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faction of hearing the cry of the penitent, and the song of the convert. Those who have attended my preaching have uni formly manifested great attention and seriousness; and there. has been a gradual increase both in the congregation and society. There are some, I trust, who, when I first came to York, "made light" of these things, can now rejoice in God who sheweth mercy." The late arrangements between the British and American Connexions respecting the Canadas, have, in most plates,.. I believe, been attended with good. There is a prospect that the difficulties which have hitherto existed, will give place to the general peace and prosperity of the church of Christ.

The peculiar duties of my station have prevented my labour-si ing much in the country: though I have taken occasional excursions, and am enabled to give you some information respecting the state of things in this Province. I do it with the greater cheerfulness, as I have confidence in the sympathy and liberality of Missionary and Bible Societies, whose assistance is much wanted in Canada. A great tide of emigration is filling the woods with inhabitants; and it is an important object with us that our means of supply should keep pace with the increase of population, and the wants of the people. There are many? parts to which the labours of our preachers cannot be extended, unless they leave their horses and travel on foot, through an almost pathless wilderness, and encounter many other difficul ties arising from the scanty means of comfort among the inhab itants. But this they are determined to do, rather than souls should perish through lack of knowledge. There are, however, many new settlements so detached from the circuits, that it is impossible, or very difficult to visit them often: consequent ly they are mostly destitute of the means of grace. There is: generally manifested an earnest desire to enjoy regular and constant preaching: And as, at present, they do not possess the means of affording much assistance to the support of the gospel, I know of no way to meet their wants, except sending missionaries among them. We have among us young men who would willingly sacrifice their earthly comforts to preach the gospel to the poor and destitute. Could the Methodist Missionary Society afford us some assistance, I have no doubt the hearts of hundreds would be made glad. The prospect presents us with a great and glorious harvest ;-the fields are already white, and every circumstance is calculated to awaken the sympathy and benevolence of the people of God.

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Our friends in the old settlements are not silent upon this subject. Many of them take a deep interest in the welfare of: their brethren in the bush; and have expressed a wish to contribute something to the support of Missionaries among them. I think you may expect that some of the circuits will constitutes.

their preachers members for life of the Methodist Missionary Society, as I am informed by brother Case that they are already taking that step in his district.*

If we listen again to the cry of the people, we hear them inquiring for Bibles and Testaments. "Have you none to give us, or sell to us at a small price? We have none to read in our families, or give to our children in the Sunday Schools. Many of us are poor and cannot purchase them; and unless some friends, whom providence has placed in better circumstances, assist us, we must remain destitute." This is their language,--a language too forcible not to excite our commiseration. Testaments are most wanted, as less expensive, and more suitable for Sunday Schools; which, I am happy to state, are fast rising in the estimation of the people, and increasing throughout the country. It is highly gratifying to witness the attention and earnestness of the rising generation in the pursuit of divine knowledge. It is not unfrequently the case that a number have a claim upon one testament, or a part of one, for want of more, in preparing their recitations for the school, Much good has already arisen from the institution, though yet in its infancy; and it promises still more. I indulge the hope that the American Bible Society, by a knowledge of our condition, will remember us for good. Would it not be expedient to lay our case before them? Should any be sent to me, I should take great pleasure in distributing them among the most needy and destitute; and doubt not they would be thankfully received, and be the means of instructing many in the knowledge of salvation. With fervent prayers for the prosperity of Bible and Missionary institutions,

I subscribe myself your
Fellow-labourer in the
Gospel of Christ.

F. REED.†

* It appears, from subsequent information, that this has been done. At the last Genesee Conference, the writer of this letter and Keneth M. K. Smith, were appointed Missionaries to the new settlements, in UpperCanada.

NUMBER OF METHODISTS.

THERE are now twelve annual Conferences in the United States, including nine hundred and seventy-seven travelling preachers, probably about three thousand local preachers, and two hundred and eighty-one thousand one hundred and fortysix members.

These Conferences are divided into seventy Districts, under the oversight of seventy Presiding Eiders, and these Districts include five hundred and seventy-seven circuits and stations. VOL. IV.

45

Annual Conferences,

Districts,

Circuits and stations.

Travelling Preachers,

Local Preachers, probably,

Members,

Members last year,

Increase this year,

12

70

577

. 977

3000

281146

259890

21256

In the first Conference which was held in America, in 1773, there were ten travelling preachers, and eleven hundred and sixty members. What hath God wrought since that time?

The above Conferences comprehend the whole of the United States, and territories, and the Province of Upper-Canada. And measures are now in operation, through the instrumentality of the Methodist Missionary Society, to carry the light of the gospel among the Indian Tribes, and the scattered population in the exterior parts of our Country, where the stated means of grace are not enjoyed by the people.

The following statement will shew the number of Methodists throughout the world,

Great-Britain, 1820,

In Ireland,

191217

23800

215017

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From the London Methodist Magazine.

THE following excellent Letter, written by Dr. Clarke, and addressed by him, in the Dedication of his Clavis Biblica, to the Committee of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, shows a train of thinking, and breathes a feeling so much in harmony with the objects of this publication, that we doubt not but it will be read by our Missionary friends with great pleasure. To the Rev. JABEZ BUNTING, M. A. President of the Methodists' Conference for the year 1820; the Rev. Messrs. JOSEPH TAYLOR, RICHARD WATSON, and JOHN BURDSALL, Secretaries; * Joseph BUTTERWORTH, Esq. M. P. and the Rev. GEORGE MARSDEN, General Treasurers; and all the Gentlemen and Ministers, composing the General Committee of the Wesleyan Missionary Society.

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GENTLEMEN AND BRETHREN,

In dedicating this Treatise to you, I feel as if I were contributing a little to the general cause, by endeavouring to strengthen the hands of those who are bearing the heaviest part of the burden, and enduring the greatest intensity of the heat of the day, next to the men who are actually employed in the Foreign Missionary stations. And I am glad to have the opportunity of expressing in some permanent way the deep sense I feel of the great importance of the work in which God has employed you; the piety, prudence, and economy with which you conduct it; and the singular manner in which He has blessed and prospered your unremitting and arduous endeavours to spread the knowledge of His truth throughout the habitable world.

Nothing can be more consistent with the genius and spirit of Methodism, which so uniformly asserts and invincibly proves the love of God to the whole human race, than Missionary exertions.

Your great Founder began his unexampled labours in the true spirit of a Missionary, by an attempt to carry the glad tidings of salvation to the savage Indians of North-America, before he commenced his ministerial career among his own countrymen. And his companions and successors in the Work have seconded his views, and carried on his plans with daily increasing extension.

When I look back, particularly to the year 1786, when the little cloud small as a human hand, appeared to rise out of the sea, and trace down to the present time its vastly increasing magnitude, and behold it filling the whole heavens, and distilling its fertilizing showers from north to south, from west to east; I cannot but exclaim with gratitude and adoration, What hath

God wrought! This Missionary cloud, so small in promise at the beginning, received its direction and increase from God alone for the great things which have been effected were not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts. The Missionaries sent out by the Methodists' Conference, under your superintendence, have indeed been most especially owned by Him, who gave the command; "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." He has accompanied the men who taking up the ark of God faithfully bore it upon their shoulders, unweariedly traversing desarts where the sun of truth never shone; and with the cloud of His presence He has overshadowed them, when exposed to the sultry and pestilential climes of Asiatic regions; and with His pillar of fire He has defended and warmed them when cultivating the cold, dreary, and inhospitable coasts of Newfoundland. They have gone successfully forth from the shores of Britain even to our Antipodes in New-Zealand, taking nothing of the Gentiles, and although comparatively poor making many rich.

Amidst all the anxieties, and the pleasing yet arduous duties in which you are engaged, you still learn that wherever your Missionaries proclaim the truths of the Gospel, and plant the standard of the cross, those heavenly doctrines have become, through the Divine influence, light, spirit, and life, to the people. You have already seen the strong man bowing himself before the foolishness of this preaching; the deluded Pagan throwing his idols to the moles and to the bats; the proud wor shippers of Budhoo learning at the feet of Jesus to renounce his former trust; and many among the savage and sanguinary tribes of South Africa and elsewhere, ceasing to do evil, and learning to do well. Through these Missionaries, the wilderness has been gladdened, the solitary place has rejoiced, and the desart blossomed as the rose. Thus have ye seen the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of your God.

Among the poor, oppressed, servile, and wretched progeny of Ham, the Wesleyan Missionaries have been eminently successful. In the midnight of their servitude, these outcasts have had the light and liberty of the Gospel proclaimed to them; and, though still fettered in body, they have learned under the doctrine of the cross to bear it patiently, rejoicing in the liberty wherewith Jesus Christ has made them free. Among those hard-fated Africans, the labours of your Missionaries have been successful beyond any thing I find recorded in the annals of the Christian Church, from the days of the Apostles to the present

time.

Indeed, whether I turn my eyes to the West or East Indies, to North America, to the burning sands of Africa, or to the con fines of Europe, I still behold your labours crowned by the bless

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