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But the issue of Books by the Special Committee has not been confined to Anti-infidel Publications: 1015 Bibles (exclusive of the Society's Family Bible), 757 Testaments, 1451 Prayer Books, and 113,116 Tracts have been disposed of at cost price from the Shop in Fleet Street; and a considerable supply of the same articles is still in hand.

The total number of Books and Tracts issued by the Committee, since its appointment, is 798,201; and the stock undisposed of exceeds 300,000. The money remaining at the disposal of the Committee will be more than sufficient to defray the expenses of the shop in Fleet Street, during the time that the Society has resolved to continue it; and willenable the Committee to make an adequate trial of the plan for selling the Holy Scriptures, the Liturgy, and other Books on the Society's Catalogue, to the public, at reduced prices.

Monument to the late Bishop of Calcutta. In reference to some Resolutions passed by the Board on receiving the intelligence of the death of Bishop Middleton, it is stated

It is proposed that a Monument should be erected to his memory in St. Paul's Cathedral, that the expense should be defrayed by Members of the Society, and that the contribution of each Member should be limited to the amount of his annual subscription to the Society. It was imagined, that, if the subscription were unlimited, such large contributions would be made by some opulent and zealous friends, as might prevent others from testifying their feeling on this occasion; while, from the general estimation in which Bishop Middleton was held, there could be no doubt that an ample sum would soon be raised by the limited subscription, and at the same time none would be excluded from participating in the work.

The Members of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts were afterwards associated in this plan.

A List of Subscriptions to this object is given, amounting to 8217. 9s. contributed by 568 Subscribers.

Founding of Five Scholarships in Bishop's College, Culcutta.

Of the Resolutions just quoted, it is further sald

these resolutions embrace, arises from a The most important matter which suggestion of the late Bishop of Calcutta, in his last Letter to the Society, relative to the foundation of Five Scholarships in Bishop's College at Calcutta. In or der to mark their entire concurrence in the wisdom of such a measure, and their affectionate veneration for the Bishop's the sum of 60001. at the disposal of the memory, the Board resolved to place Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, for the purpose of endowing Five Scholarships, larships;" and of affording a Salary for to be called" Bishop Middleton's Schoa Tamul Teacher in the College.

Issue of Books, Tracts, and Papers. From April 1822 to April 1823, the circulation of Publications was as follows:

Bibles

New Testaments

Nos. Grat. Total.

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and Psalters. Com. Prayers.... 101,964 1,862 103,826 86,042 83,888 2,154 817,283 296,597 1,113,880

Small Tracts & Papers......

Other bd. Books

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TWENTY-THIRD REPORT.

Remarks on the Income and Expenditure. THE particulars of the Receipts and Payments of the Year were printed at pp. 208 and 209. We extract from the Report some remarks on the progress of the Society's Income and its proportion to the Expenditure.

The steady rate of the Society's increase has been mentioned. That rate of progress has been greatly augmented during the last Ten Years, chiefly in consequence of the establishment of Associations-the Income of the Society in itsThirteenth Year having been30004; while, in its Fourteenth, the formation of Associations, which had their origin chiefly in the zeal awakened throughout the country for opening India to Christianity, the Income rapidly rose to a gross amount of nearly 12,000l., not deducting the expenses attending the Associations.

It will be satisfactory to the Members, to review the course in which the Society has been led; as this review will sufficiently indicate the guidance of the Divine Hand.

The first Thirteen Years of the So, ciety may be considered, for the reasons just given, as its state of infancy: it has been since gradually acquiring strength and developing powers, which will one day, it may be hoped, arrive, under the blessing of God, at such maturity, as may enable the Society to achieve its full portion of that conquest over the Empire of Darkness and Sin, which Dec. 1823.

awaits the combined efforts of all the true Members of the Church of Christ.

The whole Income of these first Thirteen Years was little more than 22,000. -the Income of the last year, alone, has been, as already stated, 35,0001.

