BARTON.-On Lord's-day, March 17th, the ordinance of baptism was administered at this place to four males and one female. Two of the males were Wesleyans, and will continue in fellowship with their old friends. J. C.

PINCHBECK.-On Lord's day March 17th, the ordinance of baptism was administered in the river Glen, which runs through this village, when three persons were baptized by Mr. Everard, of Gosberton, (Mr. Simons being unwell at the time.) The morning was very cold, the wind boisterous, and the waves violent; but the candidates attended to the ordinance with great comfort and We have a few more candidates. peace.

an

It may appear proper to state, that Mr. Simons, who is a member of the General Baptist Church at Louth, accepted invitation from the friends here, to become their minister, and commenced his stated labors on the last Lord's-day in January; and the writer feels sincere pleasure in remarking, that a field of extensive usefulness is before him: the ministry of the Gospel is attended by crowded congregations, who listen with the most marked and serious attention, and others would attend, could they be accommodated. Under these circumstances it became a question of importance whether an attempt should not be made to provide for the accommodation of such, and on Monday evening, April 1st, a meeting was held, and the matter discussed, when John West, Esq, who attends with us, rose and offered to give a peice of land whereon to build a chapel, and £10. towards the erection; a subscription was commenced, and about fifty pounds promised at the meeting, and friends appointed to solicit further subscriptions. B. P. NETHERSEAL.-On Sunday April 7th, four persons were baptized, and received into fellowship with the Church.

CASTLE DONINGTON.-Five persons were baptized in this place, on Lord's-day, April 7th, when Mr. Owen, delivered a discourse from 2 Cor. iv. 2.

LEEDS. Byron Street.-We have had the pleasure of adding one person to our Church by baptism; another person was baptized but has not joined us. We are looking up a little. There is a manifest improvment in our congregation and Sabbath school.

T. L.

DERBY, Sacheverel Street.-On Sunday, April 7th, nine were added to our number by baptism; four males and five females. In the morning, Brother Wilders, of Smalley, preached a convincing baptismal sermon, from Jer. vi. 16 "Ask for the old paths." Mr. Smith, minister of the place, gave an address to the candidates, and baptized;

and in the afternoon Mr. Pike, of St. Mary's Gate, administered to us the Lord's-supper, and received the newly-baptized into the Church. It was a day of good things.

YARMOUTH-On Lord's day, March 10th, two females were received into the Church, by baptism. It was a good day with us. The conviction, that baptism by immersion is the only baptism of the Scriptures, gains ground. We have several serious inquirers, and one candidate.

BIRCHCLIFFE.-Ten persons were bap tized at this place on Good Friday, April 5th.

MACCLESFIELD-On Lord's day, April 7th, after an excellent sermon by the Rev. J. Alcorn, of Gillbent, from Rom. vi. 1-4, our pastor, the Rev. J. Lindley, immersed four females, teachers in our Sabbath-school. The congregation was good, and deeply impressed. We have more inquiring their way to Zion.

ACADEMY. COLLECTIONS RECEIVED,— Burton-on-Trent

Retford

Barton

S. S.

£ s. d.

1 13 3

1 5 3

8 10 0

We have

Special Subscriptions for the expenses of Furniture, &c., for the Academy.

much pleasure in announcing the following sums, collected for this object:

Nottinghan, Broad-street.
J. Heard, Esq.
Mr. J. Smith

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20 0 0

5 0 0

Thos. Herbert 5 0

AT a committee meeting of the General Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, held at Loughborough, on Monday, April 8th, it was determined, that, as Mr. Buckley will go out alone, he should travel overland, providing the expense would not be materially increased. In the event of this arrangement being carried into effect, our brother will not leave England until August next, instead of June. His designation is to take place at Derby.

The fact, that, after having determined to send out five additional Missionaries to Orissa, and having cherished the hope that two or three of that number would go this year, the Committee are under the necessity of sending Mr. Buckley alone, and that not because there is any fear of the requisite funds being supplied, but solely because of the absence of suitable and qualified applicants for missionary labour,-engaged the serious attention of the Committee, and induced them to feel that it was incumbent on them to draw the attention of the Churches to this subject, with a view to excite the spirit of prayer to God, that he would raise up amongst us labourers to enter into this important field. It was suggested as desirable, that the ministers in our respective Churches should be affectionately requested to allude to this subject in their discourses; and that what is a duty at any time might not at all times be omitted, it was agreed to mention the first Lord's-day in June as a period when the Society's dearth of Missionaries, and the importance of prayer to the Lord of the harvest, on this special account, might be urged on the attention of our Churches. This suggestion was made under the conviction that God hears

