Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

'No, Massa, no! Me live in the country, and no saby God [knew nothing of God]-me go to Rio Pongas-me live a year with Mr. Wenzel-me saby little of God. I continued, You do think it, then, of some use to send White People to teach Black Men?' He answered, 'Yes, Massa! me walk on here in the dark, (pointing to the steps of the piazza)-me have no candle-me fall, me break my arm, or break my leg: but White Man put candle in my hand me see me no fall-me walk down steps-me get home safe! Me not know much, but know little about God. Mr. Butscher speaks-and me glad to know more."

SOCIETY FOR THE RELIEF OF

POOR PIOUS CLERGYMEN. It is with much real interest that we remind our readers of this excellent though unobtrusive institution. Its necessity and objects are concisely unfold ed in the following remarks of its Committee.

"The faithful minister of the Gospel has much to do, and much to suffer. If his post is honourable, it is also difficult. He must expect many trials which are peculiar to his office, and, indeed, inseparable from it." "His life must be a warfare, under any circumstances; but how much more so when, besides his various difficulties as a minister, his feelings as a man are incessantly agitated by the daily wants of a numerous family, without the means of supplying them-when the hours which he would devote to the improvement of his own mind and to the edification of his parishioners, are imbittered by the obtrusion of anxious concern how to avoid contracting new debts, or to discharge his existing obligations-when the anguish, with which the wants of a wife or children must affect a tender mind, follows him into his study, and even into his pulpit?" "The objects of this Society, though two-fold, are inseparably united-to relieve distress, and promote the cause of true religion-in other words, to faci. litate the progress of real piety in country parishes, by assisting, with pecuniary aid, such truly serious, diligent, and useful Clergymen, as from the smallness of their incomes are the subjects of discouragement and distress. By this, the Society hope to render the ministry of such useful Clergymen more respect ed, and thereby to further the progress

of vital religion in our excellent Establishment in the distant parishes of the kingdom."

The receipts during the last year have been 18287. 4s. 2d. The total, since its establishment in 1788, 31,1337. 17s.

We proceed to give a few extracts from various letters received by the Socicty during the last year.

1. "I take an early opportunity of informing you, that, to my unspeakable pleasure, I have this evening been favoured with your exceedingly kind and very valuable letter. Many have been the times, when the Committee of your most excellent Society has removed from my mind a very heavy pressure.Our difficulties at the close of the preceding year had become exceedingly serious. My dear, valuable, and laborious wife, and nine children, all wholly dependent upon me for support, witnessed the opening of the letter, and became acquainted with its valuable contents. Silent weeping, and I trust adoring gratitude, were the instant consequence! I hope this unexpected instance of such great Christian beneficence, so seasonably and so kindly bestowed, will never be forgotten by any of us. Oh, may it bind us in stronger bonds of love, to the cause, the cross, and the work of our all-gracious Lord!"

2. "I am curate of a church called where I have been officiating for the last three years; and I trust my labours have not been in vain. My congregation, and the number of communicants, are much increased. There

was

no Sunday-school in the parish when I first entered upon this curacy; now we have three, consisting of about 160 children, most of whom attend my ministry. I hope good is doing among us, though I am sensible of my deficiency in zeal and knowledge. But the sword of the Spirit,' in the hand of the Spirit, is always victorious; so that many are brought to feel and confess that the Gospel is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth.' I am very sorry to be under the necessity of applying for relief. I never received more than twenty pounds a year for serving, and I scarcely hope to receive so much this year, as the incumbent is himself extremely poor. What to do, I know not! I am not willing to leave the poor affectionate people, and so many children, who are attached to me as a father. The Rev.

knows me and my manner of life, and to him I beg leave to refer you."

3. "I have already been assisted by your Society, that I might not bring my gracious Master's name into disrespect on my account; and I pray to him, and trust in him, that he will move the hearts of the Committee again at this juncture with the same commiseration to me and mine. My only income this year is sixty pounds. I have always seven in family to provide for, and an extra woman occasionally. There are a charity school and a Sunday school established in my parish; both of which are superintended by myself.-I hope my heavenly Father will cause all things to work together for my good, and all will be well at the last."