The average annual Income of each of these Thirteen Years was a little more than 1700-that of each of the last Ten Years has been upward of 25,5007.

In reference to the subject of the Society's Income, there is a fact to be stated, which deserves attention. The amount of interest on stock, annually received, will serve as a criterion of the proportion which the Expenditure has

borne to the Income. On a careful investigation of this point, it appears that the Society never had since it began to send out Missionaries, and has not at this moment, more funds in hand, than would serve to discharge its actual obligations on account of its Missions in various parts of the world. And yet it has never been put to any difficulty, in contracted; nor has it been withheld, discharging the obligations which it had merely by the want of funds, from entering on any very promising undertaking brought before its Committees. The Committee state this fact as a ground of thankfulness to Almighty God, that He has enabled the Society to proceed with such an equal and steady course.

Promising fields of labour are, indeed, opening on every side; and a far larger sum might be profitably expended in promoting the Conversion of the Heathen, than is as yet placed at the Society's disposal : the Missions already formed, particularly those in Africa and India, are beginning to ask for more funds to enable them to extend their exertions: the Committee beg, therefore, to urge on all the Society's friends every practicable exertion to increase its means of usefulness.

Reports of Associations.

The Committee notice, with pleasure, that the suggestion offered to the Associations in the last Report, of adopting Sheet Reports instead of the pamphlet form, has been acted upon in a number of instances; and they doubt not but that it will be pursued by other Associations, where local circumstances will allow it. It is obvious that a saving of expense, which may appear small in the case of a single Association, becomes of importance when it pervades hundreds of Associations.

3 X

We quote another passage which deserves attention.

The Committee have much satisfaction, also, in witnessing the different methods adopted in the more brief Reports of the Associations, to awaken attention to the details of the Society's Proceedings, without occupying such space and so entering into particulars as to supersede the Parent Report. In the Report of one Association, for instance, the Society's proceedings during the year are collected under a few general heads, with pertinent remarks on them; while, in another, brief observations are made on the proceedings, in the order in which they occur in the Reports and the corresponding parts of the Appendix, with a notification of the pages where the matters remarked on may be found. It is obvious, that either of these methods will be likely to answer the valuable end, of leading the Members to an intelligent use of the Annual Publications of the Society.

Several impressive extracts are given from the Reports of Associations, on the mutual benefit which Missionary Societies derive from one another.

Associations.

Thirteen New Associations have been added within the year; one of which was for the County of Kent, and three were Ladies' Associations. Means are suggested, by the Committee, of increasing the Number and Efficiency of Associations; and Remedies are proposed against those Occasions of Decay, which are inseparable from Institutions of this nature. These suggestions, for which we refer to the Report itelf, claim the serious attention of all the friends of such Societies.

Missionaries and Students. The designation, sailing, and arrival of Missionaries, detailed in the Report, have been stated chiefly in the Recent Miscellaneous Intelligence of our different Numbers.

No deaths had occurred, during the Year, among the Society's Missionaries; but, about the period when the Report was delivered,

Death was making fearful inroads on the Labourers in the West-Africa Mission, as was stated in the Number for July.

of

Offers of service have been numerous in the course of the year: but many these offers have been from persons, whose qualifications were not such as to induce the Committee to accept them, though of their piety, generally, they had no doubt. Of 57 offers of service, 18 have been accepted, 27 declined, and 12 are still under consideration. There under the Society's care, for future serare, at present, 22 Students preparing, vice-14 in different parts of this coun try, and 8 at Bâsle.

In reference to the important class of Native Labourers, the Committee say

At their head stand two Ordained Missionaries-the Rev. Abdool Messeeh, and the Rev. William Bowley; whose steady and useful course may serve to assure the Society that the Natives of India are become competent, under Churches from among their countrymen, the Divine Blessing, to form Christian and to instruct and edify those Churches.

And for Africa-little short of a moral miracle has been wrought on some of her once-degraded Sons, in raising them, in the course of a very few years, from sion and base superstition, into humble, men almost brutalized by cruel oppres active, intelligent, and devout Instruc tors of their countrymen.

racter of David Noah (see pp. 321 After quoting Mr. Johnson's chaand 322 of our Number for July), the Committee add

With these, and many similar examples before our eyes, what should restrain our hope and expectation, that He, who, by His Providence and Spirit, has raised up these Native Christians effectually to co-operate with us in this best and most beneficent of all designs-the Salvation of the perishing Heathen-should so multiply their number in all Missions, as to supersede the necessity of any other supply of Teachers from Christendom than those Guides and Counsellors, who, all the older Churches of Christ in the availing themselves of the experience of West, may be the means of establishing and extending the rising Churches of the Heathen World? Nothing is wanting

to this great end, but the blessing of the Holy Spirit on the exertions of competent Instructors of Christian Converts. While, therefore, the Committee do earnestly press on all the Members the great duty of unwearied and fervent prayer, for the especial and abundant influences of the Holy Spirit on all the Young Persons under preparation, in the Seminaries connected with the Society's different Missions, for future labours among their countrymen, they feel it their duty to do all in their power to send forth a body of Teachers, who may

be competent to the task of leading forward the minds of such Young Persons to every practicable degree of enlarge ment and knowledge. In Sierra Leone, more than Twenty pious African Youths are prepared for Instructors of this description: in Calcutta and in Madras, this branch of the Christian Institutions of the Society, formed at those Presidencies, loudly calls for such aid: and at Cotym, among the Syrians, and in other places, the Seminaries of this description already established require more Instructors; while, not only in these places, but in other parts of India, in Ceylon, and in the Mediterranean, devoted Missionaries, nurtured in the admirable system of our Universities, might put their acquisitions to the most noble use in the service of their Heavenly Master, by training up in sound discipline and learning the future Pastors and Evangelists of the Unchristianized World. The Committee fervently beseech the Great Head of the Church to call forth such men!

Our Readers are already apprized of the intended establishment of a Seminary at Islington (see pp. 165 and 166 of the Number for April) with an especial view to the more efficient preparation of Missionaries.

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late Numbers, to an abstract of intelligence from most of the Society's Missions. The Report not having been got through the press till the beginning of December, Notes of reference to the details in our pages, as late as those in the month of November, are subjoined. The usual abstract, with new particulars, will appear, in their proper places, in the Survey.

The following Summary View is given of the Missions.

HUNDRED AND

In the NINE MISSIONS of the Society, there are FORTY-THREE STATIONS, which have TwO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX SCHOOLS Connected with them; some of which Schools are, in fact, separate Stations, being established in considerable places, at a distance from the headstation. These Stations and Schools are occupied by THREE FORTY-SEVEN LABOURERS; of whom 109 are Europeans, and 238 were born in the respective countries where they are employed. The number of SCHOLARS under the Society is TWELVE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN: of whom 8610 are Boys, 2354 Girls, and 1347 Adults. Many CHURCHES and CHAPELS have been erected; but these do not furnish any adequate criterion of the number of persons who may, occasionally at least, HEAR THE TRUTHS OF THE GOSPEL, as the greater portion of these hearers are, in most parts of the Heathen World, to be sought in the streets and highways. The number of real CONVERTS from among the Heathen, Leone, the Divine Blessing has pecuit is not easy to ascertain: in Sierra liarly rested on the Society-upwards of 650 Africans having been admitted to Christian Communion, on the most satisfactory evidence of real conversion;

all of whom were, within the last very few years, in a state of the grossest darkness and degradation. For the more rapid and extensive diffusion of sound knowledge and Christian Truth, the Society has established PRINTING-PRESSES in those Missions which are connected with a numerous and reading popula tion: and its Missionaries are supplying these Presses with the Scriptures, the Liturgy, and Tracts, in some of the principal languages of the respective countries; while large editions of the Scriptures, in others of those languages,

are printed for the Bible Societies in enrolled, for several years previously, several quarters.

The Committee speak with pleasure of the manner in which the subject of progress and success is treated in the Reports of different Associations, and quote passages on this point from four Reports. We extract the shortest, but one full of meaning:There is success enough already, to encourage the most fearful, and to stimulate the most lukewarm; while there is trial enough, to maintain in us the habitual conviction of the inefficacy of the best human means in themselves, and the duty of fervent and unceasing prayer for the succours of the Holy Spirit," without which nothing is strong, nothing is holy."

Conclusion of the Report.

While the Committee record, with gratitude to Almighty God, the opportunities for exertion which He has been pleased to open before the Society, and the measure of success which He has vouchsafed, they are truly happy to add that their coadjutors in this great work continue also to be blessed by Him. The increase of the Society's means and exertions has not been at the expense of kindred Institutions. AH have prospered. By the efforts of all, a degree of progress has been attained, which would have otherwise been aimed at in vain.

For the protection and favour of Persons in Authority, this Society continues to have cause for gratitude. Both the Government at home, and the Local Governments abroad, have, in various ways, assisted its designs.

The Committee have had the pleasure to add, during the year, to the List of the Society's Vice-Presidents, the Heads of Four Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge the Provost of Oriel College, and the Principal of Magdalen Hall, at Oxford-and, at Cambridge, the President of Queen's College, at present Vice-Chancellor of the University; and the Master of Corpus Christi College: to these has been added the name of Sir Robert Harry Inglis, Bart., long a warm friend of the Society. The Right Hon. Lord Barham, having succeeded to the Peerage, and the Right Hon. Lord Bexley, having been called by His Majesty, in acknowledgment of his able and faithful services, to the Upper House have become VicePatrons of the Society; having been

--

among its Vice-Presidents.

In conclusion, the Committee wish to is which has been already made, a far remark, that, encouraging as the progress greater work yet remains to be done; for the work, on which the Christian Church has yet entered, can be called great, only in comparison with that of former years: it is little indeed, when considered in reference to the exertions which are still required.

And, to these exertions, the Christian Church is now manifestly called. It is the COMMAND of God, that this sacred work of evangelizing the world should be undertaken-His PROMISE is engaged in support of His servants, while they labour herein to make Him known; the manifestation of whose Glory, as displayed in the Gospel, is placed, as it were, in their hands-His PROVIDENCE opens before them the opportunities and the means of labour-His POWER will uphold their weakness, and subdue their foes-and His GRACE will crown their conflict and toil with a Victory, which shall be the subject of everlasting praise.

Appendix to the Report.

1. Instructions to the Rev. Henry Williams, proceeding as a Missionary to New Zealand; with Mr. Williams's Reply, and an Address by the Rev. Edward Garrard Marsh: delivered Aug. 6, 1822.

2. Instructions to the Rev. Messrs. Beckauer, Gerber, Metzger, and Schemel,and Messrs. Lisk, Vaughan, and Bunyer, with Mrs. Gerber, Mrs. Metzger, Mrs. Schemel, Mrs. Lisk, Mrs. Vaughan, and Mrs. Bunyer, proceeding to the West-Africa Mission; and to the Rev, Mr. Deininger, proceeding to the Mediterranean : with an Address to them, by the Rev. James Haldane Stewart: delivered Sept. 24, 1822.

3.

4.

Extracts from the Journal of the late
Rev. W. Johnson, at Regent's Town,
Sierra Leone; from February 1822
to February 1823.

Rev. Bernhard Schmid's Method of Conducting the Tinnevelly Schools. 5. Statement to the British Resident in Travancore, by the Society's Missionaries, of the Condition of the Syrian Christians. Correspondence between the College of Fort St. George and the Syrian College.

6.

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