Third Resolution printed at p. 177 of our last Volume), in recommendation of more abundant supplication for the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit. From the Votes of Thanks to the Society's friends, we select the following, as indicative of the state of the Missions in various quarters : CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. Glory-2. From his own awful apprehension of the condition of those who know not God, and His ardent desire for their Salvation3. From His knowledge of the certain efficacy of the Gospel as the Means of Salvation to all who should believe. THE Annual Sermon was preached, on Monday Evening, the 29th of April, at St. Bride's Church, Fleet Street, by the Rev. Marmaduke Thompson, M.A. Chaplain of the Hon. the East-India Company on the Madras Establishment. From John iv. 34-36, Mr. Thompson That the most respectful thanks of considered the Causes of that Joy the Society are specially due to his which affected the Blessed ReExcellency, Major-General Sir Edward deemer, at the prospect of a people Barnes, K.C.B. late Lieutenant-Gover- prepared to receive Him, as arising nor of Ceylon, for the kind encourage-1. From His Zeal for the Divine ment given by him to our Mission in that Island; and for the facilities afforded by him to the introduction of Christianity into the Kandian Territory, by the establishment of a Mission at Kornegalle-to Major-General Sir Lachlan Macquarrie, late Governor of New South Wales, for his constant countenance of our Mission there since its commencement; and for several acts of liberality, in the grant of land for the erection of Chapels to MajorGeneral Sir Samford Whittingham, late Governor of the Island of Dominica, for the special interest taken by him in the extension of religious instruction to the Negroes of that Colony-to Major-General Sir Rufane Donkin, K.C.B. late Lieutenant-Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, for the liberty granted by him for the instruction, by our Missionaries, of the Slaves in Cape Town, and for other facilities given to the spread of Christianity in South Africa to his Excellency Brigadier-General Sir Charles MacCarthy, Governor of Sierra Leone, the steady friend of the moral and religious improvement of Western Africa and to all our Countrymen, who, in various official and influential situations abroad, have afforded encouragement to Missionaries, and forwarded their benevolent designs by their advice and patronage. The State of the Funds, at the close of 1821, was reported at pp. 129 and 130 of our Number for March. The Collection at the Meeting was about 140l. Donations connected with the Meeting carried the sum up to 4247. In applying the subject to the work of Missions, the Preacher drew the following picture of the State of India, of which he had himself been an eye-witness :— Look around upon the fields which occupy the cares of the Church Missionary Society. Comprehending a population of many myriads of our fellow-creatures and fellow-subjects, they exhibit to us, every where, through all the shores of the Mediterranean, from Africa to New Zealand, from West to Eastthe most affecting, the most appalling spectacles of sin and wretchedness-of dishonour to God, and of human degradation and perdition. My Brethren, I speak strongly-I speak, let it be remembered, as an eye-witness! For thirteen years, and upward, my lot has lain among the Heathen-among even the most civilized portion of them, in India. What you have shuddered but to hear, I have often shuddered to behold-and the remembrance is indelible! Not, however, to exhaust your time in adding to those tales of horror, of and devouring superstitions, which are moral turpitude, of abominable Idolatries, familiar to you through many valuable publications, let me declare to you solemnly, from this sacred place, that scarcely could we frame a record respecting India too piteous-too degrading-too base! There are those, I know, who would persuade you to think differently. Powerfully as these persons have oftentimes been refuted-disproved as their allegations are, by many open and notorious facts, especially that of the almost total absence of moral culture in those Native Schools which are under exclusive Native management, by the known wickednesses of their religious fables and rites, and by the complaints and reproaches on these accounts of their own Writers-let it suffice me, for the present, to add my own to the many strong and mournful testimonies to the enormities of the Gods, the Worship, the Priests, and the People of India and, for you, Christians! let no contradictions of false or misguided Brethren rob us of your sympathy and confidence, which are our comfort in many labours and tribulations. On the Encouragements offered by India, Mr. Thompson thus speaks : We will turn, however, from this view. Lift up, then, your eyes; and behold the fields as they appear, not in their own native shades, but in connection with Christian Missionaries. I must not attempt to lead you over the wide survey which we might take with delight: I must still contract your view to a part only-that interesting part the vast and prolific fields of India. There the scene presented to us, is distinctly that of a people now brought, from various causes, to a state of mental excitement unknown for ages; and everywhere welcoming Instructors. I speak of a fact, evidenced and authentieated by the most sensible alterations in the tone and habits of men of all castes, from the Brahmin to the Parian-by the eager desire of multitudes for instruction by combinations of the learned and affluent among them with ourselves, in School and School-book Societies by the writings and numerous disciples of Native Reformers-and by the testimony of the Missionaries of every Society to the respect and attention of willing crowds to the preaching of the Gospel, and the readiness with which Parents of every caste commit to them the education of their Sons. The Annual Meeting was held on Tuesday, the 30th of April, at Twelve o'clock, in Freemasons' Hall; Lord Gambier, the Presi dent, in the Chair. His Lordship having opened the Meeting, a Letter was read from the Lord Bishop of Gloucester, expressive of regret that the triennial duties of his Diocese prevented him from attending the Anniversary. Letters to the same effect, from his Lordship, were read at the Meetings of the Bible and Jews' Societies. The Report was read by the Secretary; and the Meeting was addressed, by the Treasurer, on the State of the Funds. The Receipts of the year had exceeded those of the year preceding, by about 2000/; and the Payments, as will be seen by the following abstract, had nearly equalled the Receipts. Receipts of the Year. Annual Subscriptions.. 28,135 19 Deduct Expenses, 1,019 Interest on Government Securi ties..... Total .... 3 .1554 14 6 0 .150 10 0 .482 0 0 -27,116 18 3 ..1,327 13 9 ...32,975 9 7 Purchase of 81,000 Numbers of the Missionary Register, at cost price, chiefly for the use of Collectors.. Printing Quarterly Papers, for the use of the Weekly and Monthly Contributors, Miscellaneous Printing.... Sundries including Adver tisements, Postage, Carriage, Rent, Taxes, Sala. ries, Poundage, and Incidentals... Total... 240 19 9 529 14 0 282 5 8 We shall give a full abstract of the Addresses delivered at the Meeting; ; as they will shew our Readers 1435 7 10 in what light some of the most intelligent Members of the Society view its various Proceedings; and both instruct and gratify them, may by the piety and eloquence displayed on this occasion. 1005 10 8 531 11 2 70 18 10 2252 18 4 £32,896 18 2 Funded Property. Besides the investment of 1000l. for the use of the Bishop's College at Calcutta, the Society possesses the following Stock-amounting to somewhat more than half-a-year's Expenditure. Reduced 3 per Cents. 60004-Consols 3 per Cents. 14,800%-Exchequer Bills 15002. The Resolutions were moved and seconded-by the Earl of Rocksavage; and the Rev. W. Dealtry, of Clapham-by Lord Calthorpe; and the Rev. Theophilus Blumhardt, Inspector of the Missionary Seminary at Bâsle-by W. Wilberforce, Esq. M.P.; and the Rev. J. W. Cunningham, of Harrowby John Herbert Harington, Esq. of Calcutta'; and T. Fowell Buxton, Esq. M.P.-and by the Rev. John Langley, Secretary of the Shropshire Church Missionary Association; and the Rev. John Brown, late of Belfast.-A concluding Resolution of Thanks was moved by the Earl of Gosford, and seconded by the Rev. James Haldane Stewart. The Collections amounted to May, 1822. Lord Gambier. Ladies and Gentlemen-I most respectfully and cordially congratulate you, on your being assembled together this day on this blessed occasion, to participate in the heavenly work before us. Every Anniversary of our Institution brings us renewed cause for lively gratitude and praise.. If we view the progress of Christianity within these last very few years, we cannot fail to acknowledge that the cause of the glorious Gospel is increasing throughout the world. Through the instrumentality of your Missionaries, and the Missionaries of kindred Institutions, the light of Divine Truth is spreading into the remotest corners of the earth: Heathens are coming to its brightness, and are turned from the power of Satan unto God. Wider fields are opening to the labours of Missionaries, and fresh sources supply the means of carrying on this blessed work. Ethiopia is stretching out her hands unto God, and the Kingdoms