4. "My family consists of six persons, viz. myself, my wife, three children, and a servant; for all whom I have to provide. My regular annual income is from 90 to 921. I have begun a monthly Sunday evening lecture, for which I have received 121. from my congregation; and I receive nothing from any other source whatever. My wife has been unwell for the last twelve months; and whether she will ever be restored to health, God only knows. We are in his hands, and are too ready to repine at his dispensations; but hereafter, if not now, we shall see that he has ordered all things well. The thought of there being at the right hand of God a prevalent Intercessor, who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, is an indescribable source of consolation. At this moment I have only about one pound in my house, which I must pay this day; and I have little or none to receive till June. Thus circumstanced, dear Sir, I humbly request you will present my case to the Society; and should any thing be granted for the relief of myself and family, it would be the means of wiping away our tears; of pouring the balm of consolation into my drooping spirits; and enabling us, with renewed vigour, to prosecute the important work we have in hand."

5. "When I recollect your worthy institution is carrying on the work of Heaven, where charity never faileth,' I take the liberty of laying my case before you. My circumstances are greatly perplexed, although my salary for the three churches, and school, amounts to nearly 1001. per annum. My little family are more and more expensive, as they grow up. It pleased

the Lord to visit me with the rod of correction this last winter; but, blessed be his Name,' he has not given me over unto death.' My wife, and seven little ones, were dreadfully visited with the hooping cough, when considerable medical expense was incurred. Immediately after followed the loss of my cow, just ready to calve; and I have it not in my power to spare so much as ten shillings toward the buying of another! Thus, numerous are the difficulties I meet with in my passage through life; and were it not that a gracious Providence often interferes in my behalf, they would be insurmountable."

6. "I know not what apology I can make for my continued petitioning of your worthy Society, except the continued poverty of myself and family, which, of a truth, is very distressed, though we have been repeatedly and bountifully relieved. My fear, as a minister, of bringing a reproach on the blessed Gospel, which I endeavour to preach and adorn, for want of being able to fulfil my engagements-and my feelings also as a husband and a father, put me to the arduous task......... The total income I receive for the service of three churches, is 651. per annum. The total income I derived last year, from other sources (merely providential), was about 601. We have now only NINE children; one of whom is in London, at a public school. Fire of our eldest daughters are ready and anxious for situations; but our utmost efforts have failed hitherto to get them suitable ones, consequently there are eight de pendent on us for support. My wife has been very ill indeed, since Christmas last, with a nervous fever. Her afflictions add much to our expenses. We have illness often in the family. It is painful to add, that we cannot possibly avoid contracting debts, and cannot possibly pay our creditors, though our debts are frequently demanded of

us.

Our circumstances are very distressing indeed at this time, and whatever the Committee may be pleased to send to us, under our present difficulty, shall be acknowledged with gratitude and sincere thanks."

7. "I received your kind letter, including a Bank Post-bill, value for which I beg leave to return the gentlemen of the Committee my most sincere acknowledgments, begging that the Lord may reward them. I would not have applied had I not been really in

want, having a wife and EIGHT children, with a certain annual income of only 701. A few days ago I did not know what to do for money to pay what I owed; but the Lord, who hitherto has never forsaken me, supplied my present want by your seasonable relief. May I never be insensible of his goodness!"

8. "Your letter of the 9th instant, with a Bank Post-bill for - safely arrived. My heart overflows with joy and gratitude to Almighty God, that such a society as that to which you are secretary, should exist; and that such an humble labourer in Christ's vineyard as myself should have been thought worthy of relief to such a liberal extent. Nor can I express the feelings of my heart upon the occasion of your letter. I can only say, that my prayers will never cease for the prosperity of 'the Society for the Relief of Poor Pious Clergy.' You will please to express my unfeigned gratitude to the gentlemen of the Committee. They will rejoice to hear, that the two churches which I serve, where, in times past, seldom more than a dozen or twenty have attended at each, now often contain, the one 800, and the other 400 persons. And, in a parish where every vice and iniquity prevailed, I have established schools; and last Sabbath I catechized 300 children. I pray earnestly, that we may all strive diligently to promote the glory of God, the honour of our Saviour, the present and eternal welfare of our fellow-sinners. It is a source of extreme grief to me, that I am not able, by my own means, to distribute Bibles, Prayer-books, and tracts, for which I have daily applications."

