honesty, deceit, and vice prevailed to an alarming extent. This discovery pointed out the advantages of moral and religious instruction. On the religious estate, the infliction of punishment was gradually diminishing; and thus, in a plantation of 250 persons, 120 men and 130 women, only ten men and one woman had been punished during the preceding year. He was informed by a very sensible and respectable man, that he had the most sanguine hope and conviction, that, in a few years, corporal punishment would be wholly discontinued, by means of the improvement in the moral and religious character of the Negroes; and he felt himself called upon in honour and fairness to state, that this flourishing condition and important change were almost exclusively, if not exclusively, owing to the labours of the Wesleyan Missionaries. And it had been fully demonstrated to him, that the INFERIOR, but now CHRISTIAN estate, is become more PRODUCTIVE than the other, which still remains PAGAN.

. He hoped that these most gratifying results would have the effect, of bringing over other persons to consider the propriety of laying open their estates to Missionaries. If it was their duty to send the Gospel over the face of the earth, according to the last injunction of the Redeemer, a Nation, pre-eminently distinguished by its greatness and power, and by its means of diffusing the light of Christianity, was particularly called on to send out more labourers for that blessed purpose; and more especially was it the duty of Great Britain, to see that those immediately committed to their hands, whatever may be their state in other respects, should at all events be called to the glorious liberty of the Gospel.

He felt most deeply that this was the first duty of the British Nation toward the Slaves of the West-India Colonies. Whatever may be said or done in the Legislature, on the great question respecting the Negroes now about to be agitated, he felt that the extension of Christianity to them is of the utmost moment-the thing of all others the most calculated to promote all interests of every kind: and that object he trusted might be secured and provided for.

Thus impressed, should any WestIndia Proprietor, a Member of the Church of England, do him the honour

to ask his advice what to do, he should respectfully exhort him, as to himself, to remain a Member of that Church, and to aid, as far as he has the power, in strengthening, invigorating, and adorning it "Spartâ natus es; hanc orna." As to his Slaves, he would exhort him to seek Christian Instruction for them, as a thing most indispensable; to seek it through the Church, if it could be had of her-but if it could not, then to seek it from such Protestant Body as it can be best obtained from; and also to consider, that he is in conscience bound, not to leave the burthen, at least the cost of it, on other shoulders than his own. For instance, if a Proprietor recur to the aid of the Wesleyans, he ought to know, that they do not, and wisely do not, allow others to pay their Missionaries: but he can easily learn what expense he puts them to; and ought to indemnify them, by giving to their funds a contribution sufficient to cover that expense.

[Sir G. H. Rose—at the Wesleyan Anniversary, Another consideration made him feel a lively interest in the Wesleyan Missionary Society. He had watched, from an early period, the growth of that tree, which they had planted. It was his lot,. to see the introduction of the Gospel by the Wesleyan Connexion among the Slaves of the West Indies, seven or eight and thirty years ago; when their Missionaries first visited the island of St. Christopher, where he resided for eleven years. He was, one Sunday, attending the Church in the capital of that island; and, while there, he perceived that, present in the Church, and immediately behind himself, were three persons who joined very fervently in the responses of the Service; which was no common thing in the West Indies. The three strangers were dressed in black; and he concluded, from their animated devotions, that they were no ordinary characters. He had not heard of them before. They were the three Missionaries, first sent out by the Wesleyan Society to that part of the world; and one of them was that amiable, that pious, that indefatigable servant of his Lord and Master, the late Rev. Dr. Coke. These were the men who came to bring the blessings of the Gospel to the Slaves of the West-India Islands. They could not be, as some uninformed persons had imagined, enemies of the Church of England, whose first visit was to that Church.

The difficulties of Missionaries at that period, from local circumstances, were much greater than many supposed.. They came thither, not to meet with encouragement and assistance; but to encounter every species of neglect, contempt, and aversion. But they diligently sowed that seed of life, which would spring up into an abundant harvest. The grain of mustard-seed would become a large tree. Much good fruit would be produced. Who could calculate what would result, from the Christian instruction and discipline of twenty or thirty thousand persons, now actual`ly united in the classes of the Society; and of a much larger proportion of hearers? If he had been told at the time, "You shall live to see these effects of the labours of those pious strangers behind you," he should have thought it impossible. Nothing less than a voice from heaven could have convinced him, that, in less than forty years, he should have witnessed that glorious success of their labours, which called for such gratitude to God.

To the religious instruction of the Slaves, one obstacle, at that period, was the opposition of their Masters: for that there was then such a spirit of hostility, is not to be denied. There could not then have been found a man like his Right Honourable Friend, (Sir G. H. Rose) who had that day avowed feelings and principles so honourable to himself, and who had given such a laudable example to his fellow-planters.

At the most moderate calculation, there were eight hundred thousand Slaves in the West-India Settlements -who were their fellow-subjects, as well as their fellow-creatures-who had the strongest claims of justice, as well as compassion, on the British Government and the British People. It was impossible for him to add to their convictions on the importance of this subject; but let them animate one another, in humble and pious exultation for what Almighty God had already been pleased to effect. They had not only been enabled to carry the blessings of the Gospel, in the exercise of Christian Charity, to those who so greatly needed them; but they had redeemed this Christian Land from merited reproach. The Protestant Church of England, to which he belonged, had neglected to pay any particular attention to the Slaves of the West Indies for the fact

was, that, with the exception of the Protestant Dutch Church, no provision had been made for their spiritual wants. Not so had the Roman Catholics acted. In the French, Spanish, and Portuguese Settlements, some knowledge of the Catholic Faith had been communicated to them but nothing had been expressly done in their behalf, by the Protestant Clergy of the Church of England. Few of the Slaves ever attended the regular Services of the Church: scarcely ever were they seen there, except that now and then one peeped in at the doors, to see what was going on. He knew one pious Clergyman (and he mentioned it to his honour); who attempted to benefit the slave-population by establishing an Evening Lecture; but he soon gave it up, because he found that, from their want of previous elementary instruction, he could interest them but little. Yet that pious Clergyman rejoiced that others were doing what himself could not effect. Religion would benefit the temporal and civil condition of the Negroes, as well as promote their spiritual and eternal interests. To act like his Right Honourable Friend, would raise the feelings of the Master, as well as those of the Slave; and make them both, not merely in name, but in reality, Christians.

[James Stephen, Esq.-at the Wesleyan Ann. Benefit of Missionaries to Europeans resident in Heathen Lands.

There is a consideration which I would submit to this Meeting, touching the domestic advantages of this Society, of a tender and most affecting kind, and one which I doubt not will come home to the bosoms of many here. Many are the parents and the families who now surround me, who have parted with their children to visit foreign shores-young men, of little experience, sent forth for the service of the State or the promotion of their own welfare, to a distant part of the world. They leave their homes and the institutions of their fathers: they leave domestic comforts, the voice of a father and the tender entreaties of a mother, and all those kind and friendly relationships which comfort and assist us; and they go to: foreign climes, to spend their strength, to lay down their lives, unsustained by those consolations which abound around us.

And how fare the souls of the Youth,

in many parts of the world? If, with all our advantages, no good impression was made on the mind at home, what comes of our Youth in Heathen Lands, where they see all evil practices indulged? Alas! many of them, unable to withstand the efforts of the enemy, fall into his snares, and are lost for ever. But your Missionaries are in the place of fathers, of mothers, of brothers, and of every kind friend whom they leave at home. I, therefore, consider them as eminently useful to watch over the children of whom I speak, were there no world to be saved, no Heathens to win to Christianity: here, therefore, let every one exert himself for these Missionaries as for their sons; that the souls of their sons may not be lost, but saved in the day of the Lord.

And if I might trespass with any expression of my own personal feelings, I would state, that I myself have lost a brother in a foreign land. But we knew, to our comfort, that he had been made the chosen friend of a Missionary, and the chosen inmate of a Missionary's House; and the recollection that he had been cared for by a Missionary and loved a Missionary's company, consoled our minds with the hope that we might

meet him in a better world.

Yesterday I took my way, accompanied by a friend, to visit a very dissolute district of this city, and to look into the houses of the poor. I went into the house of a Roman Catholic, and entreated her to meet me on Sabbath Morning for instruction. She received me with doubt, and all that I could say to remove her fears seemed in vain. What availed me in that moment ? These Societies availed me. There sat in the room a warrior, who in Eastern Climes, had braved the dangers of the field; and he now sat before me with his hoary hairs and a face browned with Indian Suns, to plead that cause which I came to plead; and he said, 66 These Missioners are a noble people; for, in Ceylon, they visited our camp, and watched among our soldiers with the care of a brother, and they visited thousands of our soldiers in the hospitals and preached to them :" on which the honest man and all the people said, they would willingly gather themselves together and listen to my in

struction.

{Rev. Edward Irving—at the Lond, Miss, dun.

Inefficient Baptisms by Roman Catholics. While Mr. Townley was giving us his interesting statement, I could not but contrast it with one which I heard from another Missionary. He told me that he was sent out by the late King of France in 1791. He had laboured in Cochin China, and other places bordering on China and Hindoostan, for about thirty years; and gave an affecting account of the dangers to which he had been exposed. A price, he said, had been set on his head, and a band of sol diers sent in pursuit of him; some of whom he saw pass on one side, and some on the opposite side of the place of his concealment. He was forced to take refuge among the rocks near the sea: and, on one of these barren spots, he remained for several days and nights; some fishermen in the neighbourhood bringing him, now and then, a little food. I inquired what success he had had. "Ah!" said he, very great success.” And how ?" said I. He replied, 66 I baptized seventeen thousand persons." I asked, "Were they adults ?" "No, no," said he, they were children." "Then of course," I remarked, "they were baptized with the consent of their parents, who engaged to bring them up in the Christian Faith." "No," said he, "I passed as a medical person, and a great number of people brought their children to me, as there was at that time a fatal disorder in the country; and I took care to baptize them with a kind of a cross, and I baptized 17,000." Sir, I thought when our excellent friend, without any colouring, told us of the toils and labours of your Missionaries, and of the conversion of souls, I thought here are the Missionaries whom God hath sent, and Missionaries whom God hath owned.

Now,

[Rev.Joshua Marsden—at the London Miss.Anniv.

Necessity of Divine Influences.

Our Saviour has declared, Without Me, ye can do nothing-without my presence exhibited and experienced in the operations of my Spirit. We may trace this in the support which this Society has received. What can have conquered the natural selfishness of the human heart in the lower classes of society, whose contributions constitute a con

siderable part of our funds ?-what can have enabled them gladly to forego the gratifications, in which their equals were

indulging, and which were within their own power?-what can have induced them to spare out of their savings for charity? What can have produced this change, but the work of the Holy Spirit, causing their hearts to abound in love!

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And if we look at the next important point, we may well ask what it is that alone can give us suitable and successful Missionaries?-what can excite the Missionary Candidate to sacrifice home and friends and comforts for the sake of Christ? what can sustain the Missionary Labourer in all his trials, his risks, and his discouragements; perhaps far more than he could have ever supposed?. -what can guide him in everydifficulty? -what can keep him from sinful declension, and enable him to exhibit the high and holy simplicity of the Christian Life?-what can carry him through these abundant trials, but the influence of the Holy Spirit in his heart, causing them all to seem as nothing if he may but win souls to Christ, and thus promote the kingdom of his Redeemer!

But there is a third point of great importance. The funds may be ample -the Missionaries may be all suitable for their work, and worthy of their distinguished honour: but can these Funds or these Missionaries do aught, of themselves, toward the conversion of a single soul? What is it, that, alone, can shake or overturn one barrier among those mountains of prejudice and sin which oppose the entrance of Divine Truth into the soul of every single Heathen?—what can bring one thought of that soul to the obedience of Christ?

what can change the life of one single Heathen from unholy to holy?-what power can destroy the dominion of Satan in thousands of souls, among a people so long his willing slaves ?—what but the operation of the Holy Spirit, rendering effectual the efforts of His feeble servants, and out of their weakness ordaining strength!

Since, then, this Divine Agent, alone, can enable us to attain any branch of our object, and since we have the strongest reason to believe that the presence of that Divine Agent has been with us and will still be with us, how great is the demand on us for all praise for the past and hope for the future; and, above all, for increasing fervent prayer! Were our prayers, indeed, my Christian Friends, but in some due proportion to the contributions of the sup

porters of our Society-in number, and weight, and genuineness, and valuethen might we look for a tenfold blessing to attend us, and a tenfold measure of success to be brought before us at each returning Anniversary: then might we expect to hear that each moral desert, in which we now see but an Oasis scattered here and there, would become verdant as the garden of the Lord, and every wilderness a fruitful field. This we shall assuredly see, if we faint not in our labours if we faint not in our sacrifices-if we faint not in our expectations—but,above all, if we faint not in our prayers.

[Bishop of Gloucester-at the Church Mis. Ann.

Character of True Missionaries. We do not want men, who think they shall rise in this present world, by becoming Christian Missionaries: but men, who are prepared to fall in this world, and look to rise in the next world. We want men, who shall feel but little affected at the applause of an assembly, like this, of their fellow. servants, nor even by the applause of angels; but men who look higher, and seek only the honour of their Divine Master, the welfare of their fellow sinners, and that gracious approbation which they shall receive in the Great Day, of Well done, good and faithful

servant!

My Lord, I earnestly wish that this sentiment may be deeply impressed on the hearts of all: for I find, in my own Congregation, that the idea of becoming Missionaries does sometimes arise in the breasts of Young Men-and I cannot but desire that all Young Men should remember who they are that the service demands. We want men, like Owen, who will die at home, if they are called to labour and die there; men, like Martyn, who will, if called to it, die abroad, having first given up every thing dear to them in the present world, that they might testify the Gospel of the grace of God.

Our friends may learn from the very persons whom they would wish to teach. Among the things, which, according to the Hindoos, make a man a Fool, are two, well worthy of the notice of all who would be Missionaries. They call that man a Fool, who seeks any end, how. ever great, without suitable means; and they call him also a Fool, who pro fesses to teach others without being in possession of knowledge himself.