prayer, and with the persuasion that

our ministers generally would cheerfully concur in it. God has signally favored us in the laborers he has raised up for our Mission. We want more such. We want men such as God will give; men whose minds are well furnished, whose hearts are warm with love to God and compassion for the perishing and the lost; men of strong constitution, great courage, firm resolution, who are willing to spend and be spent for Christ. The life of a devoted Missionary is no sinecure; it is a life of labor; it requires faith and patience; but it is a life which angels might envy, and which is the most honorable, as it is the most difficult, in which the minister of Christ can engage. The reports we receive from Orissa, tell us that the truth is felt among the Oreahs, and its progress is certain, providing we have the Missionaries to make it

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known. We have every encouragement in our work, but we want the men. Is not the Redeemer saying to our Connexion, as regards Orissa, "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest.” And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal." And shall we not, in this painful emergency, regard his injunctions as to our proper conduct in it? He said unto his disciples, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest."

Since writing these lines, the resolutions of the Committee have been received.

"Agreed, that, if Mr. Buckley can go overland to India, with no very material addition of expence, he go that way."

"That his designation take place at Derby, on a Tuesday, about a fortnight before his departure."

CRADELEY HEATH.-On Monday evening, March 18th 1844., a missionary meeting was held at this place, when the claims of the heathen were advocated by the Revds. G. Cheatle, J. Buckley, and I. Stubbins. The attendance was good, and considerable interest excited. Collection, £1. 12s. C. C. F.

TICKNALL.-On Lord's day, Mar. 3, Rev. I. Stubbins preached at Ticknall, and on the following evening, a missionary meeting was held in the Wesleyan chapel, which was kindly lent for the occasion, as it is much more convenient and larger than ours. The meeting was addressed by Revds. R. Stanion, (chairman) W. Kluht, (Independent) J. Buckley, I. Stubbins, J. G. Pike and Mr. J. H. Wood. Collection, £5. 12s. 9d.

On Thursday evening, March 14th, another meeting was held at Hartshorn, in the Wesleyan chapel. Revds. R. Stanion, J. Buckley, and Mr. J. H. Wood, addressed the meeting. Brother Stubbins was not able to attend in consequence of indisposition. Collection, including Mr. Sharp's missionary box, £1. 16s. 71⁄2d.

J. B.

LOUGHBOROUGH.-The annual services in support of the General Baptist Missionary Society, were held on Sunday and Monday, April 7th, and 8th. On Sunday

morning a sermon was preached by the Rev. J. Farrant, and in the evening by the Rev. I. Stubbins, late missionary in Orissa. The public meeting was held the following evening. the proceeds of the services amounted to £16. 16s.

DERBY.-The annual services connected

with the Derby Foreign Missionary Auxiliary were held on Lord's day, the 24th. ult., and on the following Monday. On Lord's-day two excellent sermons were preached in the Mary's Gate Chapel, that in the morning by the Rev. J. Wallis, of Leicester, and that in the evening by the Rev. I. Stubbins. In the afternoon a service was held in Brook

Street Chapel, when Mr. Stubbins addressed

the Sabbath scholars, and other members of the juvenile association. The chapel was crowded to excess, and reminded many of the happy Sabbaths they had spent within its hallowed walls. On Monday evening the Missionary meeting was held in Mary's Gate chapel. The Rev. J. G. Pike occupied the chair, and annimating addresses were delivered by the Revds. J. Corbin, J. BuckThe attendance was ley, and I. Stubbins. exceedingly good; much interest was produced by the information communicated by our estimable brother Stubbins, and those feelings were excited which we trust will issue in an increased attachment to the Missionary cause, and in a more vigorous effort for its prosperity. The collections, at the whole of the services, amounted to nearly £35. The juvenile association have raised during the year (including the collection on Sabbath afternoon) upwards of £20.

LEAKE, WIMESWOLD, &c. - On Lord'sday March 31, and the four following days, a series of missionary services were held at Leake, Wimeswold, Wysall, and West Leake, at which we were kindly assisted by the Revs. I. Stubbins, J. Buckley, J. Goadby, E. Stevenson and R. Stocks. The weather was delightfully fine, the congregations were large, the interest excited was pleasing, and the results we trust will be permanent. Collections, and subscriptions for the year about £30.

BAZAAR AT NEXT ASSOCIATION. To the Editor of the Missionary Observer. DEAR SIR,-In reference to a notice on the cover of your last, allow me to state, that the subject of a Missionary Bazaar at the next Association, engaged the early and anxious attention of our friends, and had it been coucluded to hold one, they would have given timely notice of their intention in your pages. Peculiar local circumstances, over which they had no control, appeared to render the thing impracti cable, and therefore, though reluctantly, it was resolved to abandon the design. believe our friends were the first to begin this good work, and I need not say, that all who know them believe that they would be among the last causelessly to shrink from any benevolent exertion, or to grow weary

I

in well-doing. Trusting that those kind friends, who have been in the habit of contributing to our Missionary Bazaars, will be enabled for this year to devise some other equally substantial way of testifying their attachment to the cause of the heathen, and that all who have been in the habit of making purchases will contribute the amount of those purchases as an extra offering to the collection, at the annual meeting of the society, Believe me, Yours in Christian bonds, J. C. PIKE.

Wisbech, April 11th, 1844.

APPEAL ON BEHALF OF CHINA.

March 15th, 1844.

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MY DEAR SIR,-Remarks on the empire of China, and the projected mission to that pagan land, have occasionally and very properly appeared in the pages of your periodical. As some of your readers are anxious to know more respecting the land of Sinim," and the people; and, as some information on these subjects may be interesting, and promote the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom, I feel inclined, with your permission, to encourage the friends of missions in their "work and labour of love." "He who will not give himself any concern about an evil a thousand miles off, shall have the calamity under his own table."

My difficulty is compression. The field is so wide, and the different aspects in which China may be presented are so interesting and impressive, that I fear your patience and space will scarcely tolerate what might be usefully said. As you have Christian and missionary readers, the history and population of China; its religion and language; its moral condition; the obligation which rests on baptized Churches to send them the Gospel; and the prospects of success,-may perhaps be allowed a few of your valuable pages. This letter will contain a few general remarks. "My words are not selfish, but for the aid of the virtuous."

The General Baptist Orissa Mission is an honor to the Churches, and reflects great credit on the zeal and piety of our beloved missionaries. All things considered, it has succeeded well. Our friends need help, and they should be sustained in their arduous undertaking; but the claims of China need not be entirely overlooked. India and China are not rivals. Missions to both would help Orissa rather than diminish its resources. The friends of India will feel for China; and the lovers of China will not forget India. Such is my conviction. The enlightened negroes, from the bloody scenes where slavery once triumphed, are now supplying Africa with

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Gospel truth; and ere long they will traverse the length and breadth of Southern America. One of the next things you will hear of will be, that converted hindoos are going to China, Japan, and Western Tartary. The Gospel knows nothing of centralization, except as a means, a combination of intelligence and piety, for its wider diffusion. The light cannot be confined under a bushel. The negro said, "The seed is sown; they cannot pick it up." The leaven will ferment and expand; the seed will germinate and grow into a tree; the child of our benevolence in the plains of India will not lose its energy; the root of our missionary zeal, planted in the dreary jungles of Orissa, will not be deprived of its vitality by our giving exercise and expansion to that heaven-born charity which requires the Gospel to be preached" to every creature."

"Who does not mourn over the mental lethargy of China, and wish earnestly that some benevolent and persevering foreigners would take the lead in enlightening that vast nation?" And why should not Britain be that honored nation? Why should not British, baptized Churches, form the devoted brotherhood to carry the glad tidings of heaven's mercy to this "world of souls ?" "China demands the attention of Christian philanthropists, with regard to the antiquity of its origin, the extent of its territory, the amount of its population, and the advance of its civilization. In nearly all these respects we shall find that it rises superior to every other unevangelized country, and stands forward with a prominence which bespeaks it the greatest of pagan nations." Yet this "world of souls" is emphatically without God, alienated from Christ by the whims of its sceptical philosophers, and destitute of all hope by confining all its expectations to one of the grosser forms of a material fancy. Bewildered in the atheism of its own vain philosophy, or perishing in the vile corruptions imported ages ago from India in the abominable idolatries of Budha, its millions are daily hastening to the tribunal of God, where atheism cannot find mercy, idolatry obtain remission, nor the impurities of paganism pass unpunished. Study, my brother, this great nation of intelligent and responsible beings, involved in the miseries of the darkest unbelief, and employ your energies to awaken our sympathies, and stimulate our energies, to send them the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. The children in our Lord's-day schools might do very much for China, if enlightened respecting its condition, and their energies combined for this purpose. Then our regular resources might still be applied to India. See the "appeal for missionaries" in our March Repository, by

M. J. S.

"The Chinese empire occupies no incon

siderable space in our map of the earth's surface, and fills up nearly the whole of their own. No wonder, then, that the Chinese should consider their country as the middle kingdom, including all within the four seas; and that with them the world and their empire should be synonimous terms." The government of that country extends an influence over nearly as much of the earth's surface, and more of its population, than either England or Russia, and makes its orders heard and obeyed from Peking to E-le, and from the capital to Canton, amongst several millions of people. By its new accessions of territory, China has come into the neighbourhood of the British possessions; and, though originally so distant from us, seems to shake hands across the Himalaya mountains, and invite western nations to publish amongst them the glad tidings of joy, which shall be to all people. The "son of heaven" has maintained absolute and unlimited sway over the materialized children of "the celestial empire," and barred her massy gates against the seductive influence of" barbarous" Europeans; but "the heathen have raged, and the people imagined a vain thing!" War is hateful, and deeds of blood are revolting to every Christian heart; yet God has overruled the wars of contending nations, and the selfish policy of human governments, to throw down the barriers which prevent human intercourse, and to enlarge the kingdom of the Prince of love

:

and peace. "I have set my kingdom upon my holy hill of Zion; I will declare the decree the Lord has said unto me, 'Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession."

China's pride has been subdued; she is possessed by British power to some extent; and Providence has opened a door before the Churches of Britain. The sons of science, and the merchants of our cities, will be eager to enter, to realize fame and amass wealth. Shall not the children of the Redeemer's kingdom, constrained by the love of Jesus, hasten to publish glad tidings, and to realize the triumphs of grace in the conversion of the benighted millions in "the land of Sinim?" Near to China is the empire of the rising sun, the Japan Islands, containing 25,000,000 of pagans: and can the mandate of an heathen emperor long continue to exclude the light of life, whose enlivening beams will soon gild the whole of the Indian Archepelago, which borders on its shores? The monopoly of paganism must fall before the science of revealed truth. Commercial restrictions cannot long bind the fetters of a pagan people, where education prevails. Pagan priests and heathen philosophers have no heavenly patent for stereo

typing the thoughts of perishing millions, of which they have gained possession. The Word of God is not bound; the Gospel is for the world's population; for every creature, dying, yet immortal! The Koran has been translated, and its follies exposed; the Sanscrit, the sacred words of the east, has been conquered; and the abominations of the Indian shasters have been brought to light. Hindooism totters, and Juggernaut is shaken. Now the mysterious symbols of "the empire of ten thousand ages," have been deciphered; and a Morrison, or a Marshman, will ere long declare to the millions of China, in their own venerable and venerated tongue, the wonders of redeeming grace. Japan will be opened, too, and that voice of mercy will be heard on the rocky mountains and desolate hills of the empire of the rising sun. Soon, we hope, the cry will be heard, Come over to China, to Japan, and help us. Come and hold forth the word of life, lest we die!'"

"Who will go for us? and whom shall we send?" Who will now say, "Here am I ; send me?" "God shall enlarge Japhet, and he shall decree in the tents of Shem," Let "the half-tribe of Manasseth send forth labourers into this vast harvest, and soldiers' of the cross, who will study to please the great Captain of their salvation." The conflict is severe, but the victory is sure. Amen. I remain yours truly, PHILANTHROPOS.

LECTURE ON BRITISH INDIA.-An interesting lecture on this subject, was delivered on Monday evening, in the British Schoolroom, Chesterfield, by the Rev. J. Peggs, of Ilkeston, formerly a missionary in Orissa. The lecturer commenced by remarking on the enormous extent of the territory called British India, which was 2000 miles square, and contained no less than forty different nations. He went on to sketch the manners and customs of the people of Madras and Orissa, describing minutely their style of dress, of living, of speech; the servile condition of the women; the institution of caste; the babarous practice of infanticide, &c. He observed that he had been present at a "suttee," a burning of a widow with the dead body of her husband, of which he gave an affecting description. The lecturer gave an interesting account of Juggernaut, which he had visited on several occasions. After a brief sketch of the rise of British power in India, the lecturer concluded by warmly recommending the interests of the Christian mission in that vast country to his auditory, observing that the subjugation of India by Britain was doubtless intended by God to be a means of spreading the light of Christian truth among the benighted millions of its population.