9. 66 By the extreme pressure of the times, I am compelled to repeat my application to the Society, and to solicit their benevolent assistance. I need not inform them that my income is too in adequate to support my family, as I have a wife and NINE children, and a curacy of only fifty pounds per ann. Were it not for necessitous circumstances, I would not trouble the Society, for I feel the import of the expression, It is more blessed to give than to receive.' However, as things are, I desire to praise God for such a truly Christian society, to which the faithful ministers of the word of God can relate their tale of woe and misery, when depressed by pinching poverty, and bowed down with urgent wants and where they generally find friends to alleviate their distresses, and

relieve their pressing necessities. I can testify from grateful experience, that I have several times been extricated from my difficulties, and my gloomy prospects have been dissipated, by the beneficent and charitable aids of the society."

10. "While preparing for orders, I left my aged mother with a poor relation, promising to return, as I was able, the money he should expend in providing for her maintenance. Having had, since my entering the ministry, to discharge the debt which had been thus contracted, and other unavoidable expenses, and my stipend being only sixty guineas per annum, I have been kept very poor. My dear Saviour had not where to lay his head. The place which my circumstances have enabled me to procure for my residence, is the parlour of a small cottage, which I take yearly. It is the only room we have. The road to it leads through the house, occupied by two old people. The bed on which I sleep, which is the only one we have, is an old chuff bed, which my dear mother preserved, while I was absent, and on which she then slept. My aged parent sleeps on one similar (an old chaff one), which we borrowed of the people under whose roof we dwell. Nearly all other necessaries we borrow of the old people. When my poor mother washes for us, she sits to do it. A little help would be most seasonable and acceptable, as it would enable us to purchase many necessary things."

RUSSIAN BIBLE SOCIETY. Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Ebenezer Henderson, dated Bible Society's House, St. Petersburg, June 8, 1817.

"Yesterday was celebrated the Fourth Anniversary of the Russian Bible Society. Notwithstanding the unfavourable state of the weather, and the inconvenient situation of the Taurian Palace (in one of the magnificent halls of which the meeting was held), it was computed to have been nearly three times more numerously attended than it was last year. Many of the most distinguished personages, both in church and state, honoured the meeting with their presence. I was peculiarly struck with the sight of a groupe of graduated monks and professors, from the Newsky Monastery, and of a number of military officers, high in rank, who appeared in another direction. Representatives of most of the nations for whom we are

preparing editions of the sacred Scriptures-such as Russians, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, Moldavians, Finns, Poles, Esthouians, Livonians, Germans, and French-were assembled to take part in the ceremony, and listen to the interesting details of the publication of the word of God in their respective languages. Among others, I observed two learned Russians, who have spent fifteen years in the academy in Pekin, and are masters of the Chinese and Mandshur languages."

"You will recollect the very important resolution passed at the second meeting of the Committee of the Russian Bible Society, purporting that they should not consider themselves to have attained the object of their institution, till they bad provided with a Bible every family, and, if possible, every individual in the Russian empire. With what ardour they are pushing forward to the attainment of this object, and accelerating the complete redemption of their pledge, will be seen, when it is stated, that, from the establishment of the Society to the present time, its Committee have either published, or are engaged in publishing, no fewer than forty-three editions of the sacred Scriptures, in seventeen different languages, forming a grand total of 196,000 copies. In the course of 1816, the Committee have completed Slavonian Bibles ....... .......10,000 Ditto New Testaments.. .10,000 Finnish Bibles 5,000 French Bibles.... 5,000 And Samogitiau New Testaments 5,000 "And, at present, the printing of the following editions is either continued, or has been begun, in 1817. Slavonian Bibles

Ditto

.....

New Testaments

Armenian Bibles......

[ocr errors][merged small]

...

....

[blocks in formation]

Ditto New Testaments .... 5,000
German Catholic ditto.......... 5,000
Lettonian New Testaments... 5,000
Dorpatian Esthonian ditto...... 5,000
Tartar New Testaments........ 2,000
Gospel of St. Luke (extra copies) 2,000
Psalms.......
..... 2,000

And Calmuc Gospel.

2,000 "The number of Bibles and Testaments issued in the course of the year amounts to 19,431 copies, which is only about 500 copies fewer than were issued the three former years put together. The expenditures are nearly in the same proportion. During the three years, 1813, 1814, and 1815, the expenditure amounted to 297,642 rubles, 47 copecs; in 1816, alone, 227,770 rubles, 73 copecs.

"Besides the above, preparations are making for stereotype editions of the Scriptures in five different languages: they are in a course of translation into the common Russian, Tartar, and Carelian languages; and measures are adopting for procuring translations into Turkish Armenian and Burat Mongolian."