of this world are becoming the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. Here then is abundant cause for our thankfulness. Let us offer to the Lord an humble tribute of praise, while we pray for His blessing on the work of our hands. Let us from the heart say— Blessing, and honour, and praise, and holy and thankful worship, be rendered unto the Father of Mercies, throughout all the world, for ever and ever; for great and marvellous are His ways, and holy is His Name! Let the people praise Thee, O Lord! yea let all the people praise Thee. Serve the Lord 2 B with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Be ye sure, that the Lord He is God over all the Earth. Oh go your ways into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: for His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endureth from generation to generation. The Report having been read by the Secretary, the Treasurer addressed the Meeting. John Thornton, Esq. My Lord-The Report has so fully anticipated the remarks which I would have made on the state of our funds, that I have but little to say in my character as Treasurer of the Society. It is, however, very satisfactory to be able to state, that, after a regular increase of several years, they have continued to advance in the last year. At first sight, My Lord, it might excite our surprise, when we consider the circumstances of the times in which we live, that so large a sum as Thirtythree Thousand Pounds should be poured into our treasury in the past year. But on what depends the support of Institutions like these ?-Is it on caprice, or impulse, or passion ?-No, My Lord: this stream of benevolence springs from the perennial source of Christian Love! We have heard an instance of this in the Report just read, in the case of the Negro Woman in Sierra Leone, who, having received benefit from the Gospel herself, could not rest till she had brought others to partake with her therein and this, My Lord, as we confidently trust and believe, is the true cause of the increase in our funds: and so far from being surprised at this increase, I must confess that I, for one, expect still more, from the continued and growing influence of this divine principle. Earl of Rocksavage. My Lord-I feel myself so incompetent, I most unfeignedly say, to address at length such a Meeting as this, that I should not have risen at all, had I not felt it a duty to express my respect to this Noble Institution. When I call it a Noble Institution, I hope I do so from my very heart. It is an Institution which has the noblest of all causes for its object. The noblest of all causes is, the Cause of our Lord Jesus Christ; and we know that this is a cause which must ultimately prevail, for the infallible records of inspiration tell us so. The Kingdoms of the earth will become the Kingdom of the Saviour: and I humbly trust, that by what we have this day already heard, and by what we shall still hear from the many able persons around me, we shall be stimulated, under God's blessing, to fresh activity. I am unwilling to call the attention of this Meeting to any thing which regards myself; yet I cannot but say, that I feel most gratefully the honour which has been conferred on me, in nominating me one of the Vice-Patrons of the Society. It is, indeed, the highest honour, to be made instrumental, in the slightest degree, in promoting a cause, which engages the attention, not only of all the good on earth, but of all the angels of God in heaven. I fully accord with the Motion in my hand, which I will now read:: and printed under the direction of That the Report now read be received, the Committee: and that this Meeting desires to express its unfeigned thankfulness to the Father of Mercies, for the blessings hitherto vouchsafed to the proceedings of the Society; and its increasing conviction, that the efforts of man, though directed to the highest end, must be in vain, without the aid of Him from whom "all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed:" and the Meeting would, therefore, not only attribute all past success to His favour and blessing, but earnestly urge on the Members of the Society, the importance of imploring the enlarged influences of the Holy Spirit on this and on all similar Institutions. Rev. William" Dealtry, My Letter to those persons, if such there be, who consider that nothing has been effected because the whole world has not been converted, who look down with sublime indifference on the few hundreds instructed by the preaching of the Gospel, and on a few thousands of scholars taught to read the Scriptures and to attend the preaching of the Word of God-on such persons, I am persuaded, the facts which have been stated this day will produce little or no effect. But I consider myself as now addressing persons of a very different description. I believe the persons who are here assembled, do indeed feel the vast impor tance and the commanding obligation of making known the Gospel of Christ to a guilty world. They would rejoice to hear if but of one child being instructed in Christian Truth-of even but one sinner being brought to the knowledge of Christ. It would be lost labour to offer remarks on all the Stations occupied by the Society; but as I have the honour to second the Motion just made by the Noble Earl, I may allude to two or three circumstances in the Report, in order to shew the great necessity for this Institution. One of the most important parts of the world visited by this Society is the East Indies. I will not remark on the statement which we have heard, that spheres for labour are opening faster than Missionaries can be procured-nor on the impressive Letter of the Metropo litan of the Syrian Church to the Society -nor on that of the Rev. Joseph Fenn, so animating in its details and its prospects, in reference to the Syrian Church. But there is another Letter, which we have heard, addressed by the Governor-General of India to your Lordship; and, adverting to the statements of that Letter, I would ask what must be the character of a population where no moral principles are inculcated on the rising generation:-what the Children educated in such Native Schools must become, in advancing to maturity, every one can tell. Thousands of these Children, who would grow up, but for our exertions, in entire ignorance of all that is really good, are instructed in sound principles, and are thus training for the Kingdom of Heaven. I would allude to another circumstance mentioned in the Report-I mean the benevolent spirit of the Christian Negroes collected in the Settlements in Sierra Leone. It struck me, while hearing the statements respecting these lately-liberated Slaves, that if it had occurred in the pages of ancient Ecclesiastical History, that some traveller had lighted upon a people, so anxious for religious instruction, and so devoted to their worship, that they attended daily in great numbers at Morning and Evening Prayers-that they exhibited their Christian Charity in a way so remarkable, that, when some outcasts landed on their coast, they ran to them, pouring as it were oil and wine into their wounds, carrying them on their backs to their town, and supplying them with every necessary-this would be a Fact to which we should allude, as one of the most interesting which the page of his tory could produce. We should have said, "Happy are the people under the influence of a spirit like this! and happy are the spectators of scenes like these!" But, My Lord, this is an event of our own day! There is now such a Goshen, where the inhabitants have light in their dwelling! There is an Oasis of this kind, even in the deserts of Africa! It might, indeed, be thought that these people were naturally of very amiable character: but the Report states explicitly, that this was not the case; and that, previous to the introduction of Christianity among them, if some of their re-captured countrymen landed on the coast, they would perhaps inquire if there were among them a brother, or a relative, or a friend, but were quite indifferent to the wants and sufferings of others: but we find, on the occasions stated in the Report, that they inquired not who is my brother or my friend, but they eagerly supplied the wants of all, and shewed their love to God by their love to their fellow-creatures. were And I am the more forcibly impressed by this fact, from the contrast which it affords to the state of the Slaves on board LeRodeur, a French vessel, among whom, as she was crossing the Atlantic in 1819, with 160 Slaves and a crew of 22 men, the Ophthalmia appeared. From the Slaves, the disease reached the crew; all of whom, except one man, became wholly or partially blind. A question naturally arises, "Why did not the Negroes rise upon the crew ?" as it iɛ known, that such was their love of liberty, that when they could seize the opportunity they leaped into the sea. The real cause of their not rising was their mutual hatred. Consisting of dif ferent tribes, they looked upon one another with malice; and, though in chains, were ready to tear one another in pieces! Mark the contrast, produced by the blessing of God on the residence of a few years at Sierra Leone! And as a proof of the power of the Gospel, I would recall to your recollection the statement of the Report, that these Negroes had been under Christian Instruction only for the short period of four years. Well might the Naval Officer who accompanied Sir Charles |