of the Reformed Dutch Church in the manor of Livingston, by Maj. Gen. Henry Livingston; Rev. Eliakim Phelps, by the ladies of the first parish in Brookfield, (Mass.); Rev. Chauncey Lee, by the young ladies of the town of Colebrook, (Conn.); Rev. Kellogg, by the ladies of Framingham, (Mass.); Rev. John Williams, pastor of the Baptist Church in Fayettestreet, in the city of New-York, by D. Cauldwell, jun., Sarah Cook, Mrs. Withington, Mrs. Colgate, Mrs. Thomson and Mrs. Purser ;Thirty dollars from Mr. Robert Thompson, and the same from Dr. John Watts, jun., of New-York, as members for life: One hundred dollars from a friend to the Society, under cover addressed to the treasurer, dated 31st May, 1817;-41 dolls. 75 cts. from the Mill Creek Female B. S. (Ohio); 22 dolls. 50 cts. from the Amity Fem. B. S. (N. Y.); 100 dolls. from the Beaufort Aux. B. S. (S. C.): 5 dolls. and a gold ring from a lady at Catskill, (N. Y.) and a gold locket from a lady at Cornish, (N. H.); also sundry congregational collections, and annual contributions.

SIR,

To the Editor of the Christian Herald.

The following lines were written four years ago, as suited to the case of a dear friend then called to suffer the will of God. Believing_that_they will meet the experience of some at least of your numerous readers, I will be glad to see them inserted in your useful publication. DISCIPULUS.

When call'd to do God's holy will,
Our various duties to fulfil,
We run with joy the Christian race,
Triumphing in the power of grace.
Well pleas'd to see our labours blest,
With faith's rich confidence possest,
We smile at conflicts, dangers brave--
Death hath no terrors, nor the grave.
Dispensing blessings, oft we find
A self-complacent state of mind;
Religious friends express their love,
And earth cannot our peace remove.
But when a sad reverse we feel,
Call'd next to suffer God's blest will;-
All active usefulness denied,

No room for praise, no food for pride ;-
The heart sinks low; the spirit faints,
And wastes its strength in long complaints;
Hope, like an ebbing tide, recedes,
And a desponding frame succeeds.
Here human love withdraws its aid,
Nor follows merit through the shade;-
The wounded heart sinks deep within,
And sees a deeper shade in sin.
Then to the soul who fear'd no fees,
The grass- hopper a burden grows;'
The heart reveals its corrupt springs,
And conscience whets her hundred stings.
The heart so torn, desponding, weak,
Some refuge from itself must seek;

No human aid can reach the case,
The only balm is sov'reign grace.
From such sad depths of guilt and wo,
The soul must to the Saviour go:
And in is rich compassions find
The true abiding peace of mind.
How sweet is his reviving voice!
"In me," he whispers, "soul rejoice!
Low was your joy that sprung from earth,
Unworthy of your heav'nly birth;

"I struck your gourds, and laid you low,
And mercy dealt the needful blow;
When most you mourn'd, my grace was nigh,
Remaining lusts to crucify."

Thus cheer'd, the soul declares its joy,
"How could this world my peace annoy?
'Tis sweet to do my Saviour's will,-
But thus to suffer, sweeter still.
Since I have heard his healing voice,
In all my suff'rings I rejoice:
'Tis pleasure in a high degree,
To feel his grace renewing me."
From thence let heirs of glory learn
Their source of pleasure to discern:
Tis not in alms, nor frames. nor friends,
Tho' comfort oft on these attends :)
'Tis faith that leans upon her Lord,
And from the riches of his word
Receives, cach day, divine supplies,
While on her journey to the skies.

THE CHRISTIAN HERALD.

VOL. III.] Saturday, September 13, 1817.

[No. 25.

RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY OF LONDON.

In Number 23 we gave a very summary abstract of the information communicated at the Anniversary, meeting of the above Institution in May last, taken from the English Magazines for June. We have since then received the Eighteenth Report of the Society, which enables us to present our readers with several interesting particulars from that document. The following extracts will doubtless be read with great pleasure by those who delight in beholding the happy consequences of disseminating Gospel truth among the ignorant, the careless, and the ungodly of our ruined

race.

At Berlin, where a Religious Tract Society is sanctioned by the king of Prussia, 150,000 Tracts have, since its commencement, been circulated with good effect throughout all parts of His Majesty's dominions. In this capital several Tracts have been translated, and are now translating, from the volumes of your Society; for the more extensive circulation of which your committee have presented the Prussian Tract Society with a donation of £20. A copy of the Address and Regulations of that Institution has been transmitted to your Committee; from which it appears, that in some places the perusal of the Tracts has proved the means of exciting a desire to procure the Holy Scriptures.

In the north of Germany, and particularly in the Duchy of Sleswick-Holstein, considerable progress is making in the distribution of Religious Tracts, chiefly by the instrumentality of a very active Society called the Northern Union, (referred to in your former Reports,) which is multiplying its branches in various directions.

In a letter from Sleswick, lately received, the writer remarks, "The Scriptural sentiments which are contained in the small Tracts the Society circulates, may in some measure contribute to the promoting of the Bible cause." Of the good effects resulting from the circulation of Tracts at Barth, in Pomerania, a correspondent gives the following evidence :-" The children in this town come to me from morning to night, which is the case even at the moment I am writing this, requesting the loan of books, in which I am happy to gratify them, and thus to show them the way of eternal life. I have not lately heard so many of those dreadful imprecations which formerly disgraced our streets."

Not less active are the various Tract Societies or Committees in Stutgard, Nürenberg, Frankfort, Neuwied, Koenigsfield, and other places; by whose united exertions many thousand Tracts are an2 B

386 18th Report of the R. Tract Society of London.

nually put into circulation, both among the Protestant ann Catholicpopulation of Germany.

Great and accumulated have been the distresses experienced by thousands in various parts of the Continent during the last winter : but even those calamities have contributed to soften many a hardened heart, and to prepare it for a more favourable reception of Divine truth.

The Lausanne Report states the pleasing fact that no less than 66,000 Tracts were printed by the Lausanne Tract Society, and most extensively circulated in various parts of Switzerland and France. "Of the effects produced by these publications, (continues the Report,) we have many striking proofs. Let us mention but one :-A parish minister in the country writes to the President: The volume of your Tracts is read with avidity. Ạ notorious drunkard whom I am endeavouring to bring back into the paths of sobriety and virtue, observed the other day, Ah! Sir, if I had read ten years ago the book you have had the goodness to give to my mother, and more especially that last chapter on drunkenness, I should have been ten thousand francs richer than I now am, and my wife and children would have lived in comfort: how well that book explains the danger of frequenting public houses and keeping bad company!"

The French translation of THE DAIRYMAN'S DAUGHTER has been published in France and Switzerland, at the expense of pious individuals in those countries, and has met with the most favourable reception.

From Russia your Committee continue to receive the most gratifying accounts. "In Finland," writes the Rev. John Paterson, "the affairs of the Tract Society go on prosperously. Tracts partly in Sweedish and partly in Finnish, have been translated, printed, and distributed, to the number of 25,000 copies, by a zealous student of the University at Abo." At Savalax, in the north of Finland, a peasant has procured a translation of the THE DAIRYMAN'S DAUGHTER, and printed it at his own expense! He is now proceeding in the same way with several Tracts: thus, even the northern peasants are your co-workers in this labour of love.

From information communicated by the Evangelical Society at Stockholm, your Committee learn with pleasure that it continues in a prosperous state; its funds are improving, and within the year 1816 about 100,000 of its Tracts have been circulated.

The Appendix to the last Report contains the intelligence received from China, up to December, 1815: subsequent communications from the Rev. Messrs. Morrison and Milne, and particularly from the latter, state, that Tracts have been distributed at Pule Penang, (or Prince of Wales's Island,) and sent to Siam and Cochin China. "The more I see," says Mr. Milne, "of the ignorance of the heathen, and the difficulty they find in understanding the truths of the Gospel, so much the more am I convinced of the vast importance of Religious Tracts, written in the simplest style possi, ble, and so much the more clearly does the magnitude of the Religious Tract Society appear.

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