Mr. Henderson adds, in a Postscript, that application has lately been made by the Missionaries at Astrachan for copies of the Sanscrit Scriptures (printed at Serampore), for the use of Brahmins, and other Indians, resident in that city, who, on examining certain specimens, desired to be furnished with copies. A letter, written in Hebrew, and signed by six Rabbies, has also been received, requesting Hebrew Bibles for about nine hundred Jewish families, resident in the Kumak Country, on the 5,000 western shore of the Caspian. "Here," 5,000 observes Mr. Henderson, " is a fresh 3,000 opening for the Hebrew Testament now 3,000 printing in London."

...20,000

....

[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]

VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

THE last month has produced scarcely any event, either foreign or domestic, of much interest or importance.

• In India, the fortress of Hattrass, occupied by one of the refractory native chiefs, has been captured, without the

loss of a single man. On the 2d of March the whole of our mortar batteries opened on the fort, and about sun-set the magazine of the enemy blew up. The chief (Dyaram) attempted after dark to make his escape, at the head of

his cavalry. In this he succeeded; but our troops, in consequence, immediately entered the fort with scarcely any op. position from the remainder of the garrison. The still stronger fortress of Bhurtpore is expected to be next proceeded against. But it is not merely the subjugation of a few petty Rajahs which appears to engage the attention of the British Government in India. The assistance afforded to the Pindarries in their late predatory incursion by Scindiah, the most formidable of the Mahratta powers, has sufficiently disclosed his hostile intentions. Sound policytherefore seems to demand that his plans should be anticipated, and crushed before they attain full consistency.

An arrangement has been made, in France, for the progressive restoration to active service of that numerous and formidable body of men, the half-pay officers of the late armies. A certain number of them are in future to be attached to the regular army, and one half of the commissions which fall vacant are to be distributed among them. This measure, together with the further reduction which has been requested of the troops under the command of the duke of Wellington, either bespeaks a considerable degree of confidence in the French government with respect to its own stability and power, or intimates that its counsels are conducted by men not over-zealous for the permanent duration of the present order of things.

The ecclesiastical affairs of France, which have been for a considerable time under discussion, appear now to be finally arranged. An envoy from the pope has arrived at Paris, with no less than three cardinals' hats for as many French prelates. The Concordat also is expected every day. It is in substance much the same as that concluded with Francis I. three hundred years ago. The

propositions in it are-1. That the power of the pope relates only to spiritual, and not to temporal matters; -2. That the authority of the pope is subordinate to a general council;-3. That in France it is limited by the canons, customs, and constitution of the Gallican kingdom and church;-4. That in matters of faith the judgment of the pope is not infallible.

The contests in Spanish and Portuguese America still continue to furnish matter for report and speculation; but the accounts received from the hostile parties are so confused and contradictory, that it is impossible to ascertain with certainty the real state of things, till the arrival of more full and authentic intelligence.

Two public meetings have been held in London, for the purpose of discussing the merits of Mr. Owen's plan for the relief of the distressed poor, and the ultimate extinction of pauperism and its attendant evils. A popular assembly was certainly not a very fit arena for such a discussion; nor can it be a subject of surprise that on both these occa sions the introduction of party politics, and other irrelevant matters, rendered the assembly a scene of tumult and confusion. Mr. Owen's plan has certainly gained no popularity by the result of these appeals to the public mind. We forbear, at present, to enter into the details of his ill-advised and impracticable scheme, as we shall shortly have an opportunity of devoting a paper expressly to the subject. In the mean time, however, we cannot avoid remarking, that, in his own mind at least, his scheme seems to involve the entire rejection of Christianity, which he has not scrupled to stigmatize, in common with the false religions which have prevailed in the world, as the fruitful source of most of the evils which have afflicted humanity.

ECCLESIASTICAL PREFERMENTS.

Rev. George P. Norris, East Anstey >R. Devon, vice Lewis, resigned.

Rev. John H. Randolph, Burton Coggles R. co. Lincoln.

Kev. Henry Green, M. A. All Saints V. Bristol.

Rev. Samuel Browne, Halling V.Keut.

Rev. James Marston, Longdon upon Tern, Salop, vice the late Bishop Wat

son.

Rev. Noel Thomas Ellison, M.A. Whatton R. co. Northumberland.

Rev. G. Carter, Lakenham and Trowse Newton V. Norfolk.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »